Отзывы о Фотоаппарат Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100

As soon as I saw information released about this camera, I knew instantly I wanted to get my hands on it; it looked awesome and the specifications mentioned seemed incredibly impressive for a camera it's size, so when I finally got it(which of course made a big hole in my credit card), I was super excited to play around with the features and see what it could actually do and if it would live up to the expectations Sony had created about this camera.First impressions were definitely positive, it looks remarkably suave and holding the camera itself I found it to be really comfortable even though it only has one grip which is located precisely for your thumb. I personally think they got a good balance between grip and style, because if they had added any more grip it would have ruined that nice sleek design it has, for example if you take a look at the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V, you will see it has a huge grip which whilst gives maximum grip it does overwhelm the side of the camera.Included in the box are the following:Camera | AC adapter | Battery pack | Micro USB cable | Wrist strap | Two shoulder strap adapters | Manual.Things you NEED:SDHC Card (You can choose a different brand/memory capacity, though do remember as this is a 20MP camera, files sizes average around 5MB if your using Jpeg in fine detail, or is around 20MB if using the RAW format (RAW image has a '.ARW' file extension)).Optional:Camera Case (LCJ-RXA) | USB SDHC Card Reader | Spare Battery NP-BX1 | HDMI - Micro HDMI Cable | Anti-reflective Screen Protector- - -The main thing I love about this camera is it has modes which are great for people who don't have a lot of knowledge about cameras and just want to point and shoot whilst getting great results, and there are modes for those who know more about cameras and want to go more in-depth with the settings.The modes which I personally think are great for those with limited camera knowledge, I would suggest using the mode dial located on top of the camera to choose one of the following:1) Superior Auto; "This device beautifully shoots automatically while reducing blurring and noise".My opinion: I've always had great results with this mode, on most occasions it takes the picture I want it to, though sometimes you may want select a mode in the scene setting to get a little bit extra.- - -2) Intelligent Auto; "Automatically identifies the scene's characteristics and shoots a photo".My opinion: Pretty much the same scenario with the superior auto, it takes fantastic shots most of the time, though I haven't really noticed the difference between both of them, this may be because I haven't had the chance to test them in many varied locations.- - -3) Scene Selection; Here you can select different pre-setting modes to get the most out of certain scenarios:- Portrait; "Emphasizes subject by blurring away background. Reproduces soft skin tone".- Anti Motion Blur; "Reduces blur indoors with poor lighting or for telephoto shooting to obtain clear images".- Sports Action; "Shoots fast motion at higher shutter speeds".- Pet; "Shoots pets and other subjects in movement to reduce blur".- Gourmet; "Shoots food to look delicious".- Macro; "This mode is best suited for shooting close-ups of small subjects such as flowers and food in clear and sharp focus".- Landscape; "Shoots the entire range of scenery in a sharp focus with vivid colours".- Sunset; "Vividly expresses and dramatically captures the redness of dusk and dawn".- Night Scene; "Shoots night scenes clearly. Recommend using tripod".- Hand-held Twilight; "Suitable for shooting a night scene without using a tripod".- Night Portrait; "Automatically fires the flash to illuminate foreground subjects and engages slow shutter to capture background night scenes".- Fireworks; "Shoots beautiful fireworks without flash".- High Sensitivity; "Reduces blur even without using flash".You can select different scene modes by twisting the mode dial back and forth, twist the control ring(my favourite and the easiest way), or go to photo tab 5 which is located within the menu.My opinion: You have such a good amount of different options to choose from. Not only does the camera explain the best situation to use such scenes, but also shows a picture to give you a better idea of what scene they should be used in.I've had some great shots with the hand-held twilight setting, whilst I don't get perfect shots all the time, it has produced better results than all my previous cyber-shot cameras combined!I also really like the portrait mode.There is one option not on the list from previous models and that is the "Picture Effect" mode, this has been moved into the menu or can be selected via the function button (if selected), I would have preferred it to be in the scene selection, but that may be because I'm used to it being there.- - -4) Sweep shooting; "Creates a panoramic image while you move the camera left/right or up and down at a fixed speed".You can adjust the settings by going

I have NEX-7 and E-M5, I want to write some comparison notes here.RX100 is from Sony which have more similarity with NEX than E-M5, so this list is mostly compare the RX100 to the NEX-7, the NEX-7 have a wonderful hardware and bad implemented software really pi-ss me off.On contrary, this RX100 is an almost excellent camera both in hardware and software.Pros:1. Size of s100 with 1' sony sensor, the auto-focus is super fast and very accurate, much better than NEX-7, better than E-M5 with some lens but fail to match in the tele side.2. It charges with USB, I can attach it to my car charger or remote battery for my mobile phone in emergency.3. It unlike Olympus xz-1,Fujifilm x10, Panasonic lx5/lx7, Canon g1x, it has build-in lens cap, which makes it smaller and a LOT more convenient than those in real life shooting.4. ISO can be as low as 80, compensate some margin for the 1/2000s shutter speed(E-M5's 200 base iso is a horrible decision from Olympus)5. The software(operation system) is derived from Sony Alpha DSLR, unlike the NEX's bad UI implement from Sony P&S digital camera. It gives you 3 custom profiles, with their own iso range setting. different picture quality setting etc.6. The face detection can be set on for ALL light metering and focus mode. this is a big evolution from NEX(which can only used with matrix metering and multi-focus).7. 20m pixels is very good with pixel peeping or cropping, thanks to it's large sensor and quality lens, lots of details with base iso.8. It still keep the Sony camera's features:Sony's color profile. I really like this kind of realistic color rendering. Way better than Panasonic's wash-out plain dirty image and Olympus bluish white, more graduation than too much contrast Nikon, and less pink from Canon.Portrait mode have more dynamic range boost.(good trick from NEX)AF-illuminate light is useless.(turn it off immediately when you received your camera, good trick from NEX)Alpha DSLR's multi frame noise reduction is great for iso 3200 and upManual focus with focus peaking and zoom-inLot's filter effects can be applied to video and photo, HDR, Pano, Hand held twilight mode, they are still there.Exposure compensation and white balance you see on screen is identical to the actual shots.9. leaf shutter is almost silent. lower latency compare to NEX-7, super fast, that can sync flash with 1/2000s10. 10fps shutter stream with live view, this is a huge plus from NEX, and the buffer flush is very quick compare to NEX-7 with sandisk ush-i 45mb SD11. almost no screen lag between shots-to-shots(after you turn off the quick review, another trick from NEX/Alpha)12. dual dials control is very good, comparable to NEX-7 and E-M5(NEX-7's tri-dial is a totally hoax, most of the time, 2 of the dials are redundant with same function. )13. lens is exceptional, f1.8 can be used but there maybe some halos in daylight, starts from f2.8 is razor sharp. Macro shoot is amazing(see my photos uploaded to the product gallery)14. photo replay can be zoomed-in and then roll-over each photos to compare the zoomed parts. (NEX-7's tri-dial is useless here, all of them have the same function of roll-over to next photos)15. lots of customization with buttons.better than NEX-5n and comparable to NEX-717. Video function is better than NEX-7, it have more control, and concave dedicate movie button, which in comparison, NEX-7 have a protrude button, can be easily pressed by accident and record unnecessary movie.(Shame on you! Sony, 8 months w/o firmware fix for this!)18. Video active stabilization is effective, panning and zooming is butter smooth.19. dedicate modal dial, with memory recall and movie mode. memory recall can set up to 3 memories for the most distinguish settings, such as 1 for portrait(low iso base range, med shutter speed, portrait color rending, face detection ), 2 for landscape (80 iso, vivid color rending, small aperture), 3 for in-door flash portrait. You can alway record video in any mode with press the movie button, but in dedicate movie mode, you can set to automatic or manual, or Av, Sv and filters for your fine tune of movie style.20. flash can be set to bounce with your fingers, produce nice in-door photos. (good trick from NEX-7)21. white magic rgbw screen is very good, more vivid and bright than NEX-7 outdoor.22. battery is generally good in this category , I shoot 700 photos for half a day, So prepare 2 spare battery for a night and day shoot session.23. Since Adobe released Lightroom 4.2 RC, Raw file can extract more details for high ISO setting, but jpeg out of camera is better than what I expected as well as the vignetting, distortion, purple fringe compensation.Cons:1.front dial is smooth, the smooth dial is excellent for manual focus, but I prefer tick dial to adjust values.2.modal dial is a little tighten to turn.4.no dedicate on/off button for flash. it can only be triggered with menu option to use flash.5.Lens zoom out/in speed is not very fast, if you drop the camera, it ma

I really don't know anything about taking pictures. I'm the type that likes to just take pictures and not really care about shutter speed, aperture and things like that. I just want the camera to take superb pictures just by using the auto function. That's exactly what this little camera does. There are two auto functions on this camera: Superior Auto and Intelligent Auto. I'm not exactly sure what the difference is but both take very good photos (I think Superior is better though because it seems to take many photos at a time and chooses the best photo or something like that). The main reason why I got this camera is because it is very compact and as close as you can get to a dSLR from a point and shoot. Also another important quality I needed was to be able to take very good night shots even without flash. Does it do this? You bet! So these are the things I wanted from a camera but boy does it do so much more!Video quality is very good. At first I thought the video quality was pretty bad because when I uploaded my videos onto iphoto from my macbook air there was so much distortion (horizontal lines) that I thought it was a camera that was only good for taking photos. Boy was I wrong. After doing a little research, apparently you need to use some other video thing like Quicktime to truly see how good this camera is at taking videos. You can adjust your movie quality to even get HD movies. You can choose between AVCHD and MP4 but I think AVCHD is better quality. From playing around with the video quality out of AVCHD FX, FH, and PS, I think PS is the HD quality. FX and FH seem to be the same quality as MP4. So if you want to save space I think you can do well even with MP4 quality movies. But you're definitely going to be in for a treat with the PS mode.Battery life is pretty dang good. I've had this camera for about a month now and I feel like I almost never have to charge the camera. One time I took a 20 minute long video and I was still at full charge even after 80 more photos! If your a regular guy like me then the battery life should be good enough for you.The only con I can think of is the menu can take some getting used to. To me I don't do much much more than "Superior Auto", flash/noflash, 10 second shot, and movie mode. So even the complicated menu is not too bad since I rely on auto mostly.The main point about this camera is it takes great shots even for a guy like me that wants the camera to do all the work in setting up. It is a bit pricey though. However, after looking into other point and shoot cameras like the CANON S95-S110, the extra money seems to definitely be worth buying this camera especially when looking into build quality. There seems to be consistent quality issues with the Canon point and shoots (such as lens issues) but you really don't hear too many problems with the RX100.Important Note: For macbook users, you are able to upload the FX, FH, and mp4 videos directly to iphoto. However, the PS videos are usually not found. To overcome this simply click on the "SD card" icon on the desktop>click on "private" (all of these movies are made using PS mode)>click on a video which should automatically start the movie in quicktime>from Quicktime click on "File">click on "Duplicate">close the window (a popup should appear to save the file)>save the file on the desktop>now your PS file is on the desktop and you can upload to iphoto. Hopefully this makes sense.

This is the first time (and last time) I relied solely upon reviews in Amazon to make a decision to buy a camera. I was in a hurry with a vacation coming up and saw all of the rave reviews, making claims such as how the camera took better photos than their Nikon D7000. I decided to buy it.My first comment is that I took it on a trip and kept it in my jeans pocket just like I have always done with pocket cameras. In the past pocket cameras have spent countless hours in my jeans pocket with no adverse consequence. Within 4 days with the RX100 I looked at the viewing screen on the camera and there was a scratch across the screen.My next complaint is the video. I have for comparison a much less expensive Nikon pocket camera that I bought about 3 years ago. From experience taking videos I know that you have to pan slowly if you want the audience to comfortably view a video. I found that with the RX100 if you panned, even at a slow pace, horizontal streaks would appear in the recorded video upon playback, which greatly detracted from the video.I also noticed that the camera was slow processing shots and would take much longer than my older Nikon pocket camera, causing me to miss shots.As far as the size of the camera, I think Sony overdid it making it too small. It felt uncomfortably small in my hands, and I just didn't like the feel of the camera.The camera has a feature which somehow transforms a shot that you intended to be in landscape mode into a portrait shot of one person in the photo. It would then produce for the final photo not the shot that you intended but instead a portrait shot of the one person. I even put it on Landscape mode to force the camera to take landscape photos and it still extracted portrait shots of the person in the photo, leaving out the rest of the shot.Another thing was that it was promoted how the screen had some special qualities which made it easy to view what you are photographing when out in sunlight. That proved not to be the case. I found it nearly impossible to see anything on the screen when I was outside in bright sunlight.Lastly, regarding the quality of the photos, it does not even approach the quality of a Nikon D7000, which I happen to own. From what I could see it was no better than the aforementioned Nikon pocket camera that cost half as much years ago.I tried to return the camera and first, since it was fulfilled through Amazon but used a third party seller, I was informed that there was a 15% restocking fee and that is payable even if the camera and all paperwork and packing materials are in perfect condition. Since my screen had a scratch I was told that there would be a 30% restocking fee. Then another person in customer service told me that it was damaged, all the way through to the LCD, and that they couldn't take it back.I looked this up and found that the seller was exaggerating the situation in that the actual LCD screen is protected by a plastic cover that can be replaced if you buy a new back for the camera.Also, some brief searching online revealed that the plastic cover for the screen for the RX100 is extremely easy to scratch, and that you should buy a protective film at the same time you buy the camera.At any rate, I ended up giving the camera to my daughter because I couldn't return it.It would be an understatement to say that I was very disappointed with this camera. To sum up, I received poor value for my money. Sony should cease production of this camera because it will hurt their reputation.

