The Bite Magazine - Spring 2019 - Issue 24

bite gadgets E lectronics giant Sony has added a new model to their line-up of highly popular compact cameras with the launch of the world’s smallest and lightest premium compact camera, RXO II. Not only is it waterproof, dust- proof, shockproof and crushproof but it now has 4K recording, an up to 180-degree and down to 90-degree tilt-able LCD screen that works underwater, along with new image stabilisation solutions for video recording. The latest addition has been equipped with a 1.0-type stacked 15.3-megapixel Exmore RS CMOS image sensor and an advanced BIOZ X image processing engine that offers enhanced colour reproduction including beautiful skin tones. This power-packed combination has been optimised to deliver lighting fast per- formance and exquisite image quality for both stills and movie shooting against a wide sensitivity range of ISO 80-12800. Its ZEISS Tessar T 24mm F4.0 fixed wide-angle lens has a short- ened focusing distance of 20cm, making it perfect for selfies or table-top photos. Due to its size, the camera can be taken into places that no other camera could go. Measuring just 59mm x 40.5mm x 35mm and weighing just 132g, the RXO II fits easily into a pocket and is ready for whatever the elements can throw at it. “The development goal of the original RXO was to build a camera that enabled new forms of creative expression through its form factor and technical capabilities,” said Yann Salmon Legagneur, Director of Product Marketing for Digital Imaging at Sony Eu- rope. “We have built upon this with the new RXO II and added features and functionality that we believe make this an ideal camera for any type of travel and will perform equally as well as a stills or video camera across a huge range of shooting and vlogging scenarios.” Offering 4K 30p internal movie recording, it has full pixel readout and no pixel binning to collect approximately 1.7 times the amount of data required for 4K video. This oversampling reduces the appearance of moiré and jaggies, thus delivering smooth, high quality 4K footage with exceptional detail and depth. And by using the recently introduced Sony Imaging Edge mobile applica- tions, the footage can be transferred to a smartphone, edited and shared easily across social networks. For steady footage, even when shot handheld, the RXO II has an in-body electronic stabilisation that can be further enhanced when the footage is exported to a smartphone or tablet run- ning the ‘Movie Edit add-on' application. This allows additional information captured during filming to be processed in order to produce a video with gimbal-like smoothness. Another additional new feature that can be accessed via Sony ‘Movie Edit add-on' is ‘Intelligent Framing’ where the selected subject is kept in the centre of the frame and image distortion is corrected in a final edit. Depending on where the video will be shared, the required aspect ratio can then be selected. An addi- tional movie feature, Super Slow-Motion records up to 1000 fps, with uncompressed 4K HDMI output and simultaneous proxy movie recording. The RXO II can also be used for precision photography, offering a host of still features in addition to its video capabilities. It has an Anti-distortion Shutter of up to 1/32000 seconds and can shoot up to 16 fps, which means it can capture any fleeting moment of emotion that passes across the subject’s face. In an upgrade from the original RXO, colour reproduction has been enhanced to reproduce natural and vivid colours of human skin, and the optional ‘Soft Skin Effect’ can be applied to cover minor blemish- es and wrinkles. Sony RXO II is available online and at participating retailers. www.sony.net