The RX10 arrived, remember how excited I was about this camera? Unfortunately mine slipped through quality control and was DOA. Well, not completely, it would power up and I could set the time, date etc, however, once I switched to 1080/24p mode it produced the following message
more after the break

“turn power off then on”

I did it once, twice then for a third time, fourth time, the message would appear every time and I couldn’t get it to work. A real bummer.

I also noticed serious creaking coming from the thumb rest area, even under light pressure, now this would absolutely ruin any sound recording even with an external microphone attached.

Two things to check when you get yours, on a positive note, I have checked with friends who have received the RX10 already and don’t have those issues.

You have probably seen Johnnie’s mini documentary

en&is- Shot with Sony RX10 from Johnnie Behiri on Vimeo.

and Andrew Reid’s Run and gun clip

Run and Gun from Andrew Reid on Vimeo.

both great examples of what this camera is capable of producing and where it obviously struggles. If you haven’t seen them yet, definitely worth watching.

Until I get a working unit, I would like to share a few things I noticed while handling the camera.
THE GOOD:
As others have pointed out already, the lens and aperture ring are first rate.
The grip is fantastic.
Silent shutter in photo mode.
Something no one has pointed out yet, this camera will be a strobist delight. No sync issues, It worked with all my studio strobes, the Quantum units up to 1/2000 without problems.
Fantastic news, I can’t wait to put it to work, hassle free high speed sync.

THE NOT SO GOOD.
The fly by wire zoom. You’ll know why nobody likes it once you work it. It sucks. Really. I didn’t want to believe it but its the truth. I’ll live with it. The lens and aperture ring are worth it. I hope we get selectable zoom speed options via firmware. Take a look at the images below:

one more

The EVF protrudes way too far and covers a significant amount of the LCD, which is stuck in this position when horizontal and cannot be pulled any further away from the body. Of course we can work around it, tilt it, look at it from an angle, however, this significantly limits the usefulness of the articulated LCD. Something you will definitely notice while shooting. Another trend I would like to end, eye sensor LCD/OVF only option. Seriously, I want a button for that and not be forced to go into the menu every time I need to switch between the LCD and OVF.
THE BAD:
I will take Andrews and Johnnie’s word for it, we already know that AVCHD sucks and now especially noticable on the RX10. I noticed a quality loss on the RX100II when switching from 24p to 60p, 24p looked noticeably better.

Unless you shoot fairly stationary subjects with no or little camera movement, you won’t be too happy with the results, especially at 60p. Kind of defies the purpose for fast paced run&gun situations. Still, for many this might not be a big issue. What I have seen so far looks quite nice.

THE UGLY:
Audio level control during recording. Yeah! Really something essential if you think about it, right?
Yes you can change recoding levels, however, the audio meter overlay blacks out the image you are recording. Seriously Sony, what were you guys thinking, that the image stops moving until we get the audio levels right?

Overall, the RX10 feels super solid, balances well with the Rode video mic pro and might just
turn out to be perfect for many situations where one can’t use larger rigs.
I will update this post once I have a working unit, can’t wait to shot something with it

If you find this article inspiring, please consider helping me maintaining this blog by purchasing your gear through my product links to Adorama and B&H and Ebay. It will cost you nothing and allows me to keep adding! Or consider making a direct donation using PayPal, thank you!