The Perfect Point Shoot- I never leave home without the Sony RX100

I am never without a camera.  Yes, you can count my iPhone being nearby, but as much as I love that thing, I just don't love taking photographs with it.  I'm a sucker for control and the lack of manual mode makes my palms sweaty.  Enter the Sony RX100 MIII.  I first found the Sony when I was looking for a small camera for backpacking.  My old trusty Canon s95 had bit the dust and I needed something that I could carry in my pocket to capture the views along the trail.  My criteria was simple.... it must shoot in RAW, full manual mode, and produce killer images.  As Elle Woods would say "What?!  Like that's hard?!"  Turns out, I had a few options to choose from, but the most obvious choice was the Sony.  The cost was more than I wanted to spend for a pocket camera, but I took a leap of faith and and I'm so glad that I did.  Since that time, the little Sony That Could accompanies me everywhere, capturing moments I may have otherwise missed.

What I love about the Sony...

The Size  It's tiny.  It makes my d750 look like a beast.  It fits in all my purses and most of my pockets.

The Flip Up Selfie Screen  You're kidding, right?!  I hear ya!  I balked at it at first too.  And then we spent 16 days in the Alps with no one around to grab a quick snapshot of us.  That selfie screen is awesome.  Even if I rarely give in to being in front of the camera.

The Aperture and the Flare  It offers f1.8 in a pocket camera?!  You bet your zoom range it does!  And on the other end of the scroll wheel lies a killer, multi colored flare that produces spectacular starbursts.  Yeah, yeah, that's technically a flaw with the lens.  But I love a good flaw.

Full Manual and RAW While it takes some practice to get used to the controls, the Sony offers full manual shooting which is a must for me.  It shoots high quality RAW images.  When it comes to my photographs, I want to be in full control, technically and creatively.

Image Stabilization and a Built in ND Filter A lot of times, on the trail, I don't have time to stop, get out my Nikon, my filters, and set up my tripod.  The Sony offers the ability to still grab those long exposure or low light shots without slowing us down.

WiFi and Smart Remote  Sony offers a great app that enables you to transfer photographs to your mobile device for sharing on the go.  It also has a great smart remote offering the camera's view on your phone so that you can get in the shot, too.

Many of my favorite images have been shot with the Sony RX100 MIII and I haven't had to sacrifice a bit of control or quality.