This camera already has enough reviews about the specs and performance. I'll leave that out, but I'll share my experience of it as a casual photographer.As I get more exposure into photography, I start to learn about many photographs elements. I was pretty much thinking about upgrading to a DSLR after having played around with a superzoom, and learning that sometimes sensor size can cause a big difference. I also heard the phrase that the camera doesn't make the photo, it's just a tool for the photographer. I realize that, but I wanted a better tool than a 1/2.3' sensor size superzoom that would be more versatile for indoor and portraits. Also, I was a sucker for nice DOF effects, which is hard on a small sensor camera.Before looking at this P&S, I almost was going to jump into buying my first DSLR (a used 5D) for about the same price as I would have gotten this camera. Then I realized as a casual photographer who's interested in taking good pictures, it is a heavy investment in cameras to just be able to take casual photos that look nice. For me, I made the realization that if I choose to go down the DSLR route, I may just go around shooting with the "kit lens" that comes w/ whichever DSLR camera that I buy, if any, maybe one more lens that is +1 compared to the kit lens. It doesn't make sense.Moreover, I am starting to believe the phrase "The best camera you have is the camera you have with you". From speaking with other casual photographers like myself who own DSLRs, they more than often leave their cameras at home because it's too much gear and too heavy to lug around. This camera is the best camera to have with me when I go places. It takes great pictures, esp when I'm with others who don't have their DSLRs with them when we hang out.Since the 2 most important features I need as a casual photographer are low light capabilities for taking in door portraits and making professional looking photographs with DOF, this camera fits the bill w/o breaking the bank (comparing to buying a DSLR + lenses, of course). It's not cheap, but it gives me a sense of satisfaction to know that I can take just as good looking photos as I continue to hone my skill w/o having the temptation to spend money on gears that I will probably use only once or twice before letting them sit on the shelves collecting dust.In the future if I do decide that I've learned enough to really want to invest in a DSLR, this camera will STILL be a first choice for me to take around as it is pocketable. That's also a reason for me to get this camera first, learn more about photography, before deciding whether or not I really need a DSLR. At this time, the answer is no, but it may change.If you are a pro, or want to be like a pro, then this review won't be useful to you. However, if you are a casual photographer wanting to learn to take better looking pictures with a better tool, this camera will be a great choice for you, over buying a APS-C camera with a kit lens.

I am an avid photographer, not a pro but love to shoot pics of the kids and events etc. I always carried by Nikon DSLR around with a couple lenses and or 1 good telephoto 70-300 & a 50 1.4. I have been looking for that compact camera that I can just pick up and go or quickly grab it when I see something funny / goofy / cute that the kids are doing or if something catches my eye outside. Instead of breaking the DSLR out of the case & figuring out what lens I want to use etc. This camera has a fantastic 1.8 lens that is PERFECT for indoor low light photography without the need of a flash. How often have you wanted to shoot something in the house without a flash only to have the photo come out too noisy or our of focus. No more with this camera. I have bought several compacts over the last few years. My criteria was: Good Lens (of course) quick lens (1.8 is fantastic) with quick focus, Ability to shoot RAW files (I do a lot of editing in PS). and finally adjustability, Aperature / Shutter / Manual priorities. I didnt necessarily need a hot shoe, gps, wi-fi etc. I can simply take a quick shot on my phone to get my gps coordinates then load them all on my computer and it's all there.I have taken well over 1,000 shots with this camera over the last few weeks and couldn't be happier with the crisp focus of this little compact camera. It has a 1" sensor which makes it fantastic for low light (inside the house, night time, couple lights on in the house and want to take a quick, good shot of something, no problem without the need of the flash. I did not buy this camera to try to replace the DSLR, thats not what this camera is made for. It's primary function is to give you "close to DSLR" quality in a pocket sized camera. The only negative thing I could even think of saying about this camera would be the placement of the HDMI connection. It's on the bottom of the camera right next to the tripod connection. So if your all set up on a tripod and want to hook it to an external monitor, it would be very difficult. But... I didn't buy this camera to hook external monitors to it while on a tripod. I took it around to several locations that you normally feel out of place with a big DSLR wrapped around your neck and got fantastic shots quickly from pocket to shot in 3 seconds!I could go through many features of this camera but....... Ill just say this and save you some time because I spend, no joking, 40 hours researching cameras before settling on this one... If your looking for that grab it and go camera that shoots fantastic pics, RAW format and adjustably to be creative... Read the subject line again:) Stop looking! You found it.

I would like to start by saying that this camera is amazing. The quality of the pictures are excellent, the Carl Zeiss lens is amazing, it's easy to use, the ISO is perfect, color rendition is spot on, Auto Focus is crazy, the B&W pictures it takes are really nice, screen big and colorful, and the sharpness is perfect. I have it in a small Case Logic TBC-302 Ultra Compact Camera Case with Storage pouch and it fits really good in my jeans pocket, I take it everywhere. There are so many camera's out there that profess to be the best and have close to DSLR quality pictures but this is the real deal. This is the best pocket size camera out there hands down. It seems expensive because of the size, people automaticaly put it in the same category as a P&S, but it is not. It has a lot of features that you find on a DSLR camera like the Canon T3i/T4i with the size of an S95 just a tiny bigger. The flash is really good, but you'll find you don't really need it much because of the Zeiss lens 1.8, except for some indoor pics. The indoor pics are just as good as the outdoor pics, even the night pics outside are crazy.It's not only a good camera but it's also an artistic tool, if you're really into photography it has the options and image quality you need to get the pictures you want. I've been really happy with this purchase. Some reviers had mentioned the pop-up flash being and issue, it's not, it's cool and have no issues, just a little diffrent, many cameras have the pop-up now, you get use to it right away; and some people were complaining about the charger, after buying the camera their complaints don't make sense, you can plug it in a wall socket or pc, it has wall charger with a usb cable like a cell phone I love it, and it's compact. Some people always find the smallest and insignificant things to complain about.Orginally I had doubt's because of so many wack P&S cameras out there and the price, but after doing reasearch and looking at some pics online in Flickr and steve huff's website I gave it a try, I'm so happy I bought it. I thought the 1 inch Bionz sensor size and Zeiss lens was just another marketing hype but they are not, they work really well together. If you are looking for a profesional pocketable camera that you want to take everywhere this is it. I love Canons but I have been disppointed with the quality of a lot of my pictures with some of the Canon P&S's so I started looking outside of the box and I wound up buying a Sony, which I never thought I would; I could not be happier. Sony has really come a long way, and I would say they have some of the best camera's out there right now.Canon has some nice camera's and lens but it doesn't mean everything they make is perfect and that theres no other brands out there that make camera's that have the same quality and in many cases even better quality products. You just have to do your research and try it out and not just buy blindly based on passed experiences with a brand or just based on brand loyalty. That's what happened with me and Canon, I was limiting myself to finding excellent quality Cameras like the Sony RX100 and the Fujifilm xe1 because of my loyalty to Canon as a cutomer. As a loyal customer I tried Canon first but I did'nt find what I was looking for after several tries. I'm happy I did'nt just stick to something I was'nt happy with just because of the brand I have finally found something I can truly say I'm happy with and it was worth my money, the Sony Rx100, now I look forward to Sony's future camera's, I hope they continue on the path they've been on. Sony's on point right now, especially with the introduction of Zeiss lens, they've been putting a lot of time and resources into their camera division; definitely a good investment.

BIGGEST CON: Only goes to F11 - any serious photographer will not even consider this camera because of this.I got this camera as a Christmas present. The primary use for me is in a housing to be used while scuba diving. I will say that for the above water pictures I have taken I am quite impressed with it. Overall the camera has a good feel (solid/sturdy/metal feel), but there's not a real good "hand grip" like the DSLRs have, which is disappointing. I can understand the desire to keep it small, but it would have been nice to just have a mounting point to put on a handle so one hand could hold the camera nicely.So far I have taken 2 (scuba diving) trips with it. The initial trip I used one of my son's strobes (Inon Z240) and a L&M Sola 1200 as a Video/flood light. For my 2nd trip I purchased 2 S&S D1 Strobes.This is my first foray into underwater photography using a "camera". Up until now I carted a long a L&M Video Housing for my Sony HDR-HC3 Hi Def video camcorder. This can also take pictures but only at 4 MP (it's not a new camera by any stretch of the imagination). But since I didn't have to worry about any settings I used it pretty much like a point & shoot.My first week was on a Digital Shootout sponsored by BackScatter on Cozumel in late April. We had some instruction on uw photography, but, as I quickly found out, nothing beats just getting in the water and shooting, shooting, shooting. I set my RX100 on Aperture Priority (as recommended) and played around. My picture quality is anywhere from pretty decent to horrible. I still need quite a bit more time to flesh out all the operations of this thing. That would be true for almost any camera these days - the electronics in them provides so much functionality that learning it is almost a bit overwhelming.*** During my experience I did notice one HUGE hole in the camera's capabilities and that is that it is limited to F11. Both of my sons cameras have a better range and they are much older than this one so it's more than a bit disappointing. The two other cameras (FYI) are an Olympus PEN-1 (12 mp) in an Olympus housing (Z240 & S2000 strobes) and a Canon T2i in an Aquatica Housing (which has caused us NO END of problems due to extremely poor design) with one single D1 strobe and a L&M Sola 1200 Video/Flood light. Even the older PEN-1 Olympus goes to an aperture of F22.I also got the macro and wide angle UW lenses that mated to the housing. I still have to review some of these pictures but getting to within an inch or so of some of these tiny subjects is just amazing. I did have one issue with the Wide Angle Lens but since this is all UW related I won't burden you with it here.So, time will tell whether I keep using this as a primary camera or buy a real DSLR and relegate this to a backup function.BTW, for those other users complaining about no external battery charger - you can buy one (it came in my package). It has a flip down two prong plug and can also double as a generic USB charger (there's a switch on the front) which may be convenient for some people.

I'm only a few hundred shots into my new RX100, but I can already see that this camera is going to be one of my very favorites of all time. "Amazing" is a very fitting way to describe this little powerhouse. Over and over again, the fine detail the RX100 captures in a wide variety of shooting situations is surprising and delightful, and it gets the job done quickly and efficiently. Colors are rich, and while the RX100's color rendering is more akin to the punchy rendering typical of small lens compacts than the Canon DSLR's I'm used to, it offers sufficient resolution, control, and versatility to produce really high quality images, and I'm looking forward to exploring this camera's unique personality. As someone else said in an article on the RX100, it's not just "good enough," it's "good!" In future generations, I'd like to see a lens that could maintain a shallower depth of field at longer focal lengths, and a hot shoe so I could mount my Phottix transmitter and use off-camera strobes. I could see neat possibilities with impromptu portraiture, still lifes, and such if you could trigger off-camera strobes. But the RX100 will do a top-notch job in most of those situations where you wouldn't be carrying a speedlite and and other gear, and much of the RX100's beauty and power comes from the fact that because it's so light and fits in your pants pocket, it can ALWAYS be with you. I found the controls easy to get used to and convenient enough. No, it's not a Canon 5D with a set of L lenses and speedlites. But it is seriously competent gear, and I think every serious photographer will have a blast and find a use for this pocket wonder.Update. I'm a couple weeks and many dozen shots deeper into exploring this wonderful machine. I'm even more impressed than I was when I wrote the comments above, if that's even possible. The one "weakness" I lament with this camera is that like all small lens cameras, it doesn't offer as much opportunity to shoot with shorter depths of field and blur the background like you can with a DSLR. But what it does best, over and over again, is deliver exceptional detail from edge to edge and corner to corner. It conveys depth exceptionally well, like when you're shooting down a long street or river. It rivals my Canon DSLR's in resolution and with low ISO's, the images are really impressive, even when you enlarge to 200% in photoshop. The intelligent auto is really intelligent! With a single press of the trigger, I've shot night shots that would have required several test shots and adjustments with my DSLR's. The in camera jpg processing is generally excellent and the auto white balance is really good, too. Auto focus is at least as fast as any other compact I've ever used. Truly amazing. Amazing hardware coupled with amazing software. The world of compact cameras will never be the same---the Sony RX100 has set an entirely new standard for what a compact camera can be. I'm really enjoying this camera, but also look forward to future generations of this new technology. As I said in my original review, I'd really like to see a version of this camera with a hotshoe so I could trigger off camera flash.The panorama function works well, but cuts the number of vertical pixels from over 3648 to 1856. That's still a lot of detail, but if you want the option of printing the images later in a really large size, it would be best to shoot a series of individual images and then stitch them together in photoshop the old fashioned way.

