It is the most compact and has the largest sensor and a very fast lens.

The huge sensor on this camera and wonderful lens lets me take beautiful photos in very low light conditions (if I hold it still enough or use a tripod).

Aside from well documented lens and sensor advantages, I most like the 10 shots per second, particularly for bracket shots taken to HDR software, now with no need for a tripod

The lens is not good

Not wide enough lens was not bad either

I love the fast lens which takes great pictures in difficult low light situations.

the 1.8 lens is killer, at

i was very reluctant to buy another retracting lens

The lens isn't a super zoom, 3.5x maxing out at 100mm, but with a HUGE (for a point and shoot) 1" CMOS sensor, a 1.8 Carl Zeiss lense system and 20.2 megapixles you can blow up anything taken at less than 1/100 sec. with little loss of detail.

Incredible lens, very fast trigger response, outstanding low light performance, and still pocket size

Added a tripod, added a (old used) fast prime lens.

Faster lens help, but only so much

Although there are drawbacks like no filter threads, short focal range (28-100mm) and slow lens at max

The effect is even more pronounced with a cheap prime lens on a DSLR

This would be a 2 star camera for me especially because the manufacturer is an electronics company which only cares about good marketing, not making some good photo equipment (at least in this range, including nex cameras where they offer the worst collapsible zoom kit lens, probably worth 20$, which they then sell with something powerful like nex6)

lens is exceptional, f1.8 can be

The lens is slow at the telephoto end but this allows to keep the size of the camera truly pocket-able - a very important feature

, lens sharp everywhere you'd expect, great interface, fast operation, only slightly confusing for a snapshot camera (Intelligent Auto vs. Superior Auto excepted), very low noise to ISO 400, completely usable at 800, lots of detail in files, multiple memories for saving settings, lots of well-implemented fun features with good on-screen explanations of what they doCon: Camera's bottom bottom plate entirely plastic (ok), lens assembly entirely plastic (not ok), dynamic range typical of small sensor camera (similar situation with Canon G1X), LCD not visible in direct sun even with adjustment, no obvious way to protect front element, no grip (really needed with something this small), no meaningful instructions, large raw files a bit of a nuisance until decent software available

While I would have liked the lens to have been wider at the wide end and longer at the tele end, I fear this might make the lens slower and compromise picture quality, so I am content with the shorter zoom capability.

Elegant casing, decent lens, crazy proliferation of settings and gimmicks, any one of which can be triggered accidentally if your hand brushes against an exposed control

The lens maybe a tad soft in the corners at some settings, but it is not something that is very obvious, and the subjective quality of the photos is very good

The large CCD works well in relatively low light, and it is fitted to an excellent lens.

The 20MP sensor resolves a ton of detail, the colors are vibrant and the lens is sharp

What a clear, fast f1.8 lens can do!!!In the beginning I had some trouble with it because it has all the dslr functions, but kind of complicate to manipulate all those settings without all dslr common buttons and wheels

I am Canon 5D series SLR user and have been looking at several small pocket cameras for portability, but with manual controls and a fast zoom lens.

* Lens could be faster: It's only f1.8 at its widest, and drops to 4.9 at tele

What a fantastic small camera and lens

But the RX 100 still has a large, 1" image sensor, a very fast Zeiss telephoto lens, and powerful, flexible camera software

the RX100 only has 1 lens, but WOW

Another thing that bothers me a little is time needed for the camera to detract and retract the lens

This isn't a camera for everyone, you are paying for RAW, a fairly fast lens and bigger sensor2

I found that as a casual user despite the features and detachable lens

This small camera provides most of the flexibility of a much larger, heavier, and more expensive digital SLR (dSLR) or digital Semi-Transparent Lens (dSLT) camera, or even of a somewhat larger, heavier, and more expensive Mirror-

Lens: astonishingly sharp and fast.

Granted, a dslr paired with a great lens is going to take better shots but the shots from this autofocus camera are pretty good

Lens amazing at low light, tele end

Rather falls behind other point and shoots in terms of close up performance ... lens is soft at f1.8.

