The Next Big Thing Is Small, Sony RX100 Review part IIb and Conclusion

SONY DSC-RX100 (10.4mm, f/2.2, 1/60 sec, ISO800)

Small is beautiful. Less is more. Reduce to the max, Simple life….. We all know about the magic of reduction. Since the economy crises started about 4 years ago reduction is everywhere. It’s almost a kind of hype. Even they still very rich talk about reduction. Of course most of the time they are praying water and drinking wine. But it seems that they don’t feel as comfortable showing their wealth as they did before. Before you blame me to be a socialist living in a nice house on the hill I will stop here.

As much as the magic of reduction is hyped most of the time less means just less. It’s the same with cameras. Less is just less. A smaller camera means a smaller chance to get a great image. There are just too many compromises to be made. I talked about the ergonomic compromises already in the first part of the review. But of course there are also some compromises regarding image quality. The good thing is that these are much smaller than you might think.

SONY DSC-RX100 (10.4mm, f/2.2, 1/80 sec, ISO400)
SONY DSC-RX100 (10.4mm, f/2, 1/50 sec, ISO400)

Most of the images in this review are result of one visit to the Natural History Museum in Vienna. I love the place and it’s just perfect to test the low light capability of a camera. I did the same thing with my Fuji X100 a couple of weeks ago. If you go back some posts you can compare the images here with the ones from the Fuji.

All images are RAW images and there is no noise reduction applied. I did use VSCO film Kodak 160VC on some of the pictures because I like the result. It mainly adds warmth, reds and contrast to the images. The RX100 has a very high dynamic range but I simply prefer a more contrasty look.

SONY DSC-RX100 (10.4mm, f/2.8, 1/80 sec, ISO400)
SONY DSC-RX100 (10.4mm, f/2.5, 1/80 sec, ISO400)

The two images above are VSCO enhanced ones. The one below I left is it was because there is a lot of contrast in the image already. White balance and colors are good but not as good as what I get from my Fuji X100. There is a slight green cast that is typical for Sony sensors. Though it’s much less pronounced than on my Sony NEX 5. It’s easy to fix in Lightroom.

SONY DSC-RX100 (10.4mm, f/4.5, 1/80 sec, ISO400)

The shot above is a good example of the excellent dynamic range of the camera. Usually you don’t get this with a compact. Even older DSLRs with much larger sensors have way less dynamic range. Highlights can be recovered very easily but it wasn’t necessary for this photo. Below image is taken in the almost completely dark shark room of the museum. That is a 3200ASA photo taken with a compact camera! Of course there is noise but it’s more like grain (as long as you shoot in RAW) and details are still there. Plus there is almost no smearing.

SONY DSC-RX100 (10.4mm, f/2.5, 1/80 sec, ISO3200)
SONY DSC-RX100 (10.4mm, f/2.5, 1/60 sec, ISO800)
SONY DSC-RX100 (10.4mm, f/2, 1/30 sec, ISO800)
SONY DSC-RX100 (10.4mm, f/1.8, 1/160 sec, ISO400)

For the image above I changed to manual focus because the camera tries to focus on the glass. I used the loupe version but found out that there is also focus peaking when I was back home.

SONY DSC-RX100 (10.4mm, f/1.8, 1/30 sec, ISO400)
SONY DSC-RX100 (10.4mm, f/2.5, 1/40 sec, ISO800)
SONY DSC-RX100 (11.32mm, f/2.2, 1/40 sec, ISO800)

I took almost exactly the same image with my Fuji X100 a couple of weeks before. You can find it by stepping back a couple of posts. With the Fuji I shot at 2500ASA and the lens wide open and the image is still clearly better than the Sony at 800ASA but let’s not forget that the Sony RX100 is a really compact camera while the Fuji X100 is not.

SONY DSC-RX100 (10.4mm, f/2.2, 1/40 sec, ISO800)
SONY DSC-RX100 (10.4mm, f/2.2, 1/40 sec, ISO800)
SONY DSC-RX100 (10.4mm, f/2.2, 1/50 sec, ISO400)
SONY DSC-RX100 (10.4mm, f/3.5, 1/100 sec, ISO400)
SONY DSC-RX100 (10.4mm, f/3.2, 1/50 sec, ISO200)

But it’s not fair to compare it to the Fuji X100 which is easily among the very best APS-C cameras with a performance that challenges full frame cameras in low light. By compact camera standards the Sony RX100 is so far away from it’s competition that it makes no sense to compare it with them. Today there is no compact camera that comes even close.