By the way, I have owned a Pentax Spotmatic and Crown Graphic in the old film days. And now have a Sony NEX 7 and a3000 (the a3000 is a second body). I also have and enjoyed the Canon G12 (an great camera when first sold). So I know the variables.Let me post the following as a guide: if you don't already own a suite of lenses, then don't be misled when someone says something like: this costs $500-650 (the new II cost $750) - you can buy a mirror-less camera for that. Well that's true. but by the time you buy a few lenses you have spent $2000 so the real cost is something else. And even if you own lenses, most of the newer cameras do significant camera processing and so you are better off with a lens built for your camera (to the pros- please don't argue, i know you spend your day with Lightroom, but the rest of us don't). so even if you have lenses, the new mirror less may not really work well with your lenses, so in the end your $500-700 camera will cost $2000.So to the person who wants a better sensor than the typical point and shoot, this one will amaze and impress. Yes it will!. And unless you really want to lug a camera bag with you on vacation (you do? ) then this will do most of what you could ever want without the bag. So when you've climbed on top of the mountain, or when your boat finally has gotten out to the whales, you can slip this out of a pocket (coat pocket, cargo pocket - it may be a tad to big for jeans pockets). and you are set.I want to comment on flash and low light. Both are specialties. If you want a better sensor AND want to take flash pictures - sorry, you may need to use a larger camera AND a separate flash. And by the way, i took flash pix at night in a church and did fine. but the camera may be slow to recharge. But remember, this is a tiny package.I took my NEX 7 on vacation last September, and though happy with the pictures, changing lenses on the mountain is tricky unless you are a professional. My son took the Rx100 and simply breezed through everything.You will love this - and if you can afford it, the Rx100 II.

Compared to these I have borrowed from friends or owned or had on trial for a week or more: XZ1, P310, LX5, S95, several superzooms, NEX5N....A./ Best combo of size and features of any compact out there....slightly smaller than an LX5, slightly bigger than a S95, because of its lens casing. This camera reminds me of an LX5, on a S95 body.B./ Will go in a pants pocket only if you are a man wearing "relaxed fit" jeans, or khaki casual maybe.C./ Absolute best ISO on a compact, pretty usable 1600. Drops quite badly at 3200 if not in well lit conditions.D./ Unimpressed with RX100's macro. I love macro, and wanted better. The Lumix LX7 is a great macro camera on a semi-pro body and at a very nice price compared to the RX-100. Ditto for Canon S110 if a small body is the single most important requirement.E,/ Reasonable WB in almost all scenes. The larger sensor may contribute: I dont know whether sensor physics or in-camera processing matters more for WB.F./ Digital extended zoom not as well done as Lumix or Canon.G../ Outdoor video great, but my FZ150 equal, and can do it with an amazing zoom. Indoor video very nice but, as with all compacts, not like outdoors. RX100 far exceeds XZ1, LX5, P310, S95 all of whom seem to put video in as an extra, which is fine , as long as you know that, and it is reflected in your purchase decision.Stills thru ISO800: RX1 rates A XZ1 B+/A- S95 B+/A- FZ150 B+ SX260 B/B+ LX5 B/B+ (WB issue) P310 B (noise) Zs15 B Video RX1 A FZ150 A- ZS15 B+/A- SX260 B+ LX5 B S95 B (720p) XZ1 B- (focusing) P310 C- (focusing)Conclusion:As a vacation camera, get the FZ150....great on an HDTV thru iso 400 or even 800, video equal to the RX100, and a clear image zoom out to about 32x !!For size, and for sharper ISO thru 1600, the RX100 if you have the bucks.For families, a much better all-around performer at even less money would be a NEX F3 or 5N, with a 18-55mm zoom. Much better ISO 1600 thru 6400, and therefore ability to use S mode and higher shutter speed to stop moving kids and pets. Again, for families, don't blow your budget on added lenses fot the NEX - the kit zoom is fine. Does everything the RX100 does and better, just physically larger to carry, but certainly ok in a purse, pouch, or on a neckstrap.For the pro who is constantly changing ISO/Aperture/Shutter/ev/WB....the RX100 is worth the money. It really is a tiny DSLR up to iso 1600... XZ1 could do in a pinch, as it is very controllable and just a step behind in ISO, very good 400 and better than most other compacts at 800...I now own a Sony NEX-5N : fantastic, has usable ISO6400 even indoors, but cumbersome interface. I also own a Canon SX260, mainly for its great zoom, price, and it can go in almost any pocket w/o worrying that you are going to break a $600 investment.After many, many trials, my opinion is: It is very difficult to beat the FZ-150 and SX260 superzooms: very good macro and great zoom at the same time, plus very acceptable Auto Mode, then throw in full manual adjustments and very good video.Forgetting price, for overall quality of both stills and video, buy the NEX 5N. For size, speedy interface, plus clear indoor iso800 and maybe iso1600 ability, the RX100 is really all there is as a non-interchangeable lens camera right now. Two money-saving nearly as good choices are the Lumix LX7 (small, half the money) and the Nikon P7700 (large, but many easily accessed controls, great WB, amazing thru ISO800...and a great price.)

I watered my so much loved LX3 a few month ago and since than was on a hunt for a better replacement. The first RX100 reviews amazed me, but my first thought was: 20MP is too much, 16MP would have been better for a 1 inch sensor. My LX3 had 10MP and made marvelous photos, so 10MP is already enough. What matters at the end of the day is pixel size, since the weakness of ourdays digital shooting is limited dynamic range (ever seen a 80 years old black and white tripod photo made from a 10x10 cm negative ? - breathtaking quality), and dynamic range is, in a first approximation, bound to pixel size. If I do the math, I find that the LX3 has a 1/1.63 inch sensor with 10MP, the RX100 has a 1 inch sensor with 20MP, so the each RX100 pixel is about 41% larger than a LX3 pixel. Not too big a difference.The RX100 is not yet (early August 2012) in the shops in Germany, so I bought it online from sony.de. Without going into details about this experience: never do it. A letter listing all the mishaps, slip-ups and bugs of my online and telephone service experiences is on its way to the CEO.The camera arrived July 20th. First impression: while my LX3 gives a sturdy impression, with the RX100 I felt and still feel as if I have to be very cautious with this little body. If you switch it on, the lens walks amazingly far out and speaks "do not touch me, your touch might derange my glasses". Not to mention the toy flash.Second cry was for a decent manual. May be NY-Times D.Pogue is able to master the plethora of menu options without manual, I am not. Fortunately I found the online-HTML manual soon, and even more fortunately I found a hint how to convert this into a PDF I was not aware of. Here it is:Open Acrobat Reader ProClick FileClick create pdfChoose from Web PageEnter sony online manual URL into box on top(click sign), Choose "Get entire site"There I was sitting one entire afternoon studying the manual. Wow, how many options. Most are restricted to JPEG. Which more or less makes sense. I would like to have available the auto-HDR or long exposure noise reduction as well for RAW, but OK. And the quality of JPEGs is amazing. I compared a RAW and a JPEG side by side in Lightroom: there is some more sharpness with RAW, yes, but JPEGS are still impressive, and those many creative modes are fun to play with. You can generate all these effects in Photoshop, probably better, but to have those easily accesssible via firmware with a few clicks is fun.However, there is no RAW converter yet for Lightroom. First I used Sony's "Image data converter". This software is not ashamed to blow up a 20MB raw file into a 100MB Tiff, which can be used in Lightroom. Later I found "Raw Photo Processor 64" which generates TIFFs of still 35MB. Compare this to 5MB JPEGs, and you know why I always toggle between " I want highest quality whatsoever" and "do not fill up your time mashine backup unwarily".One weekend I did not use the camera, and the battery was drained afterwards. Completely. To the point I could not charge it via Laptop-USB: the yellow charge LED did switch on and off and on. I could not re-animate my brand new camera ! Fortunately, next morning charging worked again with constant lighting yellow LED and full charge after 6 hours. This was a bit shocking, in particular since I do not know how it could happen. Was the play button pressed inadvertently in my pocket, which switches the camera on just like the power button ? But than it should have automatically switched off after 2 minutes. Maybe a firmware update should remove the ability to switch the camera on with the play button: in contrast to the power button, which is "in a sink" the play button sticks up. Or offer me a slim (and maybe waterproof) case.Overall, I am quite happy with this little Wunderkind, although whenever I get it out of the pocket there is still a tiny fear I could bump or break it. Could be a tad more robust, could be a tad more pleasant in the hand.

I ordered this from B&H the morning it was announced. Having it for a day and about 500 photos, I'm glad I bought it. After some very late night prints, I'm thrilled. Bottom line: the photo quality is great.Pros.SmallQuick to focus and quick between shotsExcellent lens with decent zoom rangeGood JPEGS and very good RAW filesNice controls and the front adjustment ring helpsWell builtExcellent manual controlsThe first pocket camera with good manual focusConsSony's menu's are a bit confusingSomewhat limited battery life, though par for the categoryNo manualSlow aperture at full zoomNo external batter chargerMake no mistake, this is as good as current technology allows for a pocketable camera. It's about the same sizes as my Canon S95. It has a similar design, but IMO looks classier. Sony has made good use of the 20 megapixels. Low ISO files are excellent and as good as recent generation DSLRs. The larger sensor does make a difference.Is this worth the extra $200 over a S100 or LX7? That depends. If you print your photos larger than 11x14, the answer is an unqualified yes. Photos show more detail and better sharpness. If you mostly post your photos online, then the advantage lessens, especially if you shoot JPEG. What's the advantage of having 20 MP if your photo is displayed at 2 MP? Yes, the Canon and Panasonic cameras will output RAW files, but in practice, there is little advantage from doing so. You gain little if any dynamic range and all three cameras do a good job with white balance in most cases.If you shoot RAW, the RX-100 is the first pocketable camera that gives you a real advantage with RAW. There is a noticeable difference in dynamic range. Use RAW and there's more highlight headroom and you can pull more details out of the shadows. The bad news here is that Sony's RAW converter program is a bear to use. When Adobe comes out with support for this camera in the next month or so.Sony has copied Canon's front control ring, which is a great thing. It doesn't have the click stops that Canon's does. It has electronic clicks, which do nothing for me. Those can be turned off. Using the ring for exposure compensation, the lack of felt clicks is a negative. Using the ring for manual focus, it's a plus. Call it a draw. It's the manual focus feature that has me excited. Simply put, manual focus on other pocket point and shoots is marginal at best. With the focus peaking that Sony has included along with the front control ring, manual focus is precise and accurate.Some of Sony's extra shooting modes are very useful. This carries over the handheld twilight, in-camera HDR and sweep panorama features that I learned to like in my NEX-5n. There are plenty of other options, that somebody will like. Those are the ones I like. Photos at 100-200 ISO are terrific, and good up to 800. Above that, image quality drops off quickly. Compared to my Canon S95, there's not that much difference in quality with JPEGS. Shooting RAW then working the files a bit in PHotoshop, I'd say the there's a good stop to stop and a half advantage to the RX-100 Did I mention that the lens is very good?Is the camera worth $650? That's a tougher question. Sony sells more capable NEX cameras for $50 more and less. As light and compact as the NEX cameras are, they don't fit in a pocket. This camera will even fit in a shirt pocket, if you don't mind your shirt sagging. It's great for pants pockets or a jacket. While the camera has good manual controls it won't give the same versatility as a NEX or Micro 4/3 camera, let alone a DSLR, which you can get in the same price range. If you want to get serious about photography, I'd recommend getting one of those instead of the RX-100. Panasonic has announced the LX7 which has an insanely fast lens, that should make low light photos easier. Again, if I mostly posted photos online, I'd consider the less expensive but still very good alternatives to the Sony.If you want the best current small camera, especially as a second camera then the RX-100 is as good as it gets.

