Sony DSC-RX100 vs Fujifilm X10 vs Canon s110/G15(Review Part 2 of 2)

Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-RX100 Rear View

In part 1 of my review of the Sony DSC-RX100 (click to read), I showed lots of real world photos which show off the strengths of this camera. Its compact size and solid image quality make it compelling, but in this article I’ll wrap things up with a discussion about how it compares to some of the competition. In my mind, the cameras that most closely compete with this camera are the Fujifilm x10 (my former point and shoot of the year), the Canon s110 (which offers similar features in a compact package) and the highly touted Canon G15.

Bookshelf Test

Bookshelf images of different ISO’s and additional settings can be found at http://www.ronmartinsen.com/sony/rx100. Be sure to look at the filenames and metadata for details about what is what, and you may download them for your personal review but please delete them when you are done. All images were taken with RAW+JPEG Fine and camera defaults, but I can only upload JPEG so that’s what’s included online. I did disable stabilization for these tests since I was using a tripod and long exposures.

Here’s the base native ISO image (which is 125, not 100 or 200 as you’d find in other cameras):

Sony DSC-RX100 - f/8 @ 10.4 mm,10s, ISO 125, No Flash, AWB

From the in-camera JPEG with zero post-processing, what I see is an image that has excellent color, white balance and tasteful saturation. The image is sharp and overall fairly impressive for the size of its sensor.

For the opposite end of the spectrum, the ISO 6400 image always underexposed no matter what metering mode I was in and even with various ISO modes and both Aperture Priority and Manual (when set to +/-0 EV). Here’s the result:

RX100 f/8 @ 10.4 mm,1/8, ISO 6400, No Flash, AWB

The noise was squashed to oblivion which kills too much detail so overall I felt like this was an unusable ISO. For kicks and giggles I took the same exact image from the RAW file and just accepted the default RAW processing of Lightroom 4.3 (plus I clicked Auto Exposure) and this is what it looked like:

Same as above, but from Lightroom RAW Processing and Auto Exposure

The detail returns but so does the noise, so make no mistake that this is still a tiny sensor point and shoot. Noise is a reality but if you take a less ridiculous noise reduction setting (say Noiseware Default setting) then you have an image that cleans up nice enough to use for small prints and online images as shown here:

Same as above, but Noiseware Default noise reduction applied

DRO vs HDR

I also decided to test DRO vs HDR more carefully to see if my handheld results in the previous article would still hold up. As one might expect, they did but I did also confirm using longer exposures that HDR does in fact take multiple exposures as one would expect. In my previous article I stated I wasn’t sure that it did because the exposures were taken so quickly and so close together that I didn’t hear them. As a result I thought it might have been doing in-camera HDR from a single exposure, but that doesn’t appear to be the case (thankfully).

Here’s the Auto DRO setting which appeared to be the same as the DRO 5 setting done manually:

f/8 @ 10.4 mm,10s, ISO 125, No Flash, AWB, DRO Auto

There wasn’t any major difference in this mode versus the non DRO image, so I was a bit disappointed in the result. However, the HDR was quite nice and Auto seemed to take 3 or 4 exposures (I heard 4 clicks but wasn’t sure if all 4 were exposures) in the HDR Auto & HDR 6EV modes. Here’s the result:

f/8 @ 10.4 mm,10s, ISO 125, No Flash, AWB, HDR Auto

As I saw with the handheld, the alignment was great and the range was very good. It still was less than I am accustomed to getting from the EXR mode of the X10, but it was way better than the s110 HDR mode. If you have the this camera and the time to use, the HDR mode is definitely worthwhile for a great dynamic range with excellent color.

Subjective Comparison

Unfortunately I do not have any direct bookshelf images to compare against RX100 as my methodology for testing is much different now than it was at the time I reviewed the other cameras in this class. I didn’t take cameras in this class seriously in the past so my other bookshelf tests were more informal and not framed and tested to the same standard as I do for mirrorless and DSLR’s now.

With that said, I did test the RX100 using the more advanced methodology so that I can compare it against future cameras and you can compare it with other more expensive cameras that I have reviewed. This should come in handy when I review the X20 and the RX100 replacement in the future (no, I have no idea when or if that will ever happen).

