RX1 - Zoom function

[Muizen -Belgium]

I have been using the zoom function of the RX1 quite regularly and obtain good results. It is not really easy to set up this function in the RX1 and I have put together a way of doing so.
Using the zooming function is easy
--
Harry

RX1 - USING THE ZOOM FUNCTION

General

The not so well known zoom function of the RX1 offers, in some instances a better zooming result than when cropping the same object at the same size out of a wide image in post processing.

When zooming the original image, size and quality in the RX1 is maintained by using a new form of interpolation technology.

In fact you digitally zoom into an object at a selected level of magnification and then the RX1 increases the zoomed image back to e.g. the original resolution of 24M, whereas cropping in p.p. will reduce resolution.

It is my experience that at a zooming range of 35 - 70mm the results seem to be better than of the cropped image. Even the range of 35 - 105mm produces fine results.

This zooming technique is easy to use when the set up, which is somewhat complicated, has been applied as I describe hereafter.

I. Preparations:

First of all the following is important:
a) Select Image Size "L:24M" (also see IV) that later can be adjusted to select your preferred zoom range.
b) Make sure Quality is in "JPEG Fine or Extra Fine"
c) De-activate the "Smile Shutter function", if necessary
d) Drive Mode has to be in "Single Shooting"
e) Make sure "Digital Zoom" is set to OFF", otherwise the quality of the zoomed image will deteriorate.

Note: The Clear Image Zoom function is not available in Movie Mode and Sweep Panorama Mode

II. Assigning the Zoom function to a programmable button

You can only use the zoom function after it has been assigned to one of the programmable buttons of the RX1 (C-Button, AEL Button, or the right, down or left buttons of the Control Wheel).

For doing so go in the Menu *3 select a button and assign "Smart Telecon./Zoom" to that button.

III. Menu settings:

In menu *3 go to item 6, Smart telecom./Zoom (STZ) and select Zoom. in Camera menu 2 set Clear Image Zoom (CIZ) to On.
If STZ is set to Smart Telecon. this will will gray out Zoom in CIZ. Not recommended!

IV. Zoom ranges, with STZ set to Zoom en CIZ to On:

By selecting a certain image size you determine the zoom range as shown hereafter:

Image Size: L: 24M zoom range max. 2x (35 - 70mm)
Image Size: M: 10M zoom range max. 3x (35 - 105mm)
Image Size: S: 4.6M zoom range max.4,5x (35 - 157,5mm)

V. Storing the Zoom function:

After you have completed the zoom function set up, store to memory: menu, camera 3 > memory and select the zooming position.

VI Using the zoom function:

Select the memory mode knob to which the zoom function has been stored in the menu.

Thereafter, by pressing the programmable button to which the zoom function has been assigned, you will get a magnification scale on the LCD. With the same button you can increase or decrease the magnification.

The zoom range depends on the selected Image Size (see IV)

VI. Shooting:

You will see the effect of the selected Zoom on the LCD.
After having selected the required Zoom value, you can shoot.

Note: this is an improvement of my earlier description of how to apply the RX1 Zoom function

 

[andrewprockter]

Thanks for the information, not got my RX1R but I will re-read this when I do soon

 

[MB17]

Muizen,

Could you pls post some results?

Thanks.

 

[Muizen -Belgium]

Posting results would have to mean comparing shots with zoom and the same object cropped in pp. I did this quite a long time ago, when I tested the zoom function, but don't have the results anymore.

For me it is not important whether I am right in preferring most of the time the zoom function over cropping. In my experience the results in zooming are (in the range of 35mm - 70 mm) very acceptable. In addition it is very easy to use this zoom function compared with having to post process. Why don't you try it yourself.

 

[MB17]

I did not mean to question your preference. I am just curious to see the result. I am considering to buy this camera, so any technique or usage that increases its versatility is interesting for me as buying a RX1 is by no means a small investment.

That's the reason of my request. An informative request, not a confrontational one.

That said if you could share some examples of what it can be achieved with the zoom will be appreciated (no need for any comparison with cropped).

BTW, thanks for the instructions on how to set the zoom.

 

[Muizen -Belgium]

I am not a professional user of internet and have so far never placed photos on internet. But it is perhaps time to find out how to place images in e.g. this Forum.
I will do so as soon as I manage this.

I have been a Leica user for many, many years and my last one was a Leica M9. I very much enjoyed Leica M9, but the RX1 clearly is a whole generation better. I enjoy the RX1 very much for its handy small to carry size and weight (I very often take it with me), and also for its really outstanding image quality.
I felt really emotionally bad ending my long time with Leica, but for the first time ever I am no longer looking for newer cameras because this is the best I ever had!
Harry

 

[MB17]

Thanks for the answer. Good to know people love the RX1. I look forward to see the pictures whenever you are able to post them.

My current doubt is that I have the RX100M2 which is very handy and capable camera, though in another very different league from the RX1. But I am considering a second camera for a WOW factor. Thus my request.

