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16 hours ago, Barry Mason said:

As a matter of interest, you can buy a little stick-on plastic grip for the RX100 online, which I have found very handy - for both stability and prevention of it slipping through your hands.

 

+1

 

Essential accessory IMHO. I've got one on my Sony RX100 MkIII, makes it much easier to hold without increasing the overall dimensions.

 

Mark

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11 hours ago, Sas said:

Yes, that’s one of my hesitations about the RX100 - that you have to journey into the menus to change settings and often there is some action happening which requires grabbing the camera quickly and shooting it before it’s over...such as a pet posing a a certain way or doing something - shots where  you have to be quick!  So the Fuji would be better if only it was smaller!

 

 

 

You can set up a custom mode (MR mode = memory recall) so that you can quickly return to your favourite settings at any time. Alternatively the iA (intelligent Automatic) mode does a really good job.

 

Mark

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16 hours ago, Chuck Nacke said:

Sas,

 

I am not a fan of SONY, even though they make most of the sensors in modern digital cameras.

I would suggest a 12+MP Canon g series pocket cameras.  I started with the G-2 and currently keep

a G-9 in the glove compartment of my car.  The G series are great "grab and go digitals" they can

also be had for very little money.

 

Chuck

 

I've owned a number of Canon G series (G10, G12, G15) but swapped to Sony RX100 Mk III in 2017.

 

Canon menus are much easier to navigate IMHO and Canon G series are often better for macro shots (closer focussing) and they feel more sturdy. But the Sony is smaller and its IQ beats any of the G series I've owned by a significant margin (less noise, less CA and sharper at edges of frame), it also has a pop-up EVF which can be useful when shooting in bright sunlight. It never ceases to amaze me the quality of images my Sony RX100 Mk III can produce.

 

Mark

 

Edited by M.Chapman
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16 hours ago, Sas said:

 

Hi Barry,

 

I'm not sure that I would benefit from a grip as I have small hands.  Unless there is another reason for using one?

 

Sas

 

The grip just adds a small bump for your fingers. Otherwise you just have a flat, smooth surface. It does help in holding the camera steady. The steadiness is a bit of a difficulty with this tiny camera. The larger DSLRs are actually easier in that respect for me.

 

Paulette

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Now that I've moved on from a very long relationship with Nikon, I own 4 Sonys: a6000, RX10, RX100-3, and now the RX100-6 with its 24-200 zoom. They are all light and easy to work with but the only ones that will fit in a pocket are the two RX100 series. I have never had an Alamy Quality Control fail with either RX100. 

 

Edo

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The bottom line is that the "Best Camera" is the one that you have in your hand.

 

As I have written:  I like the Canon G series, the ones with a built in view finder.

I keep a G9 in my autos glove compartment and have used images from it as

evidence on two occasions and and a few of the images I've shot with it have

been licensed by Alamy.  Not my first choice but it is always near by.

 

To answer a specific question, it is not good for action or sports.  In this day

the G9 is not really good at much, except for being handy.  I carry it when downhill

skiing and have taken some nasty spills with it on my neck and it always works.

 

Chuck

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The Canon G1X iii is small high quality weather sealed campact  camera with an 24mp APS-C sensor (same as in the 80D dslr). Its has a very sharp 24-70mm (35mm equiv.) lens. Focus is very fast and it has fantastic ergonomics, a pleasure to use.  It fits in my jacket pocket. 

 

You can get smaller APS-C compacts, but they all have a fixed focal length wide lens like the Ricoh GRii & GRiii, Fuji X70 & XF10 and Nikon Coolpix A.

 

I've sold off all my big heavy Nikon and Canon Dslr's & lenses. I now just carry the Canon G1X iii in my pocket and an Olympus EM1 with 40-150mm f2.8 (80-300 eqiv.) in my small canvas satchel.

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1 hour ago, Michael Ventura said:

I also use Sony for the smaller cameras and love my RX 100 III and my RX 10 IV for travel. Still have my Nikon dslr for local client shoots.

