Hi my name is Marcin Lewandowski and you are watching AdoramaTV.
One of the best, if not the best, compacts in existence, I bring you the
Sony RX100 IV.
I think that the specs describing its capabilities are well known to everyone
by now. Just in case, we have a bright Zeiss lens, 20MP on a 1 inch sensor, up to 1/32000 sec
shutter speed, 4K video, thousand frames per second slow motion,
an electronic viewfinder, a tilting flash. All of this and more fitted in a
pocketable metal body. The camera is definitely geared toward photographers as it
provides total manual control over all of its functions. It has customizable
menus, three memory banks for various settings and re-programmable
buttons. If we spend a bit of time tweaking these to our needs, it becomes a really
personal tool with all functions we most need literally at our fingertips.
An interesting feature is its capability to change any options without really turning the
camera on. Just press play, menu, voila. A tilting 3 inch screen at the back that
allows us to shoot from wonky angles can also be swung around for that
all-important selfie. It will even provide us with a counter to strike a
pose. The screen as well as EVF apply all camera settings on the fly so we get what we
see not only in terms of composition with its 100% coverage but also
color, light intensity etc. The same happens when we use, for example,
different color profiles like the cinematic s-log 2 . The Viewfinder is
also doubly handy as its activation can trigger, turning the camera on and off.
This is in my opinion the quickest way to get the RX100 ready for action when using
the viewfinder. The shutter of this little gem is something I would love to
see on my DSLR's. I mean, 1/32000 of a second and the possibility to
make it completely silent by switching to the electronic shutter is something I
really miss in my other cameras. Another unique offering from RX100 is the manual
focus override with the ring around the lens which I would not
normally expect from a pocket camera. Diving into menus we find a
plethora of options to make for the roughing even more enjoyable. One of the
first ones that springs to mind is aspect ratio choice that only covers a cropped
portion of the picture and it's all retrievable in post. Another great addition
is the 3 stops ND filter. Flicking through the menus, we stumble
upon a folder called Application. This is where we can install apps to further
the camera's already extensive capabilities. It's initially empty but I
immediately downloaded time-lapse, double exposure and phone sync apps, rendering the
camera an even better tool to grab things in whatever way I choose.
In whatever way I choose also includes its physical capabilities, namely image
stabilization, AKA SteadyShot, which is simply spectacular. Over half a second hand held
exposure is not a problem and when filming, I feel almost like I'm using
steady cam, just see for yourself. The Sony RX100 IV raises the bar so
high in terms of compact cameras that it created a spot for itself, and not
only produces rich files with 13 stops of dynamic range but can record
Steadicam style video in very high resolution. It's my pocket camera of choice
and I imagine it's a first choice for anyone serious about photography that
needs the smallest possible body without too many constraints in terms of quality
and control.
If you would like more info about the RX100 IV, have a look at the six part blog I wrote for Adorama Learning
Center. Don't forget to subscribe to AdoramaTV channel for more. This is much another
This was Marcin Lewandowski for AdoramaTV. See you soon.