Many of those types of cameras also sported manual control, in fact the majority of the well thought of "photographer" compacts only had manual control. Those old film cameras did/do a great service to the photographer who uses them. They basically allow the photographer to leave their "serious" camera at home, travel wherever they may yet still produce an image that will satisfy and ultimately the photographer not need to regret that their "serious" camera stayed at home.
Once we entered the digital era of photography fully and digital cameras began outselling film cameras the small "photographers" camera virtually disappeared. I write virtually because there were and have always been digital compacts marketed as enthusiast for photographers to use as a serious pocket camera. Unfortunately these cameras have always fallen very short of the output of a DSLR.
With the film "photographers" compacts, the limiting factor was not the medium of film in fact film is and was universal across all the cameras. All a "photographers" compact needed was a good lens and you were set. With digital photography the sensor, specific to the camera, has thus far been the more limiting factor in the image quality equation.
So far most enthusiast compact cameras have had image sensors that measure in the neighbourhood of 1/1.7" which is larger than the non enthusiast camera sensor sizes but still far smaller than a DSLR. Mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras are a definite step in the right direction and for many photographers Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens cameras fit the bill. Small light yet with excellent image quality but...still no truly pocketable take anywhere camera with high image quality.
Enter the Sony Cyber-shot RX100. A singular camera unmatched by any at the moment in terms of its image quality for carried size. Really I'm not going to go into pixel peeping examples, I'm sure dpreview and other review sites will take care of that. All I want to say is that this camera really has the goods when it comes to performance, image quality and portability.
The RX100 is not a replacement for any Mirrorless camera, nor is it a replacement for any DSLR. What it is simply is a new level of take anywhere camera that pushes the image quality for size ratio so high that great cameras like the Canon S100, Panasonic LX7, Samsung EX2 seem obsolete by comparison. Those other cameras are at a more modest price point and will still sell on that merit to the general public but to those of us initiated with a taste for high image quality we will not be likely to look on those other cameras as satisfactory anymore.
My favorite features of the RX100 are:
-Small size
-Full manual control modes and RAW
-Wonderful 1" image sensor allowing for shallow depth of field with great high ISO capability (ISO3200 is usable!)
-Sharp and contrasty Zeiss 28-100mm f/1.8-4.9 lens
-Fast and accurate AF
-Excellent control layout with many customizable options
-Sexy Fitted Sony leather ready style case available and very nice.
-Full Manual control 1080P 60fps 28Mbit/s video output
-Focus peaking and focus magnification to make manual focusing easy.
What could be improved on the RX100:
-Zeiss lens at f/1.8 has some contrast loss, gone by f/2 so not that big a deal.
-At 100mm range the lens is an f/4.9, Not too big a deal, to make a faster lens would have I'm sure resulted in a bigger camera, which defeats the point of this camera.
-Sony in the future include an external charger in the box-PLEASE
-Bit of a wider angle lens would also be nice but again not at the expense of sensor or camera size.
If you are an enthusiast, photographer or some other form of image quality fiend who has to have the best, the Sony RX100 IS the camera for you and your life.
Note: All images in this mini review are jpegs. The images are all Black and White because of a personal photo project underway.
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