 

Right you are, Michael -- I wouldn't show up at a client shoot with one of these little cameras. Bad PR. 🙂

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12 hours ago, Chuck Nacke said:

The bottom line is that the "Best Camera" is the one that you have in your hand.

Chuck

 

Indeed, but if I wanted to also reliably pass Alamy QC (as requested by OP) I'd still go for the Sony RX100 (which easily passes QC) over my Canon G10 which I found risked SoLD Alamy QC fails under anything other than bright sunny conditions (although that was in the days of the Alamy 48Mb and 24Mb minimum sizes). I suspect that downsizing to 17Mb could potentially avoid problems. But the images from my RX100 usually look OK without downsizing.

 

Mark

Edited by M.Chapman
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10 hours ago, MDM said:

The VA is the only version of the V available new now apparently. It is an upgraded version of the V. There is some good info here

 Very informative - cheers!

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5 hours ago, Sas said:

 Very informative - cheers!

 

Glad to help. Every so often I toy with the idea of buying one of these little cameras which is why I am up to date on developments. But I stop myself as I don't really do the type of photography that would justify the purchase. 

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6 hours ago, Chuck Nacke said:

The bottom line is that the "Best Camera" is the one that you have in your hand.

 

 

 

Yes but it doesn't just grow in your hand automatically so you have to decide what to put there in the first place which is where threads like this come in. And thankfully the world evolves. The consensus here and on review sites is definitely RX100 when considering size, features, quality and price.

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Seems that the RX100 range has earned its spurs on this forum. Paradoxically I was actually disappointed to see just how small it was when I sought it out at the NEC. It's more of a reflection on me than the camera of course but I could see it easily slipping through my fingers but perhaps you just get used to it. The OP mentioned fill-in flash, that flash is a bit feeble isn't it?  It looks very vulnerable.

 

Saw this custom frame on Amazon, I suppose it rather defeats the object of a pocketable camera though.

 

SmallRig cage

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On 28/04/2019 at 04:23, M.Chapman said:

 

I've owned a number of Canon G series (G10, G12, G15) but swapped to Sony RX100 Mk III in 2017.

 

Canon menus are much easier to navigate IMHO and Canon G series are often better for macro shots (closer focussing) and they feel more sturdy. But the Sony is smaller and its IQ beats any of the G series I've owned by a significant margin (less noise, less CA and sharper at edges of frame), it also has a pop-up EVF which can be useful when shooting in bright sunlight. It never ceases to amaze me the quality of images my Sony RX100 Mk III can produce.

 

Mark

 

The one I have, also, Mark and Edo. Toying with the idea of getting the longer zoom, while still keeping the 3. Indoors? The 3. Outdoors? The 6. But I’d need to make the decision of which to carry before leaving the house. Otherwise I’d need to carry a small bag for both cameras since I do have to have room for the kitchen sink in my handbag. 😁

I still have the original RX100 also, but haven’t used it in awhile. I prefer it’s zoom range but like the faster lens on the 3.

Betty

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On 28/04/2019 at 10:16, M.Chapman said:

 

You can set up a custom mode (MR mode = memory recall) so that you can quickly return to your favourite settings at any time. Alternatively the iA (intelligent Automatic) mode does a really good job.

 

Mark

 

So how many fave settings can you program in?

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19 hours ago, MDM said:

 

Glad to help. Every so often I toy with the idea of buying one of these little cameras which is why I am up to date on developments. But I stop myself as I don't really do the type of photography that would justify the purchase. 

 

What type of photography do you do that isn’t suited to this camera?

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4 hours ago, Sas said:

 

What type of photography do you do that isn’t suited to this camera?

 

Weddings, portraits, dogs, horses etc  (none of this on Alamy at the moment). If I turned up at a wedding with an RX100 only, then I think there might be some strange reactions. These little cameras are not really for client work (as Edo says above). 

 

Anyway I am a high MP devotee. I love the incredible quality and detail as well as the freedom of 45 MP ( the freedom to crop very significantly that is). Even my walkabout camera is a 45MP Z7 with 24-70 Z series lens - weighs a little more than 1 Kg and fits in a small bag so I hardly notice I am carrying it. I am carrying a tripod less and less for landscape work as well because of the in-body stabilisation. Fantastic bit of kit but too big for most handbags I guess.

