Remember the Sony RX1? The full-frame compact rumour we wished was real? Turns out someone heard us! Meet the official Sony Cyber-Shot RX1 — also known as “Honey I Shrank the Full-Frame”. Yes, it’s freaking crazy. It’s potentially brilliant too.
Here’s the thing about the Sony RX1. It’s the smallest full-frame sensor camera that’s every been built. That means that the image quality is actually professional-grade. We’re not just saying that as a way of dumbing the camera down: It sports an identical 24-megapixel, 35.8×23.9mm full-frame sensor to the a99. The only difference is that it measures (4 1.27cm x 6.66cm x 6.94cm), and weighs just 453 grams. It’s a little bigger than a deck of cards and it weighs as much as a big potato.
Professional sensor, point-and-shoot size. Genius! Right? RIGHT?
Well, this is a first, and the reason it’s a first is because the camera is very carefully engineered to be so tiny, and there are some significant trade-offs. First of all, this is a Cyber-Shot camera, which means it’s not just point-and-shoot-sized, it’s a point-and-shoot with a prime 35mm f/2.0 lens. It’s a Carl Zeiss lens, so it’s surely lovely, but the lack of interchangeable lenses and no possibility for zoom is going to turn a lot of people off.
What’s more the camera’s doesn’t exactly have a Cyber-Shot price; It’ll cost $2999 when it’s available in November. So this isn’t exactly a “bring full-frame sensors to the the everyman” kind of camera.” This is designed for pros. All that said, it’s freaking adorable and we can’t wait to get our hands on one to see what we can do with it.