subscribe 0330 333 1113 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 5 October 2019 45
CAMERA TEST Testbench
TheRX100VIIsharesitscoredesignwithits
predecessor,themainchangesbeinginternalFocal points
FnMenu
Secondarysettingsareaccessed
usinganonscreenfunctionmenu.
It’sclearlylaidoutandquicktouse,
andcanbecustomisedforstillsand
videoindependently.Connectivity
Built-inWi-Fiallowsconnectionto
a smartphoneortabletforimage
transferorremotecontrolviaSony’s
freeImagingEdgeMobileappfor
AndroidoriOS.NFCcanquicklyset
upa connectionwithcompatible
Androiddevices,whileBluetoothcan
beusedforgeotaggingyourimages.Flash
A tinyflashunitpopsupout
ofthetop-plate,releasedbya
slidingswitchjustbehindthe
powerbutton.Connectors
TheMicroUSBconnectorcanbe
usedforchargingthebatteryor
poweringthecameradirectly,
attachinga wiredremotecontrol,
orcopyingyourimagesontoa
computer.Belowit is a microHDMI
port,witha stereomicrophone
inputnowfoundabove.58.1 mm
42.8
mm
Lens
The24-200mm
equivalent8xzoom
uses 15 elementsin
12 groups,with
8 aspheric
elementsincluding
4 AdvancedAspheric
lenses,and2 ED
glasselements.101.6 mm
The latter’s double-hinged design
means it can tilt 90° downwards
for overhead shooting or 180°
forward for selfi es or vlogging. Its
main failing is that it’s not bright
enough to be usable in direct
sunlight. A super-bright Sunny
Weather menu setting is available
to help with this – I’d add it to the
My Menu.
Popping-up the viewfi nder also
turns the camera on, which makes
perfect sense. Unfortunately
pushing it down again turns the
camera off, which is irritating given
that you probably just wanted to
use the screen instead. Thankfully
you can disable this behaviour, but
only by trawling through the menu
to decipher ‘Function for VF close’
and set it to ‘Not Power OFF’.
On a more positive note, the
viewfi nder itself is very good: the
2.36-million-dot OLED is bright
and clear, and its 0.59x equivalent
magnifi cation gives a decent-sized
view. Its design is a considerable
improvement on the Canon G5 X
II or the short-zoom RX100s,
as you don’t have to pull out the
eyepiece after popping-up the
EVF, or retract it before pushing
the fi nder back down. But I still
prefer using a fi nder that’s fi xed in
place and always available, like on
Panasonic’s TZ models.
Autofocus
Sony’s big update this year, across
all of its camera range, is its new
AI-based real-time autofocus.
Technically, the fi rm says that the
RX100 VII now keeps track
of your subject by analysing its
colour, pattern and distance in
real time, including face- and eye-
recognition, while conducting 60
autofocus calculations every
second. The camera can
seamlessly switch between
focusing on a human subject’s
face and eye, and even hold focus
if they turn away from the camera.
Real-time Eye AF works for both
humans and animals, although
not at the same time. Instead
you have to select in the menu
whether you’d prefer your family
or your pets to be in focus. Also,
while Eye AF can be combined
with focus tracking for humans,
this isn’t allowed for animals, which
seems odd as many pets have
been known to run around a bit.
Otherwise, Sony’s new AF
system has some real practical
advantages. When photographing
people, you no longer have to
specifi cally enable Eye AF by
pressing a function button – it just
works all the time. The tracking
mode is also incredibly good at
sticking to your specifi ed subject,
no matter how it moves or you
recompose your image. The latter
means you don’t necessarily even
have to move the focus area
around the frame – instead you
can acquire focus and recompose,
with the AF point sticking to the
subject and keeping it in correct
focus. With a camera like the
RX100 VII that doesn’t have
a dedicated AF areaBattery
One disadvantage of the pocket-sized
body is that it can only accommodate
the small NP-BX1 battery, which is
rated for just 240 shots using the
viewfinder or 260 with the LCD –
20 more than the RX100 VI.Touchscreen
The RX100 VI’s touchscreen gains
no new functions, which means it
can only be used to set the focus
point and zoom into your images in
playback, but not change settings.
It can be set facing forwards for
selfies or vlogging.The updated sensor gives
reasonable results at
sensitivities up to ISO 3200
113mm equivalent,
1/125sec at f/5.6, ISO 2500