You know how much I love my small RX100 cameras. I always carry one with me no matter what I'm doing, and that has led me to making some images I would've never made otherwise, including the current image of the month, "Golden Gate".

I love that these cameras are complete systems out of the box: no lenses to buy! There are some accessories, though, that I think are very useful and make these little devices even better image making machines. These are the 5+1 accessories for the RX100 series I have and use.

Cage

Out of the box, there's no way to attach anything to a modern RX100 camera (my old RX100II came with a cold shoe, but it was removed to leave room for the electronic viewfinder in later models). A cage fixes this problem, providing mounting points for microphones and other accessories like lights or even monitors.

Besides this, a cage gives you:

A better grip. These cameras are all about the size, and I love being able to fit them in my pockets. But they are also very slippery cameras, not easy to hold. The cage offers a much needed grip if you are going to be shooting for a long time.
Access to battery and memory card when mounted on a tripod. By default the battery door gets blocked when you mount the camera on a tripod plate, a cage should fix this (mine do, but can't guarantee every cage out there will).
Protection. Of course, a cage surrounding the camera should give you some peace of mind in case something happens -and it will happen.

I have 2 cages, both from SmallRig. The first one is the Cage Kit 2105, compatible with my RX100VA. I don't love the design, attaching around the lens. The second one is the L-shaped LCS2438, compatible with every model since the mark III, up to the VII. I use it with my RX100VII and I love it. It's not as big and heavy as the other one, plus attaches on the tripod mount while still offering access to the battery door, some mounting points, and 2 cold shoes.

Microphone

Bad sound will ruin your video. If you do any video work, you already know how important it is to get good sound. And this was a weak point in the RX100 cameras until very recently.

I need to use an external recorder to get good sound with the RX100VA, I have the popular Zoom H1 paired with a Rode VideoMicro. It's a pain to sync in post, but it's worth it. I've also put some deadcats on top of the built-in mics to minimize noise from the wind so I can get some sound from the camera itself as well. It's good enough when recording background noises (in a forest, in a mountain), just not when recording your voice.

The RX100VII finally added a mic jack, making it a more than viable option for more serious video shooters. I try to use the Rode VideoMicro as much as I can, but I usually bring a Saramonic SR-XM1 microphone with me because it's much smaller and it fits in my pocket along with my camera. It's a good directional mic but it doesn't deal very well with wind, so I use a deadcat around it (attached with a rubber band).

ND filters

The RX100VA has a built-in 3-stop ND filter, which is awesome for video work. This not only allows you to use bigger apertures and get a shallower depth of field, but it's also something you need in bright days because the lens can only go down to f/11.

The RX100VII doesn't come with a built-in ND filter due to the new lens design. It's a compromise I'm willing to take, so when it's bright outside I need to use an external ND filter. I use a Zomei variable ND filter.

Of course, to mount any kind of filter on these cameras you'll need to buy an adapter and glue it to the lens. Don't worry, you can take it out at any moment. If it's hot, it might come out by itself, like it happened to me in New Mexico, where I lost my adapter and my filter in the dunes of White Sands.

For stills work, to make long exposures, I use Gobe Filters: a 3, 6 and 10-stop ND filters. If you need more, you can stack them. They aren't cheap filters but I really like them, they are high-quality.

Tripod

The tripod is the piece of equipment I hate the most, but I need it: I use it for videos to record myself and to hold the camera away from me; I also need a tripod to make long exposures, of course.

My main tripod is a Manfrotto Befree, but for these cameras I also use a lighter Fotopro tripod. When I want to travel light, I'd just bring this one. For an even more portable solution, for indoor work, or just to hold the camera away from you, I like the Manfrotto PIXI.

Wide angle adapter

As I said, these cameras are complete systems out of the box, and I love that. I spend way too much time looking at lenses for my bigger cameras, so it's nice not to have to think about that with these little guys. That being said, lenses give you a flexibility that fixed lens cameras like these don't have. The RX100VA is a 24-70mm equivalent, which is good for most of my work, but it falls short for some situations. That's why I got the RX100VII, because of the extended reach, up to 200mm. But there's no RX100 camera that can go wider than 24mm.

I hope Sony reconsiders its strategy with these cameras. The RX100VII needs a companion to complement it, a RX100VIIA of sorts, offering a fast and wide lens. An equivalent 18-35mm would be awesome, and if they could make it f/1.4... I'd buy 3 of those!

But for now, we don't have such camera, so we are limited to 24mm. Or are we?

A couple of months ago I found out there are some wide angle adapters that you can mount on any lens and give you a wider field of view. It's like mounting a lens on your smartphone. I got this Zomei Wide angle adapter from China and I used it quite a bit during the Camino de Santiago. I'm not sure about the equivalent field of view but I believe it's around 20mm. The quality isn't amazing as it was expected from the $20 price tag, but to be honest, it gets the shot. And for stills, since I crop to 1x1 anyway, it's almost perfect. My only concern is the weight, it's a heavy filter and these lenses aren't really design to take those. I only mount it when I'm using it to avoid damage.

Bonus: charger

As a bonus, a classic: an external charger. Being able to charge the battery in camera is an amazing feature that comes in handy when you expect it the least. But let's be real: if you use these cameras a lot, you'll need quite a few batteries (I have 9 for the 2 cameras), and charging them all through the camera can take forever. Get an external charger to charge more than one at once. Mine can charge 3 batteries, I have a couple so I'm able to charge most of my batteries within a couple of hours!

I hope you've found this post useful. If you own a RX100 camera you already know how amazing these little devices are, and when paired with the right accessories, they can become even better! Please leave a comment if you have other accessories I should know.