Sony RX100: new compact camera with big sensor

Preamble. I am very impressed with Fuji X10. Both the image quality and usability were exceeded my expectations. By usability I mean not only handling and user interface but also ability of camera to satisfy my needs. It is not perfect camera, but I like it a lot. I discovered that viewfinder is not necessary for taking pictures. It might sound stupid but for someone who always used viewfinder – that is a revelation.

Now the story. It seems that Sony will produce a compact camera with a relatively big sensor, Sony RX100 (note the "X"). The sensor will be two times bigger than in Fuji X10, similar (identical?) in size to sensor used in Nikon 1 cameras but smaller than 4/3 or m4/3 sensor. The lens is about one stop brighter than on Canon G1 X, and the Sony weights nearly half (!) of the Canon. On the long end of the zoom the Sony is a tad brighter (and longer) than the Nikon 1 kit lens, and in the same time the weight of RX100 is similar to that of Nikon 1 J1 (body only. It is even lighter than Fuji X10! The RX100 does not have a viewfinder but for small camera with moderate zoom it should not be a big problem (based on my experience with Fuji X10). The whole package does look very attractive to me.

There are several things that I don’t like. It seems that the camera uses the memory stick, a proprietary Sony storage thing. For me it is a minus because I already use CompactFlash, SD cards and proprietary xD picture cards from Olympus – the last one is the slowest type of storage.

The camera has 20MP sensor, so the pixel density is somewhat comparable to Fuji X10 and other modern premium compacts such as Olympus XZ-1, so the quality probably will be quite similar. I don’t need that many, but some people prefer high pixel count. If the camera does not clip highlights aggressively I would not bother. The files will be big but I can cope with that issue. Cannot stop the progress here :)

At far end of the zoom the lens is still only f4.9 while Fuji X10 is two stops brighter. For me it is rather amount of light going to the sensor, not depth of field. The brighter the lens, the lower the iso.

It seems that the RX100 has “supermacro” mode at wide zoom settings, similar to Fuji X10, while minimal focussing distance at tele end is about 50 cm. Unfortunately, no miracle here. I guess putting second supermacro at tele end of the zoom would make the lens big but I don’t mind to have slightly bigger camera with slightly brighter lens and supermacro implemented at long end of the zoom.

I am not sure if it is possible to put a filter on the lens, and I would prefer to have one.

Fixed rear screen as on Fuji X10. It is usable but tilting screen would be more useful.  

Anyway, the specs of the Sony RX100 are very appealing. I hope the rumors are not a hoax. It would be interesting to see the performance and price for this camera...