My wife, Giuliana (or Giuli – pronounced Julie), began using her Sony RX10iv about 2 years ago. She captured all of the images below with it, since then. She used the information in my article on bird photography, which outlines my system and settings for songbirds: https://paulrossibirds.com/songbird-photography-part-2-by-paul-rossi/
I also gave her advice on settings for birds in flight, animals, scenery, and small scenes such as flowers and insects.
The RX10iv zooms from 24mm – 600mm. At the low end of the zoom range (24-300) it generally produces very good quality images at ISO 1250 or below, with the help of noise reduction software. At the higher end (300-600) it can produce very good quality images with ISO 800 or less (and sometimes up to ISO 1250), but under certain lighting conditions there is a considerable loss of image quality. That can often be mitigated by very good noise reduction software such as DxO PhotoLab.
Giuli likes to walk in the morning and almost always brings the easy-to-carry RX10iv, hanging on her shoulder. And all of her images (so far) are hand held. This is a tremendous advantage for stalking birds or animals. There is no tripod to deal with, so she can get close with minimal disturbance and more easily gain the trust of subjects. There was no way she could have gotten close enough for the image of the fawn in the moss (pictured below) if she had to get into position with a tripod. Too much movement would have been required, and fawn would have bolted.
The Rx10iv is mirrorless, with no shutter sound. So subjects often remain unafraid, and sometimes even become curious of her silence. She is often shooting at 24 frames per second, another tremendous advantage. That rate of capture often produces perfectly sharp images at very low shutter speeds that would not otherwise be possible – such as the Brown Creeper at 1/30 sec, which briefly stopped while creeping up a tree (pictured in the gallery below). That image was handheld at full zoom (600mm), so the image stabilization is impressive. The camera also catches ideal wing positions on well-tracked birds in flight, such as the American Bittern that very briefly revealed its back (pictured below) and the female American Wigeon that flew low over the marsh grasses (pictured below). Those 2 images are also examples of how the RX10iv stays focused on birds in flight that are photographed against non-sky backgrounds (such as forests or marsh grasses), instead of locking on the background.
The advantages and versatility of the RX10iv are well demonstrated below. You’ll also notice that Giuli has a great eye for composition. Enjoy and be inspired.
75% of the images below were taken on Beavertail Peninsula (a private peninsula in Michigan’s Eastern Upper Peninsula), and a few just off the peninsula.
Female Northern Parula in Usnea Moss – gathering nesting material
Swimming Mink
Male Pileated Woodpecker
Black Rocks
Barred Owl Reflection
American Bittern Marsh Flight
Fox Pups
Male Black and White Warbler with Earwig – late summer
Philadelphia Vireo – late summer
Fall Snow Road
Pied-billed Grebes
Tennessee Warbler – late summer
Layers
Beaver
Frosty Forest Floor
Female Common Yellowthroat
Magnolia Warbler – late summer
Peace after the Storm
Female Common Goldeneye at Cavity
Fawn in Moss
Ovenbird
Male Black-backed Woodpecker
Garter Snake
Male White-breasted Nuthatch
Confrontation – male Pileated Woodpecker and Red Squirrel
Bald Eagle Takeoff
Black-throated Green Warbler – late summer
Female Moose
Mallard Family
Blue-headed Vireo – late summer
Hadley’s Island Sunset
Barred Owl at Nest Cavity
Brown Creeper
Lake Huron November Shoreline
Chestnut-side Warbler- late summer
Common Loon Pair
Female Blackburnian Warbler – spring
Wood Lily Spider
Common Merganser Pair
Female American Redstart – spring nest building
Sedge Wren
Wind and Waves
Female American Wigeon
Female Bay-breasted Warbler – late summer
Female Magnolia Warbler – spring
Female Pileated Woodpecker
American Bittern Marsh Flight 2
Fall Forest First Snow
Female Wilson’s Warbler – late summer
Male Wilson’s Warbler – late summer
Fall Fishing Boat
Female American Redstart – spring
Fox with Deer Mouse
Great Blue Heron Landing
Eastern Kingbird with Grasshopper
Magnolia Warbler – late summer 2
Frosted Poplars
Male Bay-breasted Warbler – spring
Female Black-throated Green Warbler – spring
Autumn Morning – Lake Huron North Shore
Male Black and White Warbler – late summer
Northern Parula – late summer
Male Cape May Warbler – spring
Cape May Warbler – Late summer
Lake Huron Calm Morning
Pied-billed Grebe Running
Male Black-throated Blue Warbler – late summer
Pileated Woodpecker Pair
Red Squirrel – gathering bedding material
Red-breasted Nuthatch Nest
Stormy Evening
Male Bay-breasted Warbler – late summer
Canada Warbler – late summer
Raspberry Maple
Red-eyed Vireos – late summer, adult feeding young
Redpoll on Goldenrod
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
Ruffed Grouse
Wind and Waves
Winter Wren
Female Hooded Merganser
Female Downy Woodpecker
Muskrat
Male Red-breasted Nuthatch
Beavertail Bay
Fox Pup – learning to walk
Brown Creeper 2
Brown Creeper Camo
Sunset Shower
Magnolia Warbler – late summer
Beavertail Buck
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Bell Flowers
Northern Parula – late summer 2
Female Common Yellowthroat – summer
Lake Huron Distant Warning
Male Black and White Warbler – spring