The Sony RX100 Mark 1 Review 

Long live the RX100 Mark 1!!

Love to see your channel is growing so fast! Congratulations on 15k! So cool.

i bought the rx100 vii as a pocket camera last year and it constantly surprises me with how good it is. it was funny seeing this video title, because i've referred to it several times to friends as a modern digital contax type camera. when i was looking for a pocket camera, all of the fuji options were tempting, but the rx100 was the only series to offer everything i wanted: viewfinder, flash, pocket sized and a zoom lens. it takes so much of the guesswork out of casual photography for me, and i frequently take some of my favorite images ever on it. i have multiple blown up poster sized images from this camera hanging around my house. such a gem! great video

Falling back in love with this refresh of a video! I also went into a deep dive of photos I’ve taken and came across the ones taken by rx100 - bookmarking this for reference! 🫶🏽

I'm deep into the Nikon cameras going back to 1969, but I was lucky enough to get the Sony RX100 Mark 1 back in 2012, and the Mark 6 in 2018. What gems. I've been dreaming of a Mark 8, but it looks like the rumors have fizzled out. I use the Mark 6 for backpacking and travel and everyday walk-around. Still I learned a few new tricks from your video. Thanks very much. Well done. I'm a subscriber and instagram follower now. :) Oh, you forgot to mention that the Mark 7, Mark 6, Mark 5A are all still available new at B&H and other places. Even the Mark 3 is listed there as "available but temporarily out of stock." Great commitment Sony!

You just hit me with a WAVE of nostalgia. My very first camera that I bought with my own money! Back then, I had no idla of what I was doing. But looking at what you did with it is just making me want to het one more than ever! Thanks for the awesomw vid once again!

I love this little camera! It’s takes beautiful pictures! Love your video on this RX100.

I've literally just ordered one from MPB after watching this video x 3 times! thnx so much - love your videos, and the use of footage shot with the specific cam is the icing on the cake.

I also love my original RX100. It is very capable for the age and size of the camera, and I also find that since it can be charged via USB it is a great no-nonsense travel companion. Mine got a little ‘dust bunny’ on the sensor. I very carefully took it apart, cleaned the sensor, and viola! It is as good as new! I love it. I do wish that it had wifi connectivity to transfer photos wireless to my iPhone. But hey, you can’t have everything! Thanks for the great video.

Watched this video 24h ago. Immediately hopped on eBay and got myself a Mark 1 in absolute mint condition. Already love it so much! Such a relief as a professional photographer to be able to use this compact thing everywhere and anytime. Thanks for your insight, got me hooked from second one!

Fantastic, you kind of got my rx100 back to life again - and I agree, the flash is really nice! Also love that the Mark 1 is a little smaller than the rest of the rx100 series.

Used the mark one for 6 years now. Great build quality, lovely photos .the high contrast black and white mode is great. Might get mark 3 for fold out screen because I shot Streetphotos .

Fantastic photo examples. They are really selling me this camera

This is one of my favorite cameras ever, I still remember when it was released, I was very excited about how tiny and yet so powerful it is.

Great review thanks! And lovely images you got with this camera 🎉 Cheers!

Sony RX100 mark 5 was my pocket camera between 2019-2020. Lovely point and shoo camera to use to walk around my university. Sadly i need to let it go for funds, but i replaced it with a Pentax K200D this March. It's not top of the line like the RX100, but i am loving it because of the CCD sensor.

You are killing it with these review videos! :D After seeing your snaps on IG for a couple of days I can hardly wait til you drop the vid. Last week I almost pulled the trigger on a rx100 mk3, but then a Fuji X-E1 caught my eye and now that's my new fave.

I bought the Sony RX100 V as my walk-around, in-my-shirt-pocket camera. I have it set for B&W. I love it.

First gen RX100 user since the get go. Still love it today. I added the Sony stick-on grip. Highly recommended.

Bought one at the back of this review and absolutely love everything said, love this camera. Truly pocketable and images are brilliant and even the jpegs are configurable on Lr. ❤

Bought mine new around the time the MKII came out and the price of the original went down to a more reasonable level. It is a great little camera and the thing I like the most besides the image quality is that it is possible to disable all status icons in the "viewfinder" display, leaving only important shooting information at the bottom. The result is very reminiscent to how a DSLR viewfinder works and it's great for framing the shot as the viewfinder is unobstructed.

