Sony Sony RX-100 User Thread

Am I right in thinking the RX100 doesn't actually have a Macro mode? I have seen a few close up/macro shots and they have in my opinion been rather poor but there are a few on this thread that look most excellent!

It does have a Macro mode accessible through the SCN function or automatically in iAuto mode. Interestingly though, you don't need to use it as the camera will focus at macro distances in any of the shooting modes (PASM). As for quality, I think in a number of cases people don't really understand how to shoot macros. The bee, butterfly etc here are all shot at an appropriate f stop. I see a lot of people (elsewhere) trying to shoot macros wide open and then complaining about the results.
 
You are right, keven, that macro requires some different considerations like stopping down. The ones I have posted are taken at 28mm, but they require getting very close to the subject. The RX100 does not close focus at the 100mm end.
 
Hi,

So I've gone ahead and ordered from T-Dimension along with a nice little snug neoprene case from a local ebay seller in Australia.

Which neoprene case did you order? I have an Axia case from my S90 but I find it a bit small for the RX100. How snug is your case?
 
A few shots from my first couple days with the camera. Nothing special, but I am still happy with how they turned out for just messing around. All are SOOC jpegs. The first one was shot in Manual mode, the other two in iAuto.

i-2BNXvVh-L.jpg


i-rLfFv9x-L.jpg


i-fJW9r2c-L.jpg


The cat snuck up on me while I was shooting other stuff, so I shot him too (quick switch form Manual to iAuto and it was a breeze to get a good shot). The eyes look great when the image is viewed full-screen too, but kind of hard to see here.
 
Teach your children well,
Their father's hell did slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you'll know by.

Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you... :)
 
Well, I'd seen too much not to at least give it a try, so I've been playing with one for a couple of days now. And my bottom line is that its better at what I thought it would be good at than I thought... and its not as bad at the stuff I thought it would be bad at than I thought. There are about three firmware fixes that would solve almost all of my issues with it, but no camera is perfect and, for something this size, this one is pretty damn close. The stuff I don't like I've found ways to work around that aren't ideal but aren't that bad either. I figured I'd try one of these and the LX7 and keep whichever one I found myself picking up. But I don't know if I'm gonna get that far with the LX7 this time around. Based on what I've been seeing, the LX7 will be a really fun little camera to shoot with but I don't think the IQ is gonna compare. The Sony is so good in the basic IQ department that I could see a few cameras showing up in another 1-3 years that would seriously make me reconsider my whole approach. Put this sensor and maybe a slightly wider/faster lens in a slightly larger body with an interface I like better and I might not need a LOT of the other gear I have. I'm sure I'd keep something around for the ultra long and ultra-wide, but give me a 24-90 equivalent with a really good lens and this sensor in a body with a few different features and I'd rarely take anything else out of the house. And I think its only a matter of time. Sony looks like they got the jump on everyone with this camera and I don't expect anyone else to match it in this coming set of releases, but give it a year and let that sensor get out there. Oh jeez.

Zone focus setup is more difficult than it needs to be, but its easy to assign a key to toggle between auto and manual focus. So I can auto-focus on my spot, hit the toggle and put it in manual focus, set the aperture, and go shoot. The exposure comp is an extra click away from what would be ideal in this situation, but its doable for street shooting. And I haven't even begun to figure out its capabilities for things like landscapes and portraits and stuff, but I'm very impressed with the basics. And this is before raw support, so I'm just going on jpegs.

Here are a couple from a bike ride yesterday and a couple more from a street fair last night.

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These three are all at ISO 3200, which just isn't fair. The pixel level isn't great in the really dark night-time scene, but its workable for web-sharing and not too huge prints. My LX5 was good at 400 and I could use 800 in a pinch. This is good at 3200 and I can use 6400 in a pinch - just sick...

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-Ray
 
Colors and resolution of the first two look large sensor like. The little Sony is addictive. I wished Ricoh could get this sensor and put it into a GX300 with a fast 24-90mm (Ricoh quality) zoom.
 
Colors and resolution of the first two look large sensor like. The little Sony is addictive. I wished Ricoh could get this sensor and put it into a GX300 with a fast 24-90mm (Ricoh quality) zoom.

Yeah, Ricoh or Panasonic or Fuji could do it in a body maybe X10 or X100 size with a lens that's pretty fast throughout a 24-90 zoom range and I'd honestly probably use it 90+ percent of the time. The lens isn't perfect and it sounds like there are some de-centered ones out there, but the problems are nothing that would ever bother me. But just go with a bit bigger body and I think most of those problems could be solved in addition to making for a much better interface. I suspect I'll hang onto this for a year or two, but once someone uses this sensor in a somewhat larger camera with fewer handling compromises, I'll be all over it...

-Ray
 
I love what my APC sensor cameras will do, but this little baby is now with me all the time, something I cannot say for the others. :2thumbs:

I like what my APS and m43 cameras will do too, but the difference in IQ is getting sooo small. I'd rate the RX100 IQ as probably better than the previous generation of 12mp m43 bodies (although the lens obviously doesn't compare to the best m43 lenses). Its at least as good at base ISO and I couldn't comfortably shoot above ISO 1600 with my EP2 or EPL3, even for my B&W street shooting. The RX100 easily handles 3200 for applications where the best IQ isn't critical. Since I'm not all that hung up on the finer points of IQ and since I rarely shoot in a way that requires really narrow DOF, a small standalone like this with the right lens and controls could easily become my main rig and all I'd carry most of the time, including for a lot of travel. Which I wouldn't have previously thought possible. Exciting times in camera tech continue...

-Ray
 
I shot one RX100 RAW file last night and to my surprise RAW Developer opened it. The shot was at the wide end and there is significant distortion. However, the RAW file was much better than the in-camera JPG. I adjusted the file in RAW Developer and then opened the exported JPG in Lightroom to adjust the distortion. It took quite a bit of work to get it just right. And that's just for one focal length.

I plan to return the RX100. Except for vacation I don't think I'd use it that much, and I still would rather use the GRD4 instead.
 
I'd bet that once Lightroom and Aperture support the RX100 raw files they'll have the distortion correction built into their raw processors. That's the way they work with pretty much every other camera that requires digital correction, which is nearly every camera I've ever owned. I agree that the GRD3/4 interface blows dirt in the face of the RX100, but their sensors don't begin to compare. Which matters sometimes and not other times. My GRD3 isn't going anywhere, but I don't use it all that much anymore.

-Ray
 
Good stuff, Ray. Enjoyed both your comments and photos.

Put this sensor and maybe a slightly wider/faster lens in a slightly larger body with an interface I like better and I might not need a LOT of the other gear I have. I'm sure I'd keep something around for the ultra long and ultra-wide, but give me a 24-90 equivalent with a really good lens and this sensor in a body with a few different features and I'd rarely take anything else out of the house.

If someone could take everything good about the RX100, X10, and GRD4 in one camera, it would pretty much dominate the scene.
 
I like how this camera handles natural colors in many circumstances. Here is a picture taken at one of our friends house, and on the table some very nice apetizers.
DSC00623.jpg
 
I understand a lot of you folks need smaller cameras like this, but I struggle with handling and controls on cameras this small. I hope they never stop making "normal" size cameras. And I hope they can open the performance gap back up.
 
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