Sony Sony RX-100 User Thread

^I don't believe a camera necessarily has to have a sensor of the same size to be competitive. The faster lens should make it pretty competitive, even though it's larger. The price difference will also make potential customers doubt between these cameras, and the EX2F, so yes, they are competitors.
 
^I don't believe a camera necessarily has to have a sensor of the same size to be competitive. The faster lens should make it pretty competitive, even though it's larger. The price difference will also make potential customers doubt between these cameras, and the EX2F, so yes, they are competitors.

In low light I believe you are correct, but at low ISO the bigger sensor is much more useful than a fast lens. For what I've seen at base ISO I wouldn't be surprised if the Sony RX100 beat even my Fuji X100 regarding actual resolution (but the Fuji has better dynamic range I think).
 
true, so long as the ISO can be kept low, the RX100 is a gamechanger. Even at higher ISO's it should not really lose out to its competition (which I'll define as the 1/1.7" type sensor class), although its advantage will be smaller or null due to the competition's faster lenses and lower ISO's.

My main point was, some people think that the RX100 has no competition, which is obviously not true. Having better IQ in a similar or smaller size is one heck of a USP, but it's not the only thing that potential consumers will be looking for; lens speed, user interface, rotating screens, hot shoe, ability to accept conversion lenses, and price can all be important parts of the equation, and people considering the RX100 may well find that another "serious compact" suits their needs better.
 
A lot of so-called enthusiasts knocked the RX100 when announced because it had no external viewfinder. If the LX7 has that option attaching to the hotshoe maybe they'll go for that.

I wanted a really pocketable camera and fully retracting lens. The external viewfinder isn't really that important to me as I find I can use the Sony LCD even in bright light.

So I'm very happy with my purchase and just wish I had more time to learn its controls to get the best out of it
 
Received mine yesterday and so far am quite impressed! The big reason I switched from the Fuji X100 to this camera was to make it easier for my wife to take pics. She never learned to appreciate the X100 like I did lol. With that in mind I wanted to try the camera on the setting that she will use. These are JPEGs taken on "Intelligent Auto". I imported them into Aperture and hit them with the "Auto Enhance" feature. I then printed them at 8x10 to see the results. I am very happy to say the least.

These are of my grandson who is my favorite (and most tolerating) subject.


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RX100 - Water Park by keven v, on Flickr


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RX100 - Water Park by keven v, on Flickr


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RX100 - Water Park by keven v, on Flickr


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RX100 - Water Park by keven v, on Flickr
 
I see why your grandson is such a tolerating subject, he's far too busy playing with water to worry about a camera! Fun pics, I particularly like the first one :) skintones seem to have a film-like feel to them, very nice! I think personally I'd town down the saturation a tiny bit, but for the amount of effort that's gone into them, these are really, really nice! Great detail in the background!
 
Thanks - I think I get all of that. But when you're in manual focus, is there any sort of distance scale that shows you the distance you're focussed at? Most fixed lens cameras with manual focus seem to have some version of that, some with a depth of field indicator on it as well. Something so that I could just turn the manual focus control to set the focal distance at, say 2 feet, 5 feet, 10 feet, infinity, or something like that (maybe in meters rather than feet)???

-Ray

No, there is no distance scale or dof indicator. But thanks to focus peaking MF or pre-focusing are quick and easy, even in bright sunlight.
 
Love the shot of your best friend.
Really shows off the vibrancy of the colours achieved with this little camera.

Seems to be a lot of focus on competition with the LX7 but I'm not sure why. I simply want to get the most out of this camera and am not too fussed whether some think the LX7 might have certain better features. There will always be other cameras and always be people who prefer other brands. I know enough people who can't go past Canon and wouldn't take kindly to my referring them to an ophthalmologist for tunnel vision.

The RX100 is a great camera. Full stop
 
Love the shot of your best friend.
Really shows off the vibrancy of the colours achieved with this little camera.

Seems to be a lot of focus on competition with the LX7 but I'm not sure why. I simply want to get the most out of this camera and am not too fussed whether some think the LX7 might have certain better features. There will always be other cameras and always be people who prefer other brands. I know enough people who can't go past Canon and wouldn't take kindly to my referring them to an ophthalmologist for tunnel vision.

The RX100 is a great camera. Full stop
 
Seems to be a lot of focus on competition with the LX7 but I'm not sure why. I simply want to get the most out of this camera and am not too fussed whether some think the LX7 might have certain better features. There will always be other cameras and always be people who prefer other brands. I know enough people who can't go past Canon and wouldn't take kindly to my referring them to an ophthalmologist for tunnel vision.

The RX100 is a great camera. Full stop
I think those comparisons are inevitable and sort of a big reason this forum exists. A bunch of people who like shooting with these good little cameras trying to figure out which is better for THEM. There is no one right or wrong answer, but there probably is for me and there clearly is for you... These two cameras are getting a lot of attention right now because they're the two newest releases in this very popular (at least around these parts) category. So a lot of us are trying to get a handle on the plusses and minuses of each. When the new Olympus and Samsung and Ricoh entries show up, they'll get a ton of discussion to I'd bet. As the G1X has in recent months.

