Sony RX100 mkIII or Panasonic TZ100?

beercan

beercan

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Steve
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Hi all,

I was pretty much set on picking up an RX100 mkIII (used or new) over the next month or so, however the one thing that's stopped me taking the plunge is the small zoom.
However today when killing time I popped into Jessops and the assistant suggested the Panasonic TZ100 as an alternative.

I've checked the reviews and they seem on a par generally; with the RX100 having the edge in terms of low light.

It seems that the choice is down to whether I want a tilting screen and better low light, or a longer zoom and touch screen (and I am struggling with this decision)...

It'll be used for general photos and taking on holiday with me.

So can anyone add any commentary which may sway me one way or another please?

Thanks!
Steve

EDIT: I went with the Canon G7X mkII in the end! More here: https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/the-canon-g7x-owners-thread.608714/page-5#post-8094215
 
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I feel your pain, I spent weeks reading reviews of compacts as I really wanted one, and kept going around in circles.

On paper there is not much between the two is there, I nearly bought a compact (the RX100 MK3) but in the end brought a Sony a6000 as I decided I wanted a larger sensor and a few more options with the changeable lenses.

These high end compacts don't seem to have very much separating them, I don't think there is a perfect compact which ticks all of the boxes out yet.

I don't think either camera will disappoint, but the sony RX100's do get a lot of love.

For me zoom is not that important, for general holiday type pictures and family snaps the Sony will probably be enough, I do keep trying to tap the screen on mine as and it's a feature I would have like to have, but I can live without it.

If I were you I would still be just as torn as you are now, I do think personal preference comes into it a lot :)

Good luck.
 
I bought a TZ100 to use as a companion to my MFT and Sony FF cameras as I tend to like to have a quality camera with a wide aperture prime and a compact to use when I want wider or longer shots and when the larger camera is a bit too attention grabbing. I've been quite pleased with it. The quality is a bit below MFT and the files don't look as sharp as those from larger sensor cameras but they're perfectly useable especially if you can stop yourself from pixel peeping and just look at whole pictures normally and the files can take quite a bit of processing.

There's a thread but not too much activity...

https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/panasonic-tz100.653653/

There's a TZ200 out now but I don't know what the changes are.
 
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Thanks both. I'll check out the thread. The Sony sure does have a lot of fans. The TZ200 is ITRO £750 so well above what I want to spend sadly. The guy in the shop reckons the TZ100 might drop in price shortly from £529...
 
My TZ100 was £500 from Jessops - with an extra (Hahnel) battery. IIRC they were price matching for me; somewhere was doing it for £520 with a spare genuine battery but Jessops don't stock genuine spare Panny batteries so dropped the deal price and gave me the 3rd party one.

What made me go for the Panny over the Sony was price and the extra zoom range. Like Alan, mine's to take when I CBA to carry the CSC kit and it slips into a shirt pocket. IQ isn't up to that from "proper" cameras but is plenty good enough for snaps.
 
I've been looking at the RX100 series for ages but have been put off by reports of dust and other problems plus poor Sony after sales service.
 
Still debating the two. I found this interesting review which has an image comparison tool on page 6: https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/power-zoom-panasonic-lumix-dmc-zs100-tz100-review/6
This shows a comparison against the Canon G7X MkII as well.

I'm a little disappointed at the softness of the image from the TZ100. It is much less defined than the Sony and to a lesser extent, the G7.

So that's another option. The G7 has a mid range zoom, the same f/1.8-2.8 aperture as the RX100, tilting screen and touch screen. It doesn't however, have an electronic viewfinder which is a shame as the other two do.

The shutter on the TZ100 is much faster (1/16,000s vs 1/2,000s) and can do 50fps photos which will be great for sports. But it doesn't have an articulating screen and the aperture is f/2.8-5.9 - not so good for the evening shots. It's DXO scores are middle of the three for all but low light ISO when it's the best.

Having devised my own comparison sheet and using various services available, the TZ100 still comes out on top. I guess I just can't get away from wanting that longer zoom; but at what quality cost?

The search continues...


EDIT: I went with the Canon G7X mkII in the end! More here: https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/the-canon-g7x-owners-thread.608714/page-5#post-8094215
 
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