Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 VII Review

The 3-minute Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-RX100 VII review

Capable Camera with a Friendly Price Tag

By Rachel Hutson | 17 November 2019

The Specifics:

The Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-RX100 VII is the 7^th generation for the RX100 model camera, released this August.

The compact design is what is making this device a favourite in the vlogging world. It weighs in at 302g and theexternal dimensions of 102 x 58 x 43 mm. It has a 3-inch LCD touch screen with curved edges and made with a plastic and metal frame.

The device is powered by a new 20mp 1-inch stacked BSI CMOS sensor with DRAM chip and the latest BIONZ X image processing engine from the Alpha 9.

Features & Design: 4/5 ● Performance: 4/5 ● Value: 4/5 ● Sound Quality 3/5

The Best:

Sony RX100 VII is small and compact, making it a lot easier to travel with and do home and family photography. The 24-200mm lens is very versatile in high light settings, and this device has been fitted with a new 1.0-type (13.2mm x 8.8mm) Exmor RS CMOS sensor and has 20.1 Megapixels.

This device shines when it comes to fast action due to its autofocus system.It has been fitted with 0.02-sec autofocus, 357 focal-plane phase-detection, and 425 contrast-detection autofocus points. There is also real-time tracking and real-time eye autofocus added with theenhanced image stabilization during 4K video recording that gives smooth gimble like stabilization.

For higher quality sound recording, the RX100 VII has been fitted with 3.5mm microphone input jack, this allows for professional sound quality for those of you who vlog and create movies.

The electronic viewfinder is convenient when shooting outdoors in bright light situations, and it can neatly tuck away when you are not using it makes for an even sleeker design.

The Bugs:

The 24-200mm lens is not very good in low light shooting situations due to the smaller max aperture than its predecessor, with it having a 2.8 F-stop at 24mm, but it still is competent. The RX100 VII has been fitted with a flash to help in low light, but it is tiny, and found doesn’t provide quite enough light.

With such a high frame rate shooting, we would have liked to have seen a UHS 2 over the USH 1 port, so it fills the buffer quickly and takes a bit of time to clear it, leaving you waiting for it to finish working here and there.

Is it for you?

If you are a vlogger, the RX100 VII is the device for you as it has the flip-up screen and built-in 3.5mm microphone jack to allow for excellent sound quality for all your video needs. 

What we like

The RX100 VII has some fantastic features like the 4K video with barely any rolling shutter, and the autofocus works well in the video mode as it continually tracks your movement due to the face and eye autofocus feature.

What we don’t like

One of the biggest dislikes with this unit is that it does get hot while in video record mode, this can be avoided by using the overheating setting, but this limits you to only 5minuits of recording time at 4K.

Should you buy it?

Taking up photography has never been easier thanks to the full range of features and functions that Sony offers with their RX100 VII. The product range has matured in recent years, and the result is a camera that is easy to use and compact.