I appreciate the information you've been able to provide on the RX100 - I know its not for me for a couple of reasons, but I'm kind of sorry about that because its an awfully compelling little package. Not sure about the LX7 yet, but I look forward to learning more about that as well.

Meanwhile, I'm glad you're digging your RX100!

-Ray
 
Thanks a lot for my best friend's shot, he likes taking pictures also so I showed him this little gem, the camera power was on and when he put this flower to his eye he probably guessed I would grab it, but it didn't last.

For the rest I have a few gripes about this rx100 on the ergonomy side, too small size for my hands and auto iso in manual mode, but I'm giving it a try nevertheless, we're going to London, with wife and kids this weekend, and hope to have the presence to take a few good shots.

Love the shot of your best friend.
Really shows off the vibrancy of the colours achieved with this little camera.

Seems to be a lot of focus on competition with the LX7 but I'm not sure why. I simply want to get the most out of this camera and am not too fussed whether some think the LX7 might have certain better features. There will always be other cameras and always be people who prefer other brands. I know enough people who can't go past Canon and wouldn't take kindly to my referring them to an ophthalmologist for tunnel vision.

The RX100 is a great camera. Full stop
 
. . . . I know its not for me for a couple of reasons, but I'm kind of sorry about that because its an awfully compelling little package. -Ray

I'm curious to know what those "couple of reasons" are, Ray, given your extensive street experience. It looks like a good pocket camera to me. The stuff I have been seeing on the RX100 Flickr group looks good.
 
I'm curious to know what those "couple of reasons" are, Ray, given your extensive street experience. It looks like a good pocket camera to me. The stuff I have been seeing on the RX100 Flickr group looks good.

First off Dan, I should qualify every statement like that with, "at this point". I kind of felt the same way about the X-10 and X-Pro initially too and we know how THOSE turned out! I am quite impressed by the image quality I've seen from the RX-100. My main issue is that, from everything I've been able to gather both here and on DPR, its not at all well set up for the way I like to shoot on the street. And while I don't buy pocket camera's primarily as street cameras (other than the GRD3), it would be hard for me to buy a camera without feeling like I could comfortably use it for that. From what I can tell, there's NO indicator on screen of your focal distance or your depth of field while you're in manual focus. The DOF guide I can do without because I find most of them far more conservative than I am to begin with. But a focus distance indicator is more or less essential to me. I do nearly everything on the street in zone focus (except in really really low light, where I usually can't work out enough DOF to use it) and to set it up, I have to be able to easily set the camera to focus at 3 feet, at 5 feet, at 8 feet, etc. It sounds like the RX100 is the best compact yet for critical focus in manual focus because of its focus peaking, but for zone focus, it just doesn't seem to provide the information I need. There are kludges and workarounds, just as there are for m43 cameras with lenses other than the Olympus 12mm (which was designed with zone focus in mind), but they're a bit of a PIA. And with most cameras in this category really easy to set up for zone focus, I just don't see myself buying a $650 camera that I need wrestle with to use the way I like.

This is not a criticism, BTW - people who still use zone focus have GOT to be the smallest micro-niche in existence in the photographic marketplace. But most small cameras, nonetheless, make it very easy to do, ranging from Ricoh which is the easiest of any, to the Fujis and Panasonics which make it easy enough, and even Canon and Nikon compacts which aren't great for it, but at least provide SOME indication of your focus distance to work from.

So that's the primary deal breaker for me. I also had a Canaon S90 for a while and actually found it a bit TOO small and fiddly for me. The LX5, which is a bit bigger, just always felt like more of a real CAMERA that happened to be small, rather than a really tiny box that also happened to take great photographs. And the design and controls of the RX100 strike me as very similar to, probably based on, the Canon S90, 95, 100 interface. So I'm biased against it there too. But it may feel quite different in actual use, so I could be wrong on that one.

Finally, as good as some of the files look, I have philosophical issues with 20mp sensors, particularly in a still relatively small sensor. I know they're making them better and better and better, but I was always happy with 10-12 and have accepted 16 in m43 bodies somewhat reluctantly. If the X100 can do what it does with 12mp, I'm just personally a bit unhinged about the idea of 24mp in the Nex7 or 20mp in this cam. Just in terms of file uploads and processing overhead, if nothing else. I know these are great cameras and produce great images, but I just don't like the megapixel wars and try to stay out of them until the results are just too compelling to ignore (like the OMD and X-Pro with 16mp when I'd have preferred 12).

Bottom line, once they show up in my local Best Buy, I'm sure I'll go give one a serious play and see what I think. I could EASILY end up walking out with one. But from what I know now, its not for me. I'm more inclined toward the LX7, despite what I assume will be slightly lesser IQ, just for the controls and shooting experience and lens speed. I'm already familiar with the LX5 and loved it and the LX7 has a couple more external controls that will make it a LOT better (again, for MY use - maybe not for most other folks). And I suspect the LX7 will have somewhat better IQ than the LX5, which I was already more than satisfied with for a compact. So I'm much more inclined that way. OTOH, I don't have any particular need for a compact camera right now and might not add ANYTHING to the GRD3 I have and don't see any point in selling. But if I was to buy one, that's where my inclinations are, based on what I know now, before we see what Olympus and Ricoh and whoever else might have up their sleeves...

-Ray
 
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