Sony RX100 - DPChallenge Forums

Samsung Galaxy S25, S25+, S25 Ultra

08/15/2012 11:23:20 PM · #1

The sample images on the Sony RX100 on photography blog blow me away....

I am thinking I need a pocket camera! But oh so expensive and too little zoom. Nonetheless, I'm impressed enough to consider it. I sometimes don't get pics that good out of my D7000! Might be a good addition to that and a good camera for my bike.

Check out this shot for example:

//img.photographyblog.com/reviews/sony_cybershot_dsc_rx100/sample_images/sony_cybershot_dsc_rx100_42.jpg

or this one:

//img.photographyblog.com/reviews/sony_cybershot_dsc_rx100/sample_images/sony_cybershot_dsc_rx100_14.jpg

Other than having only a limit focal range, is this a DSLR in your pocket or what?

Talk me out of it before I spend $650!!!! (as much as an entry level DSLR!)

Message edited by author 2012-08-15 23:23:28.

Tiberius

Panasonic Lumix G 14mm F2.5 ASPH

08/16/2012 12:49:39 AM · #2

You were considering m4/3... What happened to that thought?

The links don't work: 403 - Forbidden

spiritualspatula

Panasonic LUMIX DMC-LX100

08/16/2012 12:53:53 AM · #3

That's the same camera that

heavyj picked up and had all those problems with... but he might be able to give you some detail on how it actually worked etc, since he did buy one and at least mess with it some...
I'm not sure how it all resolved, but I'd say he's a good bet to talk to.

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

08/16/2012 01:32:03 AM · #4

I don't know why the links don't work...probably no direct linking.

Here's the review:

//www.photographyblog.com/reviews/sony_cybershot_dsc_rx100_review/

I am still considering MFT but this seems to make more sense if I am also keeping my SLR. A camera that fits in your pocket, but takes SLR like pics!

scalvert

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

08/16/2012 01:47:35 AM · #5

Fair warning: this camera has a much smaller sensor than, say, the Canon G1 X, and supposedly suffers from high noise.

Message edited by author 2012-08-16 01:49:43.

bspurgeon

Fujifilm x100

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM

08/16/2012 02:08:29 AM · #6

Other choices.

Olympus XZ-1

Panasonix Lumix DMC-LX5

Fujifilm X10

Olyuzi

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX7

Panasonic Lumix G 14mm F2.5 ASPH

08/16/2012 04:03:09 AM · #7

The RX-100 loses lens speed quickly the higher you go in the zoom range. 35mm (equiv) max aperture is f2.8 and by 50mm is f3.5. Unless you're going to be shooting at the wide end alot (great street shooter) there may be better options. I think the only reason the pigeon shot had such shallow DOF was because it was shot at close range, and the RX does have good macro capability.

The images you posted are ooc jpgs. Check RAW file samples to compare image quality. I'd personally like to see you do something more exciting, for $300 more a Sigma DP2 could be had. Great IQ at low ISOs but it's limiting in that it has a fixed focal length. I guess it all depends on how and for what you will be using the camera.

Tiberius

Samsung Galaxy S25, S25+, S25 Ultra

Panasonic Lumix G 14mm F2.5 ASPH

08/16/2012 04:33:12 AM · #8

Samples of RX-100 images were also posted at dpreview.com

Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM

08/19/2012 12:28:36 PM · #9

I thought and thought about it, backpedaled, read lots of pros and cons...and finally ordered it last night. Way expensive for a pocket cam, but I'm generally impressed!

Even the Popular Photography article, which basically said noise was unacceptable, had some examples that wow'd me. In fact, it's funny to see their analysis.

This shot: //www.popphoto.com/files//_images/201206/_dsc0092.jpg

ISO 6400 from a pocket cam! They said unacceptable noise after 800. It doesn't look sharp when you pixel peep, but then again it's a jpeg not raw capture, and sony does oversmooth. But look at the detail that's still there. And when fit to my 30" monitor, it looks pretty damn impressive. I can see details in the office windows too.

And this one at ISO 800 I think is pretty impressive in detail and general sharpness...also considering we're talking about a JPEG. RAWs will be sharper.

