Sony RX0 II Review — Is it worth it?

 
 
 

The Sony RX0 Mark II packs a 1” sensor, 24mm equivalent lens, a flip up screen, and an external microphone jack. All of which make it a great option for filming yourself vlog style or taking selfies, but at $700 US, is it worth it?


Product Highlights

I asked Sony to lend me this camera to check out how it would work with a SwitchPod and it is actually a perfect little combo.

It packs a lot of the features larger Sony cameras have like eye autofocus, a flat s-log picture profile, smartphone connectivity to download files, 120p slow motion at 1080p, and recording in 4K up to 100 MB/s at 30 frames per second.

And even though it isn’t a touch screen, it is really easy to navigate the menus with the four arrows, the select, and menu buttons. You can even custom set 2 of them to do want you want in either photo or video mode.

Press the left arrow to change between different photo and video modes.

To take a selfie, you press the shutter button halfway down to lock focus on your face or eye and then all the way down to take a picture which starts a 3 second countdown timer.

 
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Frustrations

The Sony RX0 II has a few annoying limitations though:

* No continuous autofocus while filming. It keeps the same focus distance the entire time.

* The screen goes black after recording for more than a minute or so.

* The built-in microphones aren’t that great.

* While there is a built-in external microphone jack, there is nowhere to mount it without buying a cage or attaching it to a

* Slow motion at 240 fps, 480 fps, or 960 fps is extremely pixelated and I’d only use it for fun.

* There is no in body stabilization, but there is an electronic “stable shot” setting that doesn’t get rid of the micro jitters, even when attaching the camera to a small tripod.

Recommendations

If you do pick this camera up, I’d definitely recommend getting their little tripod, the VCT-SGR1.

If you’re doing extreme or action style videos you’ll want a more stabilized camera like a GoPro Hero 7 Black (which is half the price) or the new DJI Osmo.

If you already have a Sony RX100 or Canon G7X this camera isn’t going to add more your arsenal, other than being smaller.

To me, this is a very niche camera for people that want something VERY small to document, vlog with, or use as a behind the scenes time lapses style camera.

Otherwise I’d either buy a larger camera with more features or one meant specifically for capturing action smoothly.