HD video from the RX100

Sorry if you're getting sick of everyone raving about Sony's RX100, but this thing--the size of a deck of cards!--really is the dog's bollocks. With Canon about to hit town with an APS-C mirrorless, I reckon low-end Micro 4/3 models (and Sony's own sub-$1k NEXes) are done.

• [occula]

  “Dog’s bollocks” … is good?

  • [10xor01]

    If you’re a male dog they are.

  • [Andrew Wood]

    Yes, indeed – the best.
    See also ‘Rat’s knackers’, ‘chicken’s titties’, etc.  Popularised by Viz, a British adult comic, in the 1980s.  

  • [Max]

    Almost as good as the mutt’s nuts. The dog certainly seems to like them but I’m never really sure where the phrase comes from. 
    Yes, canine reproductive organs are a good thing.

  • [Peter Green]

    “So, let me get this straight. “Bollocks” is bad, whereas “the dog’s bollocks” is good, huh?”

    Samuel L. Jackson, The 51st State

• [dfolmar42]

  You know great color reproduction, love the saturation and the range of blacks…a little miffed that everything was slowed could have liked to have seen the frame rate and how it handled fast motion better… I mean yes great image sensor but how fast is writing process, also as a former video professional, I  have to wonder why everything has an HD camera but the crappiest mic ever, and never any mic  inputs…

  • [mccrum]

    You have to wonder why manufacturers limit their products to make people want to buy the more expensive one? 

    It’s terrible policy and you don’t have to like it (I certainly don’t), but I’m not sure you should wonder about it. 

• [Shadow KFC]

  I agree with the Rx100 being seriously impressive if a little handicapped (no EV, no hotshoe).
  I disagree with the Canon EOS-M to be anything interesting. Canon seems horribly afraid to cannibalise their own market so they really made this thing boring. Aside from the (old-gen) APS-C sensor there is just nothing there. Even the questionable fun of using the huge DSLR EOS lenses is an amusing 200$ extra, for an adapter that is worth maybe 50$.
  IMHO both the established 4/3 and the NEX having nothing to fear..

• [Bertrand Cote]

  I reckon low-end Micro 4/3 models are done.

  That’s just plain dumb. Really dumb. All other systems have a loooong way to go, glass-wise, and that’s where it counts. Duh.

  • [mccrum]

     I agree.  If people kept buying compact point and shoots when there were better things out there only slightly larger 4/3 certainly has their niche as well.

• [billstreeter]

  Just wanted to point out the fact that the Sony NEX cams all have APS-C sensors too. And I think the market for the 4/3rds sensors will be strong for a while as they’re a lot cheaper than the APS-C sensors. The new Blackmagic Cinema camera has a 4/3rd sensor and by all accounts keeping the costs in check was a major factor in making that choice.

• [bbonyx]

  Great choice from Andrew on the soundtrack. The 80′s throwback vibe was the best thing about “Drive”.

• [Stevko]

  It is Sony. That means I am not interested (remember Sony doing bad things with drm malware or with  ps3 crippling).

  And one thing I miss when I read almost any camera specs is how long can it record video on batteries (although this one seems to be focused on still pictures – I prefer video cameras).

  • [Cyran0]

    I gave up on Sony after the ‘Other OS’ Geohotz fiasco.

    Never updated my 60GB fatboy, just tucked it away in the back of the closet after I bought my gaming laptop.
    (Hmm, wonder if it’ll be a collector’s item some day?)

• [Zak McKracken]

  Rob, calm down!
  … sorry, but I didn’t hear anyone raving about the RX100. 1080p60 video is a cool thing, having a small camera with a okay-ish-ly large sensor spells bad news for small-sensor compacts, but it won’t be able to seriously compete on image quality with APS-C sensors or anything larger, and it is more expensive than those small-sensor compacts. So it pretty much depends on what you want from a camera, I’d say.
  About the video: I’d be surprised to learn the video was unedited and shot without some sort of steadycam-like rig thing attached to the camera. It’s not a bad video, but it does not tell us very much about the camera.

  About the Canon EOS M: I know a few Canon owners who are dissappointed with it because it is a “beginner’s” camera and many people were hoping for something more serious. Whether it will be able to compete with other makes that are established in that market for some time now, remains to be seen. I wouldn’t flip out over that camera before the first proper tests are in. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some flaws in that camera simply because it’s the first mirrorless design from Canon. I think autofocus is pretty much on the slow side, for example. Not that other cameras didn’t have flaws but let’s not go all fanboy on this thing before we have some proper data.
  … Actually, I was hoping for a full format compact mirrorless camera.

• [technogeekagain]

  A friend recently recommended the  Pentax K5 as another APS-C camera in the “smallish camera, large sensor” kind of range — though it remains a DSLR.

  And, yeah, I’m a bit less happy with Sony than I once was.

• [penguinchris]

  Must agree that micro 4/3 isn’t going anywhere. This camera is certainly amazing, but it isn’t a replacement for something with interchangeable lenses. 

  That said, cameras like this will certainly hurt sales… but I suspect mostly from Sony’s NEX cameras, as Rob points out. 

  I must also agree that the Canon entry isn’t going to change anything either. Hopefully they will decide to be a little more bold in the future, because I know they have the capability to make something amazing – with this one, they followed marketing’s ideas too much.

  I do of course say all this as a biased micro 4/3 camera owner who hopes that the format continues for a while ;) I do agree that the low-end micro 4/3 cameras (and whatever Nikon’s is in particular) will be hit hard by cameras like this new Sony, but I consider that to be a good thing if that means companies will focus more on the higher-end models.

• [Antonio Carrasco]

  I’m sorry Rob, but you’re completely backwards on this one… It’s the compacts with non-detachable lenses that are done. This one from Sony and the one from Fuji are the last gasp from a dying sector.  Mirrorless has nothing but growth in the future.

  The way they could have really made this camera a must have is to include phone functionality and an Android OS. The company that can merge this type of high-end point and shoot with a smart phone will be the one to get my money.

• [Noctilucent Studios]

  Sorry, but if she is “not eating and not sleeping” she is going to be useless if/when the other person finally notices!!

• [James Britt / Neurogami]

  Is this from the same Sony that sues it’s customers and advocates for SOPA, PROTECT-IP, and the like?  

• [Alex Schneider]

  I saw “HD” and the dreary overcast weather and assumed it was HDR.

• [tedder42]

  Canon isn’t “about” to hit with the mirrorless, it’s already out there. Here’s one mounted to a 800mm lens: http://www.canonrumors.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/eosm800.jpg

• [Antinous / Moderator]

  Amazon is hilarious.

  List Price:
  $649.99

  Price:
  $648.00

  You Save:
  $1.99

• [Nicky G]

  Interchangeable lenses is the number one draw with some of the other systems — this f1.8 on this might be nice, but it’s certainly not as flexible. Granted, I’ll stick to my Nikon D800 thank you very much. :)

• [Nicky G]

  I’ll add that this song by Desire is literally one of my favorites, ever. :-)