Thanks.

 

[Mike Fewster]

Thanks for the answer. Good to know people love the RX1. I look forward to see the pictures whenever you are able to post them.

My current doubt is that I have the RX100M2 which is very handy and capable camera, though in another very different league from the RX1. But I am considering a second camera for a WOW factor. Thus my request.

Thanks.

I'd go along with your thinking. I have an RX100 and a great camera it is. But it just doesn't touch the IQ of the RX1. You just wont get more Wow factor then the RX1. It is also worth being aware of the close up range of the RX1. It is capable of wonderful detail when you put it into this mode and that lens really performs wide open right across the image.

 

[Digital Nigel]

I've posted results that demonstrate the clear image zoom (with other Sony RX caneras) is no better than cropping and upscaling a RAW image. So it may be useful for a JPEG shooter, but not for a RAW shooter.

 

[MB17]

Thanks for the answer. Good to know people love the RX1. I look forward to see the pictures whenever you are able to post them.

My current doubt is that I have the RX100M2 which is very handy and capable camera, though in another very different league from the RX1. But I am considering a second camera for a WOW factor. Thus my request.

Thanks.

I'd go along with your thinking. I have an RX100 and a great camera it is. But it just doesn't touch the IQ of the RX1. You just wont get more Wow factor then the RX1. It is also worth being aware of the close up range of the RX1. It is capable of wonderful detail when you put it into this mode and that lens really performs wide open right across the image.

 

[Muizen -Belgium]

I've posted results that demonstrate the clear image zoom (with other Sony RX caneras) is no better than cropping and upscaling a RAW image. So it may be useful for a JPEG shooter, but not for a RAW shooter.

If it is, as you concluded "no better than cropping and upscaling in RAW", that is fine.
The zoomed image should not be better, but in my view, it is easier to make and enables to make the right composition from the beginning like using a zoom lens.

--

Harry

 

[Carmen13]

I've posted results that demonstrate the clear image zoom (with other Sony RX caneras) is no better than cropping and upscaling a RAW image. So it may be useful for a JPEG shooter, but not for a RAW shooter.

That is the caveat - you cannot use the zoom and shoot in RAW. But. I do feel that I can get certain shots with the zoom that I can't get without it. On paper, cropping looks like the way to go and ideally it would be, but in certain situations (at least for me) the zoom nails more shots for exposure and precise focus.

And as a consolation for losing RAW, RX1 JPEGs aren't exactly ugly ducklings. :-D

Here's a couple I took that I haven't done any processing on yet (this is slightly scaled down - the originals are 2640 x 1760):

 

[Digital Nigel]

I've posted results that demonstrate the clear image zoom (with other Sony RX caneras) is no better than cropping and upscaling a RAW image. So it may be useful for a JPEG shooter, but not for a RAW shooter.

That is the caveat - you cannot use the zoom and shoot in RAW. But. I do feel that I can get certain shots with the zoom that I can't get without it. On paper, cropping looks like the way to go and ideally it would be, but in certain situations (at least for me) the zoom nails more shots for exposure and precise focus.

And as a consolation for losing RAW, RX1 JPEGs aren't exactly ugly ducklings. :-D

I suppose it's a matter of personal taste, but here's an example I took last week of why I much prefer to crop on my computer's large monitor, rather than my camera's little 3" rear screen or EVF. It was taken with my NEX-7, which has exactly the same 6000x4000 resolution as the RX1, and includes the same EVF which is optional on the RX1.

It was taken with an SEL18200 zoom lens, set at 107mm, or about 160mm in RX1 terms (obviously an RX1 user couldn't do this). It was taken in the Monteverde cloud forest, in Costa Rica, and was the first time I've tried to shoot hummingbirds in flight (which is even harder than I thought, but helped in this case because of the well-placed feeder). As always, I was shooting RAW.

The first pic is as cropped while processing:

Cropped image of a Green-crowned Brilliant hummingbird (Heliodoxa jacula)

The next pic is the full image. Note that I could have zoomed-in much more (with proper optical zoom, not the second-rate digital CIZ), to 200mm, but I found it just too hard to focus on one hovering bird, so I preferred to zoom out a bit, and crop later. The full image has been uploaded full-size:

Full size image

Obviously, I wanted to crop out the feeder that was attracting the birds and helping me to get the shot in the first place.

 

[Digital Nigel]

I've posted results that demonstrate the clear image zoom (with other Sony RX caneras) is no better than cropping and upscaling a RAW image. So it may be useful for a JPEG shooter, but not for a RAW shooter.

If it is, as you concluded "no better than cropping and upscaling in RAW", that is fine.
The zoomed image should not be better, but in my view, it is easier to make and enables to make the right composition from the beginning like using a zoom lens.

