In my last article, I discussed how the Sony RX100 IV created a category for itself, effectively helping to rewrite how photographs can be taken. However, besides being an amazing still camera, I’d like to explore why the Sony RX 100 IV is also great for video. As a photographer, I do not really know how, and if, the RX100 IV is reshaping the moving image world, but it certainly gives me access to a set of tools previously inaccessible to photographers.
So, video…where do I even start? At this stage most of you read about technical video capabilities of this camera. Just to quickly highlight the numbers:
4K at 30fps at 100Mbps bitrate
1080 at 120fps at 100Mbps
HFR / High Frame Rate shooting with up to 1000fps footage
Let’s get the first part out of the way: 4K video is stunning. If you are into filming UHD clips for your vlog or want to document a short event in your life this footage will allow considerable cropping for reframing, and performs extensive shake reduction when downsizing to 1080.
One more spectacular feature is the RX 100 IV’s ability to stabilize the image while filming. I already mentioned in a previous article that quite long exposures are possible without a tripod, and the same applies to video. Once Intelligent Active SteadyShot is activated no complicated rigs are needed to get a nice, smooth recording. Below is a raw footage taken from a bicycle. Notice going up curb just after 12 seconds.
As a photographer though, I was mostly spellbound by the slow motion capabilities of the RX 100 IV. Even though the industry has been talking about the convergence of photography and video for a while now, I still believe in the tremendous strength of a still photograph. The 1000fps High Frame Rate feature comes as close to it as possible adding extra layer of intricacy, resulting in something that is a cross between still and moving image. Over the course of a year 2014 Magnum p
hotographer Jonas Bendiksen captured a series that he called “Still Films,” and I think it is a name that very closely describes the RX100 IV’s slow motion potential.
Certain details of the world around us remain incredibly illusive and HFR video unravels a little bit of the secrets, making it possible to take a short dip into a world that’s normally too fast for our eyes to catch.
One of the most mysterious movements that is hard to illustrate in a single photograph is water. Shooting at 1000fps allows me to expand a 2-second long recording (when we choose quality priority over length priority allowing for 4 seconds of recording) to over one minute, deciphering some of its movements and creating a quite enchanting show.
There are, however, many more spectacles that I never thought I would be able to capture on my camera. Slow motion that was up until quite recently reserved only for high budget film and TV production suddenly found its way into a pocket camera and even though it didn’t make me an instant wildlife filmmaker, it certainly opened doors to see the world in a new way.
Just like with a photograph, finding right light at the right moment is the key and if we add some perseverance to the mix, rewards can be quite extraordinary.
High quality setting of HFR footage is “only” 1136×384 up-scaled to 1080 but why get obsessed with HD resolution having such unique tool in hand? We got used to crystal clear images so much that it sometimes makes us forget that real magic is not in the quality but in the story told. In this case, uniqueness of footage that can be created using 1000fps is breaking so many limits that I don’t usually use other video options this little camera offers.
That’s all from me this time, next time we will wrap this series and look ahead for new adventures in looking through a viewfinder.
All accompanying video was taken by Marcin Lewandowski using Sony RX100 MK IV. If you would like to see more of my work, please have a look at my website: soundofphotography.com, and if you want me to look at some features and capabilities of the RX 100 IV in particular, please just mention it in the comments.
