Sony RX10 Mk3 Why I am not buying this camera

This picture was made with a humble little Panasonic TZ80. I included it to remind myself that even basic compacts can make very good pictures.

The Sony RX10 Mk3 got my attention when it was announced in March this year. My regular, all purpose, do (almost) anything camera for the last two years has been the Panasonic FZ1000.

I use this for static and moving subjects of all kinds. The prospect of an increase from 400 to 600mm equivalent focal length at the long end looked very appealing, particularly as the f4 aperture would be maintained.

Somewhat surprisingly there were few if any rumors about the RX10(3)’s imminent arrival and the camera was in the hands of early adopters before formal reviews appeared on the major camera review sites.

The specifications of the RX10 (3) read like a dream package for sport/action/wildlife/bird photographers.

But realisation of that dream would depend on the camera’s ability to predictively focus on moving subjects, assuming it had a good lens.

The sensor is a known quantity, being (presumably) the same as that in the RX100 (4).

So I have been diligently reading user reports on forums which in some ways are more useful than formal reviews as they reflect real user experience.

These reports confirm that the lens is very good throughout the focal length and aperture range.  I have seen no negative reports about the lens or the sensor.

Unfortunately there have been many less positive reports about the autofocus performance.

To summarise:

* Focus hunting at the long end and in low light with AF Single.

* Low follow focus capability on moving subjects with AF Continuous.  

Several users report that the camera can follow focus on slowly moving subjects but that it is not suitable for sport/action/birds in flight.

Users who photograph static subjects including perched birds mostly report they are happy with the RX10(3). Presumably the focus hunting is an occasional rather than frequent issue.

The problem appears to be that the RX10 series and by the way the RX100 series cameras, do not have on chip phase detect AF like the A6000/6300 and other Sony cameras and they do not have a Sony version of Panasonic’s DFD, which does enable the FZ1000 to follow fast action including BIF.

So the RX10/RX100 cameras are stuck with standard type contrast detect AF which although fast is not really suitable for moving subjects.

Quel dommage !!

And that is really the end of the decision making process for me. There will be no RX10(3) in my camera drawer.

However to round out the discourse, there are some other features of the RX10 series design and control system which are unappealing to me.

This is the Camera Ergonomics blog so of course I am very attuned to the ergonomic capability of  any camera.

With the RX10 series, including the Mk3 I find a complete ergonomic muddle.

To explain:

If you look at the top plate of a mid to high end DSLR you will see an LCD screen. These appeared in the early days of the DSLR genre because there was no other way to provide an easily accessible display of camera data beyond the basic aperture/shutter speed which appeared in the viewfinder.

But these days all the data which might appear in an LCD display and a great deal more can be presented in the EVF and/or monitor and can be configured to the user’s preference.

There is no need for the LCD panel on the RX10. But, perversely, it has one.

Why ? I have no idea. It is just taking up valuable top plate camera real estate which could  host  more useful things such as a drive mode dial and/or other control modules.

Next, let us consider the two basic camera control styles.  These are

1) ‘Traditional’, with an aperture ring on the lens, a shutter speed dial on the top plate and (usually) an exposure compensation dial also on the top plate. The is the classic Leica or old style SLR control layout sometimes reprised on modern cameras like the Fuji X series and Panasonic LX100.

2) ‘Modern’,  consisting of a Mode Dial and one or two mode dependent Control Dials. This is the standard current DSLR/ILC layout and is used in most professional and prosumer cameras.

Both systems are logical and either is serviceable although a well implemented ‘Modern” layout gets the job done faster.

But the RX10 cameras are trying to have it both ways which in my view is not a success.

They have an aperture ring on the lens. I have already read several complaints by users about this, with reference to the Mk3. The problems are

a) The aperture ring is difficult to locate and operate by feel while looking through the EVF. The ring is quite small, has a low profile and shares the lens barrel with two other rings, for focus and zoom.
I have also read complaints that if the left hand is held under the lens in traditional style the fingers of the left hand turning the aperture ring hit the fingers of the right hand holding the handle. This might sound like a minor issue to someone reading about it but in use is likely to be mighty annoying.

b) There is apparently no other way to change the aperture which cannot be changed with the control dial even when the Mode Dial is in the A position.  In my view this is perverse.

There is an exposure compensation dial on the top plate. These things have become fashionable in recent times but my analysis shows them to be more of a hindrance than a help to the capture flow.

You can read my discussion about this here.

There are various other ergonomic issues which I will just touch upon:

Because the top plate is taken up with the LCD panel the Focus Mode Dial has to be squeezed down into the little space below and to the left (as viewed by the user) of the lens on the front of the camera. Here it is invisible to the user and difficult to operate by feel.

From reading the operating instructions it appears not to be possible to assign exposure compensation to the zoom lever in front of the shutter button. So you have the zoom ring and zoom lever doing the same thing which is a waste of user interface resources.  Some cameras, for instance the FZ1000 do allow EC to be assigned to the zoom lever (or not, if you prefer).

The Control Dial is not optimally located. My work with rear control dials shows they are optimally embedded in the thumb support. You can read more about this here.  The Panasonic FZ1000 is the same width as the RX10 (3) and does have the rear dial in the optimal location as does the slightly wider Sony A77.  The A77 is also a full twin dial model. The RX10 (3) is big enough for a full twin dial layout but does not have it.

There is no JOG lever for direct control of the AF area position although there is plenty of space on the control panel for one. The A77  has a JOG lever indicating that Sony has the technology but for some reason is not using it on the RX10 (3) where it would be very useful.

Summary

The Sony RX10 (3) will regrettably not find a home in my camera drawer because:

* There are some issues reported with hunting in AFS.

* AFC is not well suited to predictive AF on moving subjects.

* The control layout represents in my view an ergonomic muddle.

Comment

It appears to me that Sony cameras usually embody good, even excellent engineering but inconsistent understanding of  users and the user experience.

The RX10 (3) appears to be an example of this. It has a very good sensor and by all reports an excellent lens but the user experience is diminished by the poor continuous AF performance and the ergonomically muddled control layout.

I have, by the way,  no preference for any particular brand of camera. I recently purchased a Sony RX100(4) which will probably displace the Panasonic LX100 as my preferred compact model as the RX100(4) has better picture quality.