Is the RX1 the compact photojournalists are waiting for?

By Paul Carroll - Tuesday, January 08, 2013

Camera Review
Introduction | Measurement | Comparisons | Conclusion

Up there with the best

With a DxOMark Overall Sensor Score of 93 the Sony RX1 puts in an impressive performance currently 4th in our Overall Sensor Ratings just behind the Nikon D800E with 96, Nikon D800 with 95 and Nikon D600 with 94.

Placed 1st overall for high-end compacts the RX1 is streets ahead of the competition here. With 93 points the RX1 scores 20 points more than the 2nd place Fujifilm X100 with 73 and beats its sister model, the RX100, into 3rd with 66 points.

Sony RX1 Sony RX1
Featuring a 24 megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor the Sony RX1 high-end compact camera scores amazingly well in all 4 DxOMark Sensor Score categories.

Drilling down into the Portrait, Landscape and Sports scores results for the RX1 are no less impressive. With a phenomenal Landscape (Dynamic Range) score of 14.3Evs the RX1 is 2nd overall for Dynamic Range, only outdone by the 1st place Nikon D800, with 14.4Evs, and is just ahead of the Nikon D600’s 14.2Evs. Its Portrait (Colour Depth) score of 25.1bits is equal to the Nikon D600 and just in front of the 3rd place Nikon D3x with 24.7bits. The RX1 doesn’t quite live up to the performance of Nikon DSLRs in the Sports (Low-light ISO) category however where its score of 2534 ISO places it in 6th behind the D3s, D600, D800E, D4 and D800 but just ahead of the Canon 6D lying in 7th.

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Comments
Added by martigorn |  March 06

Sharpness at f2.0 vs f3.2

Hello,
I like the RX1 a lot, but center sharpness gets A LOT better when stopping down from f2.0 to f2.8 or f3.2. At 100% view, this is fully field relevant: Details and sharpness at 2.0 are okay, from 3.2 they are brilliant. I must admit to be somewhat disappointed by that. Does this practical view fit to Your lab results (which are somewhat abstract to me), i.e. is that "perfectly normal" or did I get a bad copy ?

Yours sincerely

Martin

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First replies for this comment
Added by Emilie_DxOMark |  March 08

Re: Sharpness at f2.0 vs f3.2

Hello Martin,

Thanks for your interest in DxOMark.

You are right but we would not say "a lot", as we measured a slight loss of sharpness at f/2.0 and we did not measure any significant difference between f/2.8 and f/4.
To be convinced you should have a look to the acutance field map.

Best regards,

The DxOMark team





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Added by birdred |  March 03

nice review

Thank you for the review. Looks to be a remarkable camera!

Though not really cross comparable, the Pentax K5 apsc dslr's measure an equally very healthy 14.3 EVS... until one can afford the sony the K5 is still pretty remarkable, especially for those like me on a budget.
We live in a remarkable age to have so many great cameras and reviews at such an easy reach.

Thanks again!

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First replies for this comment
Added by Emilie_DxOMark |  March 04

Re: nice review

Hello!

Thanks for your interest in DxOMark and your kind comment!

Best regards,


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Added by masuraotic |  February 23

DXO: What is selected for RX1's Transmission to decide it's SNR Score?

Hi!

I would like to know what is selected for RX1's Transmission Score to decide it's SNR.
T = 2.1 or 2.0?

And if the above selection is not correct, RX1's SNR Score may be changed?
(E.g. If the selected value is 2.0 and the real value is 2.1, the total amount of the light, which reaches to Sensor in real value, is about 10% lower than the selected value)

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First replies for this comment
Added by Emilie_DxOMark |  February 25

Re: DXO: What is selected for RX1's Transmission to decide it's SNR Score?

Hello!

Thanks for your comment.

You’re right regarding the potential bias. In the example you note, it could be close to 14% meaning less than ¼ of Stop.
As we cannot measure the TStop on compact camera we decide to use the aperture, so in this case 2.0.

Best regards,

Emilie

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Added by jorgemsoto |  February 12

DXO: How about the Lens on the RX1? Is it fully sharp on f2.0?

Hello!

I would like to know about the Lens on the RX1. The sharpness in F2.0???

Thanks!
:)

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Added by Emilie_DxOMark |  February 15

Re: DXO: How about the Lens on the RX1? Is it fully sharp on f2.0?

Hi,

The RX1 lens will be reviewed very soon on dxomark.com, so stay tuned ! :)

Regards,

Emilie

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Added by msatlas |  January 09

High ISO way better than Sony A99

What's up with the RX1 doing so much better than the A99 on the high ISO score? I thought they're supposed to have similar sensors but the RX1 seems to perform significantly better. Is that all chalked up to the A99's pellicle mirror?

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Added by Calistoga Tony |  January 09

Another mistake?

First it's saying that Sony uses BSI type image sensors in their dSLRs, (they don't, those are Exmor "R") and now the RX100 has an APS-C sensor? It doesn't. The RX100 uses a 1 inch sensor, like the Nikon 1 series.

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First replies for this comment
Added by randybenter |  January 09

Re: Another mistake?

This is the RX1; it as an APS-C sensor.

The RX100 has a 1" sensor.

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Added by darrask |  January 09

Re: Another mistake?

sorry lad, the RX1 is full-frame, not APS-C

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Added by darrask |  January 09

Re: Another mistake?

Sorry but... people are getting really confused here!!!

The RX1 has a full frame sensor, and the RX100 has a 1'' (one inch) sensor!

Reply
Added by Hakeem |  January 08

another fullframe camera review

Where is XTrans sensor camera? why not testing them? all the major review sites has pubslished their reviews ages ago.

and you call yourself "Camera Sensor" Only Analysts/ Experts?

The first camera you should review is xpro1 last year!

Don't know what's wrong with you guys!!

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Added by FredB |  January 10

Re: another fullframe camera review

Quote:

<div id="linkdxomark">This a comment for <a href="http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Cameras/Camera-Sensor-Database/Sony/Cyber-shot-DSC-RX1">this page on the website</a></div>Where is XTrans sensor camera? why not testing them? all the major review sites has pubslished their reviews ages ago.

and you call yourself "Camera Sensor" Only Analysts/ Experts?

The first camera you should review is xpro1 last year!

Don't know what's wrong with you guys!!


Hi,
The DxO mark team has answered to this question of their facebook page. Here it is :

Quote:
The Fuji X-Pro 1 and X-E1 sensor does not use a Bayer matrix, but rather a very different matrix whose pixels are arranged in rows of three colors — a technology called “X-Trans”, inspired by the naturally irregular distribution of silver halide crystals on film. As for the Fuji X10, XF1 and X-S1, they use a CMOS EXR sensor with yet another different arrangement.
The demosaicing algorithms of DxOMark lab that allow it to analyse digital camera RAW photo files were designed to process the output of sensors using the Bayer matrix.
Testing these five Fuji cameras would necessitate completely rewriting our demosaicing algorithms to enable them to process the data received from this different matrix. Although DxO Labs tries to respond to photographers’ requests to provide test for specific camera models, there are no plans for testing these five Fuji cameras in the short term.

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Added by bluevaping |  January 11

Re: another fullframe camera review

Time to start rewriting now.  X Pro-1 and its successors are not going away.

Reply

Further readings for the Is the RX1 the compact photojournalists are waiting for?

To provide photographers with a broader perspective about mobiles, lenses and cameras, here are links to articles, reviews, and analyses of photographic equipment produced by DxOMark, renown websites, magazines or blogs.

Tests and reviews for Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX1