Sony rx100 iii image quality compared to crop frame DSLR

[Elias Tsi]

Hello,

I recently bought a used Sony rx100 iii and when i viewed my photos on my tablet i noticed that the quality of the pictures is much poorer than that i m used to see at pictures that have been taken with the Canon eos 1200D with kit lens 18-135mm.

Canon eos 1200D is a 10 years old entry level crop frame DSLR and i've been using it for 3 years now, while Sony rx100 iii is a more premium 10 years old 1" compact camera, so from what i read in regards the rx i expected to see more or less the same result, but the truth is that the photos are less sharp and if i crop them even a little bit it is very obvius a blurriness over the whole picture.

So is this something to expect because of the sensors smaller size or something else is going on?

Consider that:

-the camera looks in great shape

-the photos are RAW files

-the glass is clean

-i test it with various F stops

- with various ISO

- with high shutter speed (and lower of cours)

- with single spot auto focus and manual focus

- with steady shot on and off

- with good light

Thank you in advance.

 

[elliottnewcomb]

1st post, welcome to the forum, and Happy Holidays.

Sony's lenses' sharpness has been historically better than other maker's 1" sensor models.

I suspect your camera needs a full reset, THEN test it for sharpness on Auto Shooting Mode.

Next, make it yours by using the Fn Menu, and menu settings, getting out of Auto of course, using your normal shooting mode.

I find Auto ISO gives great results in any shooting mode.

I have the rx100m1,m3,and longer reach m6, all with terrific IQ.

A few threads I put together over the years

Fn Button is the KEY to using any RX Camera
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3856052

rx100 m3,4,5 Setup Suggestions
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4158462

rx100, Winter Walkabout
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3618989

Color Shootout: RX10; RX100; R1; S85
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3610182

..................................

Those came from this larger collection of my threads

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4637229

 

[Ed B]

Hello,

I recently bought a used Sony rx100 iii and when i viewed my photos on my tablet i noticed that the quality of the pictures is much poorer than that i m used to see at pictures that have been taken with the Canon eos 1200D with kit lens 18-135mm.

Canon eos 1200D is a 10 years old entry level crop frame DSLR and i've been using it for 3 years now, while Sony rx100 iii is a more premium 10 years old 1" compact camera, so from what i read in regards the rx i expected to see more or less the same result, but the truth is that the photos are less sharp and if i crop them even a little bit it is very obvius a blurriness over the whole picture.

So is this something to expect because of the sensors smaller size or something else is going on?

Consider that:

-the camera looks in great shape

-the photos are RAW files

-the glass is clean

-i test it with various F stops

- with various ISO

- with high shutter speed (and lower of cours)

- with single spot auto focus and manual focus

- with steady shot on and off

- with good light

Thank you in advance.

Elias, first, I think the RX100 series of cameras are the best (when it comes to image quality) among all the small compact cameras.

However, my first experience with the RX100 cameras was with a used RX100iii, and it caused me to “bad mouth” Sony compacts, for quite a while.

It turned out that the RX100iii was defective. I eventually bought another RX100 camera and it's excellent.

Anyway, it sounds like your camera may also have a problem.

 

[Fujiuseruk]

You have stated you are shooting raw , that means you have to post process every image . That includes sharpening, white balance noise reduction and many other things .
If you don’t do these things then yes Sony raw images will look bad .

These settings may need a different approach to your canon raw files , a lot will depend on the software you are using and wether or not it applies in camera settings automatically when your viewing your raw files or just a factory preset that may not have any additional processing added to it.
Could you share some of Sony images with us making sure the exif is still intact.

If sharing a raw image use Dropbox to provide a link

A jpeg without additional post processing and the same image with your corrections to it .

It means we could be more helpful.

--
It’s all about the zoom

 

[tbcass]

Hello,

I recently bought a used Sony rx100 iii and when i viewed my photos on my tablet i noticed that the quality of the pictures is much poorer than that i m used to see at pictures that have been taken with the Canon eos 1200D with kit lens 18-135mm.

Canon eos 1200D is a 10 years old entry level crop frame DSLR and i've been using it for 3 years now, while Sony rx100 iii is a more premium 10 years old 1" compact camera, so from what i read in regards the rx i expected to see more or less the same result, but the truth is that the photos are less sharp and if i crop them even a little bit it is very obvius a blurriness over the whole picture.

So is this something to expect because of the sensors smaller size or something else is going on?

Consider that:

-the camera looks in great shape

-the photos are RAW files

-the glass is clean

-i test it with various F stops

- with various ISO

- with high shutter speed (and lower of cours)

- with single spot auto focus and manual focus

- with steady shot on and off

- with good light

Thank you in advance.

You shouldn't be able to see any difference on a tablet. If you post samples maybe we can give advice about what is wrong. Here are samples from my RX100 M1 and RX100 VII.



















--
Tom

 

[sybersitizen]

Canon eos 1200D is a 10 years old entry level crop frame DSLR and i've been using it for 3 years now, while Sony rx100 iii is a more premium 10 years old 1" compact camera, so from what i read in regards the rx i expected to see more or less the same result,

The RX100III is itself a nine year old camera. It might produce results that are more or less the same, but it might not - especially when compared to different lenses on the Canon.

but the truth is that the photos are less sharp and if i crop them even a little bit it is very obvius a blurriness over the whole picture.

