46 5 October 2019I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI subscribe 0330 333 1113
Withitssmallsizeandversatile
lens,theRX100VIIis a
greatpockettravelcamera
54mm equiv, 1/800sec at f/5.6, ISO 100controller,thisturnsouttobe
somethingof a godsend.
Outof thebox,AFtrackingisn’t
enabled,andwhenyoutrytoturn
it on,thecamerawillfirstdeclare
thatyoucan’t,becauseyouneed
toswitchtoAF-Cfirst.Butonce
setupit worksreallywell,with
autofocusbeingludicrously
quick,essentiallysilentandhighly
accurate.Evenwithfast-moving
subjectsthehitrateis veryhigh,
andthecamerais nolongerprone
todroppinga sequenceof three
orfourframesslightlyoutof focus
likeitspredecessordid.
If youpreferto specifythefocus
pointmanually,thisis anoption,
andwhenyou’reshootingwiththe
rearscreen,youcansimplytapon
thesubject.Butwiththeviewfinder
you’ll need to either enable the
TouchPadfunctionto usethe
touchscreen,orif it doesn’twork
foryou,pressthebuttonin the
centreof thereardial,thenusethe
d-padto setthefocuspoint.Thisis
a prettyclunkymethod,butto be
fair,nozoomcompactis reallythat
muchbetter.Thankfully,youcan
nowsetthefocusareato be
displayedin red,ratherthanthe
invisiblemiddle-greySonyhas
favouredin recentyears.Performance
Justlikeitspredecessor,in most
respectstheRX100VIIis an
exceptionallysnappyperformer.It
powersupin abouta second,and
fromthenonrespondsinstantlyto
allof thecontrols.In particularits
high-speedfocusingandshooting
means that you should very rarelymissa shot,justaslongasyoucan
setit upin time.
I foundthemeteringtobevery
reliablein themulti-patternmode,
sowhiletheusualalternativesare
availableincludingaverageand
spot,I didn’tneedtousethem.
Theelectronicviewfindergives
a reliablepreviewof howthe
imageshouldturnout,soyoucan
applyexposurecompensationif
necessary.There’sperhapsa slight
tendencytowardsunderexposure
in certainconditions,whichmeans
thecameragenerallywon’tclip
highlightdetail.Sony’sDynamic
RangeOptimiserfunctiondoesa
greatjobof bringingoutshadow
detailin high-contrastscenes.
Autowhitebalancelikewisedoes
a verygoodjob,andSonyseems
tohavereducedthetendency
towardsoverlycoolresultsthatI
observedwiththepreviousmodel.
Asa result,theRX100VIIgives
someof themostattractivefiles
out-of-camerathatI’veseenfrom
anySonycamera.In manycases
I’dbeperfectlyhappytoshare
themonsocialmediadirectly,
althoughsomestillbenefitfrom
colourandbrightnesscorrection.
Likeallcompactcameras,the
lens-shutterdesignis extremely
quietin operation.In fact,if you
turnoffthevariousoperational
beepsandfakeshuttersounds
andengagetheelectronicshutter,
thecamerais completelysilent.
Thankfully,in a welcome
improvement over the RX100 VI,it usesthesamesubtlevisualcues
asthehigh-speedAlpha9 to
indicatewhenit’sshooting.
Thecameraonlyhasa
conventionalSDslotratherthan
thefasterUHS-IItype,soit can
takea longtimetorecorda burst
of imagestocard,especiallyif you
shoot20fpsbursts.Thisdoesn’t
havetoomuchimpact,asyou
canstillshootmoreimagesand
changemanysettingswhilethe
camerais writing.Howeveryou
can’tinitiatevideorecording,or
adjusttheflashordrivemodes.
Thelensis anexcellent
performerconsideringitslong
range.It’sverysharpin thecentre
wideopen,butthecornersare
slightlysoft,particularlyat the
extremesof therange.Asa result,
you’llwanttocloseit downa stop
ortwowhenshootingscenessuch
aslandscapeswherethere’sdetail
rightacrossthescene.I’davoid
usingf/11,asit givesverysoft
imagesduetodiffraction.
Batterylifeisn’tgreat,withthe
smallNP-BX1ratedfor 240 to
640 shotspercharge,depending
onwhetheryouusetheLCDor
viewfinder.In ordertogetthe
mostoutof it I’drecommend
settingmoreaggressivepower-
managementsettingsthanSony’s
defaults,andmakinga pointof
poweringthecameraoffafter
shooting.Eventhen,it makes
sensetobuya sparebatteryand
a chargertoensureyou can
get through the day.Thelongendofthezoomis greatforpickingoutsmallelementswithina
scene, such as this architectural detail 200mm equiv, 1/250sec at f/4.5, ISO 100