Up to now, advanced hobbyist photographers had to make a tradeoff between portability and quality. No more. This camera can take shots as good -and sometimes better- as my trusted DSLR.Take a look at my sample shots at [...]PORTABILITYThis camera fits in my hand, in my pocket and in my laptop bag. In fact, I am using the case for my wife's Lumix TZ8. I can bring this camera with me anywhere.One big advantage is safety: if you travel to places that are not 100% safe, any potential robber would mistake it with a cheap $200 camera. More importantly, you will nevr have to leave this camera in a hotel room, on the trunk of your car, or will have to carry a big backpack with camera and accessories.Why this is size so important? You miss 100% of the shots you can't take because you cannot bring your camera. Because this is a camera you will carry anywhere. There have been many business trips, weekend opportunities and just in the moment photo opportunities where it was not practical or safe to bring my big DSLR. That is no longer a problem with a portable camera like this that gives me all the quality and control I need as an experienced photographer.The only downside to size it that it looks pretty ridiculous to have this camera mounted on a tripd (as I did last night taking skyline shots at dusk) and that you don't have the `professional' look of sdomeone carrying a large camera with a big lens, which sometimes is useful getting access to normally unavailable areas for tourists.QUALITYSony has been improving the quality of its digital cameras steadily for the last few years. In February of 2011 I got a HX5V which was quite impressive, and delivered quality images even when compared with a DSLR except for low-light and other tricky situations. I traded it for a Canon PowerShot S95 which was a step ahead but still suffered from high noise levels in low light settings.What makes this camera unique is a 1" CMOS sensor. It is the only camera in this class or in similar size with a sensor this big. The law of physics is very simple: larger sensor, higher quality and lower noise. Sure you could get a NEX-5 with an even bigger sensor for slightly better quality but you would be stuck with a much, much larger camera, especially because of the size of the lens, and a much higher price.Combined with a minimum aperture of f/1.8, Carl Zeiss optics and a lot of cool features from Sony such as the Auto HDR and very cool camera effects, it is an amazing camera. After a week of playing with it I am wondering why would the average person need anything more than this camera.Last, I really love the on-screen information (and the quality of the display), especially the level indicator that helps you shoot straight pictures.EASE OF USEDon't let the power scare you away from this camera. As most point and shoot cameras, this one has an `auto' mode that is usually quite good at getting the right settings for each shot. If you ar enot an expert, you will feel at home with the Sony RX100 camrea having used any pocket digital camera, and you will enjoy the high quality it delivers.I found the menus to be intuitive, the camera feels solid and built with high quality materials.AREAS OF IMPROVEMENTProcessing speed takes a few seconds, but given the quality of the effects I would be surprised if they took significantly less time. Still, often you have to wait a second or two after a shot if you use advanced in-camera processing such as HDR.The 3.6 Zoom goes to 105mm I think, which is fine for most situations but could be nice to have a 200mm 9equivalent) zoom. I know adding such a zoom would require a larger lens so I rather keep the portability as is. Further, with 20 megapixels, you can zoom in to your photos easily in post production.Overall, if you are an experienced hobbyist or a semi-professional photographer looking for a camera to take always with you, or a backup/alternative to your big clunky DSLR, don't look any further. This is it.

I've been on a 12-year search to find the best pocketable digital camera. After getting an early Canon DSLR, and trading it in because it was too clunky, I've had a succession of better and better semi-pocketable cameras starting with the Olympus 3030, cycling through Olympus, Canon, Nikon and Sony and Panasonic cameras at the rate of about 1 a year (I find that after about 1 year or 10,000 pictures something tends to break) and finally ending with the excellent Panasonic GX1 mirrorless - which despite pancake lenses and my best efforts, didn't really fit in my pocket and thus didn't leave the house with me nearly as often as I hoped.This is what I have been looking for:* Sensor: I've come to the conclusion that above ~8MP, megapixels don't matter anymore - 99% of my pictures will only be seen on my ~2MP computer screen, so even with lots of cropping the extra megapixels in today's cameras are overkill. What is more important in the sensor is its size, which is critical to fast shutter speeds and low light photography* Optics: I prefer wide angle and lens speed vs long zooms.* Electronics: faster is better - faster focus, more clicks per second.* Pocketable - I love my Panasonic LX5 and it is just about the max you can comfortably put in a pants pocket. The LX5 is an excellent camera in every way but the larger sensor size of the RX100 was too compelling to not upgrade.The RX100 perfectly fits my above criteria and is really incredible - overall a great camera that somehow manages to cram a fast, wide-angle lens and a huge sensor into a tiny body.No point in my reiterating what is on dozens of other blogs/reviews on the overall quality of the camera, suffice it to say that it is fast and responsive and takes great pictures of fast-moving kids even in low light conditions.I see the blogs are divided about the in-camera charging, but I am a big fan - one less thing to carry (but the little flap to the USB port is really flimsy - see below). I already carry identical USB chargers and cables for my Blackberry so I don't need to carry anything extra for the camera. So the entire camera and accessories (zero) still easily fits in my pocket.I can't give this camera 5 stars however: the build quality is shockingly bad on the USB door, the battery/SD card door, and the really flimsy flash unit. I constantly feel like unless I am really careful, I am going to break off something. Really unacceptable for a $650 camera.2 other problems that smashed together have a perfect solution: no grip makes this little thing hard to hold, and the battery life is mediocre.Why not add a grip and cram a much bigger battery inside it? Something the size of the 3rd party Richard Franiec grip (I have on order) would be perfect - enough to hold onto, but not so much that it extends further out than the lens.For my next, hopefully last, camera I'd like something similar to the RX100 but modified as follows:* Wider angle (24mm maybe). 100mm is fine for the long end but I could compromise there to get wider at the short end* F1.8 or even faster at the short end, with less drop-off at the long* Equal or larger sensor* Note: I could accept a larger camera to get the above lens and sensor specs - as much as 15% larger in every dimension would still let the camera (just) fit in my pocket* Better build quality* Grip + large batteryPS another tip for pocketability is the excellent GorillaPod Micro 250 tripod, which I have permanently attached to my camera. Using this, your entire camera kit including all accessories still fits in your pocket.UPDATE: The included manual is pathetic. There is a useful website, but it is interactive, you can't print it out. Some helpful users have made a PDF of it and posted in the comments.

This camera produces sharp photos with good contrast and color rendition. The photos are very detailed and exhibit near DSLR quality in good conditions. It's great and will blow cheaper point and shoots away. The flash is surprisingly POWERFUL and is still very bright when tilted up to bounce off a ceiling. Autofocus is very fast. However, a DSLR is still easily better. Subject isolation (aka bokeh or blurred background) is poor with this 1 inch sensor and lens. If you are taking a photo of a subject, poor subject isolation means the background cannot be very well isolated from your subject, giving your photos the 'point and shoot' look of small cameras. Beautiful bokeh is the trademark of larger sensored cameras that no smaller sensored camera like the RX100 can match. The effect is even more pronounced with a cheap prime lens on a DSLR. Shooting in RAW format, this sensor also gives you about 1/2 to 1 stop of dynamic range. This is ok for minor shadow or highlight recovery, but a DSLR like the Nikon D5100 gives you about 2 stops of dynamic range. The Nikon will easily recover seemingly unrecoverable blown highlights and shadow detail. This ability can make a big difference to your photos in subpar lighting conditions. If you are serious about producing truly beautiful photos, this is not really what you would use. Let's just say the RX100 produces awesome 'point and shoot'-like photos.If you don't like carrying around a heavy DSLR, then a m43 camera from Panasonic or Olympus is a good compromise. The SONY NEX line is a good alternative as well. The only small point and shoot that can match DSLR quality is the Panasonic GM1 with it's larger m43 sensor. However, that is an interchangeable lens system and not truly pocketable.

I have to say the RX100 exceeded my expectations--but that's because no camera could live up to the ultra-rave reviews this one has gotten. How good is it? Relative to its tiny size, it's excellent. If you have a S90/95/100 or something similar and want better quality in an equally small camera, it's here. The RX100 is better in just about every way. But when somebody says "As soon as my little Sony arrived I unloaded my Nikon D800 SLR, ah....no.There are so many features and the instructions are close to nonexistent so a quick summary based on what I've found so far. 20 megapixels may/may not be necessary but picture quality is impressive for such a small camera. As the tests at Imaging Resource showed things are a bit soft in the corners at the wide setting, but not that bad. Usable wide open and best around f/4.5. At the long end, the lens is fine everywhere, right from wide-open. Am I pixel peeping? Yes, and if this was a $139 Casio camera I would agree it's unjustified. But it isn't, and therefore it is.I like the Sony interface and have no problems with the ring, except that its flush with the bottom of the camera so in the unlikely event you use a tripod, you may not be able to turn the ring (yes, this happened). Dynamic range could be better, which is a shame but to be fair, only Fuji has really extended dynamic range. I tried the various options and only the HDR really compresses the range but of course you need a stationary camera and subject to take advantage. By the way, it does a great job with in-camera HDR; I thought it looked more realistic than my Canon 5D3 HDRs. Video was a snap and looked great to me (I know nothing about shooting movies).Without going into things that obviously the camera doesn't have, like a viewfinder, shoe or low price, here are my plusses and minuses.Pro: Really small, lens sharp everywhere you'd expect, great interface, fast operation, only slightly confusing for a snapshot camera (Intelligent Auto vs. Superior Auto excepted), very low noise to ISO 400, completely usable at 800, lots of detail in files, multiple memories for saving settings, lots of well-implemented fun features with good on-screen explanations of what they doCon: Camera's bottom bottom plate entirely plastic (ok), lens assembly entirely plastic (not ok), dynamic range typical of small sensor camera (similar situation with Canon G1X), LCD not visible in direct sun even with adjustment, no obvious way to protect front element, no grip (really needed with something this small), no meaningful instructions, large raw files a bit of a nuisance until decent software available.So, if your main requirement is a very small camera that can take very good photos, this is for you. OTOH, if you're quality conscious enough to spend this much on a camera, you might want to get something a bit larger or wait for Photokina.Update - A few more observations having used the camera a bit more. The Superior Auto mode does a fantastic job of reducing noise via multiple exposures, and the Handheld Twilight mode, with more exposures, is even better. However, with these modes the camera locks the lens wide open so you gain a lot in reduced noise but you give up a little sharpness and a lot of depth of field. Also, despite the large sensor, the camera still seems to be set up as a snapshot camera. With jpegs, it over sharpens a lot, giving the typical halos. You can almost eliminate this, while still taking advantage of the features that only work with jpegs by going to Menu - Creative Style and reducing the excessive sharpening, which really isn't needed with this camera.

I sold my NEX-5N 3 month ago after hearing rumors and seeing per-production photos of NEX6. I loved the NEX5N output but hated the menu system and lack of physical controls, the 6 appeared to be my holy grail. Anyhow, in the meantime I wanted a compact none interchangeable lens camera to fill my camera needs. I gave the RX100 a shot after all the rave reviews. After using it for 2 month here is my opinion:1. Image quality is the best out of all compact cameras I've used in recent years. Recent compacts I've used: Panasonic LX5, Olympus XZ1, Canon S100, Sony HX9V.2. Image quality is almost on par with micro43 + kit lens and very close to the NEX5N jpg output. Recent m43 I've used: OMD e-M5, EP3 and GX1.3. Focus speed - almost no shutter lag or focus hunting unlike compact P&S. The overall speed is on par with mirrorless cameras.So what didn't I like?1. Image stabilization doesn't work well under indoor light which result in slightly blurred photos. The flash also takes roughly 3-4 seconds to recharge which is a bit frustration for me when taking bounced flash indoor photos of a people in slight motion. Without flash any slight moving of the model or your hands will cause blurry photo. I felt compact camera were a lot more responsive taking indoor flash photos than the RX100.2. The size - it is really compact considering the image quality it packs, but it is a tad too big to fit in a jean pocket comfortably. It does fit, but extremely snug and will require some effort to dig out. I'm always afraid of accidentally hitting the power button causing the lens to extend and break in my pocket. So the camera is pocket-able but I wouldn't recommend putting it in your pants pocket (i put it in my pants because I don't carry any bags/man-purse when I go out). You can also put it in your jacket, but it's weight will make your jacket slant to one side. To safely carry this camera you will probably put it on a neck strap or put it in a bag of some sort, so technically portability is no longer in it favor when compared to other mirrorless solutions in this price range that provide better image quality that are only slight bigger in size/weight.3. Form factor - the camera is built like a compact point and shoot, and I feel like I'm shooting with one. I don't know how to explain it but psychologically i put a lot more thoughts in composing my shots using a mirrorless IL form factor compared to point and shoot. I find the photo I took with RX100 to be more casual and less interesting than the ones I took with a mirrorless. I guess I was more careless and didn't enjoy shooting with RX100 as much as a mirrorless.So, all in all, once you used this camera you will never be able to accept the photos quality and speed of a compact point and shoot again. It is a great step up from a P&S if you have the $ to spare. As a secondary camera to your mirrorless or DSLR this is a great compact choice. However, at this price range I would not recommend this as a primary camera as there are a lot of options that offer more flexibility and better image quality.