Here's a CIZ equivalent I shot earlier this month in Limón Bay, while our ship was waiting to enter the Panama Canal from the Caribbean side. Someone with binoculars spotted a ship a long way off that looked like it was North Korean. The air was hazy in the afternoon heat, and you could barely see the ship with the naked eye. I zoomed in to the max 200mm (300mm, in RX1 terms) with my NEX-7, and this is what the unprocessed image looks like:

Long lens (300mm equivalent), unprocessed shot of the DPRK cargo ship, Chong Chon Gang, impounded at Colon after being caught carrying concealed Soviet-era arms for refurbishment, in a sugar cargo from Cuba to North Korea.

And this is what the cropped, re-sized image looked like after a little attention in DxO; it's still not super-clear, but you can still see a lot more detail. I was more than happy to crop and process this on the computer, rather than using any sort of additional zoom on the camera:

Cropped and re-sized to 3000x2000. Behind the ship can be seen the 1893 French-built Toro Point Lighthouse at Fort Sherman, dating from the first failed Canal project.

 

[elliottnewcomb]

I've posted results that demonstrate the clear image zoom (with other Sony RX caneras) is no better than cropping and upscaling a RAW image. So it may be useful for a JPEG shooter, but not for a RAW shooter.

That is the caveat - you cannot use the zoom and shoot in RAW. But. I do feel that I can get certain shots with the zoom that I can't get without it. On paper, cropping looks like the way to go and ideally it would be, but in certain situations (at least for me) the zoom nails more shots for exposure and precise focus.

And as a consolation for losing RAW, RX1 JPEGs aren't exactly ugly ducklings. :-D

Here's a couple I took that I haven't done any processing on yet (this is slightly scaled down - the originals are 2640 x 1760):

These are quite nice consolation jpegs. View the larger size.

As you say, the ability to zoom, have the camera be able to preset exposure and focus only on the zoomed area can and often will make a difference. You can also refine focus using DMF or MF while zoomed, and, you can adjust the exposure while you are viewing the zoomed area.

I find my RX10 CIZ even better than my rx100 which gives me many consolation jpegs. The
RX10 IS appears better than rx100 IS, the RX10 has the bionz x processor, and, technically, the RX10 Clear Image Zoom uses Center Focus when zoomed, while the rx100 uses multi area focus while zoomed.

I wonder if RX1 uses center focus or multi focus when in CIZ?



--
Elliott

 

[Section10]

Thank you for this...

I've tried this before but I was under the impression you can use CIZ to 'zoom' in a little and still keep the picture at 24mp..I haven't been able to do that..

The picture basically just gets cropped into a 16mp version just like if you were to do it in PP...

I still can't figure out how...

What am I missing..

 

[Muizen -Belgium]

Thank you for this...

I've tried this before but I was under the impression you can use CIZ to 'zoom' in a little and still keep the picture at 24mp..I haven't been able to do that..

The picture basically just gets cropped into a 16mp version just like if you were to do it in PP...

I still can't figure out how...

What am I missing..

--
Perhaps was your "Image Size" not set to L:24M?
Harry

 

[DFPanno]

Why would anyone waste their time monkeying with this feature when you can do this far more easily and accurately on a monitor at home ?

Last thing I want to do when I am out and about is to have my nose pressed at to the LCD and play with features that don't really contribute to the task at hand.

Hard for me to imagine that anyone that would spend over $3000.00 US on a camera would not know how to crop an image to "zoom".

 

[Digital Nigel]

Why would anyone waste their time monkeying with this feature when you can do this far more easily and accurately on a monitor at home ?

Last thing I want to do when I am out and about is to have my nose pressed at to the LCD and play with features that don't really contribute to the task at hand.

Hard for me to imagine that anyone that would spend over $3000.00 US on a camera would not know how to crop an image to "zoom".

Exactly. I find it very hard to understand why RAW shooters would waste time with this pointless feature when you can do much better in post-processing. But if there are people who buy an RX1 just to shoot JPEGs, I suppose it does have a use (better to get the camera to crop and resize the RAW image than for the user to do so with a compressed JPEG). Personally, I always consider cropping when processing RAW images, but I hardly ever then upsize them as this just makes the image file larger for no extra image quality.

The worst of all would be to post-process a CIZ image, which would have already been cropped, upsized and compressed in the camera before another round of editing, straightening, cropping, perhaps resizing and compressing.

 

[Carmen13]

These are quite nice consolation jpegs. View the larger size.

The zoom is generally kind of for consolation jpegs, I know. Not for preference over RAW for the most part, but in situations where the focus point is quickly changing it can make the difference between getting really close to what you want in terms of results vs. spending time in post processing just to bring most of the values up to the same level - assuming the focus is as good. Sometimes though, zooming obviously won't be acceptable. I shot these on the side while taking pictures for an event, so these were just for me.

(I do need to read up on the differences of zoom options; I actually forget what the name of the one I used here is...it is the one that crops in camera. I guess there is one that keeps it at full size? Not my forte, really...)

I wonder if RX1 uses center focus or multi focus when in CIZ?

I'm curious too. I sense center, but it just creates this big green square around the whole window so it's kind of vague. A bit disconcerting.