Advice on RX100 vii for travel

[Travelgal]

I love my RX10 iv but need a much lighter camera for travel in Europe after recent hip surgery. For those who have switched to the RX100 vii as your sole travel camera, are you satisfied? Any regrets? I tried one in a store, found it fairly easy to use. Just wish it had a little more reach. But on a similar trip several years ago, only 5% of my photos were over 200mm. And I don’t anticipate wildlife on this trip. So for architectural details or a close-up of a mountain peak, do you recommend one of the extended zooms?



Additionally, does anyone have a list or know a thread for how to test out a new camera? Like what types of shots to take. I learned the hard way that I needed to take a photo of bright blue sky or something plain to look for dust on the sensor.

 

[Guy Parsons]

I love my RX10 iv but need a much lighter camera for travel in Europe after recent hip surgery. For those who have switched to the RX100 vii as your sole travel camera, are you satisfied? Any regrets?

In my case the same lensed RX100M6 and as an experiment took only that camera for two weeks in Singapore. It worked fine for me, nice lightweight travel.

The occasional regret was that the "24mm" was not wide enough for some situations, being used to wider lenses and fisheye on my M4/3 gear. I should learn to do reliable image stitching and then extra wide may not be an issue.

In lower light the performance falls off with high ISO of course but if already used to the RX10M4 sensor then that will be much the same.

Normally with M4/3 I stick within the "24mm to 80mm" range due to always using my favourite lens, but when using the RX100M6 I was surprised afterwards at how many times I had used "200mm" to pick off details and faces.

I always shoot raw+jpeg and use DxO Photolab5 to get better results than the camera alone can do. If needing past "200mm" then careful cropping of the "200mm" images gets me there.

I tried one in a store, found it fairly easy to use. Just wish it had a little more reach. But on a similar trip several years ago, only 5% of my photos were over 200mm. And I don’t anticipate wildlife on this trip. So for architectural details or a close-up of a mountain peak, do you recommend one of the extended zooms?

The "24-200mm" range is perfect for the usual travel camera. Distant mountain peaks often end up murky in super tele shots due to air pollution and air movements.

Additionally, does anyone have a list or know a thread for how to test out a new camera? Like what types of shots to take. I learned the hard way that I needed to take a photo of bright blue sky or something plain to look for dust on the sensor.

Just use it and see what happens, make sure the flash works, but always use flash with auto ISO otherwise the flash range is severely limited.

The M6/M7 lens at "24mm" has severe barrel distortion, corrected in camera for the jpeg or corrected by raw processors. The effect is that corners and edges may be a little bit pixel peeping imperfect. At "200mm" there is slight pincushion distortion. also corrected properly.

At around the "50mm" mark plus/minus maybe "5mm" the lens appears least distorted plus at "50mm" it delivers the best closeups, if you try closeups at "200mm" you will find that you need to be about a metre away from the subject and still don't get the closeup experience that you get at "50mm" and way closer to the subject. So any time you want a flower or food shot as a closeup, first set the camera zoom to "50mm".

Always get a spare BX1 battery as it will be needed on busy days. Recharge or top up any used batteries every night.

 

[Maxmolly7]

I use the Sony RX10IV and RX100 VII both for travel in Europe.

The small RX100 is great for citytrips and usually I don't miss >200mm, I rather enjoy the freedom of the small body. IQ is great. Only for close ups it is not so capable due to high close focus distance.

When I expect good photo ops, I take the RX 10, and in case there is a chance for wildlife.

 

[Guy Parsons]

Only for close ups it is not so capable due to high close focus distance.

Just now did a quick and rough test of RX100M6 closeup. At "50mm" is best capturing about 3 inches edge to edge from something like 3 inches distance from lens front to subject.

With regard to closest manual focus, as you go wider the closeup capture gets worse and the lens gets closer to the subject, as you go towards tele at about "70mm" and longer, the distance from subject to lens front increases dramatically and you capture less of a closeup. At "200mm" the closeup is worst and the lens front needs to be over 3 feet or so from the subject.