Blurriness over the whole image should not be happening, so your camera might have an issue.

So is this something to expect because of the sensors smaller size or something else is going on?

I would guess something else is going on, but I'd have to see examples.

 

[Guy Parsons]

Hello,

I recently bought a used Sony rx100 iii and when i viewed my photos on my tablet i noticed that the quality of the pictures is much poorer than that i m used to see at pictures that have been taken with the Canon eos 1200D with kit lens 18-135mm.

Canon eos 1200D is a 10 years old entry level crop frame DSLR and i've been using it for 3 years now, while Sony rx100 iii is a more premium 10 years old 1" compact camera, so from what i read in regards the rx i expected to see more or less the same result, but the truth is that the photos are less sharp and if i crop them even a little bit it is very obvius a blurriness over the whole picture.

So is this something to expect because of the sensors smaller size or something else is going on?

Consider that:

-the camera looks in great shape

-the photos are RAW files

-the glass is clean

-i test it with various F stops

- with various ISO

- with high shutter speed (and lower of cours)

- with single spot auto focus and manual focus

- with steady shot on and off

- with good light

Thank you in advance.

We need to see a sample shot or two, maybe best take a couple of shots, one of something fairly close and another of something further away. like across the street and simply post the unaltered camera jpegs here to see what others can make of them. No art required just some random camera shots and maybe the exif details can talk to us.

 

[Digital Nigel]

Hello,

I recently bought a used Sony rx100 iii and when i viewed my photos on my tablet i noticed that the quality of the pictures is much poorer than that i m used to see at pictures that have been taken with the Canon eos 1200D with kit lens 18-135mm.

Canon eos 1200D is a 10 years old entry level crop frame DSLR and i've been using it for 3 years now, while Sony rx100 iii is a more premium 10 years old 1" compact camera, so from what i read in regards the rx i expected to see more or less the same result, but the truth is that the photos are less sharp and if i crop them even a little bit it is very obvius a blurriness over the whole picture.

So is this something to expect because of the sensors smaller size or something else is going on?

Consider that:

-the camera looks in great shape

-the photos are RAW files

-the glass is clean

-i test it with various F stops

- with various ISO

- with high shutter speed (and lower of cours)

- with single spot auto focus and manual focus

- with steady shot on and off

- with good light

Thank you in advance.

We need to see a sample shot or two, maybe best take a couple of shots, one of something fairly close and another of something further away. like across the street and simply post the unaltered camera jpegs here to see what others can make of them. No art required just some random camera shots and maybe the exif details can talk to us.

He shoots raw, so it's better to share a couple of raw files.

 

[tbcass]

Hello,

I recently bought a used Sony rx100 iii and when i viewed my photos on my tablet i noticed that the quality of the pictures is much poorer than that i m used to see at pictures that have been taken with the Canon eos 1200D with kit lens 18-135mm.

Canon eos 1200D is a 10 years old entry level crop frame DSLR and i've been using it for 3 years now, while Sony rx100 iii is a more premium 10 years old 1" compact camera, so from what i read in regards the rx i expected to see more or less the same result, but the truth is that the photos are less sharp and if i crop them even a little bit it is very obvius a blurriness over the whole picture.

So is this something to expect because of the sensors smaller size or something else is going on?

Consider that:

-the camera looks in great shape

-the photos are RAW files

-the glass is clean

-i test it with various F stops

- with various ISO

- with high shutter speed (and lower of cours)

- with single spot auto focus and manual focus

- with steady shot on and off

- with good light

Thank you in advance.

We need to see a sample shot or two, maybe best take a couple of shots, one of something fairly close and another of something further away. like across the street and simply post the unaltered camera jpegs here to see what others can make of them. No art required just some random camera shots and maybe the exif details can talk to us.

He shoots raw, so it's better to share a couple of raw files.

Or both because the problems could be in his RAW processing.

 

[Guy Parsons]

-

He shoots raw, so it's better to share a couple of raw files.

No, the idea is to first test the camera and after that we can worry about raw file conversions, if that in fact is the problem.

 

[Elias Tsi]

Thank you all for your replies, at the following link you'll find a raw file comparison between sony and canon.

Loading…

drive.google.com

At pics with No.1 i focused at the edge of the building

No.2 i focused at the rx100 / sticker "EOS 1200D" (with Canon/ Sony)

No.3 i focused at the red and white straps of the right bin

No.4 i focused at the hill

No.5 i focused at the edge of the mountain

All pics have been shot at F: 8, ISO: 100, on tripod, at the mid range of sonys focal lenth

 

[Michael Fritzen]

Well, shooting a 1" type sensor @f/8 might be already the first issue since you're entering into diffraction territory.

However this would likely produce some soft looking photos - at least visibly softer than at its best - but I wouldn't use the term blur which might point to a different issue.

