navyasw02 wrote:
Does anybody have an english instruction manual for the RX1? I just picked it up in Japan and it's all in Japanese.

You do know Sony cameras cannot be flashed to other languages and do not contain the other language option in the menu yes?

I wasn't aware, but it's not like that will be a problem. It's a camera, not a rocket ship.

I took the new camera for a spin after work and took some night photos since it was already dark. These aren't very interesting composition wise, but I wanted to just get a feel for the camera and see how things worked. Let me preface this with I am a pretty no frills kind of guy. I dont do video, I dont use half the features on a camera. I spent 20 years shooting with an old hand me down Minolta manual focus before I got my first DSLR, a Canon 10D and finally a 5D. I also have used the Olympus EPL1 and primarily shoot with the Panny 20mm.

Overall - the autofocus speed seemed a little slow, even on some shots I took in my house (not included here). I tried manual focus and it is a lot of fun and very easy to use. I had so much fun with it, I dont think I'll use autofocus anymore. I might even invest in the viewfinder. My one complaint with manual focus is that there are no hard stops at the end of the focus ring. If there's no hard stops then I wish Sony would have made it so that the color changes on the focus assisting line. Not a big deal though. I'll have to spend more time shooting with it to see if this camera is worth the money, but so far I'm very pleased. This handles like a pro camera and puts the EPL to shame. Things just really seem to make sense on this camera and it definitely packs the capability of my old 5D into a small package.

Dials were very easy to use and well laid out
Menus are well organized and are easy to understand even with my Japanese skills somewhere between dog and baby level.
Shutter is ABSOLUTELY SILENT. This is an incredible street camera. I took pictures right next to people and they didnt even notice.

Other minor complaints - the lens cap feels a little bulky and there is no texture on it, making it possibly pretty easy to drop in foul weather. I wish there was an automatic lens cover that opened upon startup instead.

These photos with the exception of minor crops are straight out of the camera JPEGs with noise reduction turned off just to see the worst case. Unfortunately Lightroom doesn't handle RAW the files yet

Sample Photos

Thanks for posting your user review and images. Any daytime ISO 100 shots?
Do you have this camera now back in US?
Would love to see this camera live and could meet up in Monterrey/PG area.

wayne seltzer wrote:
Thanks for posting your user review and images. Any daytime ISO 100 shots?
Do you have this camera now back in US?
Would love to see this camera live and could meet up in Monterrey/PG area.

I haven't had a chance for daytime shots yet. The sun sets at about 430 in the afternoon so I'll have to try tomorrow. I'm actually living in Japan now for the next few years, I haven't updated my info. I used to live in PG.

navyasw02 wrote:
wayne seltzer wrote:
Thanks for posting your user review and images. Any daytime ISO 100 shots?
Do you have this camera now back in US?
Would love to see this camera live and could meet up in Monterrey/PG area.

I haven't had a chance for daytime shots yet. The sun sets at about 430 in the afternoon so I'll have to try tomorrow. I'm actually living in Japan now for the next few years, I haven't updated my info. I used to live in PG.

Oh ok. Well look forward to seeing more images!
Still one more month till release here.
Enjoy shooting!

navyasw02 wrote:

Overall - the autofocus speed seemed a little slow, even on some shots I took in my house (not included here).

Thanks for the report. When you say the AF seems slow, do you mean it seems slower than your EPL1?

It has been a few months since I used the EPL1, but I'd say night time AF felt about the same. Not terrible by any means, but not blazing fast. I'll try in the daytime, but honestly the MF gave me far more control. One feature I'm not quite certain about is in MF it will automatically zoom in on the LCD to a certain point you want to focus on. You can move this point around with the dials, and it does help with focus, but it's also a bit distracting when you are trying to compose. This can be disabled though. I'm tempted to go to the store tomorrow and try the EVF just out of curiosity because I absolutely loved the MF.

navyasw02

What is the street price in Japan? I am going there in a month, I know the dollar is in the toilet compared to the yen.

navyasw02 wrote:
Overall - the autofocus speed seemed a little slow, even on some shots I took in my house (not included here).

Thanks for posting first impressions - would love to hear more of your thoughts since I have one of these on pre-order. Focus is going to be an issue for some people on this camera - everyone who's used it (other than 'reviewers' like Steve Huff who say every new camera is 'the best thing ever') has commented on the slow AF. For me personally I don't care too much as long as it works and isn't slower than the NEX-7 or OM-D.

navyasw02 wrote:
Sample Photos

Ohhhhhh, the bokeh is downright amazing!!! Not even the ZF 35/1.4 does this well at that distance.

Edit: I hope you don't mind me posting it here?



DSC00025 by ASW02, on Flickr

navyasw02 wrote:
I'm tempted to go to the store tomorrow and try the EVF just out of curiosity because I absolutely loved the MF.

One other question since I have the EVF on pre-order too - if you try the EVF can you see if the two zoom modes (50mm and 75mm) also zoom in the EVF when you have that option engaged? I.e. when you have the camera set to 50mm does the EVF zoom in to a 50mm view as well?

Vern Dewit wrote:
.... I don't care too much as long as it works and isn't slower than the NEX-7 or OM-D.

I hope your kidding - pretty much everything is slower than the OM-D.

All shot @ f2.0!!!

Amazing quality navyasw02.. thanks for sharing. Hopefully I receive my sample before Christmas.

michael49 wrote:
I hope your kidding - pretty much everything is slower than the OM-D.

It depends on what lens you put on it. The Panasonic 20/1.7 is terribly slow and inaccurate on the OM-D.

michael49 wrote:
I hope your kidding - pretty much everything is slower than the OM-D.

- it depends. I owned the OM-D and it's not that fast with some lenses. I guess I'm hoping the RX1 is a bit faster than the Fuji's at least. Not a deal-breaker for me but would be nice...

Nice to see some images from a photographer other than a reviewer - looking forward to more!

navyasw02 wrote:
Overall - the autofocus speed seemed a little slow, even on some shots I took in my house (not included here). I tried manual focus and it is a lot of fun and very easy to use. I had so much fun with it, I dont think I'll use autofocus anymore.

Question - can you enable focus peaking and magnification independently of one another? When using Direct Manual Focus I'm hoping that I can have it set up to turn peaking on, and, only if I want it, toggle magnification with one of the user definable function buttons.

Two reviewers that attended the Sony media event in San Francisco have said this is the way the camera they used works, but I've seen a report from another buyer in Japan that focus assist and magnification are linked - get one, get both.

I'm not going to be put off the camera if that's the case but would prefer to choose when I get magnification as I find focus peaking all on its own is great for quickly finding a zone of focus.

Here's some RX1 images from another Flickr user:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shunsuke_onji/8188625748/in/set-72157632017415536

And another:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/piece/tags/rx1/

Japanese un-boxing blog post... some images:

http://blog.livedoor.jp/gokuhamu/archives/1736262.html

Edit: if the interior shots are of the owner's home... clearly the RX1 costs are not an issue.

michaelwatkins wrote:
Here's some RX1 images from another Flickr user:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shunsuke_onji/8188625748/in/set-72157632017415536

And another:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/piece/tags/rx1/

Looks good. Crap-load of money for a fixed lens camera though.