Summary: For RX100M6/M7 and closeup, use manual focus set to closest focus and move the camera to and fro to focus and keep the lens at"50mm".

 

[Maxmolly7]

Good to know, thanx.

 

[Steven Wandy]

I started a different thread on travel buy my choices were the RX100-5 and a Micro 4/3 Olympus EM5.3. I love them both but even though my Olympus is far from what is considered "big" I am still thinking about just taking the Sony on our upcoming trip. (With my 12-40/f4 Pro the Olympus is 668 grams and the Sony RX10-4 is almost 1100g.) It's just so nice, small and convenient.

 

[Foto4x4]

“The occasional regret was that the "24mm" was not wide enough for some situations, being used to wider lenses and fisheye on my M4/3 gear. I should learn to do reliable image stitching and then extra wide may not be an issue.”

Guy, have you ever tried doing a panorama shot in portrait orientation. You end up with something like 16:9 aspect but is a quick and dirty way to stitch when 24mm isn’t enough.

 

[Foto4x4]

I took my RX100VI on a 12 week trip around Western Australia as a backup to my A7RII and 24-105. It was so convenient I ended up shooting about half my photos with it. And back in 2016, I took a Lumix TZ110 (25-250) to Canada and Alaska. Again as a backup, but I was so happy with the photos it really provided the lion’s share of images. While I’m capable, I still prefer my FF gear, but I’d be quite confident the RX100VII could satisfy my travel needs if I ever tired of taking a larger camera.

 

[Guy Parsons]

“The occasional regret was that the "24mm" was not wide enough for some situations, being used to wider lenses and fisheye on my M4/3 gear. I should learn to do reliable image stitching and then extra wide may not be an issue.”

Guy, have you ever tried doing a panorama shot in portrait orientation. You end up with something like 16:9 aspect but is a quick and dirty way to stitch when 24mm isn’t enough.

Yes, my rare panos in the past have always been in portrait orientation to get a good vertical pixel count. Either that or do multiple rows.

 

[davidedric]

That's what I bought it for, and it works for me (though I haven't done much travelling since I bought it!)

There are various options to carry it. Personally, I prefer to use a neck strap with one of the small polypropylene (?) pouches. The camera is so small that I can even (safely!) wear it round my neck while driving.

I'm not too concerned about the limited aperture. Today's sensors and NR software are so good.

 

[66GTO]

I still like my original RX100 for travel. A vii would be nice as well.........

 

[KENTGA]

Didn't read the replies but I'm a Canon shooter and I bought my wife and I RX100M6's a couple of years ago and we love it. Went to San Miguel de Allende Mex a couple of years ago and that's the only cameras we took.

You will not regret it. If not enough zoom, crop. But most places I've been to in Europe didn't need more than 200mm.

Here's a sample of photos w/out any PP'ing but not all are from Mexico.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/108062364@N04/albums/72157718717786701

Kent

--
Here is a link to some of my travels since 2006. Feel free to comment.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/108062364@N04/albums
KENTGA = Kent from Georgia (metro Atlanta)

 

[Foto4x4]

Didn't read the replies but I'm a Canon shooter and I bought my wife and I RX100M6's a couple of years ago and we love it. Went to San Miguel de Allende Mex a couple of years ago and that's the only cameras we took.

You will not regret it. If not enough zoom, crop. But most places I've been to in Europe didn't need more than 200mm.

Here's a sample of photos w/out any PP'ing but not all are from Mexico.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/108062364@N04/albums/72157718717786701

Kent

Kent, that link doesn’t seem to work as you intended. I get to a page of albums and the one from San Miguel seems to be taken with a Canon SL1. Nice albums by the way!

 

[KENTGA]

Sorry, Maybe this one will work. I thought San Miguel was Sony but I combined two trips on the Sin Miguel link.

Kent

https://www.flickr.com/photos/108062364@N04/albums/72157718717786701

 

[Travelgal]

Thanks for the great advice. I plan on buying the smaller RX100, even though it is expensive, given that I already have a good camera. The RX10 is just too heavy for me if I have to walk many blocks. And I really want to go on this trip.

