RX100 M4 Replacement

[Otispunkmeyer]

So on a recent trip to the states, my gear got swiped from the hire car whilst we had food. In the bag was my trusty and well travelled Sony RX100 M4. I didn't lose any photos, well not ones that mattered and it is just a little box of electronics at the end of the day, but I am a little gutted because its been so many places with me!

Anyway, once the insurance is sorted the "replacement/equivalent" item is the RX100 M5A. Which I am happy to go for but I do just wonder if there is anything else I should look at?

An RX100 M6 might be worth checking out because I often found need for more reach than 70mm equivalent and the M6 offers 200mm. But it seems that you really do lose a lot in terms of aperture, with it starting at F2.8 and almost immediately dropping to F4 once you move from the wide end.

I had a little read on the G7X/G5X from Canon but a lot of people seem to moan about the slow and sometimes unreliable auto-focus. They didn't include any phase detection, just contrast. But they do have faster lenses with a little more reach and it seems like their noise performance is better too. They also look a lot nicer to handle, being a little larger and featuring proper grips. The Sony's are like little bars of soap till you put a grip on them.

I am not sure there is really anything else in this space? thought about maybe moving back up to a n ILC mirrorless but its finding a really compact one and the problem is good lenses a) cost the same or more as the body and b) generally blow compactness out the window. The Canon M200 did grab my interest though, even if it is highly dumbed down for those coming direct from a smartphone.

If anyone's got a G7X MkIII or G5X MkII I'd be interested to hear from you!

[DibblyDobbler]

If I was you I'd go for the RX10 Mk6 for the extra reach - the darker lens wouldn't bother me too much but it depends what you are shooting.

Having said that I believe GetCarter changed his RX10 for one of the Canons you mentioned and he's happy with it - the main downside is it's bigger but only you'll know if that's an issue or not...

Cheers

[JustADay]

I have just gone through a very similar decision with my RX100 M3. After 9 years of being chucked in a bag it was becoming a bit temperamental.

I did look at the later RX100s but generally the cost put me off more than anything. That and the handling of the RX100 has always seemed pretty fiddly to me.

In the end I bought a G7X II. Overall iI’m pretty happy with it, although it’s not without fault.

Pros:

• Longer 100mm zoom. I know it’s not a huge amount longer but I’ve definitely found the extra reach useful.

• Faster lens. I wouldn’t say I’ve noticed much better low light performance but I have definitely noticed better depth of field.

• Handling. Way way better than the Sony. The hand and thumb grips are useful and the exposure compensation dial is definitely helpful too.

• Phone app. Not sure if you use this but it’s much easier to get photos off the camera onto a phone when you’re out compared to the Sony.

Cons

• Auto focus. Definitely much slower than the Sony. It does get there generally but I’m not sure how well it would cope with fast moving objects.

• Dust. Not something that had occurred to me but after only a couple of weeks there are already a couple of bits of dust INSIDE the lens. Not something I’d ever experienced with the Sony in 9 years of being abused but apparently common on these. I’ve just bought a rubber dust cap to fit over the lens when it’s in my pocket which seems to do the trick, it’s pretty frustrating though.

• RAW processing. Probably just me but I found the included Canon processing tool pretty clunky and limited relative to Capture One. I don’t have Lightroom so am currently using RawTherapee which is free and seems to do a decent enough job.

Overall the image quality seems to be largely on par with the Sony, and despite being slightly slower focus is definitely much easier to use overall. I wouldn’t expect to see night a day image differences, but the usability to me at least means overall I prefer the Canon.

Hope that helps!

[Otispunkmeyer]

Yeah I was looking at the G5x Mk II and its a much nicer thing to hold. Just that little bit bigger in the body, good grip, excellent controls.

That one has a newer lens design with 120mm reach and still got the 2.8 aperture. Having had a play it is on my list for sure. I didn't think the focus was too bad, easily as good as the MK4 RX100 (also contrast detect) and I've managed with that kind of system for ages.

IQ wise DPReview seemed to suggest RAW noise was a lot better controlled on the Canons. Not sure why as they used the same Sony Stacked CMOS sensors as in the RX100s. I don't know whether I want to try a Rx100 M5 or 6, I know that AF performance will be amazing but if I don't know then I won't miss it!

I noticed panasonic actually did an update to the LX100 with a mark II version. So that might be a worthy contender as well. Similar 24-70mm kinda range, slightly lower resolution, but its a m4/3 sensor so a little larger than the compacts.

Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Monday 24th April 12:14