Bought it new in Feb 2013. Still have it. Never bought one of the newer versions. Great camera!

This is by far the most anticipated video in my watchlist.

I just got the M3 a few days ago and I still haven't got the chance to go out and do like a full on walk with it, but so far it's just super fun to use! comfortable on the hand and also compact to carry in your pockets. It's overall a perfect camera because the image quality and ease of use is good enough to start in photography but also it's robust enough for a more experience user to really make some awesome shots. I personally would recommend the M3 over the previous ones because of the tilt screen and the pop up flash that you can bounce up, but the M1 and M2 still deliver awesome quality from what I've seen. one thing: that tiny battery takes like 2 hours to fully charge and it will allow about 320 pictures, so keep that in mind because you might want to get extras. Also a note: the new ones I THINK improve mostly on quality of life and functionality options, like using USB-C instead of micro, and from the M4 and onwards you can plug it on your computer and use it as a webcam, no capture card needed.

picking up this camera tomorrow as my first venture into photography off of my iphone, this video helped sell me on it lol hopefully its the right choice!

Great vid! I just got the mark 7 for stupid cheap and haven't seen many youtube photographers talk about this line in so much detail (especially the street stuff). Montevideo is so beautiful

thank you, you made me buy the mk3 version for a reasonable price in new state. and I didn't actually "need" it... love your work. I have to stop watch your vids, because I still miss a micro4-3's in my collection. make more YTs :-)

I still have this camera! Thank you for doing this review.

Own one of these, love what it can do and that it fits in my pocket.

I have been looking at this camera for the past week. Trying to decide whether to get it. You have made my decision easy 😂

I just stumbled upon your channel and instantly fall in love with it. Your photos are beautiful and the way of approaching cameras is so good (#nobadcameras). Just great!!

The perfect video i needed to see and make sure i have to get this little beast, i have a fujifilm xt3 but since its so expensive here in Brazil im always too worried to walk around with the camera, so i was looking for a good compact one and this sony will be my next camera

Wow the black and white shots straight out of camera look shockingly good. Especially love the shot at 11:53, just perfect 🤯

I had the mark vii and still have the mark i... It was ahead of its time. The dynamic range still impresses me.

You made me buy a Canon Ixus 70/SD1000 and I love it! It's incredible! Love you and your work, great video as always

seriously my favorite little camera. i love it! bringing it to explore the PNW next month :)

I decide buying this cam with this video. Thanks from Türkiye with low purchasing power

I got mine a couple of weeks ago in a local thrift shop in my home country El Salvador for $8 and I'm in looove with this camera!!!!

Had my Mak1 now for 9 years, it´s a perfect Travel&Street camera. Sturdy, cool design - Love it!

Interesting that recently I was recommended to try this camera. Now I’m intrigued 💸 (Btw nice new hairstyle!

I think the pictures you took with the rx100 look fantastic and makes me continually want one from that series. I'm also sad that advanced compact cameras are a dying breed, I honestly think it's the best type of camera for everyday documentary type photography. I've warmed up to cell phone photography a bit but it still doesn't beat a good camera.

Still have mine since 2012 and still bring it on every family holiday with my fujifilm.

I had the Mark II for some time and like it really as well. But since then I switched to the Canon G9X Mark II as i did get a good deal at B&H on it together with a real good waterproof housing. Since then I bought for almost nothing the more or less identical Mark I version as well. It is even smaller than the RX100 series, my definition of a small camera actually: If fits together with a medium sized smartphone into your pants front pocket. It’s also a great companion if used together with a Canon DSLR as bit bigger a travel kit.

This time I am really excited as I made it a present for my wife for Valentines about ten years ago! ❤️📷❤️

I would like to recommend the mark II version. As far as I know, it is the only version with a hot shoe. I do not use the hot shoe for flash. I use a thumb grip and added the Sony rubber grip to the front of the camera. I enjoy portrait/vertical images and the ergonomics for one handed shooting are a pure joy.

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts about this camera. I've been wanting to get a digital point and shoot camera, for black and white photography, to more or less replace my compact 35 mm film cameras. This seems like the camera to look for.

i have the 100m4 and it will be the only camera i will take on my world travel trip! its so great for backpacking!

Great photos!

