Sony RX100 ISO Test Sample Photos

When looking at the RX100, having the the aperture capability of f1.8 at 28mm, with it's small size meaning that you can always have it with you just in case and when the time comes not putting people off as much as sticking a dslr or a mirror-less in their faces, the words "Night Street Photography" just popped right in my head. The next thing that popped into my head was "how good is it's high iso performance?"...let's find out :)

Since Adobe Camera Raw does not yet support the RX100 RAW files, I used sony data image converter ver 4.1 just to open the files and saving the photos as is, turning off any noise reduction.

And since there is pretty much zero noise at iso 400 and below, I will only show photo samples from iso 800 upwards to iso 6400.

Test 1

the grass is always greener on the other side of the lens

Sony RX100 ISO 800 100% Crop

Sony RX100 ISO 1600 100% Crop

Sony RX100 ISO 3200 100% Crop

Sony RX100 ISO 6400 100% Crop

Test 2

let's try some wildlife photography, another place where high iso is sometimes needed

Sony RX100 ISO 800 100% Crop

Sony RX100 ISO 1600 100% Crop

Sony RX100 ISO 3200 100% Crop

Sony RX100 ISO 6400 100% Crop

Verdict


Wow, I am impressed, the results are much better than I was expecting both in terms of the noise performance and the quality of the files. In fact the noise performance is...dare I say it...just as good as the a900!!! Some of you might be saying "is it really that good, there still seems to be a lot of noise", but you have got to keep in mind that these files are with ZERO noise reduction, and the level of detail relative to noise is really good. With these image files you could just apply some noise reduction to get really low noise photos at pretty high iso, as can be seen below

Sony RX100 ISO 3200 100% Crop with some noise reduction

Above is a photo at iso 3200 at 100% crop with some simple noise reduction applied in Adobe Camera Raw (don't use the one in Sony data image converter, it's horrible), that took about 5 seconds. You have also got to keep in mind that the files are 20 Megapixels, so the 100% crops are zoomed in much more than other cameras in the same class, if you were to look at the photos normally they will have even less noise.

Having seen these test results I can't wait to try the RX100 out in the field.

Program To Open Sony RX100 RAW files

Currently Adobe Camera RAW does not yet support the Sony RX100 RAW files, so you will need another program to open and process the files. If you do not yet have one I recommend the Sony Data Image Converter ver 4.1, which is quite a small program and can be downloaded for free here

http://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/www/disoft/int/idc/download/41.html

I personally just use it to open the RAW files and re-save it as TIFF files so that I can open them in Adobe Camera Raw. 

CAUTION: When opening the files in the Sony Data Image Converter, I highly recommend that you go to the Noise Reduction option and turn it OFF. The noise reduction algorithm in the program is pretty bad and will leave the images looking like water color paintings. Initially I was really disappointed with the quality of the RX100 images, but then when I turned off the noise reduction...Wow...the differences was night and day. If you want to apply noise reduction I suggest you do it in Adobe Camera Raw, you will get much much better results.

Sony RX100 Sample Photos and Tests

I haven't used a compact styled camera in a long long time. Five or six years ago when I took photos just to record memories, I used to use them exclusively. But later when I started to get more into photography, and had a taste of what dslrs can do, I just never looked back. I just found compacts quite limiting, with slow focus, slow shutter response and no RAW mode. From what I have been hearing on the interweb though, is that Sony has changed all that with the new RX100. 

is it a DSLR in a compact's body?

It is supposed to be a compact camera designed for dslr users. With the portability of a compact, yet with a sensor large enough to offer image quality comparable to a dslr.

Personally I am waiting (and saving) for Sony's new full frame line up, which is suppose to come out sometime this century, but I still couldn't help to wonder if this camera really is the holy grail many of us has been hoping for and never expected to get. So when recently one of my friend bought the RX100, I kindly asked (threaten) him if I could "borrow" it to test it out. I just didn't say how long :)... don't worry he is one of those people who loves to buy gadgets but never gets around to actually using them, so he wouldn't even miss it...I hope.

Anyways, now that I have the camera in my hand I will try and put up sample photos, tests and how I feel about the camera in this post for anyone else who might be interested in buying it.

My first impression of the RX100 is that it really is designed for dslr users, especially if you have used Sony's dslrs or slts you will be right at home. I was also very pleased to find that the "shutter lag", which is one of the thing I hate most about compacts, is non-existent.

Oups...straight away when trying to open my RAW files I realized that Adobe Camera Raw does not yet support the RX100 RAW files, so the fist thing you might want to do is to download the Sony data image converter version 4.1  

Here is an ISO test I did for the Sony RX100 the results really exceeded my expectations.

Here is a test comparing the ISO noise performance of the RAW files, JPEG files and Multi Frame Noise Reduction Files of the RX100  

An unintended Macro Photography Session with the RX100 

Some Random Image Samples I have taken with the camera