What happens when you try to make a pro level camera that fits in your jeans pocket without a bulge? Well if you are a normal camera company you make a decidedly non-pro camera, or you make a pro camera that decidedly does not fit in a pair of jeans pockets. But then there is Sony and the RX100. Which Luminous Landscape says packs:
>Oh yes, did I mention that the RX100’s sensor is 20 Megapixels and that the lens, which fully retracts into the body, is a Carl Zeiss branded 28-100mm equivalent lens with a maximum aperture of f/1.8? Raw? Of course. Optical image stabilization? Ah huh. Video? Yup –1080P at 60P or 50P, depending on region.
All in a camera that fits in your jeans pocket, all for $650 — not a bargain, but then again maybe it is, because again Luminous Landscape says:
>The summary judgement for me is that the new Sony RX100 is hands-down the most appealing pocket-sized digital camera yet. Capable of producing DSLR grade images, it’s hard to find much to fault with this small pocket wonder.
(Read the entire post if you are interested, it has some great detail.)
So this is *the* pocket camera to have if you are serious, but it has one odd quirk that really caught my eye:
>There is no charger supplied, because the batteries charge in-camera using either a USB connection to your computer or the supplied AC charger.
Nothing revolutionary, except that this is pretty uncommon in the camera world. The thinking against this is that you don’t ever want to have to stop shooting to recharge, so it is easier if you just carry extra pre-charged batteries with you. However I really like the solution that Luminous Landscapes devised of using an iPhone battery pack to charge the camera — essentially extending your shooting battery for quite a while, and that is really handy.