Sony has announced a surprise addition to the popular range of RX100 super-compact cameras, the RX100 VI. The previous models, while featuring a fast (f/1.8-2.8) zoom lens, were restricted to a full-frame equivalence of 24-70mm. The RX VI meets the undoubted demand for more reach — to 200mm — but sacrifices a little speed. The new Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 24-200mm runs from f/2.8 to f/4.5. However, the latest optical image stabilisation makes up for the slightly lower light intake and provides an impressive four-stop advantage. Touch-screen control, including shutter actuation, adds another useful feature, as is the tilting screen.
The current RX100 V is a leading contender in the ultra-compact one-inch-sensor market but has a shorter zoom than competitors from Panasonic and Canon. The longer reach will be welcomed and can only enhance Sony’s market share in this competitive sector. The RX100 VI is a solid contender but comes at an eye-watering price of £1,150.
SONY PRESS RELEASE
The innovative new RX100 VI camera is the first of all the RX100 models to include a high magnification zoom lens, as it packs in an impressive ZEISS® Vario-Sonnar T* 24-200mmi F2.8 – F4.5 lens yet doesn’t sacrifice the pocket-size portability, fast responsiveness and high image quality that has become the hallmark of Sony’s RX100 line-up. Its extensive zoom, impressive image quality and versatility for both still images and video make it an ideal choice for capturing daily life, cityscapes, portraiture, sports, wildlife and everything in between.
The new model is equipped with a 20.1 MP 1.0-type stacked Exmor RS™ CMOS image sensor with DRAM chip and an upgraded BIONZ X™ image processing system with a front-end LSI that maximises processing speed and optimises image quality in all shooting environments. Additionally, the RX100 VI features an incredibly efficient Fast Hybrid AF system with 315-point phase-detection AF points on the sensor that can acquire focus in as little as 0.03 seconds, the world’s fastest AF acquisition time for 1.0-type sensor cameras. It can also shoot at up to 24 fps at full resolution with continuous AF/AE tracking and produces beautiful 4K video with full pixel readout and no pixel binning.
New High-Magnification 24-200mm Zoom Lens Plus Outstanding Image Quality
A first for Sony’s RX100 series of cameras, the new ZEISS® Vario-Sonnar T* 24-200mmi F2.8 – F4.5 lens packs the power of both 24-70mm and 70-200mm focal lengths into a singular compact design. This is achieved thanks to its unique design featuring two ED (extra-low dispersion) aspherical glass elements and eight aspherical lens elements including four AA (advanced aspherical) lenses. All pieces work together seamlessly to deliver outstanding sharpness from corner-to-corner at all focal lengths, maintaining the acclaimed image quality of the RX100 series.
The impressive new lens on the RX100 VI maintains a large aperture throughout the entire zoom range, ensuring portraits can be created with beautiful bokeh, fast-moving subjects can be captured with crisp focus and no blurring, and much more. Additionally, the lens has built-in Optical SteadyShotTM image stabilisation that is equivalent to a 4.0-stop faster shutter speed, helping to prevent blur at slower shutter speed while shooting in low light conditions or at telephoto zoom range.
Lightning-Fast AF Performance and Shooting Speeds
The new RX100 VI model features a Fast Hybrid AF system that ultimately allows the camera to acquire focus in as little as 0.03 seconds. This innovative AF system combines the respective advantages of 315-point focal-plane phase-detection AF points that cover approximately 65% of the sensor and contrast-detection AF. This high-speed focusing system complements the versatile 24-200mmirange of the lens, ensuring all subjects can be captured with precise detail and clarity.
Additionally, a first for the RX100 series of cameras, the RX100 VI includes Sony’s advanced High-density Tracking AF technology, which concentrates AF points around a subject to improve tracking and focus accuracy. The popular Eye AF technology is also available with approximately 2x the tracking performance of the current RX100 series model. Furthermore, the camera has LCD touch focusing and touchpad focus point control for users that would like to drag their fingers to ideal focus points of their choice.
An ideal complement to the AF system, the RX100 VI offers continuous high-speed shooting at up to 24 fps with full AF/AE tracking, with an impressive buffer limit of up to 233 images. The display lag of the EVF has been substantially reduced compared to prior models, allowing shooters to capture the decisive moment with ultimate confidence. Also, continuously shot images can now be played back in a group on display instead of individually making it more convenient to review.
The RX100 VI also has a high-speed Anti-Distortion Shutter (maximum shutter speed of up to 1/32000 second) that reduces the “rolling shutter” effect commonly experienced with fast-moving subjects, and can shoot completely silently in all modes, including continuous high-speed shooting, when electronic shutter is engaged. A mechanical shutter mode is also available as well if required by the user.
Advanced Movie Capabilities Including 4K HDR
The pocket-friendly RX100 VI is packed with a variety of video capabilities that will satisfy even the most demanding video enthusiasts.
With Fast Hybrid AF, the focal-plane phase-detection AF points ensures accurate focusing and tracking performance, even for the severe focusing requirements of 4Kvii movie shooting. AF drive speed and AF tracking sensitivity can also be adjusted via the menu system, giving shooters plenty of flexibility based on their focusing preferences.
In 4K mode, the new RX100 VI utilises full pixel readout without pixel binning to ensure that all the finer details of 4Kvii video are captured with minimal moire and ‘jaggies’.
For the first time in a Cyber-shot camera, the RX100 VI features 4K HDR compatibility thanks to its new HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma) picture profile that offers an instant HDR workflow solution. Additional professional-calibre video features include S-Log3/S-Gamut3, 120p Full HD mode, Picture Profile, proxy recording and more. The RX100 VI is able to record superslow motion video at either 250 fps, 500 fps or 1000 fps.