SONY DSC-RX100 (15.1mm, f/2.8, 1/200 sec, ISO400)

Thanks to it’s relative large sensor there is even some kind of subject to background separation like in the image above. Shot at what is approximately a 35mm equivalent in full frame terms this is what you can expect. But I honestly think the the RX100 is not the best camera for portraits. The lens gets very slow when zoomed in and f4.9@100mm is not what you want if you need to blur the background. And you need to consider that f4.9 on a rather small sensor is maybe something like f11 or f16 on full frame. There are better cameras for portraits.

SONY DSC-RX100 (10.4mm, f/8, 1/320 sec, ISO200)
SONY DSC-RX100 (10.4mm, f/2.2, 1/60 sec, ISO400)

The strong point of the RX100 are fine structures and details. Here it benefits from it’s massive 20MP resolution. Image detail is impressive not only by compact camera standards but in general. Details like that was unthinkable for the first generations of DSLRs.

SONY DSC-RX100 (10.4mm, f/2.2, 1/100 sec, ISO1600)
SONY DSC-RX100 (10.4mm, f/2.2, 1/50 sec, ISO800)

Enough of indoor shots. I think you got an idea how the camera performs in low light and under artificial light. Here are some outdoor shot’s. I haven’t used the RX100 a lot outside so far. Mostly because of the poor weather but I took it with my on my last hike. I used the E=ekta+chromeo preset for LR to process the next image. That’s why it’s rather red and contrasty but I prefer that over the original shot which has a kind of green tint. As I mentioned already it can happen sometimes with Sony cameras.

SONY DSC-RX100 (10.4mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec, ISO125)
SONY DSC-RX100 (13.58mm, f/5.6, 1/640 sec, ISO125)
SONY DSC-RX100 (10.4mm, f/1.8, 1/125 sec, ISO250)

This is the subject to background separation you get from the RX100 with the lens on it’s wide end at f1.8. It’s there but of course it can’t compare to APS-C sensor cameras. Still it is good enough to avoid the typical compact camera look and that’s a very important feature of the RX100.

SONY DSC-RX100 (10.4mm, f/1.8, 1/30 sec, ISO640)

Sometimes it renders colors and tones so well that I’m impressed. The green of the wall is exactly how it looked in flesh. The tones are perfect and sharpness is very good too. An impressive result. The same is true for this image taken in a Chinese restaurant. Perfect!

SONY DSC-RX100 (10.4mm, f/1.8, 1/30 sec, ISO400)
SONY DSC-RX100 (10.4mm, f/1.8, 1/30 sec, ISO250)

Early snow! We haven’t even packed away the chairs from our patio. I took this image the day before yesterday early morning. That’s the reason why the snow is blue.

SONY DSC-RX100 (10.4mm, f/5.6, 1/200 sec, ISO125)

Conclusion:

The Sony RX100 is a very impressive compact camera. It is easily the best in class and it’s image quality can challenge some mirrorless cameras or older DSLRs. It is still a compact camera that fits easily even in small pockets. It might be even too small for some. I prefer to use the fake leather case from Sony because it adds size and grip.

Value for money:

The RX100 has a very high price tag for a compact camera but I don’t think it’s overpriced. Sony can charge that much because there is no alternative in it’s class. Competition needs to catch up but that might take a year as Canon and Panasonic just released there enthusiast compacts. Till then Sony is the only company that offers a rather big sensor in a small body.

I just said that there is no alternative in it’s class and that’s right but of course there are plenty of alternative cameras and better buys if size isn’t the most important criteria. The same money buys you an entry level DSLR like the Canon 600D plus kit lens. And of course that is a better camera with better IQ, better handling and performance. But it’s a lot bigger. For even less money you can get a Sony NEX 5N + kit lens and that’s a better camera as well and not that big at all. Just about 180 EUROs more get’s you a Fuji X100 which plays also in a completely different class.

Who should buy a RX100 then? Is it just a luxury gadget? I can’t think of the RX100 as a main camera. If I could have only one camera it would be for sure not the RX100. There is too much compromise regarding handling and DOF control.

BUT the RX100 is the perfect camera when you don’t want to take a camera with you. It is perfect for meeting friends or for business trips where a Fuji X100 might be an overkill and draws too much attention. It’s perfect for hikes or if you go on a bike trip with friends. It is perfect when you are driving in your car and see this beautiful big sky sunset.

It is perfect for all those situations that come unexpected and that are covered by smart phones nowadays. But there is one big difference: You won’t regret that you haven’t got your real camera with you when you take the image. You will get a photo that is as close as it get’s to what you get from your main camera. And that is all the Sony RX100 is about: It’s the perfect answer to the growing competition from smartphones. I’m convinced that the RX100 is just the first of it’s kind: large sensor compacts. Smartphones will improve and will replace small sensor compact cameras. The only way for camera makers to survive is to make their cameras better and the only way to do that is to give them larger sensors and better lenses. Once again Sony has done it first.