I have used a Canon EOS 40D SLR with a VERY EXPENSIVE lens that has been great over the years, but I always wanted to have something that wasn't such a pain to lug around on my family trips without feeling like I was making too much of a sacrifice in image quality

It produces amazing images thanks to a fantastic lens and a very large 1" sensor

Well, that lovely lens is only really fast at 28mm, quickly dropping to f2.8 max aperture by 35mm, and dropping from there to a pretty slow f4 at 70mm f4.9 at 100mm.

I bought this pocket camera because it has a fast 1.8 lens designed by Carl Zeiss and a 1-inch CMOS sensor, making it the largest sensor in this camera class

I would have personally wanted a printed owners manual and time lapse functionality (plus brighter lens, hot shoe and mic in despite these adding a bit more size)

This camera has a fantastic 1.8 lens that is PERFECT for indoor low light photography without the need of a flash.

The Canon took decent pics, but has a slow lens and a lot blurry pics with the slightest movement of the Subject, no matter what I had it set on

the RX100 does a decent job when I don't have it around, macros, night photography, good DOF, fast lens and optics, good zoom, etc, etc

I would have personally wanted a printed owners manual and time lapse functionality (plus brighter lens, hot shoe and mic in despite these adding a bit more size)

Anyhow, in the meantime I wanted a compact none interchangeable lens camera to fill my camera needs

but of course the trade off is a must faster lens (at the wide end) a larger sensor and just better pictures over all (though looking at them side by side on a 27 inch Mac you'd still be hard pressed to tell which pics came from which cam)All of that

Rather falls behind other point and shoots in terms of close up performance ... lens is soft at f1.8.

only thing I would have liked is a faster lens similar to what is on the Fuji X20 F2.0-F2.8 vs what the RX100

No annoying lens capOnly thing that I wish it had was lens starting at 24mm and faster aperture on long end, but I understand that size is more important,

It takes great photos and video, has every kind of manual setting you can think of, in both photo and video mode (except maybe audio level in video), a fast 1.8 carl zeiss lens (and not just any zeiss lens, it's a sonnar with a t* coating), and is pocketable.

It is an amazing lens, made by a well respected brand in lenses.

but also I like 28mm classic wide lens

Great fast and clean lens

What Sony does better is Dinamic range, start up time and the bright lens, wide open at short tele

(video shutter goes MUCH higher.)Essentially this camera achieved what all the other mirrorless cameras failed to: pocketable camera with slr quality with the best "kit" lens ever made.

At the long end, the lens is fine everywhere, right from wide-open.

The Fuji X10 doesn't have as large of a sensor as the RX100, but its overall faster lens, lets it take comparable pictures as the RX100 (some better, some worse).

With the bright f1.8 lens and image stabilization the RX100 could take you all over the world and reward you with excellent quality

Robust menu/help system with customizable functions/buttons/dials, good zoom range, generally sharp lens, allows manual focus, good stabilization, large LCD, RAW files, relatively low noise at high ISO, lightweight, quiet, unobtrusive

Fast lens, large sensor, compact form factor (fits in my jeans pocket).

-The combination of a nice 1 inch sensor and good Zeiss lens and good image processor makes this a great camera

RAW format capability, fast lens, fast focus, good low light performance equals a very capable compact with few compromises.

Excellent fast lens

Decent lens zoom range.

It truly takes much sharper pictures that are comparable to DSLRs, and because of the multi-shot "aggregation" feature, HDR features and panning panorama features, this Sony goes well beyond an everyday DSLR camera with a bright lens.

The lens seems to love the

, lens sharp everywhere you'd expect, great interface, fast operation, only slightly confusing for a snapshot camera (Intelligent Auto vs. Superior Auto excepted), very low noise to ISO 400, completely usable at 800, lots of detail in files, multiple memories for saving settings, lots of well-implemented fun features with good on-screen explanations of what they doCon: Camera's bottom bottom plate entirely plastic (ok), lens assembly entirely plastic (not ok), dynamic range typical of small sensor camera (similar situation with Canon G1X), LCD not visible in direct sun even with adjustment, no obvious way to protect front element, no grip (really needed with something this small), no meaningful instructions, large raw files a bit of a nuisance until decent software available

Poor lens with huge barrel distortion, inaccurate autofocus (very fast though), mediocre AWB, terrible image artifacts even for small ISOs, poor JPEG quality (use RAW instead), too many megapixels for this sensor size, no grip

Overall construction is superb and the lens..my favorite, Carl Zeiss lens with a "T" designation

; lens is very fast, F/1.8, when shooting wide

There are some compromises they had to make to keep the lens small, like sharp corners at wide angle fully open but what a lot of reviewers seem to forget is that you see the same type of compromises on most compact zoom lenses

I used to have a dslr but soon realized that carrying the body + the flash + extra lens was too much work for me.