With the RX10, I have been using only jpeg. Several months ago, I obtained Lightroom Classic, but I have yet to try raw with it or really worked with the develop module. I’ve mostly been reorganizing my existing photos while switching to a MacBook from an old PC. I think Lightroom also can do some lens correction for specific cameras, but I haven’t looked into that yet.

 

[davidedric]

I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

So far as Lightroom is concerned, you don't have much to worry about starting with raw. All the controls are the same, but you can do more with them. You will have to do more because Lightroom deliberately starts with a fairly "flat" conversion, but the current Auto button works pretty well to give a good starting point. The lens corrections are applied automatically on Import.

As you are quite new to Lightroom, I strongly recommend downloading Victoria Bampton's free getting started ebook from here https://www.lightroomqueen.com/

Her community pages are also a very friendly place to get help or advice.

Have fun!

 

[elliottnewcomb]

2nd post, welcome to the forum!

RX10 is too big/heavy for me, I use the smaller rx100's

rx100m6 or m7 is a terrific travel camera with easily implemented 'extra reach'.

Sony Smart Zoom using Smart Telecon (jpeg only)

SZ = Smart Zoom = In-Camera Optical Sensor Crop, no digital processing. Only at 10mp or 5mp image sizes

ST = Smart Telecon = a method of Rapidly Toggling SZ. (No CIZ using ST). no digital processing.

…………………………………………..

The whole ‘extra reach’ story

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4373614

………………………………………………..

excerpts

SZ Smart Zoom (medium 10mp and small 5mp image sizes only, no SZ at 20mp)

An optical in-camera sensor crop, with no other in-camera processing. It is the same as a crop you would make later in software. No extra pixels created. Crops have increasingly fewer pixels. An in-camera SZ crop, and a matching crop in your software will have the same # of pixels. Of course post crops can be of either Jpeg or RAW images.

SZ is Automatically Engaged (if/when you use 10mp or 5mp Image Sizes). There is no menu option. Watch the zoom bar/listen to the zoom motor, using 10mp or 5mp image size, after 200mm OZ a magnifier icon appears with a number i.e. 1.3x.

20mp image size: SZ: None. CIZ, if engaged, starts after the end of OZ

10mp image size: SZ range is 1.1x to 1.4x. (201-280mm max optical crop, no upscale),

5mp image size SZ range 1.1x to 2.0x (201-400mm max optical crop, no upscale).

……………………………………..

1. ST Smart Telecon= a method of Rapidly Toggling SZ as fixed steps, not progressive zoom. Image Sizes are also Toggled Automatically. Magnifier Icon with x Factor appears on lcd.

You Must Assign Smart Telecon to a Custom Key (button or rocker).

While shooting OZ 20mp Image Size:

1st press instantly jumps to SZ 1.4x (and changes to 10mp image size)

2nd press instantly jumps to SZ 2.0x (and changes to 5mp image size)

3rd press, jumps back to OZ 1.0x 20mp Image Size.

…………………………………………….

Rx100m6 extra zoom photos

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4314962

…………………………………

Rx100m6 Smart Zoom

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4305652

rx100m6 setup suggestions

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4300834

………………………………

All of the above and many more threads about these miniature marvels found here

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4637229#forum-post-66118549

 

[Maxmolly7]

Make sure to order the small accessory grip for the RX100 VII, the handling is much better and secure with it.

 

[BarelyAmateur]

I have an rx100 va, not a vii, but I have to tell you that I recommend this device unreservedly for essentially any purpose. The only thing you need to understand is that it may suffer a bit from a sharpness and ergonomics perspective compared to cameras with larger lenses, as those larger lenses. To my understanding this is because it becomes harder and harder to get perfect optics the smaller the glass gets.

That being said, it's still a wonderful little camera!

To be completely clear, I am not saying it is the "best" camera for any purpose. But it is the best camera of its size and it is capable of achieving better-than-phone results on just about any type of photography except perhaps extreme low light photography.

 

[Travelgal]

Thanks Elliott for putting all these threads together and excellent advice on zoom.