Premium Design, Control and Convenience
The new RX100 VI is equipped with a high-contrast 2.35 million dot XGA OLED Tru-Finder™ with ZEISS® T* Coating, ensuring true-to-life image preview and playback functionality. The EVF itself retracts in and out of the camera body based on user preference, and can be activated instantly by a single One-push Access button.
A first for Sony’s RX series, RX100 VI has a touch shutter that can be activated by tapping the back LCD screen, a zoom lever with customisable zoom speeds and an LCD that can be rotated 180 degrees upward or 90 degrees downward for a variety of shooting angles for the creator. There is also a Monitor Auto OFF function that boosts max number of still images by up to 30%, and the camera is also Wi-Fi®, NFC™ and Bluetooth® compatible.
Pricing and Availability
The new Sony Cyber-shot RX100 VI compact camera will ship in Europe in July priced approximately £1,150.
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Another Sony story! Is Steve Huff sleeping well nowadays?
Careful Mike. Those Leica launch event invitations will dry up if this continues.
I hope that you realise that you can only put a Sony into an Artist and Artisan bag.
Anyway is that price right? If it is maybe it’s a taste of what’s to come as the pound settles down post Brexit.
Sony has recently started sending press releases and I think I owe it to myself to keep familiar with developments in the photographic world. Despite previous reservations on the marque, it is clear Sony is now in the forefront of innovation. But this doesn’t mean I’ve abandoned my favourite Leicas and Panasonics. I don’t even own a Sony at this stage.
Sadly the price is right and it isn’t specifically anything to do with Brexit. The fall in the value of the pound hasn’t helped, of course, but camera prices have been on an upwards trajectory for the past couple of years. Sub-£1,000 or sub-$1,000 Cameras have suddenly become sub-2,000. Oddly, Leica prices appear not to have risen so rapidly and the difference between Wetzlar’s finest and leading mainstream models such as the Sony A9 is narrowing.
I think this is something we are seeing throughout the world and it must also be so in Australia.
Mike , one of the leading Sydney retailers is advertising the Sony RX10 VI at A$1699 which equates to £967 so it is about 16% lower in Australia .Some of the difference is down to tax- our GST is only 10% against the UK VAT at 20%-but it still looks as if the UK price carries some element of premium.
However with the same retailer the silver Leica Q retails for A$6210 which equates to £3533 . Red Dot is retailing the silver Q at £3770. Adjusting for the tax difference the underlying Aus price is marginally higher than the UK.
So if you want a cheaper Sony or Q come to Australia although the price difference won’t cover your airfare.
To be frank, I think that the pop-up viewfinder is silly.
If there is enough real estate inside the body to accommodate it when pressed down, then there is surely enough space to accommodate it in the top left corner, integrated into the body ( a la lumix LFf, Leica C).
Someone at Sony isn’t thinking hard enough.
The pop-up viewfinder isn’t my favourite feature of the RX100 but then I haven’t used one. Perhaps Sony will be kind enough to send one for review. The Panasonic equivalent (TS200 or something) is something to compare it against and I hope to be able to borrow one of those soon. That has an even longer zoom but keeps the more traditional corner finder. I hear it could become the next Leica as a replacement for the Leica C. It will certainly be worth comparing with the RX100.
Anyway, what’s with all this Ozzie ganging up on Sony? This comes suspiciously soon after the traditional coffee morning in Terrigal. No wonder I felt my earls burning earlier in the week.
Hi Michael. Nope, no conspiracy from over here on the other side of the world. My message and John X1’s were posted quite independently this morning.
In fact, I do quite like Sony compacts of yesteryear. I took one trekking to Everest base camp in 2012. With its little Zeiss lens it provided some exceptional images of a unique place. And its little inbuilt ovf was great in strong sunshine at altitude, hence my strong feeling that the Heath Robinson pop-up viewfinder is a backward step for the later Sony RX100 compacts.
I guess that some fans of the later RX100 series would say that there just isn’t enough room on the rear to have an uppy outy foldy lcd as well as a small evf. My reply would be to get Sony designers to maintain the folding lcd but use one with efficient edge usage. It looks like there is wasted space all around the perimeter of the current lcd, such that a physically smaller unit could be provided, whilst still retaining the same actual image size. This would allow the evf to be maintained inside the body while still keeping the folding lcd in the spec sheet.
Finally, related to this point, many people who are willing to pay top end price of this compact are of the demographic who like an inbuilt viewfinder. They are responsible for the move of mirrorless and related back into including viewfinders in recent years. Maybe the Sony designers are stacked with techie types and not actual photographers. Perhaps they should talk to the masses.
I tend to agree but Sony is hardly going to listen to us, I fear. On a related subject, I saw someone sticking up for Sony menus on the basis that they were designed by engineers for engineers. Perfectly navigable if you know what you are doing.
Does this make the original RX10 out of date? Of course, I know the RX10 series is now bordering on the stratospheric with its zoom……
I played with the RX10 when it first came out and decided it was too bulky, especially for a camera with a one-inch sensor. The same applies to the Panasonic Lumix FZ1000/Leica V-Lux. While that 400mm (?) maximum reach is useful, it comes at a price of portability. The RX100 VI, I suspect, will be very popular and could well eat into the sales of the RX10 — unless they come out with a much better RX10 which is more than likely.
I will be buying one for my favourite daughter.
Lucky daughter!