 

[elliottnewcomb]

All pics have been shot at F: 8, ISO: 100, on tripod, at the mid range of sonys focal lenth

Sony's: IS is constantly jumping about, ready to do it's job.

Turn IS (Steady Shot) OFF for tripod use. (for stills, not movies). Menu, camera 2, page 5, SteadyShot. Back on for handheld.

I add self timer to tripod to fully prevent shake.

..........................

Rules change for smaller sensors.

The 1" sensor has reached full focus depth by f5.6 so narrower apertures are not needed for that. Perhaps needed for too much light, bright beach scene, faster shutter or ND filter would be better if in hand.

Lens sharpness, many think f4 best,. Diffraction does begin to occur past f5.6 and gets progressively worse. Visible in some photos, especially if text is involved, a good way for you to see for yourself.

For sharpness, I would shoot in decent light, Auto ISO, fast shutter speed, verify aperture is not past f5.6

--
Elliott

 

[Guy Parsons]

Thank you all for your replies, at the following link you'll find a raw file comparison between sony and canon.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bIJvdUcDAymkQC3LnsgFXUhBIm4BABLv

At pics with No.1 i focused at the edge of the building

No.2 i focused at the rx100 / sticker "EOS 1200D" (with Canon/ Sony)

No.3 i focused at the red and white straps of the right bin

No.4 i focused at the hill

No.5 i focused at the edge of the mountain

All pics have been shot at F: 8, ISO: 100, on tripod, at the mid range of sonys focal lenth

Thanks for uploading the samples.

Photolab doesn't have a profile for that Canon + lens combination but trying the first pair I see things as expected with the Sony image, better depth of field and overall better looking detail from the Sony than from the Canon. The rest much the same, looks better from the 1" sensor.

I'm truly not sure what you are finding as I see the nicer result from the 1" sensor camera. Maybe that due to me being used to small sensors and like the great depth of field that they offer.

Using f/8 is definitely a mistake with the 1 inch sensor, stick to wide open to f/4 and maybe to f/5.6 as a limit and things will look even better.

 

[redhed17]

I think a lot of the images are comparable to my eyes, apart from the number 4 images, if the focus was indeed on the hill. As mentioned earlier, at f8 diffraction could be a problem on the smaller sensor. It may be good to try the same scene, with images taken at different f stops to see if there are significant differences.

Expecting a 1" sensor and small lens to be as good as an APS-C sensor, and much larger lens is optimistic to say the least though imho. Technology can only do so much versus physics.

I compared a RX100M7 @ 200mm and a Nikon D500 with a 70-300mm lens @ 300mm, and was surprised by how close they were.

For my use case above, casual images of Cricket in the park, the RX100M7 has higher fps, maybe better autofocus and portability benefits, though if I were aiming for ultimate image quality, the D500 with any of my lenses would be the better option. It was good to compare the RX100M7 and D500, as they both have 20Mp sensors.

 

[Elias Tsi]

I'm sharing a jpeg without any processing and a fully processed jpeg (keep in mind that i recently started using lightroom, still got a lot to learn).






Unprocessed




Fully processed



In addition, at the following link you ll find these two jpegs plus the original raw file

Loading…

drive.google.com

I noticed that when i viewed this image at lightroom without any adjustments it was sharper, even the colors differ. Could be the problem at the default viewing program that my tablet has;

 

[tbcass]

Thank you all for your replies, at the following link you'll find a raw file comparison between sony and canon.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bIJvdUcDAymkQC3LnsgFXUhBIm4BABLv

At pics with No.1 i focused at the edge of the building

No.2 i focused at the rx100 / sticker "EOS 1200D" (with Canon/ Sony)

No.3 i focused at the red and white straps of the right bin

No.4 i focused at the hill

No.5 i focused at the edge of the mountain

All pics have been shot at F: 8, ISO: 100, on tripod, at the mid range of sonys focal lenth

Shooting at f8 with a 1" sensor is not a good idea because it puts you well within detail robbing diffraction. Always shoot f5.6 or wider.

--
Tom

 

[sybersitizen]

Thank you all for your replies, at the following link you'll find a raw file comparison between sony and canon.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bIJvdUcDAymkQC3LnsgFXUhBIm4BABLv

At pics with No.1 i focused at the edge of the building

I downloaded that pair and processed them in DxO PhotoLab 7. I used the DxO Standard profile, which includes lens optimizations for both files. I cropped and rotated both to align them better and exported them at the same resolution for easier comparison. I applied only basic noise reduction.


Canon


Sony

IMO, those images do indeed show 'more or less the same result' as suggested in your original post. They both show some slight noise, but even that could be eliminated using PhotoLab's excellent DeepPRIME noise reduction instead.

 

[sybersitizen]

Photolab doesn't have a profile for that Canon + lens combination ...

PhotoLab 7 does. I used it to process the files I posted.

 

[Guy Parsons]

Photolab doesn't have a profile for that Canon + lens combination ...

PhotoLab 7 does. I used it to process the files I posted.

Hmmm, it balked for me, no profile downloaded. Away from home now on a different computer so may try download again and see if Photolab wakes up properly this time and gets the profile.