would the Sony RX100 V be a bad option for underwater ?

would I be foolish for buying the RX 100 (5) version and a housing for underwater ?

I started with an RX100IV in Fantasea housing.  It's a great setup with onboard flash for TTL via fiberoptic, compact for easy travelling, easy to handle in water, excellent for topside tourist shooting, and good for Milky Way shots without a guider.

Depends on whether you could get something better for the same or less money, I guess.   The RX100 is a decent basic underwater pont-n-shoot.

I have use the RX100 II in a Nauticam housing with dual strobes.   Compared to the Canon point-n-shoots I had before, it was a wonderful camera taking beautiful detailed images.   But most of that was due to finally using strobes.   Without them it's just another point-n-shoot, though version V may be somewhat better there.  My experience was that the autofocus wasn't any better than the Canon's I had been using (SD870is, S95, now s120).   The MENU system was significantly worse than the Canons, and it caused me issues using it underwater.    The print was so small I had to over-brighten the LCD display to use it, and then I had to judge exposure using the histogram as the display otherwise made everything look overexposed.

So basically, RX100 good camera, poor ergonomics.

Compared to the D810 and D850 that followed it, the RX100 II was definitely not as clear, nor as detailed, and you could tell the glass was a bit of the issue.

The positives to the camera (again version II) were 20mp 1 inch sensor gave better performance (dynamic range) than my previous smaller-sensor cameras.  Better low light performance in ambient.  Small size means easy to carry housing and lenses.

Not at all. It's an excellent camera for underwater usage, with an autofocus system radically better than the previous models (IV and below), along with a very fast strobe sync speed and great video capability. There are plenty of housings at different price points, and it's so small that the housings remain light and compact. The battery life is somewhat of a weak point, so have some spares on hand and be prepared to swap them between dives. It can do macro with a close-up lens, but the 70mm equivalent maximum focal length is too short for supermacro, so look at models VI and VII if that's your thing.

Here's a favorable—and in my opinion, accurate—review:

Mozaik RX100 V review

This article compares the various RX100 models:

RX100 comparison

By the way, the V has been replaced by the VA—same camera, different firmware.

daveco2 wrote:

I started with an RX100IV in Fantasea housing. It's a great setup with onboard flash for TTL via fiberoptic, compact for easy travelling, easy to handle in water, excellent for topside tourist shooting, and good for Milky Way shots without a guider.

I'm not sure I can add a lot more to the above except to say I used the RX100 III in a Fantasea housing on my 4th trip to St. John and the results were a major upgrade from what I was getting with a waterproof point-n-shoot. I shot it jpg + RAW in order to have maximum flexibility in editing the photos after. I was snorkeling, therefore not going deep, so using the camera without lights was just fine. I've since upgraded to the RX100 V (fits in the same housing!) and am looking forward to the better autofocus and other improvements.

+1 for the fact that this camera is also great for dry-land shooting.

The only thing that I had a bit of trouble with, but had been warned about ahead of time, is that the camera can get pretty warm, especially if shooting video. When this happened to me (with the RX100 III) it made the interior of the housing fog up and lost a half day of shooting ability while it dried out. SILICA PACKS HELP avoid this. I have a big bag of them to take with me next time. And I don't know if it's still a problem on the V.

I don't know why I haven't uploaded most of my underwater photos from St John 2017 to my web site (will fix that later tonight) but here is one of the two I did upload:

I'm glad you all agree this is a good camera.  I just bought the RX100Va and the Fantasea FRX100VA VAC housing.  I am also using the Kraken Hydra 1000-WSR+ as a focus light/strobe.

I don't have funds available to get proper strobes so I am using my handheld light attached to the cold shoe of my housing.  I can post a photo if you want to see the adapter.

I've' used the RX1000 II for years, though it is now a backup camera. Essentially its limitations underwater are similar to above water shooting in dimmer lighting conditions, along with needing some special settings. If the latest versions of the RX100 have a lot faster autofocus than my version, especially in dimmer lighting, then it should be pretty good underwater too.

As for the special settings, that's only a concern when needing to change things underwater. The Sony menu system has historically been disorganized and overly complicated coupled with small print making it needlessly difficult to change settings in dimmer lighting. (As compared to Canon's menu system.)

I think DPReview also currently has a comparison of the RX100 VII lens versus the Canon GX5 and GX7 here: https://www.dpreview.com/articles/8249297755/sony-rx100-vi-vs-canon-g5-x-ii-vs-canon-g7-x-iii-which-has-the-best-lens

kelpdiver wrote:

Skalis wrote:

Anyone using the rx100 vi or vii underwater? I can see a few housing options on the net, but none are available over counter here in Stockholm.

I've not used any of them, but I got the sense that the last two models were developed for above water needs, so you might do better with the older ones.

Not the best choice for macro.

Backscatter review of RX100 VI is actually singing praises to its macro capability: https://www.backscatter.com/reviews/post/Sony-RX100-VI-Underwater-Camera-Review

It's a challenge to house, requiring a port system and giving up the flexibility of earlier models, but for macro it has some distinct advantages.

kelpdiver wrote:

heh - it's a funny model line. Each generation has its advantages, but unlike most, you can't assume the next gen is a drop in replacement.

Depends on the housing. Meikon/SeaFrogs has a housing that fits RX100 models I through V, and another that fits models III through VII. The latter has interchangeable ports and a vacuum system.

I was able to take my RX100Va out for a day of scuba diving this past weekend. one thing I need to note is yes the Va has an F1.8 lens but that DoF is WAY WAY to shallow to image at while underwater.

Here are a few photos for you to enjoy. Note these photos were captured with a 1000 lumen flashlight (Kraken Hydra 1000+WSR) as a constant light and the cameras onboard flash as a fill light.

this was captured with ambient light only

Skalis wrote:

Thanks for the link! Have you tried it yourself ?

/Tom

I haven't. RX100 V was on my short list when I started putting together my underwater system in early 2017, but I opted to go with the A6300.