Sony RX100 IV

A common theme in compact cameras is the tradeoff between zoom range and image quality. The very top rated Sony RX100 V (our article) has the best image quality, but a small zoom range of 24-70mm. The Canon G5 X (full review) stretches that to 24-100mm, but that’s not much of a gain. On the other extreme, the Sony RX10 III (full review) provides both an amazing zoom and great image quality, but is much larger and more expensive. Enter the Lumix ZS100. It is larger than the RX100 or Canon G series, but not by a huge amount. In exchange it offers a larger, 25-250mm, zoom range but doesn’t trade off much in image quality.

The appeal of a camera you can always have with you is obvious. For an increasing number of people that’s their smartphone. But if you want to have something with a bigger sensor and a zoom lens, a compact point-and-shoot is the way to go. That creates something of a Goldilocks problem – the cheap, small ones aren’t much better than a phone, and the high-end ones don’t fit in a pocket. Canon has done a good job over the years with its S series in finding a middle ground – reasonable sensor, good features, and Raw capability. I’ve been shooting with the newest version, rebranded as the Canon G9 X, and have been impressed by the upgrade in image quality, while learning to like, or at least live with, the new Touchscreen-centric interface…

As regular readers know, I’ve been having a lot of fun shooting with a DxO ONE alongside my more-traditional DSLR and compact cameras over the last few months. Until now, the software and firmware have been pre-release versions, so I haven’t been able to take you through them in as much detail as I would have liked, or post sample RAW and SuperRAW images. Now that the ONE is starting to ship that’s all changed, so here’s a more thorough look at the camera and its companion software. More importantly, here are some of the first real RAW and SuperRAW images that are available for you to evaluate on your own. #dxoone

For the last couple months I’ve been traveling with both a DxO ONE (that fits in my shirt pocket) and a Sony RX100 IV (that barely fits in a cargo pocket). I’ve had a lot of fun with both cameras. While they have very similar sensors, they are different in almost every other way. Since they are both likely to be popular choices for image lovers looking for the ultimate compact camera, here are my thoughts on the very new ONE (you can read my review of the Sony online), and how it contrasts with a traditional high-end point-and-shoot… #dxoone

On our recent trip from California to eastern Texas, we hugged the border much of the way across Texas. Some of it was fenced, but much of it is still amazingly wild, rugged, and beautiful. I was fortunate enough to have the new Sony RX100 Mark IV with me, which has an amazingly good Panorama mode, and able to quickly and easily capture these wide-format images that help convey the scope and grandeur of the region…

For those have followed the ground-breaking Sony RX100 since it became one of the first and best cameras to fit a 1-inch sensor into a compact form factor, each new version is eagerly anticipated. The good news is that Sony has steadily improved the camera's features with each updated model.