Me and my Sony RX1 by Scott Sarber

August 15, 2013 essay, follow ups, Guest Post, Mirrorless, Sony 48

Hi Steve!

I’ve been following your site daily for a couple of years now. Your site often inspires me to just go out & shoot! Unfortunately, it also inspired me to go out & buy new gear on several occasions. About 8 months ago, I put an end to my G.A.S. by picking up a Sony RX1.

Well….it worked! I absolutely love this camera, and have no desire to change or upgrade. As you stated in your review, this camera just nails it 99% of the time for me. It suits my style of photography perfectly, and because it’s so compact, it goes everywhere with me! I couldn’t ask for more (except maybe a built-in evf).

I’ve included a few photos I’ve taken over the summer. I try to shoot a wide range of subjects & dabble with as many styles of photography as I can, so I had a hard time picking just 3 images to submit. Hope it’s ok that I included a few more šŸ™‚

The images below include some landscapes, a panorama, a shot of the milky way, a portrait of my sons w/ a wirelessly triggered off camera flash through an umbrella, and a few candid shots. All of the photos have had some degree of post-proccessing. I’m a graphic designer by trade, so I enjoy the post-processing almost as much as taking the photos!

You can see more of my work here:

flickr.com/sarber

500px.com/sarber

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48 Comments

  1. Absolutely stunning and thats why when I entered back into world of photography after a long absence lamenting the death of my favorite slide film and SLR. I contemplated going the DSLR way as my old Minolta lenses and flash would work with existing SONY SLT gear but then RX100 caught my eye and after owning it, I went out and bought the RX1, together it suits my age and temperament as I have no desire to lug heavy stuff. Also both give me needed obscurity as no one stares at a man shooting with a point and shoot compact.

  2. Really amazing shots. Thank you for sharing them, I really need to look into RX1 one of these days! But despite the camera, you took wonderful shots as an example.

  7. As I am a totally Leica committed I cannot image owning any other camera nor lens. And, whilst I have shot with all except the new ‘M’ – I do recognise that the quality of those shot with your new camera. They are, indeed, excellent.

    What I particularly notice – whether due to your post processing or not, I don’t know…however, the photos certainly exhibit a direct ‘film’ camera ‘look’ rather than that of a digital camera product.

    Am I the only one who notices this or do others also see this when looking at the product of this rather impressive new camera?

  8. Beautiful images. I’m so jealous. Unfortunately the RX1 is out of my price range so I’ll have to stick with my NEX-7.

  9. I especially like those pictures: the boy with yellow shirt on, and the ‘Field of Dream’ shot.

  10. Can only echo what othhers have said – really refreshing images. A question: Do you always shoot in 35mm mode or do you sometimes use the in-camera 70mm crop? Do you crop a little/much in PP?

    • I never use the in-camera crop mode, as I always shoot raw. I do crop in pp sometimes. You can crop quite a bit with 24mp & the sharpness of the zeiss lens.

  11. These are very nice shots especially the The car (it would have been nice, though, to get rid of the pole coming out the back) and the stars. Your children are beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
    Regards,
    Howard

  12. That’s a great black & White of the car in the first photo. Also liked your son in the doorway and the milky way one.

    I just bought my first Sony camera (RX100m2) as a proper pocket camera and the little thing is just awesome!! It’s made me more aware of Sony cameras now and, who knows, I may tempted in another Sony.

    I’m trying to get my hands on a Nikon V1 but it seems Steve’s blog has boosted their popularity and price!

    There’s never been a better time to be a photographer which so much coming to market……..but as you said, it’s getting out there and shooting that matters and not gear….but a nice camera like the RX1 helps!

  13. All great shots, they really are. However, for me, the one at the beach is just priceless.

    Thanks a lot, I am following you on Flickr.

  15. The photos are great (actual scenes, etc., and resolution), but it’s difficult to appreciate some of the images posted here because some of the colors are so over-saturated, as usual the blues and greens. Is this how the colors came out of the camera or did you enhance/saturate them further in Photoshop? Or is there a “vivid” setting on the camera that does this automatically for jpg images?

    • He explained this in his post “All of the photos have had some degree of post-proccessing. Iā€™m a graphic designer by trade, so I enjoy the post-processing almost as much as taking the photos!”

      • I do too, almost as much as taking the photos themselves. I was just curious if he likes saturated color and so increased their saturation in post processing. Camera or his own preferences. Some people (most?) like to saturate color photos.

    • color settings always a personal choice. some people like vivid, some like it natural. I am very opposed to post processing for myself (noticed that I said, “for myself”) because I just don’t wanna be a slave of the system instead of taking photos.

      but I do believe that post processing is as important as taking photos simply because that’s what “finishing touch” means.

  16. what flash did you use to get it to trigger wireless? a portrait of my sons w/ a wirelessly triggered off camera flash through an umbrella.

    • An inexpensive cowboy studio trigger & receiver, and an inexpensive yongnuo 560 speedlight. You can put the entire set together, including a shoot-through umbrella, for ~$100 on amazon. No TTL, it’s all manual, but if you’re not afraid of that, it works like a charm!

  17. very impressive! I know the camera does not matter but it still helps! and you go the one of the best! I love my RX1 too. so glad to see many people are enlighten by a great camera!

  19. Ever since this camera came out I’ve been looking, on various web sites such as this on and Fred Miranda, at what are now hundreds of sample images taken with it. For longer than that I’ve been doing the same thing, looking at hundreds of images taken with many, many different camera and lens combinations. Leica, Fuji, D800 (which I own), NEX, Sigma, Ricoh, Olympus, Samsung, et. al.

    I don’t know if this truly is a “better” camera in an mtf sense, but, to my eye, when it comes to enabling a wide variety of photographers to produce photos that take my breath away, and are just plain beautiful, I (PERSONALLY) cannot find any evidence among the vast body of posted photos that there is any other camera/lens combination available today that rises to the level of the RX1. Yes, Leica, I’m including you and your entire panoply of wonderful lenses.

    So, to the OP and all those who have been posting RX1 photos over at Fred Miranda: I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, because I don’t have $2800, I don’t have $2800, I don’t have $2800, and looking at a slow, unending stream of beautiful results coming from this camera is like Chinese water torture.
    Beautiful photos, though. Again. Drats.

    • I’ve owned the Rx1 since last year and I have to agree that it gives the nicest images to start with of any digital camera I’ve ever owned. It kind of reminds me of the Fuji S2 and Minolta 5d SOOC jpgs but as RAW files.

      Even though it’s worth $2800 I wish Sony would drop it to $2k so more shooters could get to enjoy it.

  22. Love all of your photos. I even loved your honesty about post-processing. Sometimes I feel that “purists” are just curmudgeons, exerting superiority by catching the perfect image, “right out of camera”. Nonsense. Without post-processing their would be no Ansel Adams and countless other great photographers. In the end, it is all about the image. (One discipline where I feel you must try and nail the image right out of camera would be if you were a wedding photographer. I can’t imagine post-processing 900 images or so. Other than that, all bets are off.) I just want to see spectacular images and I don’t care how you got there. Your images are spectacular.

  28. Incredible images! I especially like the baseball field and the trees with fog.

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