Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Photography
  3. Products

With the RX100 VII, Sony took the best point-and-shoot and made it better

David Elrich
By
1 of 4
sony rx100 vii best point and shoot gets better lifestyle 4
sony rx100 vii best point and shoot gets better lifestyle 2
sony rx100 vii best point and shoot gets better lifestyle 3
sony rx100 vii best point and shoot gets better lifestyle 1

Sony just took a great compact camera and made it even better with the RX100 VII — and we can’t wait to get our hands on it. Simply put, it took the RX100 VI and married it with features from the A9, Sony’s $4,500 full-frame flagship mirrorless camera. The new camera is due sometime in August for $1,200 which, we suspect, will cause a steep price drop in the previous version which currently sells at the same price.

As Sony executives described it, the RX100 VII brings some of the power of the A9 — a sports-oriented camera that targets professional photographers — to a compact point-and-shoot that you can carry with you practically anywhere. But the RX100 VI was already fast, shooting a sizzling 24 frames per second at full resolution. The VII actually slows this down a little, to 20 fps, but builds on it by adding the A9’s signature ability to capture action with “blackout-free” shooting. Whether framing your shots through the electronic viewfinder or the LCD screen, that means you won’t see any black frames breaking up your sequence, letting you keep an uninterrupted eye on your subject.

Recommended Videos

As part of the latest generation of Sony cameras, the new RX100 also features Real-Time Tracking and Real-Time Eye Autofocus for people and animals. As an added bonus, Real-Time Eye AF will work in movie mode, as well, a feature we first saw on the recently-announced A7R IV. Vloggers will appreciate the inclusion of a 3.5mm audio input, a first for the series, for improved audio using external microphones. Along with Sony’s usual Optical Steady Shot, digital stabilization is now also possible when shooting 4K videos.

Related

Sony claims the RX100 VII acquires focus in as little as .02 seconds, a hundredth of a second faster than the RX100 VI, in case anyone is keeping track. It has what looks to be the same 1-inch stacked 20.1MP CMOS sensor paired with a new Bionz X processor that performs 60 focus calculations per second. The new autofocus system uses 357 phase detection points and 425 contrast detect points. The 24-200mm f/2.8-4 lens remains unchanged.

Sony’s RX100 line has always been a favorite choice among compact cameras. We easily named the RX100 VI the best point-and-shoot camera available when it launched just over a year ago, and we expect the VII will carry on that legacy when it arrives later this summer. Stay tuned for our review as soon as we can lay our hands on a production sample.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
David Elrich
David Elrich
Contributing Editor
David has covered the consumer electronics industry since the "ancient" days of the Walkman. He is a "consumer’s"…
Sony RX0 combines the best traits of nearly every camera
SonyRX0

What do you get when you merge a small, rugged action cam with a Sony RX100 advanced compact? Probably something a lot like the Sony RX0. On Aug. 31, Sony introduced the Cyber-shot RX0, a waterproof camera that uses the company’s popular 1-inch Exmor sensor for high-resolution photo and video capture. The RX0 has a fixed lens, and it’s designed for multi-camera setups. It has been a while since Sony updated its rugged point-and-shoot and Action Cam lineups, but Sony said the RX0 is neither. Instead, it is a new type of camera that's designed for a new generation of creative filmmakers, combining key elements from various camera categories and use cases.

Powered by the same stacked Exmor RS CMOS 1-inch sensor and Bionz X processor that’s behind Sony’s advanced cameras, like the RX100 V and RX10 II, the RX0’s body resemble that of an action camera. That little boxy body, however, weighs only 3.9 ounces and measures just 2.38 inches at the widest point. Its weatherproof attributes, however, are more in-line with rugged point-and-shoots: The RX0 is waterproof (down to 33 feet), crushproof, and shockproof (from 6.5 feet), and weather-sealed to protect it against dust.

Read more
The speedy stacked sensor of the Sony RX100 IV could be coming to smartphones
sony one megapixel two millimeter sensor

The stacked sensor design that brought a speedy 16 fps to Sony’s high-end compacts could be headed to smartphones. On Tuesday, Sony announced a three-layer sensor for smartphones, the first time a DRAM layer has been added in sensors designed for smartphones.

Like the RX100 IV and RX10 II, the latest smartphone sensor from Sony uses three layers. The typical two-layer sensor design uses a layer of pixels and a layer of circuits to process that data, but the new design includes a third layer of DRAM or temporary storage for all that information.

Read more
Sony's RX100 V has the world's fastest autofocus and a brand new sensor
Sony RX100 V

Sony has officially launched the fifth generation of its RX100 camera, the RX100 V model DSC-RX100M5.

As expected from Sony, little has changed from the last iteration of this camera in terms of its overall design. It features the same simple, understated aesthetic that Sony users have come to love from the RX100 series.

Read more