EDC Camera trials…

So, this week I’ve rented another compact camera, the RX100 vii. This as the latest (though introduced in 2019) of the RX100 series of Sony compact cameras, and it certainly is compact (again, dollar for scale)- this one certainly is pockatable, or it would be if it had any weather or dust sealing- I can’t believe that they come up with a camera this small that would fit perfectly in a pocket, but Reddit is full of people saying that you need to carry it in a sealed case otherwise you’ll end up with dust on the sensor in pretty short order!

It does have a very nice little pop-up viewfinder, and a 24-200mm equivalent f/2-8-4.5 lens, but it does have a very small 1″ 20MP sensor, though it does have image stabilization and a very good auto-focus system too.

Sadly the weather has been pretty lousy the last few days, so I haven’t been able to do much with it, but I have to say, with the little shooting I have done I’m a little underwhelmed 🙁 The problem is that the cameras in phones have gotten so much better that it’s really difficult to justify buying a compact camera if it can’t perform at least as well.

Looking at the three images above, the first (Holly) is with no noise reduction, the second (June) is with some light AI NR in Topaz Photo AI, and the third (Walter) is with Lightroom’s AI NR.

You can see the noise in the shot of Holly, and though it is taken in pretty low light with no flash, the Android system on my Samsung Z Flip 5 (with an OK, but not stellar camera) actually does a better job without looking too processed (right). The pics of June and Walter are OK after a little processing, but I fear that after years of shooting full-frame Sonys this sensor would just drive me crazy.

Get outside and things look a lot better, though even then, pixel-peep at your peril.

In the woods it performed quite nicely, even creating some quite pleasing bokeh (though the auto focus does not like to get in close- manual focus is needed), and I got some shots I quite liked once I’d played around with them a little.

So, I have this little camera for a few more days, and I will continue to play with it, but again, it has not grabbed me enough to make me want to spend north of $1,000 on one( even used)- though perhaps this is a good thing as since the tariffs came in their availability new has disappeared from most of the reputable online retailers! And, again, for this price the lack of some kind of moisture and dust resistance is crazy!

I’m beginning to think perhaps I’ll just stick with my phone (perhaps upgrading to the Pixel 9 Pro, which has, supposedly, the best camera yet), and use my X100F for fun and my main Sony bodies for “work” and when I want to mess around with my vintage glass 😉