Wonderful lens: IMHO, it outperforms every DSLR kit lens I've used in color, contrast, and clarity

With modern processing software you can mitigate what little noise there is, the lens is sharp as a tack... just amazing, and the tiny size beats the competition hands down

An NEX won't give you a clear shot, due to its slow lens with severe motion blur

Sony simply knows that the average Joe will fall for the small size and an excellent sensor so the lens can be a pure crap

My criteria was: Good Lens (of course) quick lens (1.8 is fantastic) with quick focus, Ability to shoot RAW

when zoomed - I think that given the size Sony just could not fit a faster lens as it would have to be a bit larger lens -Highly Highly recommended camera - there is no camera that size that is better - and now as of Feb 2014 the prices have dropped so and ideal time to get oneRX100 is a bit pricy compared to other cameras in that size but there is nothing out there that compares in image quality so very much worth getting the RX100

It stopped working when it was 14 months old...lens would not retract and it froze Sony wants to replace it with the same camera which I do not want for $330+ dollars...they have a better newer model

Not wide enough lens was not bad either

The RX100 perfectly fits my above criteria and is really incredible - overall a great camera that somehow manages to cram a fast, wide-angle lens and a huge sensor into a tiny body

Sony also managed to make a very convincing lens: the zoom range is very useful, the lens is also fast at the wide end

Still, the best compact on the market as of late, but I think that it should be more in the price range of the Panasonic DMC-LX7, but due to the smaller sensor yet brighter lens, still, the value between the two should be very close

Fuji XQ1 is something I waited for for months just to realize they failed in their attempt to copy Sony - mediocre lens and poor battery life just because they wanted to fit it into a very small body.

It had the control I wanted, a decent 28-200mm lens, and was much smaller than my SLR.A few years ago, I decided to buy a cheap point-and-shoot, so I can carry it with me while biking or skying (didn't want to risk my "good" camera).Over

+fast lens + big sensor = the best compact yet for low ambient light shooting.

I'm always afraid of accidentally hitting the power button causing the lens to extend and break in my pocket

the rx100 has all the features i use in a high end pro camera, plus a super sharp lens

The second bad thing is the mediocre lens

A great combination of large sensor, fast lens, and small form factor makes it an ideal camera for travel

The camera is fabulous, a camera of this size with a decent lens and attractive while not having the best zoom is compensated by the high resolution, the camera shape is not very ergonomic and surprisingly small accidentally and you can lock flash output, but eventually you get used to ski operate it

The lens is sharp, while having some major distortion at the edges compared to the LX5 I own

I work with a Nikon with a number of the better lens'

The lens are fast, but only if you don't zoom and don't use flash.

For newbies, no time/money wasted investing which lens to buy

Yes, I know this is probably the worst e-mount lens, but honestly I don't see any other options taking into account the need for something really compact.

This camera is way better than buying any DSLR (around $700 range( and settling with cheap kit lens as RX100 has much faster and better lens than any kit lens that come with DSLRs

Panasonic has announced the LX7 which has an insanely fast lens, that should make low light photos easier

If you want a crystal clear picture with correct colors, you really need to buy a camera with a better lens.

Fast lens.

Certainly the RX100 has more pixels though the LX7 seems to have the better lens (and certainly brighter across the full zoom range) and 24mm is useful to me, JPEG color is also 'better', there are more video options and according some reviewers, slightly better video quality in the LX7, but

The lens, though great for video, tends to be just a bit soft for stills

I still lug out the DSLR when I have a planned shoot which requires greater lens abilities.

so you might lose battery (and uh-oh, even have the lens extend with two presses) if you don't protect the play button in your pocket

With my NEX, my favorite lens I like to use is a 50mm

Yes, I know this is probably the worst e-mount lens, but honestly I don't see any other options taking into account the need for something really compact.

a great P&S