The Rx100 line cameras are awesome! I stumbled accros an RX100 II at a thrift store for $20 bucks a year ago and have gotton some phenomenal photos with it. I love carring it arround and all the features are just amazing on it. Another camera that many have forgoton is the Sony NEX line with an APSC sensor on it. I picked up an NEX 5n, Slapped a 35mm Zeiss on it, and WOW! Unfortunatly i live with in less than 5 min away from 3 major thrift stores and it's a gold mine for cameras. Not trying to brag but I have so many cameras it's hard to keep up. The old Pentax Optio cameras with the CCD sensors are also great. I better stop now because I can go on and on and on. :) I love your channel and Videos!!!

You made me take out my RX100 M1 out and dust it off. Had it since 2013, and it was an investment back then, half of my salary went for buying it, and I never regretted it. I started travelling the world with this camera and was a great companion and memories saver. It's the OG.

GREAT info ... Thanks Just `got my M3 and it is great

I love this camera. Out of all of the ones I own this is my black and white dedicated camera. At 1600 iso the grain is GORGEOUS. And it's sharp as a tack at 1.8. So glad you talked about this one!! Also, I'm pretty sure I was the person who said this is the Contax t3 but digital! If anyone is lusting for that camera I recommend this because the t3 is NOT worth $3k. And I can confidently say that because I owned one!! Anyway...this was GREAT. Really love this channel!

I'm a sucker for a ring on a point and shoot that let's you customize it such a cool feature. And those raw files! Very awesome. Also I have to say I dig your shirt💮✨

beautiful video. I didn't think it took such beautiful photos in the first version

Great video. The RX 100 is a fantastic camera everything you say it is. I was able to pick up a cosmetically beaten up but fully functional copy for £50 ($61) and it has lived in my jacket pocket ever since. Edit, what's even better, my camera has its original screen protector, so replacement on the way. Thanks for the info/link.

I have the RX100M2 and it's amazing how the colours hold up compared to my A7IV.

queen has uploaded 😍

Once again, you made me reach for my wallet and my spleen punched my gut. Anyway, I remember V1 of this camera. I used to carry it with me when training for bike marathons…and constantly stopped to take photos. I loved the sharp photos I always got. I also came last in the marathons because I couldn’t finish training.

The flash pics at the beach are amazing 😻

Thanks! Just pulled mine out and will give it a go!

Damn, hearing you talk so enthusiastically about this camera, now i really feel like i want one... :D But probably i'll go for the mk3, still affordable, but some improvements over the basic model.

Commenting in 2023 Just bought one of those on ebay after your video - thank you!

I've never heard of the first version being called the Mark 1, but I suppose that is what it is. I used this camera the other day to take pictures of a play, indoors of course. The images looked decent, but I fixed the noise with free trial software of DxO pure raw 2. Images came out great after that, and it was nice not having to carry a big camera with a long telephot.

I bought both the RX100M3 and Fuji X10 many years ago and never resold them, but happening upon both these videos has made me go dig them out of storage and start shooting with them again! It's nice having cameras so light and still capable like my trusty D700 haha.

The weirdness of RU-vid algorithms... I had just watched your video on the Fujifilm X10, which I loved and always regret selling to get the RX100 mk1, which I didn't like anything like as much. Then this video is 'suggested'! But now I think I may have got the wrong idea on what the Sony offered..? So I sold it too. What a great little camera, or two, I once had...!

This is such a great camera, I'm always fascinated, how good the IQ is. Color-science is...not the best, but with a few tweaks or post editing you get fantastic photos!

My wife & I lived in Montevideo for a while & traveled all over by bus. At the time I was shooting Canon but because of our pending travel I sold it all & switched to the Olympus OMD EM5. I never regretted it. We had many amazing adventures without lugging large amounts of camera gear.

I got a iii recently and am loving it. I've been a manual or Av shooter forever but with toys one I'm finding I trust its auto more and more. The depth of field is almost always pretty deep so I just accept that as a limitation and then there's not a whole lot of reason not to use auto. There only thing I don't like is the nose reduction feels overly strong and can produce weird results so I just turn it off and do that in post off I need to

I bought the RX100 V1 for my wife when she went Europe when they first came out. I do still use it for street photography. But I do find it small for my hands. I did find the perfect small street camera that I bought for a good price. You should do a review of the A5000 with the kit lens. It has wifi and some more other features and can be found for a good price now. You can also use the Sony camera Apps with the A5000 that give you a lot of extra options. No one talks about the Sony camera Apps that improve the camera.