To see the galleries of the other cameras discussed in this review then visit the following hyperlinks:

• s110 bookshelf shots and gallery
• G15 bookshelf shots and gallery
• x10 gallery (no bookshelf shots)

Based on my subjective opinion, here’s how I am seeing how these cameras compare:

1. At lower ISO’s, the best overall image quality favors the RX100
2. It’s my opinion, that the RX100 seems to have the sharpest lens of the bunch
3. In-camera noise reduction on the RX100 is terrible and gets horrific after ISO 800
4. The in-camera meter likes to underexpose compared to the others and switching metering modes didn’t help in the bookshelf test. Despite indicating a proper exposure, the ISO6400 shot was very underexposed. None of the other cameras exhibited this issue.
5. The RX100 and s110 are nearly identical in design, but the s110 is more feature rich and easier to use.
6. While none of these cameras have great flashes, I preferred the RX100’s flash performance the most.
7. The RX100 LCD was the hardest to use outdoors, but its battery performance was the best so perhaps that was an intentional trade-off by Sony.
8. Ease of use wise, I still prefer the Canon G-series (especially the G12) over the RX100
9. Camera that frustrated me the most in the field – RX100
10. Camera my wife most enjoyed – X10, but she loved the one hand ease-of-use of the RX100.
11. Best mixed-light camera (i.e., drastic differences between foreground & background) – Fujifilm EXR mode found on the x10. DRO and even the HDR performance of the RX100 wasn’t even close
12. Best macro camera – x10
13. Best pano performance – RX100
14. Best video – RX100
15. Best stabilization – RX100
16. Best in-camera high ISO performance – s110
17. Best value – s110
18. Worst value – RX100 (overpriced IMHO for what you get)
19. If I could only have one – Fujifilm x10 (because of EXR mode)
20. If advising a friend, I’d still suggest the x10 but if size is an issue I’d say the s110 or RX100

Here’s also some other cameras I’ve reviewed that some may wish to compare against as well (but I don’t consider any of these to be direct competitors):

• Olympus OM-D E-M5 Review (gallery)
• Fujifilm X-Pro1 Review (gallery)
• Fujifilm X100 Review (gallery)
• Sony NEX-7 Review (gallery)
• Nikon 1 V1 Review (gallery)
• Canon EOS M Review (gallery)

Conclusion

I like the RX100 and feel like it makes great images. If you do a comparison of the RAW images you’ll quickly find that it has great RAW images that are hampered by fairly poor in-camera processing compared to the other cameras I’ve tested. At low ISO’s it’s not an issue and they are quite good, but as the ISO’s climb the poor in-camera noise reduction really hurts. As a result, my “always keep your raw images” applies more for this camera than any of the others I’ve tested.

I wanted the RX100 to be a small sensor RX1 with a zoom, but it’s not. I wanted it to have NEX-7 like performance and Canon s110 like ease of use – but it doesn’t have that either. Instead what you get is a nice s110 size camera with an excellent lens, great low ISO performance, above average battery life and great video. All of those things make it a compelling camera that I think will satisfy buyers who live in the automatic modes, but anyone who likes control over their camera will find that the RX100 comes up short – very short. Given the high price of this camera, that’s unacceptable, but hopefully enough people will ignore these realities and buy it anyway so that Sony will be encourage to release a new model that hopefully addresses some of my concerns.

If you are a RAW only shooter then you’ll be much more satisfied than if you are someone who likes to use the JPEG whenever possible and the RAW is only a backup (which is my preference for cameras in this class). As a result, all of these little issues and the price have caused me to pass on getting the RX100 (which I had intended to buy before I tested it) and stick with my X10. It looks like my hope for a replacement now will rest on the X20 which I hope to review soon.

Where to order

Click here to order the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 on the B&H web site. My friends at Adorama have it available here and Amazon has it available here.

Other articles you may enjoy

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy these:

• REVIEW: Sony DSC-RX100 with Real World Sample Photos (Part 1)
• Which camera should I buy?
• Things You Need AFTER You Buy Your New Camera - Must Have Photography Accessories
• Sony NEX-7
• Sony DSC-RX1 (Full Frame Compact Camera)
• Canon G1X vs G12 vs Fujifilm X10
• Canon G15 vs s110 vs G12

Disclosure

If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this. B&H loaned me the camera I used for this review.