//www.popphoto.com/files/_images/201206/_dsc0159.jpg

But one's I've found elsewhere, especially people portraits, are pretty impressive too:

//mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/cameras/Sony/RX100/Sample%20Images/_DSC0244.JPG
//www.sony.jp/cyber-shot/pre_include/images/photo-sample_rx100_03.jpg

I don't get images that nice from my SLR sometimes.

Cory

Canon EOS-1D Mark IV

08/19/2012 01:03:09 PM · #10

Originally posted by Neil:

Gotta say, my S95 is one superb camera for the size, I think this one might out perform it a bit in real-life - I bet you'll be quite happy..

scalvert

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

08/19/2012 01:25:15 PM · #11

Originally posted by Cory:

Gotta say, my S95 is one superb camera for the size, I think this one might out perform it a bit in real-life - I bet you'll be quite happy..

Neil already owns the comparable Lumix LX5, so it will be interesting to see if the difference is worth it.

08/20/2012 11:39:33 PM · #12

Originally posted by scalvert:

Originally posted by Cory:
Gotta say, my S95 is one superb camera for the size, I think this one might out perform it a bit in real-life - I bet you'll be quite happy..

Neil already owns the comparable Lumix LX5, so it will be interesting to see if the difference is worth it.

Well it will be here tomorrow so we'll see...

But in the RX100's favor:

More than twice the sensor size...much bigger than the Fuji X10 too.
CMOS versus CCD
Twice the resolution (not always good, but it seems to handle it well (rated better than the 10 mp Nikon 1, which is the same sensor size)
AND a 28-100mm (equiv) f/1.8-4.9 Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* - the Zeiss 24mm prime for the Sony NEX series is $1099.

And will fit in my pants pocket. Great in theory, expensive, but the shots I've seen look like they're worth it!

But tomorrow we'll see!

Interestingly, much bigger, but for almost the same price you can also buy the NEX-5N with the 18-55mm lens. But then I'd start buying lenses! (And I really do want it to fit in my pocket...so I can carry it even if I have my SLR!)

Pentax DA 18-135mm F3.5-5.6ED AL [IF] WR DC

08/21/2012 09:14:45 PM · #13

The camera arrived this afternoon, and after fully charging it, I just had to take some quick test shots.

The camera is a bit bigger than I pictured (very close to the LX5), but still pretty small (slightly smaller than the LX5). But it definitely takes better photos, especially at the default JPEG settings. I haven't looked at RAWs yet, even though I was shooting RAW+JPEG because Lightroom doesn't have supper the RAW yet (I downloaded another program that does).

But really, the JPEGs are so nice (and easy), I may just shoot JPEG with it mostly!

Here are some quick examples...note that I adjusted Shadows in the one of my dog, since the light was low and her eyes were pretty black without the adjustment.

My RX100 First Tests

I put up full size images...so it's DPC reducing them...you can click on view full size. This is one sharp lens! (And of course, they're JPEGs with a bit too much smoothing by Sony...I didn't sharpen any of them for the informal testing.

Honestly, I think the pictures are as good as I would get in the same situation, and without additional lighting, with my SLR. Plus there's the added advantage of a bit more depth of field at lower apertures. So I can shoot at 1.8, get some nice blur in the BG, but not be dealing with razor thin DOF.

So far so good! Will need to test more, but I'm feeling a lot more comfortable with the expenditure! Even when I have my SLR with me, it will be like another lens option. (Actually, I am supposed to take a bunch of portrait shots of all the guests at my mother-in-laws birthday party at her studio coming up...but I am going to be traveling so I'm not bringing any fast lenses other than my 2.8 fisheye...and I really want to leave my external flashes as well, so I may even just shoot them with this camera in JPEG and not have to mess around processing a bunch of shots for her. But will see how well it works by testing in a similar situation.)

Message edited by author 2012-08-21 21:15:19.

tnun

Ricoh GR III

08/21/2012 10:21:35 PM · #14

thanks, Neil. the toadstools were great.

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

08/24/2012 01:12:11 AM · #15

Well, after using the camera a bit a few days, I'm mixed. Image quality is excellent. Lack of buttons, a touch screen, and "modalness" are the biggest problem. You can't do this in this mode, etc.

However, as I said, image quality is excellent, and I will keep the camera based on this. Check out this almost straight from the camera shot...mainly cropped to get rid of extra bike path, then exported with some slight overall sharpening which I wasn't thinking about when I exported it...

