I have mentioned here before that this will be the year that I finally upgrade my beloved LX5. Not because it doesn’t perform but because it’s being surpassed by new technology that has a lot more to offer me. My intention however was to earn the cost of the upgrade by selling Microstock, something I had promised to blog about in the future.
Well I have been signing up for Microstock and starting to submit images but I will talk about this in the future. What I want to share today is that I have already taken the plunge and purchased a new compact camera. The funding came from an unexpected source; I had sold some camera equipment on eBay last October but I was so busy at the time I had forgotten to withdraw the funds. What a great surprise, especially as it has enabled me to purchase a new Sony RX100.
The new camera arrived on Saturday so I haven’t been able to shoot any useful material (certainly nothing I would be happy to publish) so you will have to make do with a completely unrelated image. Hopefully I will be able to capture some example images this coming weekend if the weather allows.
Initial impressions of the RX100 are very good although I think I will need to adjust my shooting approach from the LX5. The camera is well built with the exception of the battery door cover which feels quite flimsy. Quite surprisingly the camera is smaller than my LX5 and fits in my pocket much more easily. Perhaps it’s even a little too small which is making it tricky to shoot using only one hand.
Whilst it’s a little early to say, the image quality appears to be very good. I do need to remember to stop down a little further than f/3.5 I am used to using with the LX5 however as the depth of field isn’t as great. The RX100 has quite a large sensor that’s not much smaller than a Micro 43 sensors. I still find it hard to believe however that Sony has managed to squeeze this into such a small body and give it 20Mpixel.
At the moment the RX100 is looking like an impressive package although I need some time to really put it through its paces. I will report back in the future, but to me this is the future of Lightweight Photography.
The Lightweight Photographer 
May I inquire as to why you have chosen the RX100 over the LX7 for your LX5 upgrade? Or for that matter, over other recent advanced p&s cameras such as the Canon S100 and Olympus XZ-2?
Great question but there isn’t one specific reason. Resolution, image quality, sensor size, camera size all played a part. I will give this some more thought and use it for a future blog.