Pictured below: Sony RX1RII can certainly be labeled as a boutique camera, luxury camera, street photography dream camera or all three.
I desperately needed to get out of my barracks room today and clear my mind. I won't get into the details other than to say that my lovable little dog Oliver was attacked by the neighbors junkyard dog who hopped the fence. He got beat up with a couple puncture wounds but nothing broken. I was completely bummed out about getting the news, even more so that I am on the other side of the world here in Korea, unable to be with him.
But after a full day of semi-wandering the countryside, traveling on foot, train and bus, photographing anything that caught my eye, I feel much better. I was able to replace images in my head of my little dog in the jaws of a beast with it's teeth sunk into his skin, with all the people, places and things that I captured in the viewfinder of my Sony RX1RII 42mp compact camera.
Before you run off to buy one of these fantastic little cameras, let me give you fair warning that it will not come cheaply. Even used, this premium, professional camera is going to set you back at least 2000 USD, brand new it'll be more in the neighborhood of 3000 USD. But is it worth it?
Well, it depends what your needs and expectations are. As I am only able to speak for myself, I can say with a resounding yes! Although it has one major weakness, that weakness, which I will mention in a moment, does not detract from the fact that this camera delivers fabulous photos.
It is paired with a fixed 35mm f/2 Zeiss Sonnar lens that is about a sharp a lens as I've ever used. The 35mm lens is a fantastic focal length for street photography and landscapes and while it's not my first choice in focal length for something like portraits, you can absolutely use it for portraits and getting amazing results. And don't forget, with a 42mp sensor, you can crop your images A LOT and still retain high resolution images.
The Sony RX1RII utilizes the TINY Sony NP-BX1 battery. According to the official specifications, you can snap around 200 photos before exhausting the battery, which is way below average for a compact camera. I shot approximately 200 over the entire day and had to change the battery once, so I'd have to say that the official specs are pretty accurate. Still, changing batteries has never been a deal breaker for me and I brought along 5 batteries with me on my trip over here to Korea.
I did a short video review of this amazing little camera a while back and you can see it here - https://youtu.be/PeTRYQNohXQ
Other than that, enjoy the photos and thanks for visiting my blog.
All images shot in the area of Yangju and Uijongbu, South Korea.
