This is The Digital Story Podcast 1,066, August 25, 2026. Today's theme is, "Camping Out with the Sony RX10 V - A Field Review." I'm Derrick Story.
My short checklist for this week's campout was: Tent, check; Food, check; Sony RX10, check. I wanted to see if just one camera, with one (impressive) zoom lens, could capture everything I wanted during the trip. I was surprised by its performance, and that's what I'm going to talk about, along with the news, on this week's TDS Photography Podcast. I hope you enjoy the show.
Digital Photography Podcast 1066
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Camping Out with the Sony RX10 V - A Field Review
Camping in the Redwoods combined with a beautiful hike to the Pacific Ocean, provided a varied environment for putting the Sony RX10 V through its paces.
Outdoor life builds a pretty good argument for choosing the RX10. It's 24-600mm Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* f/2.4-4 zoom lens provides a lot of optical power for the 20.1MP 1" Exmor RS BSI CMOS sensor that's powered by the BIONZ XR Processing Engine with AI Chip. This means I could capture shady landscape shots in the Redwoods, then zoom the lens for coastline life along the Pacific Ocean. All of this horsepower fit into a midsized Lowepro Photo Active TLZ 45 AW Top-Loader camera bag (with room to spare), slung around my shoulder, and not slowing me down on the hike.
Other specs include:
- 3.69m-Dot Quad-VGA OLED EVF
- 3" 1.62m-Dot Tilting Touchscreen LCD
- 30 fps Continuous Shooting
- AI-Powered Autofocus & Subject Tracking
- 4K60 Full-Pixel 4:2:2 10-Bit Video
- 3.69m-Dot Quad-VGA OLED EVF
- 3" 1.62m-Dot Tilting Touchscreen LCD
- 30 fps Continuous Shooting
When I first unboxed the camera, it felt bigger and heavier than I expected. This wasn't unexpected in the sense that I had been using the Panasonic FZ300 as my bridge camera, which has the same reach, but a smaller sensor than the RX10. Bigger sensor requires bigger everything else.
But we have to keep things in perspective here. This is also the only camera and lens you are carrying. Period. The RX10 weighs 2 pounds total. And it measures 5.4" x 3.7" x 6". So as I carried it up hills and across valleys, I wasn't thinking about its heft at all. What I was happy about was the 24mm to 600mm Zeiss lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.4.
So, what about the pictures themselves? Most of my shots on the camping trip were between ISO 100 and 800. And they were beautiful. Noise was well-controlled, color was excellent, details were crisp.
Between ISO 800 and 1600 image quality was still quite good. There was a little noise, but in my shots it was mild. Beyond ISO 1600 most discriminating photographers would probably want a some noise reduction in post. This is where the smaller 1" sensor comes into play. But I have to say, definitely not a deal breaker.
As for usability, I have Pros and Cons.
Pros
Love the aperture ring. It's big and easy to use and a great blessing for those of us who like to shoot in Aperture Priority. Plus, there's a switch to turn on and off the setting clicks.
The 3,680,000 dot electronic viewfinder is terrific. It's wonderful to work with in the field.
Control dials and buttons are well-placed and easy to program.
The large hand grip makes it easy to hold the camera steady.
The Optical Image Stabilization works well, but you still need to get the shutter speed up for the 400-600mm shots.
HEIF format - The Jpegs looked good out of the camera, but they weren't very editable, even for Jpegs. But the HEIF 4:2:0 images were quite good, and more editable. And their file sizes were smaller.
The Creative Looks are quite good (Sony's picture profiles). I especially liked the B&W and the Film profiles.
Good close-up performance at both the 24mm and 600mm focal lengths.
The NP-FZ100 Rechargeable Lithium-Ion, 7.2 VDC, 2280 mAh battery rated for 630 shots is a welcome upgrade. And it can be charged in-camera via USB-C.
Cons
- No built-in flash. Seems like in a body this size one could be integrated.
- The Tilting 3" Touchscreen LCD with 1,620,000 resolution is nice, but I've come to prefer a fully articulated LCD that can be folded with the screen against the camera body for protection. It's also easier for video recording.
- If you're not already a Sony shooter, the menus take some getting used to.
- I was a little surprised that when shooting with Auto ISO on, that the camera didn't increase the ISO setting for faster shutter speeds when zooming out to 600mms. In the future, I have to remember to manually increase the ISO for long telephoto work.
- The $2,298 price tag. I realize everything is more expensive these days, but I feel that this camera should have been more in the $1,999 price range.
Bottom Line
It's great to have an updated long telephoto bridge camera available, and the Sony RX10 V is a good one. Terrific image quality at moderate ISOs, excellent autofocusing, nice handling, solid lens, and plenty of modern features such as USB-C, wireless connectivity, subject detection, and robust imaging pipeline.
What surprised me was that once I had the camera set up the way I like, how much I enjoyed shooting with it and not having to worry about lugging around a bunch of accessories and extra lenses.
Once you get used to the menu system and program the buttons and dials the way you like, it's an easy camera to use, especially for those who prefer to shoot in Aperture Priority.
The delay when you turn on the camera is a bit longer than I like, and it would be wonderful to have a built-in flash. But those are minor nits compared to what you get, which is a 2-pound imaging powerhouse that is a versatile tool for outdoor adventure.
If you're OK with the $2,298 price tag, and you want an all-in-one solution for hiking and camping, you should enjoy the RX10 V.
This Week in the News
Sony's Sensor Factory Is Back to Full Operation After Major Earthquake as featured on PetaPixel.com
Capture One Mobile 4.0 brings desktop-grade denoising and healing tools to iPhone and iPad as featured on DPReview.com
Photomator review: A digital darkroom with AI-powered photo-editing shortcuts as featured on DigitalCameraWorld.com
How Sony Went From Camera-Industry Outsider to a Full Frame Mirrorless Leader in About a Decade as featured on FStoppers.com
Virtual Camera Club News
Listener Reviews - I noticed that we haven't had a new review for a while on the Apple Podcasts app. If you listen to our show there, I would very much appreciate you posting a brief review. It helps potential listeners know that our show is alive and well
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Stop by The Nimble Photographer Workshop Page and reserve your spot today.
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Adobe Certified Expert Rob Knight will be showcasing some powerful editing tools that have recently been added to Adobe's raw editing in this new workshop. As the tools improve, the work gets easier.
Rob will go over the ins and outs of the improved masking tools, point color adjustments, color grading, AI noise reduction, and more.
Each session is recorded and made available to all registered participants.
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Great Photography Articles on Live View - If you check out our publication and appreciate what you see, be sure to follow us and clap for those authors. You can find us at medium.com/live-view.
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The Nimble Photographer Newsletter is now publishing every Thursday. Readers will enjoy a variety of content spanning from short photo essays, to commentary on weekly events, to reviews of the latest and coolest photo gear.
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See you next week!
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