My comments are from someone who owns 2 SONY SLT cameras, an A55 and 65, along with an assortment of lenses and accessories. I really dislike small sensor P&S cameras because of their IMO horrible IQ above base iso and slow focusing speed, especially in low light. My rating is based on comparisons to other P&S cameras of this size, not to the much larger cameras I'm used to.I have not used any of the various tricks the camera can do except sweep panorama which works very well.Some people say their camera came without a manual. Maybe earlier samples didn't but mine did. Since I am used to the Sony menu system I did not need to read it. After a quick look through it seems adequate to get you started.There have been complaints about the ring around the lens lacking click points. That doesn't bother me in the least. I actually prefer it that way because if you are using it for precise manual focus the the click points make that more difficult.In my opinion the jpgs from this camera are much better than any P&S even at base iso and the difference becomes more pronounced as iso goes up. The photos are good to iso 1600 but by iso3200 things get a bit iffy depending on conditions. If you are using iso3200 in decent light to keep the shutter speed up the results are pretty good but if you are using it indoors in poor light the results are not as good but acceptable for maybe an 8x10 print.Auto Focus speed and accuracy. Generally P&S cameras focus poorly in anything but daylight. I am happy to report that the RX100 focuses like a DSLR indoors in poor light. Another thing nobody seems to mention is the flash can be bounced off the ceiling to eliminate the harsh direct lighting you get from direct flash.Auto iso is fully programmable for low and high. Default maximum is iso3200 which I changed to 1600. Maximum is allowable 6400. All or most of the buttons are programmable for different functions and you can memorize up to, I believe, 5 different combinations depending on need.This camera is clearly aimed at someone who wants as close to DSLR functionality and IQ as possible in as small a package as possible. Lets be clear. It is not a camera that can replace a DSLR unless small size is more important but is comes close. If you are someone like myself who is unwilling to make the sacrifices in IQ and focus speed that small cameras have previously required but really like the idea of a small carry everywhere pocketable camera then this is the only game in town. No other camera of this size is even in the same ball park.If you are looking for a do everything camera with a lens that goes from 1:1 macro to super zoom this is not the camera for you. Be aware that such cameras make significant sacrifices in IQ. If you want the best IQ that is currently possible in a small size this is it.I bought this camera as a companion to my A55 and A65. I have been carrying my A55 with 18-200 and A65 with Tamron 70-300 USD which is a bit cumbersome. The RX100 replaces the A55 and it's small size makes carrying 2 cameras far easier and more convenient. It allows me to always have a camera with me who's IQ satisfies me which no small sensor P&S or Smart phone can do. I have never seen a P&S previously with IQ good enough and cell phones are even worse. Thank you Sony for producing the RX100. At $650 it is worth every penny.

For background, I started with a film SLR a million years ago. Since digital, I have used only Canon's S-series starting with the S50. Most recently using S90. But the reviews convinced me to switch to Sony and I'm impressed.----------------Here is what I love...- Size- HDR support- Bounce flash- Bokeh (blurred backgrounds)- Panorama- Creative in camera modes- Clear view zoom- Front ring (like no stops)- Like being able to customize controls for ring, right, left, center and Fn. Like having 3 programmable modes.- Stability - I thought the default 1/30 shutter would be too slow but most pictures appear sharp.----------------Here is what I view as the incredibly dumb decisions...- The out of box setting of Auto-DRO causes lower quality images. Why set the default as worse quality? I think some of the claims of poor image quality relate to this decision.- Crummy manual and no manual in box. If Sony wants users to take great pictures, give us the information needed. I realize that big manuals cost a lot to translate for world wide distribution, but the current situation is really unforgivable. The internet community may close this gap in time.----------------Here are things I personally dislike, but some could debate as everything is a tradeoff...- In program mode, I'd like to have the option of setting a minimum Aperture and Shutter. I find F1.8 to have too shallow depth of field for a lot of my situations and 1/30 can sometimes be too slow. Yes, I can use Aperture priority, but then it frequently picks 1/30 for the shutter. If that is too slow, I'm stuck with Manual which requires setting Aperture, Shutter and ISO. At that point I've missed the shot.- The tripod has to be removed to access memory/battery.- I wish for a VF or articulating display. Just personal preference.- I loved Canon Vivid setting and have not been able to reproduce it. Anyone have ideas?- Miss the flexibility to customize self-timer to take xxx pictures after yyy time.- Why can't I customize the top, bottom, zoom toggle, and movie buttons?- When selecting things in Fn menus, I naturally turn the dial the opposite of the way it expects. I'm sure I'll learn but it seems backwards. Turning clockwise, moves the selector to the item in the counter-clockwise direction. I realize it is trying to simulate moving a really dial but it doesn't register with me. I'm too use to using a mouse where you move toward what you are selecting. Wish I had an option to reverse it.- I miss external battery charger, but I tried Anker Multi-Purpose Universal Rapid Cell phone Battery Charger for Samsung: Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy S II S2 i9100, T-mobile T989, AT&T i777, Skyrocket SGH-I727; HTC: Sensation, Sensation XE, Amaze, EVO 3D, ThunderBolt; Motorola: Verizon Droid RAZR, Droid X... with the battery in Special Value Accessory Kit for the Sony DSC-RX100 and it works fine.- Settings for on screen display during shooting could be improved. Some are very cluttered. Would like more options to have the horizontal level shown.- If Sony decides to not do Firmware updates, I would view this as a major omission. Too soon to know but I'm fearful. For a $600+ camera, I'll be very unhappy if that occurs.----------------OVERALL - It is a definite improvement to my S90, but I'm not in love yet. I will probably get there in time as I use it more.

Update:I just came back from a week on vacation with the RX100, and I'm super happy with it.It still could use a longer telephoto lens, and macro mode focus is problematic. However, it takes amazing pictures in all conditions.You sometimes do need to get involved manually (the flash over-exposes at short range, for example), and all controls are there for you.The large pixel count somewhat compensates for the short telephoto. There're enough pixels to crop in most case.Below is my first-impression review.About me:I've been an amateur photographer for thirty years now.Started with manual SLR and than moved to AF SLR.In 2000, my SLR was lost/stolen. Getting a film camera at that time seemed like the wrong thing to do, so I bought my first digital camera. Since DSLRs at the time started at $3000, I went for a "prosumer" camera. The Minolta Dimage7.I loved that camera. It had the control I wanted, a decent 28-200mm lens, and was much smaller than my SLR.A few years ago, I decided to buy a cheap point-and-shoot, so I can carry it with me while biking or skying (didn't want to risk my "good" camera).Over time, I noticed that I'm using the POS more and more, and the other camera less and less.Apparently size matters...About this camera:So when I decided to get a decent camera again, it was obvious I am not going back to an SLR, or even a ZLR.I looked at ILCs, and really liked the Sony NEX6, But that camera is still quite bulky.The RX100 is everything I expected it to be.It can be used as a point-and-shoot, with very good results. So anyone in the family can use it.It can also be used as a manual camera, with almost every control option available. It's customizable, so you can place the controls you care about at your fingertips.Even in "Super Auto" mode, you can go into "creative mode" and control depth of field, exposure, color saturation etc. without needing to know how those actually work. A great way to introduce someone to photography IMO.A great camera for anyone looking to take great pictures with something that fits in a large pocket.What could be better:Telephoto. It's only 3.6x. 7x would have been ideal.A filter thread.

I want to start by saying this camera does everything it says it does, so if you want to read the good stuff about it, check the 4 and 5 star reviews. I want to concentrate on the things I dislike.I don't like not having a view finder. Wearing polarized sunglasses often makes it difficult to see the screen, including the zillion camera options presented on the screen.I really liked my Canon PowerShot S95 10 MP Digital Camera with 3.8x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3.0-Inch LCD because it satisfied my photography needs about 90+% of the time, but lost it last year. I purchased the Sony mainly because of the advanced shutter, aperture and focus controls thinking it would satisfy my needs 99% of the time. And it probably would, if I wasn't so "carefree and careless" in the point-n-shoot mode.During some group photos at our Thanksgiving celebrations, the camera didn't always detect every face. Result: Some of the closer persons were out of focus. Yes, this was my fault, but I expected it would use a more generic point-n-shoot everything-in-focus mode. Now I use a little more time getting the correct depth of field and focus, but it's a "bit" frustrating.While doing some nighttime shooting at the Denver Zoo-Lights, I got some great shots - shots that would have probably required a tripod for other compact point-n-shoot cameras. The only complaint I had was the occasional shot with persons, persons that the camera could not detect because of the darkness. Result: The surprisingly powerful flash, coupled with exposure compensations, gave me grossly overexposed and unrecoverable faces. I'm not sure how one would compensate for that.The most disappointing experience was at the National Western Stock Show. Somehow the camera got on one of its functions that I think should be reserved for photo software. I will try to upload one of the pictures of my wife and grandson. Result: No usable pictures. Hey, if you're going to include bizarre functions, the camera still should keep and unaltered version.I admit these are operator error - my fault. And, I hate to admit, I'm probably a better than average photographer *BUT* when I want to be lazy and use the camera as a point-n-shoot, I don't want surprises. I miss my Canon PowerShot S95. It was smaller, had a viewfinder, and I made less mistakes.For those who think this camera is a bit too big, I use Sony Jacket Case for Cyber-shot RX100 *BUT* instead of using the strap, I use a clip similar to this *Silver Tone Metal Trigger Lobster Clasp Key Chain Keyring 2 Pcs and clip the camera to my belt. PS - I think the case is about 4-stars.Anyway, the camera does what it says, but the user has to be too careful in using it.

The Sony RX100 is a great camera overall, but has some weaknesses in the performance area that take some of the shine away from the overall shooting experience.Image quality at lower ISOs is excellent. Sharp, detailed, good dynamic range. There are two issues I have with this camera, however. First off, it has a tendency to overexpose and clip highlights. Secondly, while it keeps noise at bay through ISO1600, it seems to do this through very aggressive noise reduction at ISO800 and beyond, taking a toll on fine detail. The Olympus XZ-2 on the other hand, has more noise at ISO800 but also more detail. Personally, I like cameras that retain fine detail better and don't mind a little noise. But to say that the RX100 is an open and shut case as far as IQ is concerned (when compared to its competitors)...not quite.I am not particularly thrilled about the F4.9 at the telephoto end but the lens has nice characteristics otherwise so I really don't see that as a negative overall. What is a negative overall is how long it takes for the lens to zoom in and out and it's loud when it does it.The autofocus performance on this camera is somewhat disappointing in low-light. It's fine in the daytime but in low-light it's almost as slow as the much less-expensive Powershot S100. Also I had issues with the image stabilization is not great on the camera for some reason. I found in a lot of instances that you had to hold onto the camera very tightly in order to get a blur-free shot. I think that is inexcusable for a $650 camera.Some people have commented on the battery life of this camera. It's not the greatest but that's one of the trade-offs you have to make with a small pocket camera. Your best bet is just to get an extra battery.The LCD screen on back is very nice being somewhat viewable in direct sunlight. The menu system on the camera is a very nice and more straight-forward than other Sony cameras that I've used. The dial up front doesn't have decisive clicks that the Powershot S100 has but it's still nice to have considering that some enthusiast cameras don't have it at all.Ergonomics-wise, I think this camera could use some improvement. The shiny metal body is slippery up front and could benefit from some sort of grip or textured surface to make the camera more secure in your hand.Video generally looks nice, I haven't tested it much. But it generally is sharp and the audio sounds good.I think the RX100 was a respectable first compact enthusiast camera for Sony. And indeed, it's remarkable they were able to take a relatively large sensor and put it in such a compact light-weight camera. It's image quality is a cut above any enthusiast compact out there. But it has some performance-related issues that need refinement. Not terrible, but it could have been better on a $650 camera. Overall though, a great first enthusiast compact from Sony.

I received my Sony RX 100 yesterday, ordered through Amazon Prime and arriving two days later. I wanted to report my initial impressions of this camera, while they're fresh.There are many reviews raving about the quality of this camera and the spectacular images that are attainable, so I won't cover that again. I mainly want to talk about the pop up flash design, which has received a lot of criticism. I almost didn't purchase this camera because of all of the negative comments about the flash unit. The reviewers had me convinced that it was a design flaw, and I wanted to wait for the next generation RX 200 or whatever to come out. I am so glad I didn't wait! The first thing I did when I got the camera was inspect the flash. This is a very nice little flash unit, with a well designed pop up mechanism. It doesn't look sturdy in photos, but the mechanics of the pop up unit are all metal, and very robustly designed. Did you also know that this flash can be directed up at the ceiling to use as bounce flash?! And it has the light power to do it, too. (Thanks Gary Friedman for that tip - buy his guide book for this camera, it's excellent).The other thing people complain about is the lack of an external charger. Okay, but there are very inexpensive after market chargers available, so don't let that stop you.Also, this camera has two very intelligent modes that allow the camera to be used as an excellent point and shoot, so if you're not an experienced camera user, but want to get amazing photos, then this is still a good choice for you.One issue for me is the camera is a little bit larger than what I expected, but I was a long time user of a series of Canon Elph cameras. This camera is definitely not as "shirt pocketable" as the Elphs were, but I did tuck it into the back pocket of my shorts today and it wasn't overly bulky. The camera feels like a tank compared to the Elphs. And by feels like a tank, I mean that it's a bit heavier, but it feels like it would shrug off having a truck drive over it. It's solid!I'm glad I bought it!