Brandon Li made an early video with an original RX100, and Tim Kellner's early videos were made with a RX100 III or IV. They are surprisingly capable cameras. My choice is the Panasonic LX10, which has an even wider aperture and very decent 4k video.

Hi! Excellent job, i never saw photos edited like this of rx100. Where i can found more of this photos taken by rx?? Excellent review, the best on youtube!

Picked up a RX100 Mk3 instead of a DSLR of a similar price before a big trip 2 years ago - just to be sure I would take it everywhere. The crowded menus didn't help me learn any basics of photography, but I got some AMAZING shots with it. The SOOC colors are not very good in my experience, the greens and browns especially seem to almost mush together. They just need some careful tweaking. I'm always bringing it as a compact backup cam to whatever limited mid-00's kit I brought out that day :) I'm surprised you survived without the grip! It's a necessity in my eyes

I've got the RX10 mark1 gathering dust in favour of Fugi Xe3. I'm inspired to get the RX10 out again by your review of the RX100.

I have always been ambivalent about the RX100. I think the sweet spot, if there was one, was the Mk III, with the faster lens at the 70mm end and an EVF. Call me old-fashioned, but I live in a country with very bright sunshine much of the time and some form of viewfinder is really useful. For a Canon P&S, the S95/S100/S110 are fantastic little cameras.

i love my version - for certain things, but for those things, it's amazing

Excellent presentation.

I still own a Sony RX100 Mark I and love it!

FYI : ULBTER makes a good screen cover for the RX 100-1. Ulber 9H tempered glass. Easy to apply, comes with three screens. Sold by Amazon for 7:95 ish.

Great vid, as always! Love the images you got with this cam! The photo at 14:19 is definitely a fav 👏

The SOOC, high-contrast monochrome shots are one of my favorite things about Sony.

Love live the rx 100 one of my dream point and shoots next to the Ricoh GR series...I remember when u posted in IG..glad u made the review..I saw u changed the video from the bathroom u shared lol...can't wait for the next ccd the a630 as awesome from canon..prices going up really fast

Using my OG for mainly black and white shots with just about the same settings as you have. It’s great at BW. So much so that I hardly shoot analog BW anymore. I’m old enough to enjoy the ease of use of digital :-)

I had the mark IV. It was a great camera and it took great pics. Video was good too! They still hold up to my A7RIII and film shots. I took it to South America and even shipped it to a couple of friends to use on their trips they didn’t want to take full frame cameras! Sold it when I stopped using it as much, before I got in to the digicams. Maybe I I should’ve hung on to it, lol. I did find the shooting experience clunky and a little awkward.

Lux and I want one 😅haha along with everyone else who watches this video I assume. I was just saying you are such a great all round photographer Ali - you seem to be able to nail any genre. Amazing review. Amazing woman. Amazing pictures. 👸🏻

I've printed at 20x30" from the RX100, and they look great. I bought the case for it, and it's not at all scratched.

This is fab, I'm a fan of Sony compacts bit have yet to try the OG RX100!

Still love mine ❤

I had the m5a version of this camera which is arguably the most desirable model as it has all the features of the m6 version with the faster 24-70mm equivalent lens of the earlier models. I got some fantastic photos with that camera which offers incredible performance for its TINY size. My one complaint that ultimately lead to me not using and eventually selling it was the shooting and user experience. I am a Sony shooter and while the menu and layout is tolerable on the full frame Sony bodies I found it much more frustrating on such a small body that required you to dip into the menu system frequently to change settings. Over time the users becomes tired of the Sony menu nightmare and just resorts to shooting in P mode as basic point & shoot, which the camera is great for but if you enjoy more control and traditional shooting experience I’ve found the Fuji X-E line of cameras to be a good fit. Sure they’re a little bit bigger than the RX line but still fit into a coat pocket with the 27mm pancake lens attached and you’re getting a much larger ASP-C sensor. Obviously you lose the zoom function of the RX but I was ok with that as I find shooting a standard prime more enjoyable. I can see the value in the older variants as great point and shoots but I’m not as sold on the more expensive recent models. I think a really interesting camera would be an RX with a 35mm equivalent prime lens, few more Nikon manual dials/buttons, and a simplified menu to compete against the Ricoh GR series. I would buy that camera in a heartbeat. Great review! Looking forward to the next one 👏

