seeing as these appear to be the camera of choice round here and I’m thinking of buying one.

1: how robust are they? is the first sign of mud,rain,grit, vibration going to kill it stone dead. If they need to be handled with kid gloves then its not going to be the camera for me.

2: mk2 or mk3? is the extra stop and EVF worth the extra cash for the mk3.

3: wifi offload to an iphone? possible, practical?

1. Pretty robust – mine’s got quite damp at times but I try to keep it out of the mud. No better or worse than any other similar camera.
2. I’d say so, yes. And the lens is wider too.
3. yup – wifi upload to iOS is great and works brilliantly when you’re away from a computer. Combined with Lightroom Mobile, and you have a brilliant mobile editing suite

I’d agree with all that ^^

I find the EVF especially good and use it most of the time, much prefer a viewfinder to using the screen.
Ours has been been well used on the bike, no probs with vibration but I do try to keep it well away from water and mud.

Unless you are gagging for the EVF then also look at the Canon G7z mk II, it’s a big upgrade from the first version and if you scour the forums you will find quite a lot of people ditching their Sony’s for even the mk I version, for usability reasons and/or the longer zoom.

EVF isn’t a deal breaker but wifi is which means at least a mk2.

I took my mk3 on Tuscany Trails and its still working, even though the weather was, quite damp, and it was in my front bag. I quite like having the EVF I previously used the original Nikon V1 which was good, but just too big to lump around.

next question, where’s the best place to buy one?

as it is a Sony then anywhere that provides a long warranty, or where one is cheap.

Probably John Lewis as their warranty is 2 years and it is only £40 to add 3 years and get accidental cover as well, with Domestic & General.

with Domestic & General.

i’d rather shit in my hands and clap than deal with them again…

i’d rather shit in my hands and clap than deal with them again…

Is that a phrase that needs to go into the bullshit bingo list?

you clearly haven’t had to deal with Domestic & General.

you clearly haven’t had to deal with Domestic & General.

I have and never had a problem. One was accidental damage to a Sony DAT player and no problems at all with the repair, came back like new.

Good price comparison site for cameras: http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/Sony/Sony-Compact-Cameras

+ 1 for a G7x, I have mk1 and it’s great. Nicer UI than the Sony IMHO.

If you go for an RX100 (and you should as they are brillaint), then a great add-on to make you love it even more is the stick on front grip from Sony. Not vital by any means, but does certainly make the camera easier to grasp for tricky shots and doesn’t affect compactness at all.

If you do get one, the Sony case is quite nicely made – won’t work with the grip though ^^^

[url=https://flic.kr/p/HuThDh]2016-06-23_04-57-10[/url] by davetheblade, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/J1rEgy]2016-06-23_04-57-34[/url] by davetheblade, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/J1rGH7]2016-06-23_04-58-00[/url] by davetheblade, on Flickr

Although I have since seen similar in rather a nice brown leather

Can get good 2nd hand from London Camera Exchange, WEX & Camera World.
CEX Exchange is quite good for finding some bargains but you need to check the the gear out as they don’t grade them like electronics.

I’m a Fuji fan and have a X10 and X30 as my compacts (X-Pro 1 is my main camera), brilliant but a little bulky a stick in the jersey camera.

Worth checking out the Panasonic TZ100, same 1″ Sensor and 25-250mm equivalent zoom.

Cheers, Steve

+1 Artist – it’s a very nice case

Also +1 on EVF or else in sunshine you have to sort of guess what you’re shooting.

Or you could get one without the EVF and link your phone via WiFi so you can see the camera screen on your phone.

Then put your phone in a google cardboard, or other suitably cheap equivalent, and then the sunshine is not a problem.

Portrait shots would obviously be more of a problem than landscape…

Took this with the RX100 Mk IV at the weekend. Went with the DSLR and a load of ND filters as well. To be honest, I got better results with this little camera. 5s exposure – it has an automatic ND filter built in. Maybe still overexposed the sky a tad, but that could be dealt with in LR – this is straight from a JPEG that I sent to my phone and tweaked a bit in Snapseed

[url=https://flic.kr/p/JLw9qY]2016-07-17_12-42-45[/url] by davetheblade, on Flickr

ooh. I’d forgotten this. got a mk3 for my birthday. love it so far…

Nevermind the Sony grip – this is the one you want:

http://www.kleptography.com/rf/#camera_rx100

I’ve used Richard’s grips on a few of my compact cameras (Canon S90 and Sigma DP3 Merrill in particular) and they really are very lovely.

On the note of robustness…

Took my Mk1 on the Tour Divide this year – it lived in an Apidura feed pouch for the whole thing so I could grab and shoot. It spent it’s time happily rattling around with a load of other things and almonds. I did put a screen protector on it before I left – which was a good thing to do in retrospect.

Now it looks like this, and still functions just fine – no dust ingress, no issues otherwise:
[url=https://flic.kr/p/K8yqtF]Rx100 post Divide Trip[/url] by Greg.May, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/K8yqxP]Rx100 post Divide Trip[/url] by Greg.May, on Flickr

I think the question is do you need an EVF. The screens visibility is way up on most so I’m happy without so I bought a Rx100. It has been ace in every way including handling which is goods as my nikon D90. I bought an £8.50 ever ready case that is a copy of the Sony case, this has also been fab.

Bought in March as a camera to have with me. Just keeps bringing home the Bacon. Must remember to go on a bike ride at some point…

[url=https://flic.kr/p/EoxbVi]faces[/url] by John Clinch, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/GbEPrx]DSC00681[/url] by John Clinch, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/GeNfL8]DSC00741[/url] by John Clinch, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/GrU9oF]DSC01012_edited-1[/url] by John Clinch, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Gmmxaq]Shelter[/url] by John Clinch, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/HrSwFf]Go Ape John is 50[/url] by John Clinch, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/HMS3uW]DSC01730[/url] by John Clinch, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/K13qS8]DSC01379[/url] by John Clinch, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/JG6cvj]DSC01288[/url] by John Clinch, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/JG5x2W]DSC01227 1[/url] by John Clinch, on Flickr

Isn’t the RX100 MkV due shortly? Might be worth waiting for and see what happens to the earlier models price-wise.

I think the question is do you need an EVF. The screens visibility is way up on most so I’m happy without so I bought a Rx100

The EVF on the Mk IV is sublime – light years ahead of the horrible thing on my A55

My MKI seems quite robust – it’s been on bike rides, up hills, down mines, skiing, and even through the Grand Canyon… *But* it has now got a hair in the lens that shows up in small aperture / certain zoom settings. I think it came from me sticking the camera in my pocket without a case. I took it apart to clean the sensor (as I thought that was where the hair was). A *lot* of lint had found its way inside and onto the sensor, but wasn’t visible on the photos – the hair is somewhere in the lens assembly 🙁 ).

So I think rugged, but not dust-proof.

Bloody good camera, though.

Hand held in almost total darkness (only light was an LED head torch).

The best thing about the RX100 is that it truly a pocketable camera. This is a big deal because it ends up going places in your pocket where you would otherwise not bother to lug your camera and would be trying to get the shots on your phone. The Canon G7X may be the only other camera that directly competes in this area.

There are however, alternative semi-pocketable cameras which are a bit more capable in terms of DoF ability, wider angle shots, and handle better for a photographer etc, e.g. the Panasonic LX100. They do not have the convenience of slipping easily into any pocket but are worth considering if you a planning on doing creative photography.