Sony RX100 -- no viewfinder -- is anyone troubled by that?

Jock Elliott

Hall of Famer
Location
Troy, NY
Any problems seeing the screen in bright sunlight? Inquiring minds want to know.

I am tempted, but I have noticed that all my other cameras -- G12, FZ150, D-550 -- there are times when I can't seen the rear screen very well and I have to resort to the viewfinder.
 
It's a pretty great screen. When you set it for "sunny weather", or whatever they call it, you can see it well enough in just about any conditions. I found the same with the Nex 5 I had for a while last year.

- Ray
 
What I have heard concurs with Ray's experience. Besides going turbo bright, it ups the local contrast, too. Part of a viewfinder for me is also the act of bring the camera to my eye and feeling involved in the scene I am watching through the viewfinder. Everyone responds differently. I'm not sure I would like working exclusively from arm's length, but I think they have the viewability of the screen figured out.
 
It doesn't have to be at arms length, you can lift it up to a foot in front of your face or so.. depending on your eyesight that is :D, but I know what you mean Luke. Between dslr and my other cameras I am most at home looking through the viewfinder.
 
So it turns out that, disregarding my current temporary NEX-5N ownership, all of my cameras have a built-in, eye-level viewfinder (although in the case of my G1X it is more the classic Canon G-series "glass hole for peering out of" than a viewfinder). The interesting bit is that, aside from my 50D where the eye-level viewfinder is a fundamental component of the camera, and in spite of using DSLRs for many years previously, I hardly ever use the 'finders except in particularly glary conditions.

If the RX100 has something similar to the "Sunny LCD" setting on the NEX the the LCD will be even easier to see in bright conditions. What I haven't yet found on the 5N is a way to quickly enable and disable this feature without going back into the menu. You don't want to leave the Sunny setting on in dull or dark conditions because it is very bright indeed!
 
What I haven't yet found on the 5N is a way to quickly enable and disable this feature without going back into the menu. You don't want to leave the Sunny setting on in dull or dark conditions because it is very bright indeed!
That's the same with the RX100 - its there but there's no shortcut to enable/disable it. I didn't find it too bright in non-sunny conditions, so I tended to leave it on, but the other downside is it does eat batteries pretty quickly...

-Ray
 
Yep. I just can't go where there's no eye level finder. I even got the 45 degree finder for my Hasselbald, and I use that mostly on a tripod. An RX200 with a viewfinder, and I'm in. I almost never use the LCD in cameras, except to change menu settings.
 
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