Sony RX100 minimum focus distance?

Lennart Elg

New Member
I just received my RX100 and am generally very happy with my choice. However, one concern I have is that while it seems to live up to the stated 5 cm minimum focus at the wide angle setting, the minimum focus distance increases rapidly as I zoom towards the tele end. Has anyone actually stated - or measured - the minimum focus distance at the tele end? My first experiments seem to indicate that if I want to fill my screen with a flower or similar, I need to use wide angle and get the lens up really close.
 
I haven't measured anything, but the camera is pretty well known for its limited macro capabilities. Whereas the LX5/7 and GRD3/4 have crazy short minimum focus distances (less than 1cm I believe), the Sony's larger sensor and longer focal lengths limit it. And I recall reading that "macro" only works at the widest angle. In fairness, I never remember using macro on the LX5 at anything except the widest settings either, although I don't remember for certain whether there was any macro capability still available at the longer focal lengths. I just tried focussing on some text with the long end of the RX100 and the camera was somewhere in the neighborhood of 18-24 inches from the paper before focus locked. So, no, don't count on it for macro shooting except for the limited capability at the widest setting...

-Ray
 
Yeah, this is typical of compact cameras. The LX5 can get within 1/2" at wide angle, but at full telephoto it's over a foot. I don't believe there are any compacts that act otherwise.

IIRC, the new Panny FZ200 is supposed to be able to have a MFD of about 3 ft, at the full 600mm. That's fairly awesome.
 
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