This camera is way overpriced for what it does $550 plus tax .... I think the right price for this camera would be more like $250The camera is pretty fast when you do not use flash but will have problems focusing on moving subject, It does better in low light settings than most point and shot cameras but do not expect miracles -if you want some outstanding results you will still need to post process the pictures .Pictures not super sharp in auto settings, just ok. What bothers me about this camera is that is slippery and most importantly that I have had it for a short time (1 week) and there is dust on the sensor- . This is completely unacceptable for such an expensive camera . I have never had an issue like that with any camera I have purchased. Also it is fragile-corrosion issues are very much possible .. . I am sorry but If I am spending so much on a camera I want it to last me for years and this camera ...not sure if it will survive a year or 2 ...it already has dust on the sensor!I just purchased an inexpensive point & shot camera and while is not as fast as sony rx100 and not as good in low light settings it does the job for much less money.,,,,

To get all the prerequisite credibility stuff out of the way... I primarily use a Nikon D7000 DSLR and myriad lenses. I haven't been in photography for eons, though I am a serious hobbyist with a few years under my belt. I tried micro four thirds as my smaller camera solution. And my experience with M4/3 was very good! I almost got rid of the big DSLR rig. I stepped back and asked myself why I wanted to switch to M4/3. My answer: I wanted a light easy to carry solution with image quality nearly equivalent to my DSLR for times when I didn't want to lug the big rig around. I got so far into M4/3 that I found myself with a bunch of M4/3 lenses, many of them large - so it began to defeat the purpose. I then realized what I wanted was a pocketable, powerful, portable camera. I sold the M4/3, kept the D7000 outfit, and researched pocketable compacts.Research led me to the Sony RX-100. Good sensor size. Manual controls and powerful auto-mode features. Decent lens zoom range. And it indeed is pocketable! The image quality is so good that I normally keep it in the enhanced intelligent auto mode. More times than not, I'll use the jpgs right out of the camera. I import them to Lightroom, maybe crop or tweak clarity or something, then export to resize and get my watermark on it and I'm done.Prossize, pocketable.controls.clear screen.lens retracts into body and no cap required.control ring around the lens to control various things.image quality very pleasing.does in-camera HDR and panoramas.I may be odd, but I like the digital zoom feature on this camera. Implemented much better than typical digital zooms.ConsNo touchscreen :( big frowny face. This camera needs a touchscreen. Touch to focus, touch to shoot. Would be awesome.small size/handling. I don't have overly large hands, but I have to relearn to hold this tiny thing after using the DSLR.screen can be hard to see in bright light/glare.battery life - it's ok, but nothing to write home about.have to charge batteries in-camera with USB adapter. I bought a third party external battery charger, but it doesn't seem to work (separate reveiw needed).It's making me lazy in not wanting to use manual modes - the intelligent auto is that good.and obviously, this is not a DSLR and can't match DSLR for action shooting.I'll add to this as I get more experience on the RX-100.

I was like many others, needing a compact camera with DSLR quality without having to lug around a clunky DSLR with lenses. I read all the reviews, and decided on the Canon S100. Boy was that a mistake. That's what I get for being cheap. The Canon took decent pics, but has a slow lens and a lot blurry pics with the slightest movement of the Subject, no matter what I had it set on. I sold it after a few months. I had seen The Sony RX100 reviews, but decided it was too pricey for a compact. After selling my Canon, I decided to at least give it a try. Without a doubt, this camera is well with the money. The pictures and video from this compact camera are amazing. And I don't mean that lightly! Hands down the BEST camera I have ever owned. Pictures are beautiful. Colors are natural and very sharp. Depth of field is great on this camera. The settings are fantastic and very easy to use. Auto settings are so good, that I rarely take it off auto. And that's a big plus. Just set it and forget it. Not one blurry shot with a moving subject. I have a one year old and this camera captured every moving shot perfect. No blurring! Pictures are nice and soft like a DSLR. The video on this camera is so good, that I'm selling my HD video camera. If you are on the fence with deciding over a Canon or this camera, I strongly urge you to get this one. You will waste your money on a Canon s100, 110 or 120. It's like comparing a clunker car to Mercedes. The Canon doesn't even come close to picture or video quality. Trust me, I had them both. I rarely right reviews, but had to write one on this camera. It is really that good!!

Received order in timely manner, well packaged with the extra bundled accessories just time to take along on vacation. I didread the basic instructions and decided too just shoot on the I auto mode until I could read further. The scene pictures turned outbetter than I expected. The lenses made a big difference and was easy to tell the difference as I was shooting with another camera.The overall quality is a five or better. This camera is in the professional range as it truly has most of the systems one could use.The overall quality is apparent when you first use the camera. I did order the Sony black form fitting case which was made for this camera....I'm glad I did because it protects as well as facilitates the usage as it provides a better grip and helps in the overallease of shooting. The Sony RX100 will be my main vacation camera as I am tired of lugging the large SLRs and the small inadequatepoint and shoot subcompacts around. Excellent value for such a fine camera that is easy to carry.

After reading some of the latest reviews on this camera I decided to add my thoughts - because the camera deserves better. Let me back up: I originally purchased the RX100M2 when it was released; however , I didn't think it was the camera for me when I began reading that photos in this camera were better than the original RX100 only in RAW. I don't shoot in RAW - about this time the price began decreasing on the original RX100 - to the point where there was over a $200- $250 difference. I loved the rotating screen and the WIFI ability - and while it had better low light capability - I didn't see a huge difference that would merit spending all of this extra cash. So I returned the camera to where I purchased it from and purchased the RX100 (for a little over $500). I also got the Gary Friedman book on how to use the camera. I studied the book for a few weeks - testing out what I learned and voila for how I believe I will use the camera I was completely satisfied. It's a small camera - it's intended to be carried in your pocket - like a smart phone (although there is no way to compare the photo capability of a smart phone with this camera). Does it take photos like a full size DSLR? Maybe! I guess it comes down to how critical one is. The camera takes better photos than many camera (I'll leave it at that) - and most of the cameras slightly ahead of this camera cannot fit in your pocket. To the reviewer below here that complained about the menus: I am not the most technical person around (I'd give myself a 7 out of 10); yet, I found the menus very easy to navigate. Especially after setting up the fn menu and the three memory recalls. Get a book or read the directions carefully - and you can't help but love this little camera.

It's a slim good looking camera with a large sensor but there are several flaws that couldn't be overlooked. The flaws are quite major, so I had to return it. Here below are the flaws:1. Lens is not as fast. Sure, it goes down to F1.8 but as you zoom you loose lot of aperture and light. At about half way zoom you are already at f3.5 or higher. So, if you think you will take wonderful pictures in low light with decent focal length, you should think again and look elsewhere.2. Built in flash is terrible at getting the right exposure. Tried all different settings with no avail. I couldn't take a decent shot in regular light indoors with flash. Everybody is bragging about how great the flash is because it could be bounced but the fact is it has extremely low power and the exposure is not right even when you shoot directly on to the subject let alone bounce off the ceiling.3. Macro focus is super flaky. It never focuses right. You have to try over and over until you find a sweet spot by then either you lost your subject or you lost your interest in taking the shot.5. Picture quality is not as great as I had thought. Even at ISO 100 it's not crystal clear. You also loose lot of details as soon as you up the ISO. I know that it is normal of any camera but I compared several camera in the similar group with much smaller sensors with better performance.Overall, it is very disappointing and I had no choice but to return it. Since then I got a Fujifilm X10 and now a X20. I kept them both. If you really want an advanced high quality camera very closed to DSLR level functionality and quality then get the new X20. Just so people don't start suspecting that if I am some how connected with Fujifilm then let me clear the air by saying no, I am not in any shape or form. I am not even a Fuji fan-boy. I am just an avid part-time photographer with a full time passion for photography. I like to shoot with great camera gears. My favorite cameras that I own and use regularly includes Canon 5D Mark III, Olympus OMD-EM5, Canon 20D, Nikon D600, Fuji X10 and X20.

I took this camera to Europe for a month long trip and came home with some amazing images. Hard to believe a rinky-dink little camera could do so much. I found the auto HDR extremely valuable in dealing with difficult contrasty/dim lighting situations such as the inside of Cathedrals and castles. The low light performance at the wide end was also astonishing. There are indeed many pros for the this camera which are detailed in the other reviews here. My biggest gripe of all? The menu structure and user interface are simply terrible. This has got to be the least organized and least intuitive menu interface I've seen. I think what has happened here is that the plethora of mode/function options has exponentially exploded in this camera while Sony tried to reduce the number of hard buttons at the same time. Everything is assignable, but you can get into trouble if you customize it too much. For example, I assigned exposure compensation to the button that is default labeled drive mode/self timer. Two months later when I actually needed to use the self-timer, I went into the menus looking for self-timer and could find no such menu item! Frustrating minutes later, I looked under the menu item "drive mode" and finally found the "self-timer" function hidden there. By this time, it was too late to use the self-timer function as the photo opportunity had passed. Sony could take some serious lessons from Canon when it comes to user friendliness of the UI. In short, this camera has a steep learning curve until you can quickly make it do what you want at a moments notice. That said, to be able pocket this much technology is amazing to me but this not a "quick-learn" camera if you want to master its bag of tricks.

Hype surrounding the new Sony RX100 has been immense, with one famous reviewer commenting that the RX100 is the "best pocket camera ever." As a longtime film and digital SLR and rangefinder shooter, I have pretty high expectations, and pocket cameras have never really met those expectations; but I persist in keeping them around because I can't put a rangefinder in my pocket, and having one on the shelf at home obviously limits opportunities to ply the craft.Bolstered by last year's surprisingly good HX9V, I took the leap of faith and purchased the RX100. I've shot about 750 frames with the RX100, and I'm absolutely blown away by how much I enjoy it. This is serious image quality, folks. Outdoors, in good light, the RX100 captures MORE detail than my Fuji X-Pro 1, with good dynamic range and excellent color. The fuji has an edge as light levels decrease, but honestly--the RX100 is as good as the best 400 speed films of today, and I've shot those all over the world, in all sorts of light. With the bright f1.8 lens and image stabilization the RX100 could take you all over the world and reward you with excellent quality. Additionally, the Carl Zeiss lens renders in a unique, characterful way--I'd take it over any DSLR kit lens made. It's that good.Autofocus is BLAZING fast, tremendously accurate, and totally reliable. Face detection isn't quite as fast as I've seen (the HX9V was quicker to acquire a face) but the AF will lock on to your target quickly enough even without "detecting the face" that it's rarely a problem. This camera easily keeps up with my highly active 4 year old, and that's an impressive feat. The user interface is customizable enough that I can put the creative controls I desire at my fingertips, and although Sony's still feel a little like computers to me vs. traditional cameras, it's all very useable for a traditional photographer, and you can work your traditional exposure magic without feeling like the camera is fighting you every step of the way.Negatives? Well, that lovely lens is only really fast at 28mm, quickly dropping to f2.8 max aperture by 35mm, and dropping from there to a pretty slow f4 at 70mm f4.9 at 100mm. I'd also really like some sort of front grip on the camera, as the smooth finish looks sleek, but isn't very easy to hold. It would be nice if Sony allowed the choice to use less-aggressive noise reduction; at a pixel level, there's some heavy processing going on, and it's quite noticeable. You won't see this unless you print huge prints at high ISOs, though, and if you prefer this camera does shoot RAW so you have the option of processing yourself.Should you buy this camera? Yes--the initial reviews weren't just hype. It's so good it has me thinking "why have anything else?" It really is that good. It won't do everything (super wide angle or super telephoto), but if I'm honest with myself, the 28-100mm range is a real sweet spot for travel, art, documentary, and family photography, and the photos I've made with the RX100 are completely and totally rewarding.

I really like this camera. Although it doesn't have all the advantages or bells and whistles of my DSLR, it fits in my pocket. Rather than miss shots (going for a late night street stroll, meeting friends or dining out) I have this with me. In fact, after getting used to it, I took only this camera on a weeklong trip to Mexico and it worked great. The RX100 has a ton of manual controls but also has a good "point and shoot" mentality for when you want to turn your brain off. I don't publish dozens of photos to Facebook so I post-process every photo I print. For me, that means shooting in RAW which the RX100 does. The bigger sensor means I can get a clear and detailed photo when I blow up to 16x20 (the largest I have printed so far with this camera.) There are plenty of reviews of this camera both here and on the net so for my 2 cents:1) This isn't a camera for everyone, you are paying for RAW, a fairly fast lens and bigger sensor2) The RX seems to go through the battery fairly quickly, so buy a couple of spares3) As others have mentioned, the start video button is inconveniently located and easy to turn on accidently4) The camera has lots of features, I found a secondary handbook on how to use it, was helpfulIf you want a cheap point and shoot, you'd probably do better looking elsewhere. If you really enjoy photography but want some convenience, seriously consider this camera.Okay, I used this camera for 10 months and took over 2,000 photographs with it. No problem...... loved it. Suddenly it began to insert a multicolor line (up to 3) through the center of the photograph. In the last 200 or so I've shot, it has happened about 15 times. I sent the camera back to Sony with a card it in with the defective photos. They said the camera passed their tests and the problem is the software I use to view the pics. (Really, I use 2 nationally known photo editors and it didn't this for any of the other 2,000 pics I took with it.) They did not look at the pics I sent in.... just the ones they took. Great camera for 10 months, but little to no support from Sony. The camera gets 5 stars, Sony support gets 1 star.... average equals 3 stars. If you buy it, know there isn't much support.

