RX100 dynamic range

[Franglais]

I did this shot this morning, the only view I could find of the front of this new shopping center. Lighting was a complete nightmare, extreme contrast but then I wanted to try out the RX100 and see what it was like.

My initial tests make me think that the tiny Sony RX100 is pretty close in terms of picture quality to my Nikon D300 + 18-200. Just what I was hoping.

I did this image on RAW then brought back the highlights and brought up the shadows in Lightroom. I just wouldn't be able to do that with my Canon S95 with its tiny sensor.

BTW you can't see it at this size but there is full detail in the white tiles and railings of the buildings in the background. Remember this is a 20Mpix camera..

[Greg McCary]

Nice Charles what about focus speed and shutter lag. If it doesn't have that old P&S shutter lag I might would like one.

[Franglais]

Focussing and shutter lag are like a DSLR, at least so far. Same as the S95. High-end compacts have been like that for a while now.

I don't know the NEX and Alpha systems well enough to be sure but my impression is that the RX100 is built on the same software base. The first one I tried back in July had an LCD with horrible green lights and pointers, just like the NEX and Alpha systems I've seen. Before buying it I checked in the NEX instruction manual to find out how to turn all that stuff off. And it worked for the RX100.

[Greg McCary]

Thanks Charles.

[Franglais]

I just looked at the DXOMark figures for dynamic range:

Nikon D200: 11.5 EV
Nikon D300: 12 EV
Sony RX100: 12.4 EV

OK. I can see that..

I'm not going to have any time to get much further with testing before Christmas. I'm currently looking at the built-in scene modes and what you can do with the control wheel on the back (I've set the wheel on the front to zoom the lens like on a Nikon DSLR). The problem with such a tiny camera, used in unexpected grab-shot situations is that I don't have the buttons and dials to set things up quickly like on a DSLR. So I'm checking out what the manufacturer has provided for a given situation.

[Greg McCary]

Thanks again Charles. I never seem to have much luck with compacts or P&S cameras. They look cool, do all kinds of great things but I seem to struggle with them and miss a lot of shots. I always tend to leave them at home and just go with what I know. I am not sure I am going to invest in another one.
The Sony a77 is pretty small, in my hands anyway,and with a small prime not a whole lot bigger than my M6.

[Franglais]

AHA ! I forgot you had a M6. I have an M4P. Wonderful tool for getting inside things.

But I've realised that a modern DSLR + small zoom lens is small enough to fit into my Leica bag and nowadays that's all I use. Even the D800 fits in the Leica bag.

My Canon S95 is NOT for serious shooting. Technically it can do it but it's too small to have full control of what you're doing.

At night I leave the DSLR at home and just go out with the S95 in my pocket or bag. And sometimes I come across some extraordinary things that are among my favourite images (my first evening in Budapest was epic).

I hope the RX100 will be even better than the S95. But it's not a Leica replacement.

[NoKnees]

So, it would appear that the dynamic range is as advertised... I'm seriously looking at the rx100 for my pocket when I don't feel like lugging the old a900 kit around.

How was your experience working with the RAW files? I tend to shoot primarily in RAW, and I'm kind of attached to how the old a900 files look and feel. Specifically, the grain (noise) of the a900 seems much more pleasant and easier to work with than the a77. This is with Adobe Lightroom 4.x and occasionally CS4.

Anyway, did you find you needed to do much with them to get something you liked? JPEG's work well?

The one thing that stuck out was limited bracketing options, something like 3 frames at up to 2/3 stop? I know it has it's own built in HDR mode, but I do like to play with exposure blending, and other HDR like work with a wider range of exposures sometimes...

Anyway, looks like a promising camera... Think I need to get some camera shop time with one in my hands...

[oelectr]

Just did a quick side by side with the RX10-II and the A7s.Yes, we know the A7s destroys the RX10-II in low light and noise. But what about dynamic range?I exposed the light to the right of both shots right at about 100 IRE. Using that as the standard we can then inspect how far down into the shadows both cameras can see.Both cameras used their wonderful SLOG-2 compressed gamma curve. Way to go RX10-II. It took on the A7s challenge very wellThanks Sony