This week I got my mitts on Sony’s new RX10 super-zoom bridge camera for the first time. Up to this week I had seen only pictures and confess I had imagined a tiny little device. In reality, this is quite a beast and I am surprised. At 815g, the RX10 is no lightweight. In fact, it is a very substantial piece of equipment and feels it. Today I was able to do a direct comparison with another Sony in the news―the full-frame A7r. Surprisingly, the A7r is actually smaller overall. When I photographed the two, the A7r was wearing a relatively heavy 75mm Leica APO-Summicron with a total weight of 945g. However, with the standard 35mm Zeiss f/2.8 lens attached, the A7r weighs only 620g.
In fairness, the RX10 does pack a very convenient Zeiss Vario-Sonnar 24-200mm zoom, but we can’t escape the fact that this is a camera with a 1in sensor, much smaller than the full-frame 36.4MP sensor in the A7r. I am looking forward to trying the RX10 which, on first impression, is a versatile and well-designed package despite the size.
