Sony RX100 II 20.2 MP Premium Compact Digital Camera w/ 1-inch Sensor, MI (Multi-Interface) Shoe and tilt LCD Screen (DSCRX100M2/B)

The Sony DSCRX100M2 has hit a home run with me for traveling light while not giving up any picture quality. I am a long time fan and user of Sony NEX/alpha mirror-less cameras, that I will refer to as "NEX" from here on to avoid confusion. Over the years I have owned NEX-3, NEX-5n, NEX-7 and a6000 bodies and a wide range of Sony E-Lenses. But, as wonderful as the NEX camera bodies have been, as compact and easy to carry as they are, you still have to mount normal sized lenses to them. That hasn't really been a problem. But I have longed for an NEX type camera that I could tote in a pocket or bag like a point and shoot. So the Sony DSCRX100M2 and its 20.9 MP 1" Exmor R CMOS sensor was both on my must have list and also something that I was eager to test relative to my past and present NEX/alpha APS-C camera bodies.To start with, the Sony DSCRX100M2 really is like mini-NEX camera, slightly smaller than the original NEX-3 while being quite a bit smaller than the a6000 type camera bodies. The finish, heft and feel are all inspire confidence. I was delighted to find that the user interface was, with a few small changes, basically the same as found on my a6000 body. There are a few small detail changes in the interface, like omitting the AEL lock button and moving that function to the center button, which sadly keeps that button from being used to select ISO. The function display is slightly different. But otherwise the interface should feel instantly familiar to anyone who has used an NEX camera. I quickly set the camera up to my usual settings. One small annoyance is that although the Sony DSCRX100M2 supports bracketed exposures it has reverted to the range that was used in the NEX-3. You can only bracket exposures by a max of 0.7 EV with the Sony DSCRX100M2. not by the full 3EV available in the later NEX and alpha cameras. Sony had introduced a firmware update for the NEX-5n and NEX-7 that implemented the 3EV range for bracketing. I hope they will do the same for the Sony DSCRX100M2. The tilt screen has the same layout as on my prior NEX bodies and is, along with the great performance of these cameras, one of the big reasons I love working with NEX type cameras.I was most interested in the Sony DSCRX100M2's 28-100mm equivalent F/1.8-4.9 lens. I photographed a favorite test scene with full sun and shadow at each ISO and then imported the RAW files into Lightroom. There I applied the noise and sharpening presets that I had created for importing images from my a6000. Then I went through each image and adjusted the parameters to get the best out of each image to create a new set of import noise/sharpening presets for the Sony DSCRX100M2. Although sharpness was not up to the level of my Sony SEL1670Z Vario-Tessar T E 16-70mm F4 it was nevertheless just as good as the kit lenses supplied on the APS-C NEX/alpha cameras. There was some distortion and slight smearing at the edges and corners at the 28mm equivalent that decreased rapidly by 35mm equivalent and after. Sharpness overall from center to edges was very consistent with no negative attention grabbing fall off. Detail resolution was excellent overall.Noise from the 20.9 MP 1" Exmor R CMOS sensor was very low, one big reason to buy a camera with a larger sensor. ISO 100-400 were as one would expect the best ISO ranges for low noise that required minimal correction. But ISO 800 also produced excellent images after careful correction. ISO 1600 was still very good with correction and ISO 3200 was still able to produce usable images with the right noise and sharpening applied. After 3200 you are pretty much in the image salvage business. The images at ISO 6400 are still head and shoulders above the quality you would get with P&S cameras that use much smaller and much noisier sensors. But detail really starts to suffer there and you also reach the limits of noise reduction that can be applied and redeemed by sharpening and detail adjustments.All in all I was very impressed both by the 28-100mm equivalent F/1.8-4.9 lens, the 20.9 MP 1" Exmor R CMOS sensor, the camera's NEX/alpha style interface and the general fit, finish and feel of the whole camera. The flash is strong and also has EV adjustments and several modes. For shooters able to take advantage of and work in post production with RAW output this is just a great camera. It is really necessary, when working with RAW, to use Lightroom or Photoshop, for example, to make use of Adobe's camera lens geometry adjustment profiles that automatically correct for the sort of distortion that is part of any collapsible P&S type lens, no matter how fine the lens may be otherwise.One other note: I bought the Sony DSCRX100M2 instead of one of the later Sony DSCRX100 models because I wanted the 28-100 lens. Although the 24-70mm equivalent lens on later models is, from what I have seen, superior in some subtle ways to the 28-100 lens I wanted that extra bit of tele extension. After testing the camera and shooting with it I am not disappointed. It's a great lens and a minor miracle considering it's small size and collapsible design that retracts into the camera body. I am a happy user of the Sony DSCRX100M2. RECOMMENDED.

I'm going to try to keep this review fairly short because I'm certainly no professional photographer or someone who knows a ton about the inner workings of cameras - what I am is a "normal guy" who wanted to take better pictures than I can get with my phone (I have an iPhone 6s Plus). I film shows for a comedy group and snap pictures. I also used it on a short vacation recently and for stuff around the house/whatever. Just like a non-enthusiast would - and I can say this was a fantastic purchase. I'll list a few things I love about it:1) It's really easy to use - it has smart settings that work great and you'll never have to worry about the detail settings if you don't want, it takes great pictures this way.2) It goes from light to dark and back fantastically - in the show I film, actors are walking on/off stage from the darkness and I am really happy that it picks up on them pretty well even in the shadows.3) There's a button on the back of the camera - click that and no matter what setting the camera is on it will simply start recording video and sound with intelligent settings - really handy since I can go from photos to video that easy.4) You can take pictures while video is recording - just click the shutter button as normal.5) The screen on the back can come out and tilt quite a bit, very handy for a lot of situations where you aren't in a perfect situation to film.Now a couple things I think folks should know -1) The Microphone on this camera is good for filming normal situations - but for group settings where there's a lot of noise coming from different directions (like my filming of actors on stage and an audience talking/clapping/etc) the microphone seems to get a little confused and can jump around to what it's focusing on. It can also sound tinny in this situation - but I never heard that in normal testing of the camera. That said - there's a solution but unfortunately it costs a little over $100 - the Sony ECMXYST1M Stereo Microphone will plug into the top of this camera and is great for these group/varied sound situations. It completely fixed all the issues I stated above.2) It doesn't come with a memory card so you have to buy one separately.3) The screen on the back doesn't show stuff in dim light nearly as well as the final product (your video/pictures) does. At first I was disappointed having only seen it from the screen during the filming, but once I got it home and viewed the videos on my computer they looked stunning. I can't speak highly enough for how well this camera handles dim light and light changing situations.I really like this camera, so glad I bought it. Note....got it for 2/3 the price because I bought it from Amazon's warehouse and the box was dinged a little bit - the camera and everything was in absolute new/perfect condition and the box was never opened. Just a mark on it and I saved $196 off the price it shows currently. $200 for a dinged box? Heck yea....what a deal.Happy shooting!