All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 20 megapixel JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 5Mb.
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 produced images of outstanding quality during the review period. This camera handled noise well, not becoming obvious until ISO 1600, and then becoming progressively worse at the faster settings of ISO 3200 and 6400, an excellent performance for a small image sensor with such a high pixel count.
Chromatic aberrations were in evidence but were well-controlled, with some limited purple fringing effects appearing in high contrast situations. The images were a little soft straight out of the camera at the default setting and require some further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop, or you can increase the in-camera sharpening level.
Macro performance is good, allowing you to focus as close as 5cms away from the subject. The built-in flash worked well indoors, with no red-eye and good overall exposure. The maximum shutter speed of 30 seconds allows the cameras to capture enough light for most after-dark situations. The Steadyshot anti-shake system works well when hand-holding the camera at slower shutter speeds.
The effective Dynamic Range Optimizer function extracts more detail from the shadow and highlight areas in an image, without introducing any unwanted noise or other artifacts. The High Dynamic Range mode combines two shots taken at different exposures to produce one image with greater dynamic range than a single image would produce. It only works for JPEGs and for still subjects, but does produce some very effective results. Sony's now tried-and-trusted Sweep Panorama is still a joy to use. The Picture Effects quickly produce special looks that would otherwise require you to spend a lot of time in the digital darkroom, while the Creative Styles provide a quick and easy way to tweak the camera's JPEG images.
Noise
There are 9 ISO settings available on the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting for both JPEG and Raw formats.
| JPEG | Raw | |
ISO 80 (100% Crop)
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ISO 80 (100% Crop)
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ISO 100 (100% Crop)
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ISO 100 (100% Crop)
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ISO 125 (100% Crop)
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ISO 125 (100% Crop)
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ISO 200 (100% Crop)
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ISO 200 (100% Crop)
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ISO 400 (100% Crop)
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ISO 400 (100% Crop)
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ISO 800 (100% Crop)
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ISO 800 (100% Crop)
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ISO 1600 (100% Crop)
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ISO 1600 (100% Crop)
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ISO 3200 (100% Crop)
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ISO 3200 (100% Crop)
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ISO 6400 (100% Crop)
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ISO 6400 (100% Crop)
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Focal Range
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100's 3.6x zoom lens offers a fairly versatile focal range, as illustrated by these examples:
28mm
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100mm
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Sharpening
Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are just a little soft and ideally benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. Alternatively you can change the in-camera sharpening level.
Original (100% Crop)
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Sharpened (100% Crop)
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File Quality
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 has 2 different image quality settings available, with Fine being the highest quality option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.
| Fine (5.41Mb) (100% Crop) | Standard (3.73Mb) (100% Crop) |
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| RAW (19.7Mb) (100% Crop) | |
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Chromatic Aberrations
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 handled chromatic aberrations well during the review, with some purple fringing present around the edges of objects in high-contrast situations, as shown in the examples below.
Example 1 (100% Crop)
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Example 2 (100% Crop)
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Macro
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 allows you to focus on a subject that is 5cms away from the camera when the lens is set to wide-angle. The first image shows how close you can get to the subject (in this case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.
Macro Shot
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100% Crop
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Flash
The flash settings on the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 are Auto, Forced Flash, Slow Syncro, No Flash, with a Red-eye Reduction option in the Main menu. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.
Suppressed Flash - Wide Angle (28mm)
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Forced Flash - Wide Angle (28mm)
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Suppressed Flash - Telephoto (100mm)
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Forced Flash - Telephoto (100mm)
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And here are some portrait shots. As you can see, neither the Forced Flash setting or the Red-Eye Correction option caused any amount of red-eye.
Forced Flash
| Forced Flash (100% Crop) |
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Red-eye Reduction
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Red-eye Reduction (100% Crop)
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Night Shot
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100's maximum shutter speed is 30 seconds in the Manual mode, which is great news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 10 seconds at ISO 125. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.
Night Shot
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Night Shot (100% Crop)
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Steadyshot
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 has an antishake mechanism which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other digital cameras. To test this, I took 2 handheld shots of the same subject with the same settings. The first shot was taken with Shake Reduction turned off, the second with it turned on. Here is a 100% crop of the image to show the results. As you can see, with Shake Reduction turned on, the images are sharper than when it's turned off.
Shutter Speed / Focal Length
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Shake Reduction Off (100% Crop)
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Shake Reduction On (100% Crop)
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| 1/4th / 28mm |  |  |
| 1/6th / 100mm |  |  |
Dynamic Range Optimizer
D-Range Optimiser (DRO) is Sony's solution to improve shadow detail in photos taken in contrasty light.
Off
| LV1 |
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| LV2 | LV3 |
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LV4
| LV5 |
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High Dynamic Range
High Dynamic Range Optimiser (HDR) is Sony's solution for capturing more contrast than a single exposure can handle by combining two exposures into one image.
Off
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1.0EV
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2.0EV
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3.0EV
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4.0EV
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5.0EV
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6.0EV
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Creative Styles
There are 6 Creative Style preset effects that you can use to change the look of your images.
Standard
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Vivid
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Portrait
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Landscape
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B/W
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Sunset
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Picture Effects
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 offers an extensive range of thirteen creative Picture Effects.
Off
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Toy Camera
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Pop Color
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Posterization
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Retro
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Soft High-key
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Partial Color (Red)
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High Contrast Mono
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Soft Focus
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HDR Painting
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Rich-tone Mono
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Miniature
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Watercolor
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Illustration
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Sweep Panorama
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 allows you to take panoramic images very easily, by 'sweeping' with the camera while keeping the shutter release depressed. The camera does all the processing and stitching and even successfully compensates for moving subjects.
| Standard |
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| Wide |
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