toothpick idea sounds great -- i'm going to give that a try... Mostly I don't use flash.. only when I absolutely have to. Also found that the camera will shoot in full auto and stay in RAW....rather than JPG. Here is a straight on flash shot. It was taken more wide angle and cropped...

Gary's ebooks are indeed excellent. I've got one for the alpha 100 alpha 99 and just bought the rx100 m2 ... Gary says he is about 6 weeks out for the m3 book and then he will provide a free upgrade.. Gary is a professional photgrapher, teacher and owns most of the minolta and now Sony lineup... he says he uses the rx100 exclusively for all his non paid photo work...

You can bounce the flash on the m3 it is on a pop up hinge and with a small piece of tape you can aim it up with the tape holding it in the position.

Gary Friedman friedmanarchives.com. writes ebooks for all the Sony cameras that are very comprehensive. His m3 book is due out in about 5 weeks. I bought the m2 book and will upgrade for free when the m3 comes out.

ok reporting the results of some experimentation

changed the focus and exposure to center from wide this makes a huge difference in properly illuminating the subject. Also found that shooting flash with telephoto produces better results than the wider angle on the zoom..

i highly recommend this camera for anyone looking for a full feature point and shoot SIZE camera. It has taken me a bit to figure out the right settings for the way I shoot and I'm finding the camera menus and buttons are highly flexible .. now that I better understand how to maximize the flash (when I actually need it)... I'm really pleased with the picture quality and flexibility

thanks all for you help and suggestions...

thanks everyone for all the suggestions. I've continued to experiment and research - I've pretty much come to the conclusion that I've got to set the exposure very close to a non flash exposure... at least for indoor pics.. haven't tried in a really dark dark situation yet. This camera has a pop up flash and pop up view finder but no hotshoe. I believe it uses ttl. Another peculiarity is that in other then intelligent auto ie any of the PASM you are relegated to fill flash.. the auto flash will not work. It does have the ability to vary flash ec. I was hoping someone familiar with this camera might have a suggestion.. I try not to use flash.. even on my full frame a99 as I don't like how it lights...but sometimes you just need to...thanks again...

lloyd

thanks Rich. I did shoot the same scene using intelligent auto and found the settings picked were a very slow shutter speed a more open aperture and slightly higher iso. The F stop and shutterspeed I chose in manual mode f 3.5 and 1/60 and iso 100 theoretically should have allowed the flash to light the subject leaving the background underexposed.. it left all but the brightest highlights very dark. I want to be able to use the flash to light the subject however fill flash is the only option in any of the pasm modes... I don't like using flash at all but sometimes you just need it!

Love this new camera except I'm not sure the flash works properly in manual mode.

When I set the exposure to say 1/60 f4 iso 100 - with the goal of the flash lighting the subject my photos come out severely underexposed (dark). If I shoot on intelligent auto it exposes perfectly. when I look at the auto settings (the ones chosen by the camera, they are close to what you would set the exposure at if you weren't using the flash. Is there no way to utilize the flash to light the subject and use the shutterspeed and f stop for depth of field and freeze motion? I supposed I could kick up the flash compensation adjustment but this would be pretty hit and miss. Thanks.

Lloyd

I'm a sony shooter and have the a99... it's heavy and big so I too just picked up the rx100 m3.. and I am quite impressed with the image quality and the full features of this little camera... ENJOY IT! I plan on taking mine everywhere! it fits in my pocket!

Just picked up this camera and have played around with the pop up flash. I shoot raw and manual and when I set the exposure say 1/60 f4 iso 100 - with the goal of the flash lighting the subject my photos come out severely underexposed (dark). I tried it on intelligent auto and it exposes perfectly. when I look at the auto settings (the ones chosen by the camera, they are close to what you would set the exposure at if you weren't using the flash. Is there no way to utilize the flash to light the subject and use the shutterspeed and f stop for depth of field and freeze motion? I supposed I could kick up the flash compensation adjustment but this would be pretty hit and miss.

just got the sony rx100 m3.. (important for me to have a viewfinder).. The zeiss lens 24x70 equiv also goes F 1.8-2.8. The camera takes great photos almost as good as my fullframe... the only drawback is the zoom only goes out to 70mm equiv. I have a 2470 2.8 lens on my fullframe that I use over 90% of the time so it isn't much of a compromise for me.. oh and it has about everything on it raw, manual, hdr, panora, wifi etc.. you can even do bounce flash (up only)...

Just got mine a couple of nights ago... using the Gary Friedman ebook to wade through the many menu options. The book is for the m2 version. M3 book not out yet.got my first real photos with it this morning cactus blooms and they were really good.

I've learned that their are several key ingredients for getting great photos. Composition, lighting, use of exposure to focus attention on subject, knowing your camera and finally post processing.. since I've learned how to use lightroom, my pictures have gotten much much better it really makes them pop. Their is plenty of available free videos and tutorials to learn and improve each of these. I took a 2 day Rocky Mountain Photography School class and it really helped me in looking for and "seeing" good composition and evaluating light to get a better exposure with my camera. It will come, just keep practicing, look at and critique other photos, have others critique yours and before long you will develop a photographers eye! Look at the learning centers on BH and Adorama, lots of amazing stuff to see and learn out there.

The peak design straps can be used and configured as writhe a sling or neck strap check out their site and videos

I have a heavy full frame and use the spyder pro holster.. I have been looking around for a neck strap that is easily removeable and just this week found the peak design leash which can be removed or also used as a safety strap and tether. It's in the mail and I await arrival.

PS I love the holster and soon will be able to remove my dangling neck strap when I use it..