A
t the end of 2012 the newly
released Sony RX100 was
making waves as a small
camera that was producing
unusually good images. Maybe not quite
as good as a DSLR, but if you kept the
ISO under 800 ISO you’d be hard pressed
to pick the difference. For travellers, in
particular, here was a camera you could not
only fit in your jacket pocket, it was capable
of producing some really good images.
Also, it’s small size meant you could use it
without attracting too much attention.
Fast forward to 2015 and there have
been three more versions of the RX100,
the mark two, three and now, the newest,
the mark four. The latest model is built
around a 20.1-megapixel CMOS sensor
and includes a really good pop-up
electronic viewfinder. It’s also capable of
shooting still images continuously at 16fps
and video at 4K in a choice of frame rates
- 30, 25 and 24p. I’ve been using it for a
68 AUSTRALIANPHOTOGRAPHY.COM
Sony
Cyber-shot
RX100M4
QUICK TEST
It’s billed as one of the last
great compact travel cameras.
James Ostinga recently spent
a few days with the Sony
RX100M4 on a whirlwind trip
around London.
AUSTRALIAN PHOTOGRAPHY MARCH 2016
few weeks now, and while it is definitely a
better camera than the original RX100, it’s
not without its f laws. Here’s my take on it.
The good
- It’s small, light and discreet.
- It takes amazing images, with great
image quality, particularly at low ISOs. - In terms of image quality it’s as good as
any camera of this size and better than a
few bigger models. - Built-in ND filter is a great idea.
- Really good image stabilisation helps
to keep the ISO inside the lower ‘sweet
spot’ range. - The pop-up EVF viewfinder is great,
particularly in bright sunshine. - There are good customisation options so
you can set different buttons to control
the features you use most – aperture on
the lens ring, shutter speed on the rear
thumb wheel, etc.
The bad
- The menu system is really complicated.
Perhaps it’s the trade-off for having a
compact camera that can do so much, but
I can’t help wondering if the menu could
be better organised. You get the feeling
Sony has been busy adding new features to
this camera, and its predecessors, without
paying a lot of attention to the way it will
be used. The Fn button takes you to most
of the commonly used commands but if
you need anything else, take a deep breath
and try to stay calm. It took me 10 minutes
to work out how to format the SD card and
longer to pair the phone using Sony’s ‘easy’
QR-code connection process! I’m told that
pairing is easier if your phone has NFC –
mine doesn’t. That said, if it was a camera
you owned you’d eventually get used to it.
- Some features are only available if you
buy and download a dedicated app. For
example, if you want to shoot a time-
lapse video the app for that will set you
back $9.99. Not much in the scheme of
things but it is annoying for a camera that
retails for more than $1000. It’s especially
annoying when time-lapse, as just one
example, is a stock feature on many
mobile phones. ❂