Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I am a working professional photographer for over 25 years. I have had many digital cameras through out the last two decades. Most of my cameras are large, heavy and they have many parts. I also teach several workshops and classes throughout the week. One of those workshops deals with street photography. For street photography you should have a small unassuming camera. One that is quiet and non-threathening. If you don't you will miss the "decisive moment" shot. Replacing my Nikon P7800, I hope will be the RX 100 MK5. The P7800 is a small camera from the "Coolpix" collection. Its been good for the past few years. However, it is not as responsive as I would like. Slow to focus, only 12MP. limited ISO and FPS. As soon as I received the RX100 MK 5 from Amazon. Well I thought this will not work for me. Too small and the menu options were too complicated and difficult to navigate through. Its so small that I can't barely hold it for long. The on board camera buttons too small for my medium size hands. The on and off buttons are tiny. I miss turning it on many times. Well anyway you get my drift. I thought this will not work out for me. I am not going to keep it. But then I started taking photos indoor and outdoors, and the images are quite good. Sharp with good natural color tones. I took some time customizing the menu for my taste. I still have to say the menu is not intuitive for a new Sony user. There has got to be a least a 1000 pieces of content in that thing. Well it did not take long and I was a bit happier with it. Did I mention that the images are good, real good. That is what keeps bringing me back to keep it. The size is an issue. Not because its dimensions and weight but its hard to hold. Not ergonomically suited for man hands. I can easily "palm" it and hide it in my hands. I can slip it into my jacket pocket, pants, brief case. I have ordered the additional grip and more batteries. I will mentioned the negatives in a moment. In terms of use, it is fairly easy to take photos. You can use the EVF or LCD screen. I turned off all sound. Take a moment and read how to disable some of the default features which are annoying. Like the EVF, once you use it and you push back into place, well it will turn the camera off. Nonsense! Also read on how to use MR, memory recall. Its a good feature for your favorite settings. You can have several MR's. Believe it or not I will not be using the video so much. Well one reason is that it eats memory cards fast. The 4K video is limited to only 5 minutes. The other reason is that I shoot video with the Canon G40 camcorder. So I don't need the video coming out of this pocket camera. BTW, you need a SDXC card for the 4K video. Or you can shoot in MP4 video format, with almost any SD memory card. I really need this camera for street photography. I need it to focus quickly. Take a lot of FPS. It takes 24 FPS. It has one of the fastest shutters around at 1/32,000. That is not a typo 32000. That in itself is incredible. I want to quickly switch to B&W mode with one click. (that is the MR mode) A workable ISO of 12,500. Ability to switch to the optical viewfinder. Taking 20MP photos is also good for post production cropping and editing. a Zeiss-24-70mm 1.8-2.8 through out the focal length. 315 AF points for quick focus and tracking. Did I mention beautiful imagery. Cons: 1. Poor battery life. Buy at least 5 batteries. 2. I won't blame the menu system anymore, but be warned 3. Hard to hold in your hands for a longer time. 4. No separate battery charger supplied. Charges battery while inside RX 100 V-USB-chord supplied Difficult to connect charging chord to camera. Opening is very small. (Need Patience) I don't have it. 5. High cost, should be priced at least $150 lower. 6. For the beginners, its a short-paged, owners manual. 7. Go to Youtube for camera & accessory explanations 8. Don't upgrade from RX100 IV version, small difference $200 more. 9. Camera shoulder strap?- I will use the lightweight Black Rapid sling strap for smaller DSLR's. It screws to the tripod screw. Which then presents another issue. The sling strap which is attached to the tripod screw is in the way of the SD card and battery compartment. So you have unscrew the sling strap to replace SD and or batteries. 10. Lastly, why can't Sony the innovator of all things technical for DSLR come up with a longer lasting battery. These Sony batteries are $40 each. They last about 250 shots, 10-15 minutes in video use. I am sure that they will sell more batteries, but come on its 2017, lets work on a better battery folks.