Sony RX100 - A quality compact camera for outdoor adventure, mountain sports and landscapes
David Hetherington preparing to ascend the steep rocky flanks of Sgurr a'Choire-bheithe, a Corbett in Knoydart in the West Highlands of Scotland.
Prior to the arrival of the Sony RX100, I’d long wished for a camera I could carry with me for personal trips into the hills that wasn’t as heavy as my professional Nikon DSLRs and lenses but still had great enough image quality so that, if I did capture something worthwhile, I could add the images to my stock image library and use them, at least, for editorial photography submissions.
My first outing with the Sony RX100 was in the West Highlands of Scotland on an ascent of the Munro, Beinn Sgulaird (a Scottish peak over 13,000ft / 914.4m high) and its neighbour, Creach Bheinn (a Corbett). I was joined by my friend David Hetherington, who I’ve enjoyed numerous trips with, and fellow outdoor adventure photographer Dan Bailey, who was visiting Scotland from Alaska with his wife on a tour of the whisky distilleries of Islay to celebrate his 50th birthday.
The Sony RX100 certainly is a compact camera (it measures 101.6mm x 58.1mm x 41.0mm and it weighs just 300g) but it wasn’t like any compact camera I’d used before, with a wide range of functionality that includes full continuous autofocus at 24 fps and 4K video shooting. It’s since proved to be a really good compromise to carrying a DSLR and I use it often.
What I like about the Sony RX100 (Mark V)
It’s lightweight and it has arguably the best image quality in its class — My primary reason for purchasing the RX100 was so I had an alternative to heavy camera gear when either I wasn’t working, the weather was poor, the landscape was ‘not worthy’ or I wanted to take photos when out running in the hills. Great image quality was my next priority and, whilst the RX100 raw files are not DSLR quality, the reduction in weight compared to the acceptable drop in image quality is I feel a worthy trade-off for the above occasions. The images are definitely good enough for editorial submissions (which is what I most often use them for, alongside social media).
Button programming — Professional DSLRs are super easy to use in the mountains. All the key controls I make use of regularly (exposure settings, ISO adjustments, exposure compensation, etc.) are at my fingertips and are easy to use, even with big gloves on. The gloves aspect can’t be said for the RX100, and it’s often difficult to use with cold, wet hands, but you can customise the controls to suit your preferences. I’ve programmed the camera as follows;
- For Shooting — Front dial: Zoom | Left button: AEL toggle | Right button: AF/MF Ctrl toggle | Centre button: Focus standard | C button: Focus area | Function button (Top row) — White Balance, Steadyshot (Movie) on/off, ISO Auto | Function button (Bottom row) — ND Filter on/off, Drive mode, Steadyshot (Image) on/off, Center Lock-On AF
- For Playback — Function button: Zoom in 100%Electronic viewfinder — It’s difficult to use a LCD screen in bright sunshine so having the option to look through an electronic viewfinder is very useful. I much prefer composing a shot when the camera is up at my eye.
Wifi — A Sony PlayMemories App (www.playmemoriescameraapps.com) enables you to transfer images wirelessly to your phone, which is ideal if you’d like to share images with someone or post them on social media. I also purchased Sony’s time-lapse application.
Continuous autofocus at 24 fps — An essential part of outdoor sports photography is being able to capture an athlete in the right dynamic posture for that sport. The RX100 autofocus options include single shot, 3 fps, 10 fps and 24 fps. The latter you’d think would be ideal for outdoor sports but be aware it will ensure you have a TON of shots to review in your photography workflow. (You probably won’t mind though if it helps you get ‘The Shot’).
Battery life — The camera battery is rated for c.220 shots but, with the camera in 10 fps burst mode and operating in sub-freezing temperatures, I shot 1000+ shots in a day. High-definition video I’d imagine would soon chew up the batteries. I’ll always carry at least one or two spares.
What I’d like to see improved
Price — It’s expensive (but, on the flip side, reassuringly so — it’s solid and it feels expensive).
Bigger buttons — Whilst not impossible, it’s difficult to use the buttons with big gloves on, especially when switching the camera on and off, changing the exposure compensation or adjusting the drive and autofocus modes. Making the buttons larger however would mean a bigger camera body so the law of diminishing returns would apply.
Menu — I’m not fully of the view that the Sony RX100 menu is awful (many are) but there are definitely some odd choices in regards to where things sit within the menu categorisation. A custom MyMenu option like Nikon offers would be appreciated (though you can program buttons on the RX100 to your liking, see above).
A hotshoe instead of a pop-up flash — I’ve zero use for on-camera flash on a compact camera and would prefer a hotshoe to which I could attach a Rode mic for video work (although that’s a moot point because, frustratingly, the RX100 doesn’t support external mics. There’s a huge amount of wind noise in videos, even with the settings optimised in-camera).
Included accessories — I bought an AG-R2 camera grip (which I’d highly recommend), a camera strap and a battery charger. For the recommended retail price, I’d expect Sony to include these with your purchase.
Alternatives
Sony RX100 I, II, III, IV, VI, VII — Possibly uniquely, all previous versions of the Sony RX100 are still widely available. If you’re interested in the RX100, but budget is an issue, check out the features and reviews of the previous models
Sony A6500 or A6600 — If I didn’t have my DSLRs I would choose the Sony A6500 or Sony A6600 over the RX100. Highly likely with a 24mm F1.8 prime lens or a 16–70mm F4 (the latter provides the equivalent of a 24–105mm lens on a full-frame body, which I feel is a perfect do-it-all lens for mountain sports — I really wish Nikon did a f2.8 version)
