Sony RX1R Review - The Sony RX1R loses an optical low-pass filter, but what does this mean for serious photographers?

Product Overview

Overall rating:

92%

Sony RX1R

Performance:90%
Value:95%
Overall score:92%
Image Quality:90%
Features:95%
Design:90%

Pros:

  • Solid build quality, Excellent high-ISO performance, Prompt write times, AWB performance

Cons:

  • Battery Life, AF can hunt and misfocus, Moire patterning in some circumstances

Product:

Sony RX1R Review

Manufacturer:

Price as reviewed:

£2,599.00

Sony RX1R Review – Image Quality

The Sony RX1R produces almost identical results to the RX1, with one major difference. Without the anti-aliasing filter, the RX1R resolves more detail than the standard camera.

Sony RX1R res chartThe Sony RX1R resolved 30 lines per millimeter on our resolution chart at ISO 200.

Sony RX1 test image

The original Sony RX1 resolves 28 lines per millimeter at ISO 200.

A close inspection of Raw images taken with the RX1R reveals fine details that aren’t visible with the standard RX1. In fact when editing Raw images in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 I found that images taken with the RX1R needed virtually no sharpening.


The Sony RX1R resolves an impressive 28 lines per millimeter at ISO 6400.

The Sony RX1 resolves 26 lines per millimeter at ISO 6400.

Anything more than a slight nudge to the sharpness slider was actually too much. Whether or not you will appreciate this difference will really depend on what you do with your images. If you regularly make large prints, then the differences in the details will be noticeable, but anything up to around A4 in size and it will be difficult to see much difference between the RX1R and the original RX1.

  1. 1. Introduction
  2. 2. Sony RX1R Review - Features
  3. 3. Sony RX1R Review - Build & Handling
  4. 4. Sony RX1R Review - Moiré Patterning
  5. 5. Sony RX1R Review - Image Quality
  6. 6. Sony RX1R Review - Verdict
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