Sony RX1R II for Street Photography

Is the Sony RX1R II good for Street Photography?

Sony RX1R II Street Photography Score

GOOD

Sony RX1R II has a score of 79 for Street Photography which makes it a GOOD candidate for this type of photography. Sony RX1R II will satisfy most of your needs, but if you are looking for a camera that is even better suited to Street Photography, we recommend you to check the Alternative cameras at the bottom of this page.
Read our detailed Sony RX1R II Review

Sony RX1R II Street Photography Detailed Analysis

Electronic Built-in Viewfinder

Using a viewfinder during a street photography shoot allows the photographer to stabilize the camera and reduce the camera shake since it is closer to the body. Besides, it comes handy where LCD screens are very hard to read under bright sunlight.

Manual Focus Mode

You can use the manual focus mode of your camera to Zone Focus which is a popular technique used in street photography.

Live-view

Live view lets you take photos without using the viewfinder which makes you less obstrusive and this works very well during street photography where you don't want to get people's attention.

Face-Detection Focusing

Face detection focusing mode is very helpful in the street scenes where you focus on a face, since you can concentrate on framing and other adjustments while the camera handles the focus for you.

Tilting LCD Screen

An articulated screen gives you the flexibility to shoot in non traditional positions such as waist level, which helps you to be more creative and unobtrusive in the streets.

Fast Lens at Wide: f2.00

Wideangle is used more common then the tele angle in street photography. A larger aperture will give you extra shutter speed without boosting the ISO in order to reduce blur in low light conditions which is a common scene in street photography.

RAW shooting capability

RAW files contains much more color information compared to JPEGs, and gives you more room for post processing without significant quality loss. They provide wider dynamic range and option to recover shadow and highlight clipping to some degree.

Small Body

Small body of Sony RX1R II will get less attention from the people in streets and give you an amateur look, which is indeed an advantage for street photography.

Large Full frame (35.9 x 24 mm) sensor

Large sensor in Sony RX1R II ensures a good low light image quality compared to smaller sensor, and it also provide shallow depth of field and a nice blurry background when needed.

No Image Stabilization

Lack of Image stabilization may result in blurry photos especially in long exposures and at long focal lengths

35 mm - Poor Wide Angle Coverage

Having a good wide angle coverage becomes very important in street photography.

You may also be interested in these reviews:

Sony RX1R II for Portrait Photography
Sony RX1R II for Sports Photography
Sony RX1R II for Carrying Everywhere
Sony RX1R II for Landscape Photography

Sony RX1R II Alternatives in Large sensor compact cameras for Street Photography

Leica Q2 Compare RX1R II vs Q2	47 MP \| Full frame CMOS Sensor 28 mm Lens	Rank in All Cameras: #21 Rank in Compact Cameras: #1
	Imaging Features Value for Money Portability Overall Score	Portrait Street 93 Sports Daily Landscape

Leica Q Compare RX1R II vs Q Typ 116	24 MP \| Full frame CMOS Sensor 28 mm Lens	Rank in All Cameras: #50 Rank in Compact Cameras: #3
	Imaging Features Value for Money Portability Overall Score	Portrait Street 93 Sports Daily Landscape

Canon G5 X Compare RX1R II vs G5 X	20 MP \| 1" BSI-CMOS Sensor 24-100 mm Lens	Rank in All Cameras: #144 Rank in Compact Cameras: #9
	Imaging Features Value for Money Portability 90 Overall Score	Portrait Street 92 Sports Daily Landscape

Canon G1 X III Compare RX1R II vs G1 X III	24 MP \| APS-C CMOS Sensor 24-72 mm Lens	Rank in All Cameras: #116 Rank in Compact Cameras: #6
	Imaging Features Value for Money Portability Overall Score	Portrait Street 91 Sports Daily Landscape

Panasonic LX10 Compare RX1R II vs LX10	20 MP \| 1" BSI-CMOS Sensor 24-72 mm Lens	Rank in All Cameras: #254 Rank in Compact Cameras: #32
	Imaging Features Value for Money Portability 93 Overall Score	Portrait Street 90 Sports Daily Landscape

Leica Q2

Leica Q

Canon G5 X

Canon G1 X III

Panasonic LX10