First footage from Sony's 4K RX10 Mk II

Sony RX 10 II first footage

The Sony RX10 Mk II is a curious and rather exciting little camera. Packed into its diminutive frame is a very good Zeiss constant F 2.8 lens and a 4K video recorder. It is, of course, primarily a still camera, but you wouldn't necessarily think so from its video credentials.

Topologically, the Sony camera is exactly the same as a traditional camcorder: a fixed lens coupled to a recording camera. Ergonomically it's very different. You can't put this device on your shoulder or even hold it like a camcorder. It's like it's a video camera trapped in a still camera's body: exactly the contradiction that's faced video makers ever since the Canon 5D Mk II.

But if you can look past this slight awkwardness, maybe with a special rig, or just by getting used to it, you have a camera that records fantastic-looking 4K movies with a modern codec. With this combination of lens and camera, it's hard to think of better 4K value for money.

(I should declare an interest here. I have an RX10 MK 1 and I love it. You can take it anywhere and use it for remarkably sharp-looking stills and video.)

Here's a video shot by Jacek Zarzycki in Leeds and York (in Northern England).

It looks ungraded but is certainly sharp. Interestingly, there's a sequence that seems to have been taking from a moving vehicle (at around 1:04) and - even when a bus drives in the opposite direction - there's only slight evidence of rolling shutter.