The Sony RX100 V (aka the Sony RX100 M5) is one of the best compact cameras out right now. With its amazing 1-inch sensor, and 24-70mm-equivalent lens range, this absolutely tiny camera (pocketable!) has become one of my favorites. I carry it almost everyday, since it’s so tiny, I can just drop it in my bag.

I also love it for traveling, since it doubles as a superb video camera. Its 4K footage is amazing, and it has one of the best 1080p Full HD footage in any camera right now. 1080p is better than most larger sensor cameras. Yep, even the 1080p footage on the larger sensor mirrorless Sony a6500 is inferior to the footage on this little guy. For traveling, I pair this with my Sony RX1 full frame compact camera, and I’ve pretty much got all my bases covered.

Here are some of the accessories I use to get the most out of this camera.

Extra Batteries and Charger

The RX100 V is one power-hungry camera. Especially if you also shoot video. Most especially if you shoot in 4K or in 120fps at 1080p (for amazing slow motion in full HD!). If you only plan an shooting stills, you still need 1 extra battery, that’s the absolute minimum. If you plan on doing video, I recommend at least 4 batteries, because you will burn through them pretty fast.

You can get original Sony NP-BX1 batteries on Amazon. There are cheaper, third-party alternatives, but I’ve never had much luck with them. They always run out faster than the Sony ones. This isn’t noticeable when new, but after just 6 months of use, Sony batteries last much longer. To me, they’re not worth the extra savings. You can probably use them as extra-extra emergency batteries, e.g. as your 6th, 7th, 8th battery, after you’ve already got a few original Sony ones.

If you haven’t gotten a Sony RX100 V camera yet, one thing to note is that it does NOT come with a charger in the box. Yep. Really. It sucks, but that seems to be the direction that Sony and some other camera manufacturers are going these days. You’re supposed to charge your batteries in-camera. Just like a cellphone. On one hand, it’s great that you can charge via USB, so you can charge using a battery pack, but it also means you can’t freely shoot with the camera while it’s charging.

The official Sony charger for RX100 batteries is the Sony BCTRX Battery charger. This charger can also charge a bunch of other batteries from Sony Cybershot cameras. It’s nice, it’ll do the job. It plugs directly into the wall, there are no extra cables needed. That’s good for traveling, but not great if the wall outlet is hidden under a table or something.

A better value – charger with battery included

The charger that I recommend most people get is the Sony ACCTRDCX Travel Charger. Not only does this come with an included Sony battery in the box, it is also really tiny. This a great charger for traveling. Aside from the size, the reason I really love this charger is that you can plug this directly to an external battery pack or a powerbank for charging on the go! This is especially great when you’re traveling or are on a day-long photo walk. You can just plug this charger into a power bank, drop it in your bag, and let it do its thing while you keep on shooting.

The Sony ACCTRDCX Travel Charger does NOT come with a wall plug in the box, but the USB cable can plug in to any standard USB charger, like the one that comes with an iPhone or pretty much any smart phone or tablet. Personally, I always travel with an Anker Powerport. It’s the only thing I need, and it handles all my charging on the road with no problems.

Incidentally, my Sony RX1 also uses the same batteries, so no need to carry an extra charger and cables!

Grips

One of the biggest selling points of the Sony RX100 V is its ultra-compact size. Unfortunately, Sony did not deem it fit to add a useful grip on this thing. Because of the ultra compact size and the lack of a grip, this is one extremely slipper camera. Prior to getting a grip, I’d dropped mine a handful of times. What finally pushed me to get a grip was dropping it and having the LCD no longer flip the image in selfie mode.

Not something that you want to happen on an expensive camera. Sony could do well to take a page from the Ricoh GR series. Now that’s an ultra-compact camera that knows how to add a proper grip.

But, despair not, because you do actually have a couple of choices here, and your search for the best grip for the Sony RX100 V is going to be an easy one.

Your first choice is the official Sony grip – the Sony AGR2 Attachment Grip. Why this doesn’t just come standard and built-in to the Sony RX100 body is beyond me. It’s made of a rubbery material, it blends in really well with the camera, and more importantly, it really does wonders to improve the handling of the camera. It’s cheap, it works perfectly and hardly adds any bulk.

If you want something more substantial, you can try the VKO Metal Grip. Made of aluminum alloy, this grip adds a deep angular grip on the RX100V. It attaches via the tripod mount, but it does give you another tripod mount on the bottom, so you can still put your camera on a tripod or selfie stick. The down side is, you will need to remove the grip to change the battery or SD card. That’s a pretty big downside, so this is only recommended for those with extra large hands that really need a deep grip.