 

However, I don't really do much walkabout stuff though and I never seem to sell much of it. I do like having a camera with me though - you never know what might happen. So I occasionally ponder purchasing an RX100. I am fascinated that something so small can be so powerful and well-specified but I would like to see the results directly for myself in comparison to the Nikons before I would purchase

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3 hours ago, MDM said:

 

Weddings, portraits, dogs, horses etc  (none of this on Alamy at the moment). If I turned up at a wedding with an RX100 only, then I think there might be some strange reactions. These little cameras are not really for client work (as Edo says above). 

 

Anyway I am a high MP devotee. I love the incredible quality and detail as well as the freedom of 45 MP ( the freedom to crop very significantly that is). Even my walkabout camera is a 45MP Z7 with 24-70 Z series lens - weighs a little more than 1 Kg and fits in a small bag so I hardly notice I am carrying it. I am carrying a tripod less and less for landscape work as well because of the in-body stabilisation. Fantastic bit of kit but too big for most handbags I guess.

 

However, I don't really do much walkabout stuff though and I never seem to sell much of it. I do like having a camera with me though - you never know what might happen. So I occasionally ponder purchasing an RX100. I am fascinated that something so small can be so powerful and well-specified but I would like to see the results directly for myself in comparison to the Nikons before I would purchase

 

Yes, I’m a stickler for quality too.  I just find it incredible that there still isn’t a decent enough pocket sized camera that can handle action on the market yet.  I do think technology isn’t where it should be in this respect.   I sometimes wonder if manufacturers are deliberately holding back producing such technology because it would damage the DSLR and mirrorless markets and their profit margins....which is why there is always a compromise with whatever you purchase - not just cameras.   For example one brand creates a product great at doing one or two things but might be rubbish at something else which another brand is great at.  

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3 hours ago, Sas said:

there is always a compromise with whatever you purchase

 

The biggest compromise with the Sony is the physical size of the sensor which allows the camera to be so small. Confusingly called a 1" sensor it is actually 13.2mm x 8.8mm. They have done an amazing job at producing Alamy quality from such a small sensor. Technology will move on making that quality even better I imagine as they try and keep camera technology ahead of the onward march of phones. Do bear in mind that all those recommending that camera are experienced professional Alamy photographers, you do have to be extra careful with a sensor that small, straying into high ISO is not to be recommended without careful inspection for noise.

 

The Alamy guidelines still make sensible reading, they probably haven't updated them to account for great little cameras like the Sony but they are at the sharp end and so they can see that cameras with small sensors make it more difficult to pass QC. They actually recommend Micro 4/3 as the baseline:

 

https://www.alamy.com/blog/alamys-rough-guide-to-digital-cameras

 

Nikon tried to come in with a 1" sensor interchangeable lens system camera called the Nikon 1 back in 2011, it didn't do well so they regrouped and last year came up with the excellent Z series mirrorless cameras based around full frame sensors that MDM uses.

 

Incidentally small sensors make it very difficult/impossible to get differential focus or shallow depth of field, that can't change as it's down to optics, though phone apps are being produced that can fake it. I wouldn't want to do a wedding portrait with one.

 

Have you considered the Panasonic LX100 ii Micro 4/3 compact, I've no experience of it personally but it gets very good reviews.

 

 

Edited by Harry Harrison
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5 hours ago, Sas said:

Yes, I’m a stickler for quality too.  I just find it incredible that there still isn’t a decent enough pocket sized camera that can handle action on the market yet.

 

It depends on what sort of action. The MkV; Va and VI all do a continuous drive of 24 fps. There are not a whole lot of dslr sports cams that do that.

The Sony A9 is the only full frame body that comes close.

With the 24 fps I do see the VR at work though, which means that some of those 24 frames can be blurred.

 

The 24 fps also means stacking is an option. It will not deliver much improvement in resolution, you will need bigger glass and sensor for that, as it has always been. But it will improve the signal to noise ratio.

