This is the RX100 VII from Sony.
It's the latest in our RX100 Series line of products.
What's great about it is that the image sensor inside is brand new.
It uses the same structure as our α9 interchangeable-lens camera,
in terms of its sensor, so it benefits from lots of things
that the α9 can do as well.
It can output data really quickly, which enables it to check focus
60 times per second.
So you can shoot at 20fps with full auto-focus
and full auto-exposure.
That's at full resolution in raw or JPEG.
But because of that high-speed sensor, it's able to check
the focus up to 3 times between each shot.
You will also get blackout-free shooting, so that means that when
you are shooting at 20fps, you don't get any blackout on the viewfinder
or the LCD screen on the back. You see the action as live, which is
great for following moving subjects.
Of course you can shoot fully silently, and with the
electronic shutter on here, you can shoot up to 1/32,000 of a second,
and because of the high-speed readout, it also has an
anti-distortion function on there, so unlike conventional
electronic shutters, you get minimal distortion on your images.
The auto-focus system on the RX100 VII is outstanding.
It has 357 phase-detection auto-focus points,
covering 68% of the image sensor.
That combines with 425 contrast-detection points as well,
to perform with hybrid auto-focus.
Phase detection is a type of auto-focus used on
interchangeable-lens cameras.
It's really good because it can be very quick, and it's
good at tracking moving subjects.
Contrast detection is a type of auto-focus conventionally used on
camcorders and compact cameras. It can be very accurate.
This phase detection and contrast detection combine
to deliver a superb auto-focus experience.
The camera can focus in 0.02 seconds, so extremely quickly
And on top of that, you get real-time tracking.
That was a feature that we developed for our α9 version 5 firmware.
It means that, conventionally, when you're trying to track a subject,
you normally put a focus point over your subject and try and move
the camera around and keep it in-line with your subject.
With real-time tracking, you can use a focus point or the touchscreen
to select your subject, and thanks to the artificial intelligence
inside the camera, it will be able to recognise your subject and follow it
across the screen.
The artificial intelligence is actually looking at
lots of different types of information. So it can look at information
relating to the eye, the face, colour, pattern and distance
of your subject.
So for example, if you were trying to take a picture of a person,
it would be able to recognise that they were a human.
It would then be able to focus on the eye.
If it couldn't see the eye, it would then focus on the face.
and if it can't see the face — maybe because your subject
turned away — using the colour, pattern and
distance information, it would still recognise
that they're your subject, and it would still continue to
focus on them.
In addition to this, we also have real-time eye auto-focus.
Sony has been leading the way in terms of eye auto-focus
being able to track your subject on the eye, because the eye
is the ideal the ideal place for portrait photography
where you want to focus.
Now, it's even better than before, enabling you to track your subject
no matter where they are across the frame,
and be able to do that superbly quickly.
We also have animal eye auto-focus built in,
so the camera can also recognise the eyes of animals.
You might want to do that because, if you were taking a picture
of your dog or your cat, you don't want the camera to focus
on the nose or the ear. Even with your animal, you want it to
focus directly on the eye.
The image quality from the RX100 VII is outstanding.
It uses a 1-inch sensor, which is about four times bigger than a normal
compact camera sensor. But it's a new sensor developed
for this model.
That combines with a 24–200 mm F2.8–4.5 Zeiss lens.
But furthermore, colour reproduction has been worked on
very hard with this model. So even though it sounds very similar
to the RX100 VI, you get even better image quality
coming out of the RX100 VII.
Added on to that, the lens is also stabilised, so it gives you
up to four stops of effective correction.
In terms of video, the RX100 VII can do 4K HDR.
It can do full pixel readout without pixel binning.
What does that mean?
Well, traditionally, cameras have many more pixels than you need for 4K.
A single frame of 4K would require
about 8 megapixels' worth of information.
but on a lot of camera sensors, we have many more than that.
To deal with the information, sometimes in the past manufacturers
have done line skipping, where they lose information
from the sensor; or pixel binning, where you combine pixels together
and average out the information.
But with the RX100 VII, we do full pixel readout
without pixel binning.
This means we treat every pixel individually, and
we use that information to create your 4K file.
What happens then is that you do what we call "oversampling":
you have more pixels than you require for that 4K file,
and the end result is a really detailed 4K image.
We also have HDR built in, so that's a HLG function.
That means that you can create HDR content straight out of the camera
without having to grade.
So if you have a compatible 4K HDR TV, or maybe you are
creating HDR content for YouTube, you can shoot it
straight out-of-camera and use it straight away.
The RX100 VII has Super Slow Motion built in,
so thanks to the high-speed sensor, it's able to shoot at 250fps, 500fps
or 1000fps for up to 40× slow motion,
which can give you really cool results.
In terms of the auto-focus, that hybrid auto-focus of
phase detection and contrast detection is also applicable to your movie mode.
You can also use the touchscreen, and you've got real-time tracking
built into there.
For the first time on our RX Series, we also have eye auto-focus
built in for movies.
furthermore for video, we also now have a microphone socket
built in, so you can have a 3.5-mm jack microphone,
and put it straight in there.
And we thank that would be great for content creators, combined
with a 180° tilt screen.
Add on to that advanced features such as Picture Profiles,
like S-Log2 and S-Log3 that we have with some of our
professional camcorders,
and proxy file recording and you have a really strong
feature makeup on the RX100 VII.
In terms of operability, The RX100 VII is a delight to use.
You have a built-in OLED viewfinder which just pops up,
and that's great in terms of colour, contrast and detail,
and enables you to compose in a traditional manner,
and is really useful when you're in sunny conditions.
The menu system is very similar to a lot of our recent α cameras.
So you have options in there like My Menu, where you can
group together settings that you commonly use.
The Fn button, which is on the back, is normally used for bringing up
a row of 12 different options here.
Now, similar to our α7R IV, you can actually customise that differently
between the still modes on the dial, and also the movie mode.
added into this, you have the capability to protect your images,
and even add star ratings onto them.
It gives you the performance of a professional camera in a compact.
Wi-Fi and NFC are built in to the RX100 VII,
so you can download our Imaging Edge mobile app
for iOS or Android, and you can either control the camera
from your smartphone, or you can easily transfer footage
from the camera to your smartphone itself.
There's also our Imaging Edge Movie Edit add-on,
where you can quickly and easily edit, and add different effects on to,
your movie on the go.
The RX100 VII is ideal for somebody who is looking for a second camera
to go along with their interchangeable-lens camera.
They might want to use it on the same project, or even take it
instead of that interchangeable-lens camera,
knowing that it has amazing auto-focus — being able to
check the focus 60 times per second — that real-time tracking system
built within there, and eye auto-focus in stills or movie,
as well as great image quality in that 1-inch sensor
and that flexible 24–200 mm lens.
The high specifications for movie means that this will also
appeal to a lot of content creators, who are on the go,
wanting to create really high-quality footage,
with external audio, and also being able to easily track
with auto-focus them or things around them.