Image quality at lower ISOs is excellent
What was the best result?
The Sony RX100 is a great camera overall, but has some weaknesses in the performance area that take some of the shine away from the overall shooting experience.Image quality at lower ISOs is excellent. Sharp, detailed, good dynamic range. There are two issues I have with this camera, however. First off, it has a tendency to overexpose and clip highlights. Secondly, while it keeps noise at bay through ISO1600, it seems to do this through very aggressive noise reduction at ISO800 and beyond, taking a toll on fine detail. The Olympus XZ-2 on the other hand, has more noise at ISO800 but also more detail. Personally, I like cameras that retain fine detail better and don't mind a little noise. But to say that the RX100 is an open and shut case as far as IQ is concerned (when compared to its competitors)...not quite.I am not particularly thrilled about the F4.9 at the telephoto end but the lens has nice characteristics otherwise so I really don't see that as a negative overall. What is a negative overall is how long it takes for the lens to zoom in and out and it's loud when it does it.The autofocus performance on this camera is somewhat disappointing in low-light. It's fine in the daytime but in low-light it's almost as slow as the much less-expensive Powershot S100. Also I had issues with the image stabilization is not great on the camera for some reason. I found in a lot of instances that you had to hold onto the camera very tightly in order to get a blur-free shot. I think that is inexcusable for a $650 camera.Some people have commented on the battery life of this camera. It's not the greatest but that's one of the trade-offs you have to make with a small pocket camera. Your best bet is just to get an extra battery.The LCD screen on back is very nice being somewhat viewable in direct sunlight. The menu system on the camera is a very nice and more straight-forward than other Sony cameras that I've used. The dial up front doesn't have decisive clicks that the Powershot S100 has but it's still nice to have considering that some enthusiast cameras don't have it at all.Ergonomics-wise, I think this camera could use some improvement. The shiny metal body is slippery up front and could benefit from some sort of grip or textured surface to make the camera more secure in your hand.Video generally looks nice, I haven't tested it much. But it generally is sharp and the audio sounds good.I think the RX100 was a respectable first compact enthusiast camera for Sony. And indeed, it's remarkable they were able to take a relatively large sensor and put it in such a compact light-weight camera. It's image quality is a cut above any enthusiast compact out there. But it has some performance-related issues that need refinement. Not terrible, but it could have been better on a $650 camera. Overall though, a great first enthusiast compact from Sony. 