xBhp’s association with Sony cameras goes back a long time! For the first couple of years, all the photos on xBhp that were clicked by me were taken with a 1.3 megapixel Sony point-and-shoot cameras. Such was my love for Sony that I ended up naming my personal website as www.itsaSunny.net inspired by www.itsaSony.com back then.
Fast forward to 2017, when the PowerTrip360 was being planed, we were looking for camera solutions that were not only best in image quality but were also lightweight. In fact, the weight was the first concern since this ride is going to be on two sport bikes that aren’t really ideal for long-distance touring and the shortage of luggage space was going to be a big deciding factor. And that is when Sony’s mirrorless range of cameras appeared to fit into the picture.
The good folks at Sony India liked what xBhp had done with the camera in the past and were pretty impressed with the scope of photography this upcoming roadtrip promised. So just a day before we were about to leave for Australia, we received a big carton containing the goodies from Sony India.
The Sony guys sent us some of their top-of-the-line imaging equipment including Alpha 7S II & Alpha 7R II mirrorless cameras, the little wonder point & shoot RX100, the superzoom RX10 III, and their FDR X3000 action cameras along with a host of other camera goodies.
Lets talk about the big guys first – the Alpha 7S II & the Alpha 7R II. The Alpha 7SII is nothing short of a miracle camera. It has a 35 mm full frame Exmor CMOS sensor with ultra high sensitivity up to ISO 409,600 and it can see and click pictures in pitch dark. And that is its superpower. On paper, it is 12 megapixel only, which would seem like less than what today’s smartphone cameras have, but if you see what it can do with those 12 MPs, you won’t believe your eyes.
Check out the video above to see the demo.
Then we have the Alpha 7R II, the 42-megapixel full frame mirrorless from Sony with 399 phase detection AF points, 5 axis stabilization, and hosts of other goodies packed inside this body.
Both of these above cameras have built-in wifi, NFC connectivity, 5 axis stabilization, and as stated earlier a bunch of other features and ‘superpowers’ which we will describe later as we explore them.
Then we have a tiny P&S shoot camera by Sony, interestingly named RX100. Tell me if that name didn’t bring a smile on your face. The name alone makes it a must have in a biker’s garage. This incredibly tiny thing packs a punch and has a 20.2 megapixels Exmor Sensor, can shoot up to ISO 6400, and hold your breath, it can shoot super slo-mo video at 1000 frames per second.
We also got what Sony calls RX10 III, which is a bridge or a prosumer camera, and it literally blurs the line between a P&S camera and a professional camera. It is almost as big as an entry level DSLR and has got a large aperture 24-600 mm f2.4-4 zoom Zeiss Vario-Sonnar lens and that makes it the only camera you might need for all your shooting needs without having to carry multiple lenses for various shooting requirements. And like the RX100, it can shoot at 1000 FPS super slow motion videos.
Talking about lens, we were given 4 lenses by Sony India, which are their top of the line lenses, and the list includes Sony FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM, Sony 10-18mm f/4 Wide-Angle Zoom Lens, Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM, and Sony 85mm 1.4 GM prime lens. Here, the GM stands for their Grand Master series, which is their top of the line lens series.
And last but not the last, we have 3 FDR X3000 action cameras by Sony India, which can shoot 4K videos and have built in GPS/wifi. There is a big range of accessories/mounts as well to mount these cameras wherever we want them to. The camera body itself looks like a piece of art and is splash resistant. It also comes with a plastic housing, which makes it 100% dustproof & waterproof up to 60 m. And to make life easier, we have the Live View Remote kit which connects with the camera over wifi and gives you the live feed from the camera, and also you can control the camera with the remote. It can be worn over the wrist or can be mounted over the motorcycle handlebar to get that perfect shot every single time.
Besides that, we have a bunch of other Sony camera accessories like the wireless microphone to record the sound, flash lights, spare batteries and chargers, remote flash triggers, etc., which will make this trip super fun and exciting. Looks like we’ll be shooting more pictures and videos per kilometer than we’ve ever done before.
Thank you, Sony India for all these goodies to record our memories.