Hang 5 on a Hollywood set.
Sony RX0 Hands-On Review
Flatland BMX is about spinning brakeless tricks and insanely difficult, but also fits into an indoor space quite nicely. You get exciting things to photograph in a small space. In the ’80s, the performances would take up an entire basketball court or a couple courts’ worth of space to entertain the crowd. Everything is tight spins now, maybe 50 feet on a side, and the compressed action is analogous to Sony’s RX0.
While the tiny box form factor from Sony looks like an action cam, it’s much more capable and intended for 4K multicam immersive experiences. Having spent a cocktail hour with the RX0, what you need to know is that it’s about capturing split seconds and assembling them into consequential moments—and thinking of new ways to do so.
Our Sony RX0 Hands-On Review And First Image Samples
For example, see this fantastic photo from Asish Sharma who got on stage when the rain machine started.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZ2eJ2_DE-M/?taken-by=ashish.la
Sony RX0 Dramatic Image Quality
I got this dramatic still a few minutes early by placing the RX0 on the soundstage and picked this frame from the hundreds taken, controlled by an app. No surprise that the images pop like that, because the RX0 is essentially an RX100 V that has been compressed into a form factor that permits placement in any imaginable place. Inside the tiny body is the same 1-inch sensor, but only a portion of it is used for a 15.3-megapixel resolution and captured with a ZEISS® Tessar T* 24mm F4 fixed lens.
Then, after shooting high-frame-rate sequences, a Sony Pictures Studio grip attached the camera to the seat tube of the BMX bike with gaffers tape and the talented athlete made it look easy. I shot more views from his hat, under the bike and a couple of crashes.
Because I know you’re looping back to it being a GoPro competitor, the difference is that the RX0 has a threaded hole for mounts, the lens is centered in the body for much easier image-stitching math, and the output has no tunnel vision distortion like a GoPro.
Sony RX0 Form Factor
In other words, it’s made to shoot cinematically, in any way you can imagine. Stack several in a VR rig, attach one to a bike, stick it on a weather vane during a storm—pretty much whatever you want.
Here I am in a custom 360-rig Sony built to show off how easy the RX0 is to mount to various rigs and to show off the quality of the 480 fps HFR.
What you can expect from the RX0 is exceptional still image and video quality for double the price of GoPro at $700—4K is what Sony does the best. Also, there’s much interest in the form factor, from a wide variety of disciplines. The camera is the size of a square ice cube.
It fits inside a tumbler.
I’ve attended my share of cocktail and camera events, and there’s usually twice the drinking going on, but at this event, the bar was empty because the attendees were engaged in the moment with their demo cameras.
To learn more about the RX0, including the impressive specs, read the story I wrote when the camera launched last month.
You can follow DL Byron on Twitter @bikehugger
