San Diego, CA—In a product rollout that includes the A99 full-frame DSLR with Translucent Mirror technology, the NEX-6 compact system camera, and a 35mm full-frame Handycam camcorder, Sony’s Cyber-shot DSC-RX1 digital camera packs a 35mm full-frame 24.3MP Exmor CMOS sensor and Carl Zeiss T* 35mm f/2.0 fixed lens into a portable, lightweight body. Measuring 4.5×3 inches and weighing just over a pound, it’s smaller and lighter than any full-frame DSLR yet, and Sony says it sacrifices nothing in terms of image quality, HD video quality or manual control.
“The new Cyber-shot RX1 is truly ‘one of a kind,’ offering a unique combination of size and performance that’s never before been realized in the world of digital cameras,” said Yosuke Tomoda, director of the Cyber-shot camera business at Sony Electronics. “With its highly advanced sensor and fast 35mm f/2.0 lens packed into a small, portable camera body, professionals, enthusiasts and advanced hobbyists can experience the world of full-frame imaging in new and different ways than they ever thought possible.”
The camera has a unified lens and body design said to enable the Carl Zeiss lens to deliver image quality all the way to the edges of each frame and incorporate a near-silent in-lens shutter.
The 35mm full-frame sensor more than doubles the area of APS-C sensors commonly found in DSLRs and boosts the camera’s sensitivity range from ISO 100–25,600, with the option to shoot as low as ISO 50 in expanded sensitivity mode. ISO settings as high as 102,400 can be achieved using multi-frame noise reduction, which allows the camera to capture natural, low-noise handheld images in near-dark conditions without a flash.
The RX1’s Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 35mm lens is a choice for portraits, street photography and everyday shooting, featuring newly designed optics that include an advanced aspherical (AA) glass element. The lens’s wide f/2 maximum, nine-bladed circular aperture enables background defocus (bokeh) effects, and a macro-switching ring on the lens barrel shortens the minimum focusing distance to 20cm (from image plane).
Incorporating an enhanced Bionz processing engine, specs state the RX1 can take full-resolution bursts at five frames per second. The processor outputs image data in 14-bit RAW format. Also notable are a range of manual control modes, a dedicated lens rings for fingertip control of focus and aperture, a DSLR-style focus mode dial on the front of the camera to switch between focus modes, top-mounted exposure compensation and mode dials, and custom function and AEL buttons on the back panel. And for intuitive adjustment of camera settings, a quick navi mode is provided, which is useful when using the camera with an optional viewfinder. A memory recall (MR) mode is accessible via the mode dial so photographers can store and recall three sets of camera settings.
In addition to still images, the compact camera captures Full HD movie footage in all lighting conditions at a choice of 60p or 24p (progressive) frame rates. There’s a full complement of PASM exposure modes during video shooting for creative flexibility.
Also featured are: Sony’s By Pixel Super Resolution digital zoom technology, allowing for magnification of image size without sacrificing pixel count; a teleconverter function that crops a central portion of the image sensor, boosting magnification by 1.4x or 2x and realizing a 49mm or 70mm focal length; 13 creative styles plus a range of picture effect treatments; auto HDR and D-range optimizer, bracket shooting (exposure, DRO or white balance) and auto HDR shooting modes; and a digital level gauge that indicates camera pitch and camera roll on the LCD for straight landscape and architectural shots.
Accessories for Cyber-shot RX1
The camera’s multi-interface shoe accepts a range of optional accessories: an XGA OLED Tru-Finder electronic viewfinder (model FDA-EV1MK); an external optical viewfinder with Carl Zeiss optics (model FDA-V1K); a thumb grip (model TGA-1) for comfortable handling; a lens hood (model LHP-1); and a jacket case (model LCJ-RXB).
Sony PlayMemories Services
The Cyber-shot RX1 comes preinstalled with PlayMemories Home (Lite Edition) software, designed for easy image transfer to a PC for managing, editing and printing. Available for free download, a full version of PlayMemories Home software adds movie editing and disc burning.
Also available for download, PlayMemories Studio allows game-like editing of photos and videos on PlayStation3 systems. Images can be shared via Sony’s PlayMemories Online service, a cloud-based sharing service developed to simplify “any time, any place” viewing on connected devices.
Sony’s Cyber-shot RX1 compact, fixed-lens camera will be available in November for $2,800. The FDA-EV1K EVF and FDA-V1K optical viewfinder will launch for $600 and $450, respectively. The thumb grip, lens hood and jacket case will retail for $250, $180 and $250, respectively. sony.com