 

The downside: it's eating 128GB cards for breakfast.

 

wim

 

edit: I've just watched this Tony Northrup video about stacking and it sums up pretty much all, if you watch closely. I'm not sure if I agree with the tapping though. He also does run into problems with aligning without offering a solution. I don't have the solution for that either btw, but layer order and removing less sharp images are important.

Edited by wiskerke
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I have the RX100M3 and started with the original model without finder. Before that I used the LX2 and then the LX3, which was fine as long as the sun shined. The small 10Mp sensor could just make 24Mb as was the requirement then. Now 100% Sony.

My bag consists of two A6000 with latest .21 firmware update. One has the 10-18/4 fitted and the other the new 18-135mm giving me (in 35mm speak) uninterupted 15 to 200mm reach. I also have the 16-50mm in the bag and sometimes separately the 55-210mm zoom extending my range to 315mm. I am amazed how these four lenses all can provide almost perfect images across from corner to corner at 100% without cropping - 68Mb opened. (In sunshine with ISO400 max I would say).

I was reviewing all the digital cameras I have had and some sold again from the venerable R1 with Zeiss 16-80 fixed through A700/A350/A550/A580/A58 as well as NEX-3/5N/6 all because of improvements in sensor size and performance. Actually, the A700 would still be good enough, if I could carry it with requred lenses. I have now reached the buffer stop on the acquisition journey. I cannot see how newer cameras or lenses can make a necessary improvement over what I have for my type of photography. Sure there are better ones such as full frames and single focal lens wonders, but I don't need them and weight is now an important consideration.

I went to Sony after having had Minolta equipment for years and have not regretted the move. Sure other makes are good, but not better than Sony.

Edited by alphaomega
A350 to A550
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13 minutes ago, Harry Harrison said:

Seems that Park Cameras in the UK have cashback offers on new Sony, including A6000 & RX100 IV:

 

Sony offers

 

Yes it looks like  a general Sony sale on a wide range of cameras and it is not just Park Cameras. 

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On ‎30‎/‎04‎/‎2019 at 07:29, Harry Harrison said:

 

The biggest compromise with the Sony is the physical size of the sensor which allows the camera to be so small. Confusingly called a 1" sensor it is actually 13.2mm x 8.8mm. They have done an amazing job at producing Alamy quality from such a small sensor. Technology will move on making that quality even better I imagine as they try and keep camera technology ahead of the onward march of phones. Do bear in mind that all those recommending that camera are experienced professional Alamy photographers, you do have to be extra careful with a sensor that small, straying into high ISO is not to be recommended without careful inspection for noise.

 

The Alamy guidelines still make sensible reading, they probably haven't updated them to account for great little cameras like the Sony but they are at the sharp end and so they can see that cameras with small sensors make it more difficult to pass QC. They actually recommend Micro 4/3 as the baseline:

 

https://www.alamy.com/blog/alamys-rough-guide-to-digital-cameras

 

Nikon tried to come in with a 1" sensor interchangeable lens system camera called the Nikon 1 back in 2011, it didn't do well so they regrouped and last year came up with the excellent Z series mirrorless cameras based around full frame sensors that MDM uses.

 

Incidentally small sensors make it very difficult/impossible to get differential focus or shallow depth of field, that can't change as it's down to optics, though phone apps are being produced that can fake it. I wouldn't want to do a wedding portrait with one.

 

Have you considered the Panasonic LX100 ii Micro 4/3 compact, I've no experience of it personally but it gets very good reviews.

 

 

 

Yes, I'm very aware of the limitations of a small sensor camera and that it takes more skills than just point and shoot to get really good shots.  I've been doing DSLR photography for 12 years so by no means a beginner but there are always gaps in my knowledge.   Re the Panasonic - I have the LX3 bought years ago on the basis of its excellent reviews but I actually hated it.  I found it fiddly was never happy with the quality of shots.  They always looked blocky and soft when zooming in.  I appreciate that technology has advanced since then but my experience has put me of  the LX series.  As I said, I prefer my DSLR but feel the need for a new discreet compact. 

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