The camera came with a wrist strap which is working fine for me. I ordered a very cheap polycarbonate screen protector which seems about as good as the GCS glass protector I have on my other cameras, including my D7000!

scalvert

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

08/24/2012 01:32:52 AM · #16

Originally posted by Neil:

Check out this almost straight from the camera shot...

That's a terrible picture of your dog. I'd return it.

Cory

Canon EOS-1D Mark IV

Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM

08/24/2012 01:41:10 AM · #17

Originally posted by scalvert:

Originally posted by Neil:
Check out this almost straight from the camera shot...

That's a terrible picture of your dog. I'd return it.

LOL..

08/24/2012 01:50:12 AM · #18

Originally posted by scalvert:

Originally posted by Neil:
Check out this almost straight from the camera shot...

That's a terrible picture of your dog. I'd return it.

:) He's had better days...that day he was being a stick in the mud.

ETA: Cory...that's hilarious.

Message edited by author 2012-08-24 09:00:21.

Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM

09/09/2012 08:27:41 PM · #19

A follow up...

I am very impressed with this camera! The lens is incredible, the sensor is very good, and the built-in processing works great.

It takes some getting used to the minimalistic controls, but I'm starting to.

Photos definitely get softer at higher ISO, and very small f-stops due to diffraction (I presume). But once you reduce the 20mp image, they still look great, even at high ISO!

I took it on vacation and it was a lot of fun...two entries in from it.

I am also very happy with that lens it's 20 mpixels. Incredible at full size all details are sharp, and I see things in the photo that I couldn't see with my eyes and they're rendered beautifully.

Here's one from yesterdays walk...again, check out sharpness and details full-size and these are jpegs (so details not quite as good as they could be).

Just on my bike ride today, the clouds were great so I stopped and took some sweep panoramas ...just one shot, you sweep in one direction and it fires the shutter repeatedly and produces a single file, the panorama:

I also did some manual separate shots, and later merged them in PS as a comparison. Both produced fine results, and the sweep p. feature was much easier.

This is in PS...

Again, I uploaded a full sized one here, so check out the incredible detail in that panorama (or the sweep one!)

The detail in a shot is incredible. It only has 3.6x zoom, but you can do a lot of cropping. And there's two levels of digital zoom...and in this case, the built in digiral zoom is worth using (so far, it seems so).

Here's a quick shot to show you the normal (wide) end of the camera (also full size, so you can see how much detail is in the house there)

Now here's what you can zoom to if you use digital zoom.

Note that this image isn't a crop...it's a full size shot...not sharp at the 100% level, but this is the same image size as the camera normally produces, so you are still going to look at it reduced. Effectively, the results seem to be fine...perhaps I could have done the same by cropping, then interpolating up to the image size (which is what they do with a special algorithm) but there method seems to work pretty well. (Or I could just crop a normal image and accept the smaller image size). But it seems to be ok.

I am very happy with this camera so far...it was expensive but worth it. The detail in general is fantastic, focusing is fast and accurate, the jpegs pop and seem to have decent adjustability in LR, so it makes me not want to mess with RAW on this camera.

What I don't like:
- No auto ISO in manual mode...I use this on my D7000 to allow me to pick shutter and aperture, and let auto-ISO finalize the exposure. Too bad :(
- No straightforward way to use a polarizer. Well, there's a fix for that, in the form of a stick on attachmment which allows you to screw a filter on right over the lens, no LA-5 style adapter like the Lumix (which makes the camera bigger). I may buy one later...though I'm worried what the extra weight on the lens might do to the unit.

What people have complained about:
- lack of grip - you can buy a stick on one that adds a grip for around $40, but I use the supplied wrist strap and it seems fine without the grip. At least not worth $40 to fix.

Message edited by author 2012-09-09 20:29:42.

Cory

Canon EOS-1D Mark IV

09/09/2012 09:06:19 PM · #20

Honest assessment:

Great sensor, shit lens.

I can't believe how good those images look on a 1:1 scale, noise is beautiful. The lens however seems to be a pretty big let down - the lens seems to be unable to match the density of the sensor, and the corners are really a mess - although I'm assuming stopping down some would help quite a bit here.

Still, I've gotta say that I'm impressed overall at the technical performance of that camera, in this image you can see incredible details in the center-field of the image, in the grasses and cattails.