Filter Adapter

Because it features a retractable lens design, the lens on the Sony RX100 V does not have any filter threads. In order to attach filters to the RX100 V, you need an adapter. Unfortunately, Sony no longer makes an adapter for the RX100 III, IV and V cameras.  NOTE: The Sony VFA-49R1 Filter Adapter does NOT work with the Sony RX100 III, IV and RX100 V cameras.

To mount filters on the Sony RX100 V, you need the Lensmate Quick Change Filter Adapter Kit. This tiny ring mounts on to the front of the lens via an adhesive and will allow the use of 52mm filters on your camera. It’s really easy to put on, and even comes with an installation tool. It’s also very low profile so the lens won’t vignette with most filters through the entire zoom range of the RX100’s lens.

Filters:

NOTE: In order to use filters on the RX100 V, you need the Lensmate filter adapter above, which will allow you to mount 52mm filters.

The one filter that I recommend for most people is a polarizing filter. Polarizer filters allow you to add some pop to the skies in your images and videos and more importantly, it helps eliminate reflections (e.g. when shooting through windows) and to manage glare (e.g. from water surfaces, like a lake or an ocean; when shooting people with glasses etc..).

What about a neutral density (ND) filter? The Sony RX100 V already features a built-in 3-stop ND filter, which is one of the best features of the camera. This is typically enough for most shooters, but there are times when you need more. Maybe you want to shoot really long exposures (e.g. a waterfall or ocean waves lapping at the beach), or maybe you’re shooting videos and want to stick to the 180-degree shutter speed rule (e.g. you’re filming at 24p and you want to keep your shutter speed to be as close to 1/48s as possble).

I recommend filters from Breakthrough Photography. They’re pretty much all I use for all my cameras now, and I find them to be excellent. They’re a small company based in San Francisco and they make superb filters that are as good as, if not better than the bigger brands.

3 Stop ND Filter: Breakthrough Photography 52mm X2 ND filter (Amazon)

6 Stop ND Filter: Breakthrough Photography 52mm X2 ND filter (Amazon)

Circular Polarizer: Breakthrough Photography 52mm X2 CPL (Amazon)

Straps:

The Sony Rx100 V comes with a simple wrist strap in the box. I’m not a huge fan of wrist straps in general. The Sony wrist strap that comes in the box is a very simple strap, with no way to tighten it to your wrist.

I generally prefer using shoulder/neck straps for all my cameras, even small ones like the RX100 V. Shoulder/neck straps allow you to easily keep both hands free when necessary and they also serve as a stabilizer when shooting video or when using low shutter speeds. Just pull the strap tight against the back of your neck, where it will serve as a third point of contact.

Currently, I use the Peak Design Leash. You can check out my review of the version 1 Leash here. Peak Design have just come out with a newer design of the Leash, which we will be reviewing soon.

Screen protectors

Yep. Despite all the amazing technology packed into the Sony RX100 V, they somehow forgot to put in a scratch-resistant screen. Unfortunately, this is something that is common across most of Sony’s camera range. A good screen protector is definitely a must.

I use the Expert Shield Anti-Glare Screen Protector for the Sony RX100 V. It’s well made, easy to install and it mates perfectly with the tilting LCD.

Bags and Cases:

What about cases? I haven’t tried any cases for the RX100 V. I’ve looked at some of them, but I’m just not a big fan of most of them. I find that most of them add unnecessary bulk, or worse, hinder access to the battery and SD card. Since the RX100 V is so tiny, I can easily drop it in any bag.

The official Sony case is the Sony LCS-RXG Leather case, which is basically a nice leather pouch for the camera. It looks nice, but it’s just not for me. I prefer using a proper bag, so I can carry other stuff, like extra batteries and various other crap (like lipbalm and my wallet).

If I’m specifically going out to shoot, my favorite bag is the Billingham Hadley Small camera bag. – nicely sized, easy to maneuver in crowded places, easy to access, no zippers and no velcro to get in the way, its waterproof and good looking but not too eye catching. You can see my review of the Hadley Small here. I can easily fit my trio of cameras – the RX100 V, the Sony RX1, Ricoh GR, a rain jacket, and various other stuff like extra batteries, my wallet, sunglasses etc..

That’s it! The RX100 V is really an amazing camera. It’s not perfect – I really wish it had a touchscreen, for example – but for its size, it’s really astounding for what it can do. Watch out for our full review soon!  Our full review of the Sony RX100 V is now up!

 

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