Excellent- thank you ❤

I have a question, and I'm only half way through this glorious video, my apologies if you do answer it... I used own the mark 5 version, and I loved how the zoom toggle would give you an lcd read out of your equivalent focal length. Does the mark 1 also do that? As someone who typically hauls around big cameras with a bag full of primes, this function was an ideal director's viewfinder that saved me so much time swapping out lenses unnecessarily. I gave that mark 5 to my dad when I moved, but maybe another rx100 is in my cards. So excited to keep watching!

I've got ZV1. God bless you for showing, how easy it's to turn this lil badаss into Cartier-Bresson-ish style street photo beast! I always thought that Creative styles are made for casual shooters...

Everything you said about the Sony is exactly my feelings about the Canon S90, but the Canon is smaller, better battery life and I do like the CCD output of BW more than CMOS by a touch. The biggest upside of the Sony for me is that it's nice to have 20MP instead of 10 in the S90 and better ISO performance, but the size of the S90 is just a big win to me and with DxO DeepPrime, well, you know. I am on a business trip back to San Diego and left my M240 home because I wanted to really put the S90 thru it's paces and been LOVING doing street with it. And since f/2.0 on the smaller sensor is like f/9, manual focus at 28mm to 2m and I just go snapshot mode, and pop over to slow-sync flash quick and easy. I might have to try the OG RX100 as it's been a few years since I used one (I remember it being "heavy' for some reason), but I have my eye on a Ricoh GR Digital IV instead. :P

Hi Ali, I have a Sony WX500 that has the same form factor as your camera but has a 720mm equivalent super zoom. The issue with it is like yours, no EVF and it's brutal to use in bright sun. I found the solution by using an eFilm (by Delkin) foldable popup hood that sticks to the back screen. Different sizes were available for a range of digicams. I don't think they make them anymore but I have gotten mine from EBay (most new in the package). They add a little to the thickness of the overall camera but not much. The added benefit is they protect the screen from scratches and keeps the dust out when closed. Plus no more fingerprint smudges even when open.

Ooh I'm early. Love a "1 inch" sensor, big enough plus tiny lenses. Wish there were more of them! Didn't realize they didn't do the pop up evf until the m3 .. another thing I'd like more of!

I remember buying this exact camera when it came out but then i sold it to get the Mark 2 when that one came out. I still have the 2 til this day

Ali ... cant believe i didnt figure out the flexible flash pointing upwards on this and the XE1. Thanks for my double DUH moment.

I tried to do some research into why these older cameras specially these pocket cameras have such good colour output in the RAW files. And I collected bunch of colour spectral graphs taken from these cameras by independent sources and noticed older cameras have much more trichromatic responses by that it means they have very near equal heights to the red, green and blue channel peaks while also having much higher red channel readings. They see colours more equal, whereas modern cameras have LOTS of green in their channels with green peak almost always dominating creating a triangular peak, low blue and red but lots of green. Interestingly the Sony RX100 VII actually has a lot more trichromatic response than the older RX100 does, the Canon G9x M2 also has very muted green output making a more trichromatic response, which would explain why these cameras seem to have colours more reminiscent of older cameras. Canon 400D for example is a beast in its own right, and the terrible ISO performance makes it feel like you shoot slide film at ISO 100 - 200 but the colours are outrageously good, you can push them all day, my modern Samsung NX1 cannot be pushed nearly as much before colours start clipping.

I must try it these days!

With the M1 - I think they are getting to that age where many will be starting to fail mechanically. I got one handed down which failed a few years ago (I think the lens motor died), and I picked one up second hand quite cheaply - that also broke down a few months on. Still an amazing camera - if you don't need the phase detection autofocus (which you shouldn't unless you are taking photos of "in motion" subjects) or the viewfinder in the newer models. Have now replaced it with a Rx100 M4 and having that viewfinder might seem like a small difference, but was a gamechanger for me - made it more of a more compact bridge camera/pocketable DSLR rather than a "point and shoot".

601st like! 😊 So glad I stumbled upon your channel, love it!