I won't echo all the technical aspects of the RX100. The other reviews on Amazon, plus all the pro reviews are consistently clear: this is the best pocket camera out there right now. And I completely agree. Should you pay $650 for one? It depends.I bought one of these on a whim and it does handle much quicker than my Canon S90 it is replacing, especially in low light situations. Will the camera make me a better photographer and dramatically improve the overall quality of my pictures? No. If I wanted to really improve my photography, I'd take art classes and spend hours daily practicing the craft. But I'm too lazy and unmotivated to do that at this point in my life.What this $650 camera will allow me to do is to have an easier time taking those 3 AM shots of me and my friends at the bar or those zoomed-in pictures at the rock concert where having an extra half stop and a bigger sensor will produce slightly cleaner pictures of the various band members. How often do I really need that level of low light performance in a camera? Maybe 8 to 10 occasions in any given year. Most of the pictures I take while on vacation and during my everyday life are shot in good light, and these pictures would look nearly indistinguishable regardless of whether I shot them with my S90 or with my new RX100. However, I don't spend my free time blowing my images up to 100% and pixel peeping- I'm more interested in the overall picture. I'm sure if you look really close at comparison photos there's a difference, but who really cares.If you're a person with lots of disposable income to spend on gadgets like this, realizing that in 2 years it will for sure be replaced by the next greatest faster and smaller gadget, then go for it and buy the thing. I did, and I have no regrets. I will truly enjoy using this camera for the next few years until the lens gets stuck or the sensor gets all dusty and too expensive to repair.If you're on a budget and the $650 price tag means compromising your food budget for a month, you should seriously consider how often in your life you really need that extra bit of low light performance. If this camera came out 10 years ago when I was in my early 20's, unemployed, and broke, there's no way this camera would be worth $650 to me. If this is you, then consider also some of the cheaper but very good cameras like an S95.Update 11-7-12:I'm still using the camera regularly and still think it's solid.A note to readers: comments equating this camera to "DSLR quality" are ridiculous. The rules of physics have not changed in the last few years. Though pictures from this camera are excellent (provided the person behind the camera has some skill), no camera with this sized sensor and compact body will ever be able to reproduce the unique image qualities that can be captured using a big camera with a big lens and a big sensor, notably subject isolation via shallow depth of field. It's just not going to happen.

This is written predominantly for the person wondering if the best camera for them necessitates the cost of the RX100. If this price is paltry to you, just buy the thing. It is quite a feat of excellent engineering.I bought the RX100 from Amazon. I'm impressed with Sony's innovations lately (Alpha, and NEX lines especially), and recently recommended a friend buy the WX150 model (and she is thrilled). I had to return my RX100 for it suffered from a dust glob on the sensor (it may have come from the factory this way, but it did rear it's head on day 2 of ownership, the first time I shot outdoors). As much as I was impressed with the 1080/60p video, I'm not sure the RX100's limited capabilities are going to fit my needs as being the only camera I'll use.So if you're looking to use this model as your only camera, you may also want either a wider angle (around 25mm) or a longer zoom. Meaning you may also be considering DSLR/DSLT models and other mirrorless offerings such as NEX. I'd suggest you get all 3 different systems and play with them to see what kind of compromises you're willing to live with -- problem is you may end up keeping the DSLR AND the RX100. Perhaps one day your bank account will forgive you ;O)If you never print big, or know you'll never want to print big (over 8"x10), I'd save some coin and first try the WX150. Seriously. Just don't pixel peep!The RX100 is an amazing tool, no doubt it delivers best in the hands of a serious enthusiast or pro, who are likely shooting in P/A/S/M modes. Don't want to be a photog? Don't know what P/A/S/M means? Get the WX150. I found the auto modes on the RX100 to deliver only OK images in all light conditions, but take some extra time using the P/A/S/M modes and your "photography knowledge" that's beyond the typical "point & shoot crowd" and you'll be amazed with your captures, especially considering the camera's diminutive size. Even right out of the camera JPEGs, without any post processing, look a notch or two or five better than your typical small camera.With my largish hands I found the handling a bit "fiddly" and mildly uncomfortable, YMMV -- between the large lens area on front, the large (awesome even in the bright sun) rear display taking up so much real estate, and lack of a front grip this camera may not be the one-handed dreamcam you think it can be (optional grips to help run $30+). It also doubles as a fiddly 2-handed cam, too! Keep that left hand off the top left pop-up flash space! I sometimes missed the shutter button and instead nearly pressed the on/off button. But hey, more time with the RX100 would likely result in better acclimation, after all, as humans we're quite the adaptive ones, yes?Don't believe anyone telling you this thing is a slam-dunk, can't-lose model -- your needs might best be satisfied with less pricey models, or cameras offering more flexible options for not much more moola. Only you can decide if size truly matters ;O)

I purchased this camera right when it was first available and have been using it for about a month as I write this review, having taken it on a week-long vacation and taking many shots plus video. Overall, I'm very happy with my purchase, as I feel that it lives up to the quality for both stills and video that I was hoping for when I bought it. However, there are a few short-comings, some of which are not the fault of Sony or the camera and which I expect to be remedied down the road. They include:- RAW files are not yet compatible with Lightroom, which is something I really wanted. I'm sure this will be solved pretty soon.- Similarly, 1080/60p AVCHD video is not compatible with iMovie or Final Cut Pro X on the Mac yet. I'm hoping this will happen down the road. For now, I shoot in 60i, which works fine and still looks good.- Sony supplies no software for Mac, but I would use my third-party programs anyway.- When zooming in video, once you hit the end of the optical zoom, it kicks into digital zoom that degrades the quality. This can't be turned off, which is a real dumb oversight. However, there is a noticeable spot where this happens, so you can usually catch it and keep from going there (at least too far).- When shooting stills with the standard 2-second preview on and then trying to quickly change the zoom level for the next shot, it instead applies the zoom control to the preview mode and keeps it locked in that mode, so that you have to manually get back to camera mode. This got so annoying that I turned off preview mode altogether and just manually used the play mode button to see the photos I just shot. I couldn't figure out how to turn this off.- The build is generally solid, but as others have noted, the flash feels flimsy and makes me worry that eventually it might break. Also, I had the battery door on the bottom open by itself several times, which was somewhat disconcerting. The latch for that is pretty weak.- The manual was a joke, as others have mentioned. I found the online one, but it's a live web site, not a PDF you can download and keep. I imagine they will fix that eventually.Those are pretty much all my gripes, which prevent me from giving this camera a full 5-stars. Still, the image quality and video quality are both excellent. I had this camera along with a Canon 60D with an L-series lens on my vacation, and while it couldn't quite keep up with the Canon (as expected), I still was very happy with the photos it took and could watch them alongside the Canon photos without feeling that they were drastically inferior. The video was also very clear and nice, even when shooting indoors in regular lighting, which has given me problems with other cameras in the past. Given the form factor of the camera, which made it easy to take lots of places I didn't want to drag the DSLR, plus the very good low-light performance, especially when you don't zoom in, it's definitely a keeper for me.

Making a good pocket-sized camera is a really tough challenge. This camera meets that challenge. As a photographer, long-distance bike rider, and hiker, I need a small, light, good camera. I have owned and used quite a number of small cameras, including the Leica X1, Panasonic/Leica LX7, Sony A5000, Sony NEX-6, Sony A7R, Leica X-Vario, Rollei 35, and many others. Despite my loathing of Sony's fiddly menu-driven interfaces, this is the one camera Sony manufactures that IMHO merits overlooking their kludgy interfaces. It takes amazing photographs, has image stabilization, a wide-ranging zoom, and is exceptionally small. IMHO, it has no peer in the very small camera segment of the market. In fact, nothing else is even close. You can take it anywhere.

I bought this camera in 2012 specifically for our annual trip to Maui and waited to write a review so that I could get some experience with it first. I'm coming off of the super-portable Sony DSC-T7, which I bought mainly for its size. The RX100 is heavier and bigger than my old T7 (like 1/2 deck of playing cards vs 1 deck), but it is still pocketable. There is no external battery charger, but I have no issue with this as I bought a spare battery and usually, one fully charged battery got me through 1 day of pictures and video. My T7 had an external charger and I hated that it was the only way to charge the battery.There is no paper manual included (people are seriously insane for taking away 1 star rating for this), but I easily found a digital copy of the manual online. I found myself a little lost with the RX100's menus at first. But, after a few days of use, all the symbols and in-menu abbreviations were recognizable. Plus, there are in-menu hints and descriptions so I never felt totally lost. I'm a recreational type of photographer (ie, vacations, special events, after I've handwashed my cars, funny sleeping poses by the dog, etc) and this camera has given me more ways to have fun with photography.This camera can do A LOT. I found myself using the picture effects a lot just because I could. Want only blue colors to show up? Easy. How about turning your friends into a watercolor portrait? Sure. Want your beach pictures to look like they were taken with your grandfather's film camera? Hey-oh! How about pictures in twilight/night settings? Not a problem, but hopefully your hands aren't shaky. Because of this camera, I'm now learning how to "bounce" the flash and playing around with ISOs, aperture, etc. The features that I liked best and use the most are the special picture effects (lots of fun with this), lowlight photography, HD video played on TV, continuous shooting, and panoramic mode (great for capturing the volcanoes and the landscape around them).I decided on the RX100 because I wanted something much smaller than a DSLR, but still have some of those big-boy functions and features.

To start off, Sony deserves a demerit for not providing a hard copy of a lengthy user's manual. Many of us don't want to be tied to a laptop or desktop, or have a really good tablet, and/or pay for data usage with a good download speed in the many situations where we want to look at a manual.More importantly... I still have not had time to explore the many potential and sophisticated complications available when taking a picture with this camera. But I can say with disgust that Sony has done a miserable job of constructing the software for manipulating files afterward.When I look at the contents of the SD card while it is in the camera and connected via USB to my PC, I clearly see folders that have been named with the date of the shoot (a useful default, I presume). I know what folders are almost universally considered to be, and these are presented as though they are folders, although these folders do not appear if I take the SD card out of the camera and plug it directly into my PC.And it is easy to copy one or more of these folders to my PC using Windows Explorer. But it is not possible to delete a folder on the SD card/camera while examining it via Windows Explorer.I spent a half hour carefully searching a pdf of the entire lengthy manual trying to find a way to select a folder and then delete the entire folder in one swoop. I thought I had done just that with a selected folder when I clicked OK to delete "All in Folder". Instead the camera deleted all the pictures on the entire card. Fortunately I had previously copied most pictures of interest to my PC (I think).The almost complete absence of thought and work put into these important aspects of using a digital camera, beyond the initial action of taking the picture, translates into a mediocre product rating.And to add insult to injury, the folders themselves are still there - there is just nothing in any of them. I am still left with the mystery of how to delete them. (Again, they don't appear as such when exploring the SD card directly, so I don't see how to delete them there.)

I will compare Sony RX100 to Canon G1X as I own both of them. They are in the same price range and many people looking for a new non SLR camera will consider both of them.- responsiveness and handling: Sony is much faster, shot to shot and focus speed. Almost as good as entry level SLR. Canon is slow, very slow, I can not use it after spending a few weeks with RX100.- PQ: both make good pictures comparable to entry level SLRs with mid range lenses. Low light performance is also good, I feel that Sony is a bit better- Macro: RX100 can make very nice macro shots, G1X can not. I was really missing this future and now is very happy to get it back with RX100- Lens: Also subjective, I feel that RX100 lens is sharper and of cause it is much brighter (1.8 vs 2.8). Add macro capability and RX100 is a clear winner in this category- Sensor: Canon is larger, but brighter lens compensates. Also, I believe Sony sensor has better dynamic range, but it is just based on my observations.- Size: I do not have a problem with G1X size, but it is not pocketable, RX100 is. But if you have a very large hands it may be too small for you.- Auto mod: Sony is better, colors and sharpness are very good in JPEG, did not feel a need for RAWMy conclusion: G1X will be listed on eBay shortly. I may keep my 7D SLR for now, but it is not gonna get a lot of use from now on. It is sad that Canon stop innovating in small camera segment, they will be beat by other manufacturers who understand that regular non pro consumers will not buy big and heavy SLRs when small camera has almost the same capabilities for the same or less money and has the same PQ. After making more than 300 shots with RX100 during last vacation, 99% of which are perfectly exposed, sharp and overall very nice, I truly believe that $650 price is justified. Many people who are looking for entry level SLR now will be better off purchasing RX100 as their big SLR camera will be staying home most of the time. Mine 7D does!Good luck with your camera shopping!

i'm a professional photographer and shoot with a mark iii and all L glass. i preface my review with that so that's it known that this is not a cute little camera i got to shoot in auto. i shoot fully manual and this thing does not disappoint. i'm hard pressed to differentiate a portrait from this vs my mark iii. the sharpness, clarity, contrast and colors are incredible for such a small toy! i got it so i don't have to take my big camera and all my glass to the beach/zoo etc, and so that my husband can use it. he shoots in auto and the auto is better than any point and shoot i've seen. the 1.8 lens is killer, at 1.8 it's razor sharp. highly recommend this little toy. now that i have it, i couldn't live with out it.

I've had this camera for a few weeks now and it has become my go-to camera, even though I have three DSLRs, four video cameras, and a bunch of lenses. Why? The answer is simple. It takes great photos and video, has every kind of manual setting you can think of, in both photo and video mode (except maybe audio level in video), a fast 1.8 carl zeiss lens (and not just any zeiss lens, it's a sonnar with a t* coating), and is pocketable. For most pics and video the quality might be marginally better but not really noticeable, so why lug around my large DSLR and lens combo? After reading other reviews here are some quick points about this camera:PRICE - look, a Carl Zeiss vario-sonnar t* with a maximum aperture of 1.8 would cost more than the entire price of this camera, so no it is not over-priced.DOCUMENTATION - yes, it should come with a manual or CD but if you're in the market for a camera like this you must know something about photography so using it for a couple of days should make you familiar with all the featuresRAW - support is coming, so no worries hereCANON EOS-M - oh wait, it's coming soon so should I wait? Probably not. The reason: It will be thicker with the pancake lens on it, so not great in the pocket. The Canon pancake lens is not close to the quality of the Zeiss Sonnar t* but the sensor (APS-C) is a lot larger on the canon and will make up for the diminished quality. Can't zoom with the pancake. If you want to zoom you have to buy an adapter to use other Canon lenses or buy the one they made for this camera which is about $300, oh btw that makes the cost of the camera over $1,000 and no way can you then put in your pocket, might as well use your DSLR right?One final thing. No one is really talking about the snapshot mode during video, whereby you press the shutter while recording video and it records a photo. Well, when I purchased the camera, Sony promo said that you can take 17mp stills during video. Yes, you can but at much lower quality. I should have realized that basically the camera is just doing a capture (freezing a moment of the video). So I was a little disappointed with this feature, however in average light the stills are pretty good, unless you super magnify them. They look great when printed 4x6 and very good on a big screen TV. It's a neat feature if you're having a family event and want both stills and video and have just one person to do it. Most camcorders and some cameras (including most Sony compacts) have this feature but the quality of the stills is usually not good so it's almost a useless feature on those other cameras.Bottom line - Great Quality Photos and Videos, Full Manual and Auto Controls, Super Versatility, a feature set a pro would be proud of but a novice could use.

I cannot advocate this camera enough!Great compact size. Solid beautiful construction, nice metallic feel. But please use the wrist strap, i get scared to drop this 700$ camera! Extremely portable and can fit in pockets. I used previous canon powershots (which were big and bulky)Photo Quality: Amazing, AMazing, AMAZING photos. My previous canon powershots had barrel distortion, none can be seen on these photos. The color and shadow detail is spot on and very sharp images. I use this for both recreation and in the operating room (for educational purposes). The ability of this camera to correctly and faithfully reproduce colors under harsh lighting conditions in the OR is amazing. Every time i see images on the screen, I am almost always amazed at the photo image quality on my computer. I never get let down. Low lighting starts to suffer, but i find using the flash still provides a very natural feel to photos and colors.Zoom: i typically don't zoom on photos, because i can generally crop. But this morning i used some zoom and was extremely happy with the results. It does have an optical zoom to help prevent serious image degredationEffects: At first i thought this was an odd addition for such an afficionado camera. But i came to find the "high contrast" and "rich" b/w options to be a lot of fun. Sony really did a wonderful job with their in camera processing to create some great photo renderings. These B/W options also look great once the ISO increases or ambient lighting decreases, it gives the camera a "FILM" grain and can have dramatic effects.Panoramic: i used this recently in park city UT on the slopes. Great and simple panaromas. Beautiful stitching and not a whole lot of distortion. One of the simple benefits of having a new camera system.I hope u guys do the right thing and get this camera. Way better than the canon's i've used before. I used to be a big canon fan boy (5d mark II and Powershots). I think sony gets a bad name b/c when they first started their product was only "so/so".

A friend who had owned this camera for a few weeks showed me the great variety of options this new Sony offers and since I was looking for a new, small camera for an upcoming motorcycle vacation it seemed like everything I wanted. I went on amazon after comparing prices and purchased it. I had it by the time of our trip and for the first week and 200+ pics I was very happy. But then, the camera "froze" with the lens out. We tried the suggested restart to fix exactly this problem but nothing worked and the literature said to mail it back to a SONY Repair Center. There we were, half way thru a scenic wonderland vacation with a new camera that stopped taking pics. The best part of this review is about Amazon, not SONY. When I called Amazon they didn't skip a beat after hearing my story. They said how sorry they were and that they would send me a new camera and email me the prepaid postage label to return the broken one. I was so impressed that I can not imagine ever receiving better, faster service. So far, so good with the new camera. Beautiful pics and fun "painting" and black and white options. My friend said he read the freeze up of the lens has been an issue with this model, so I will keep my fingers crossed and post again if it repeats the problem.

Please understand they do not really compete with one another although they could one uses a aps c sensor while one uses a 1" sensor.There is no argument at ~$1000 the coolpix A does in fact have a larger image sensor than the ~$600 rx100. Using the Coolpix A what really bugs me is the lack of actual zoom on this thing and the slow autofocus on this thing as well. Lastly there is an annoying thing where there is a little switch on the side to switch to between: macro, auto focus and manual focus. The lack of image stabilization is another bad thing the RX100 lens does have image stabilization.RX100 advantages does have faster auto focus, in superior auto you do not need to physically hit a switch to go in between macro and auto focus. (it does what it suppose to do auto detect that its a macro picture or other scene options) The Macro on the RX100 is also significantly better as well, I prefer the macro on the RX100 as I can get a closer shot to the object before the focus does not work anymore.But do realize in real world situations a faster auto focus, image stabilization will generally snap you a better picture than a camera with slower auto focus especially when you are using auto mode on these two cameras. Where the RX100 shines is the faster auto focus being able to snap multiple pictures at once and choosing the best picture of the bunch it snaps. To me if you want an all around camera the RX100 would be the definite choice but if you are maybe just taking pictures of landscapes or non moving pictures on a tripod the Coolpix A might be a better choice.If you google rx100 vs coolpix a you'll find spec comparisons and reasons why you might wind up falling in love the RX100 over the coolpix A. I also recommend trying them both in person I bought the rx100 first and then bought the coolpix A seeing if I would replace the RX100 but winded up returning the coolpix A.

I like taking photos of my toddler but all I know is using auto mode of cameras. My review is therefore, based on my experience with this new camera compared to Canon G12.Cons:- The pop-up flash & battery lid look like they can be broken easily. I don't know how I can keep them from being broken in 1-2 years!!- It's annoying to me that videos & photos are from separate replay menu.- Its zoom is a little less than the Canon G12- Every time I started to video my toddler after taking some photos, the screen says that it's recording my photos to the camera, so the videoing has to be delayed & I lost some seconds that I wanted to video my toddler! Even I don't know anything about cameras, it is slower than the Canon G12 at this point.- I feel the Canon G12 can take moving photos of my toddlers better than Sony RX100 (I noticed this when taking her photos playing with the balloons & bubbles outside)- I don't like using iMovies & Iphotos to download videos & photos from the camera to my laptops. I feel strongly that it took more time than when I downloaded photos & videos from Canon G12. & it's much easier to edit photos/videos by using Canon software.The software "WirelessAutoImport" suggested by Sony website for Mac can't be installed to my MacBook nor MacAir even mine meet the requirements of the software. I have no idea why. I posted this question in the forum but no answer yet.- I think with this price, Sony should provide a DVD to customers.- I don't like the way the camera is charged now & don't like the spend more money on the charger that will be in the market this Sept.- Battery of this camera is exhausted much faster than the Canon G12's.- The leather-like case for this camera is really expensive compared to genuine leather case for the expensive Fuji camera. But I bought it because it makes this camera easier to be carried around & it protects the camera much better than others.Pros:- Sony RX100 is very small compared to Canon G12 so I can easily carry it everywhere while chasing my toddler & take her photos or put it in my purse without hurting my skinny shoulder bone! :)- Its videos & photos are VERY nice! I'm very pleased (I only use auto mode as said).These 2 pros made me decide to keep the camera & give it 4 stars because all I care about is the beautiful photos & videos of my daughter :)I hope this review is rather helpful for people who only know use auto mode like me. I would appreciate if people who know more about cameras can teach me to benefit more from this camera! Big thanks in advance for your time!!UPDATE:- Just read advices of commenters. I appreciate your help & time. Will take time to learn more how to better use this camera. Thanks again!!

I want to like this camera, but the one I got has a serious flaw: the battery drains when sitting still. I noticed after a week that every time I tried to use it the battery was dead. After observing it for awhile, I noticed that it would turn itself on without being touched or moved in any way. First the viewer turned in, then the lenses popped out and the whole thing fired up. I tried to figure it out but finally decided it was just broken. Unfortunately I waited one day too long to return it to Amazon, so had to send it back to Sony. That was three weeks ago. If I get it back soon and it works alright I'll figure I just got a dud and will upgrade this review. If it still has a problem I'll downgrade it to one star. But from what I read from other reviewers my problem is not unique.Update: after 3 weeks, I got the camera back from Sony. The tech did not read the letter explaining the problem, tested the battery and pronounced it good, then returned the camera without actually fixing it. Useless.Update 2: After giving up on the useless Sony technical support, I took self-help and foisted the turkey back on Sony at their store. The replacement so far has not exhibited the same problems. I took it on a 10 day trip to Rome and did not have to charge it once. The pictures I took came out well. What I particularly like about the camera is the size. I LOVED being able to carry it in my pocket knowing that it can take as good a picture as most of the massive DSLRs I saw other people lugging around. I LOVED being able to take pictures in any light without a flash. The controls are easy to operate. Frankly, though, I care much more about the artistic aspect of photography than the technical. I found it laughable to see yet another person using their expensive camera to take yet another picture of the Colosseum, as though something novel might be revealed. A good picture is unexpected, and depends more on the eye of the photographer than the equipment s/he is using. The size of this camera makes it discrete, and that helps capture the unique moment. The sophistication of the RX100 makes it possible to do that with technical quality as well.Overall, a big thumbs up to the camera, and a big thumbs down to Sony service (hence the 4 star rating not 5).

It took a while to purchase a good point and shoot camera that would equal at least or close to a DSLR camera when it comes to IQ. There are times I dont wanna bring my dslr because of the size and in some occasion I wished I had a decent camera with me. I was looking at M4/3 and even the Sony NEX's but bringing a lens or combination of lens is somehow a hassle. So, a fix lens or something that slips into my pocket is the only right choice but looking and reading the Specs on most point and shoot cameras are dissapointing...the downside is, small sensors. I dont care what everyone says but Im not a firm believer that a sensor smaller than an inch yield high quality pictures, There are some cameras that are exceptionssuch as the G series of the Canon line and well known brand like Sony. Then the Nikon V1 came out but still it didn't convinced me strong enough to pull the trigger. I know it's a good quality camera and the technological advances it packs in such a small form factor camera but I needed something with a fix lens. The G1X and G15 of Canon are good candidates but they are still big as a pocket camera. Then Sony RX100 came out, read the specs, and finally oredered it from Amazon. My first reaction when I opened the box like a kid opening a box of toy was the size. This camera is packed with technology in a small form factor which I really want. I like the feel, its solid metal and it doesn't feel cheap. Overall construction is superb and the lens..my favorite, Carl Zeiss lens with a "T" designation. It takes stunning picture and it beats my T2i with kit lens attach. Sony's color, clarity,and contrast is hard to beat. Im still a Canon fan and uses Canon 5dII and few L lenses and one of which is the 24-105mm IS USM L. As I have mentioned earlier, its just a huge gear to pack all the time. Now, Im a Sony fan specially when it comes to their compact cameras. I highly recommend this camera to anyone who wanted a professional camera in a point and shoot size body. Just amazing. Love it.