Lots of people these days – rightly or wrongly – have old film cameras gathering dust on said shelves purely for the look, which never actually do what they were intended to do.

With that in mind, it makes perfect sense to just cut out the middle part and have an ornament on your shelf that looks – certainly from a distance – like the “real” thing, but is in fact anything but. When it’s made out of LEGO you also have the added bonus of the time well-spent putting it together too.

The LEGO OneStep SX-70 – At A Glance

• 516 pieces
• Age 18+
• Camera, film box and prints included
• Real ejection mechanism
• Price: £69.99
• lego.com

Step forward the LEGO Polaroid OneStep SX-70 Camera, which is one of two LEGO cameras launched in January 2024 – the other being the Retro Camera 3-in-1 build which also has plenty of old school vibes but is considerably cheaper, so is also worth considering (if you’re like me, you’ll have ended up with both of course).

Some of the pieces for the LEGO Polaroid SX-70. Image credit: Amy Davies

The Polaroid set is designated as one of LEGO’s “18+” sets, with its primary audience being adults – known as AFOLs – Adult Fans of LEGO – in the LEGO community. This is also reflected in the price point, which at £69.99 is not super cheap and is likely to appeal mostly to camera and photography aficionados who also occupy the central space of the Venn diagram with LEGO enthusiasts (somewhere I sit firmly).

This set is also an “IDEAS” set, which means that the original idea came from a fan, rather than a LEGO employee. Ideas can be voted on by the public and those which are popular can be properly designed and put into production. There’s been lots of such IDEAS sets in the past, with many of them being LEGO recreations of real objects – such as a typewriter.

The LEGO Polaroid OneStep SX-70. Image credit: Amy Davies

An interesting one that is currently available to vote on is a Leica M6. There’s nearly a year left to run on the idea, but it already has several hundred supporters – it’ll need to get to 10,000 before LEGO will consider turning it into a real set. Fingers crossed it makes it across the line as I’d love to add it to my shelf next to the OneStep SX-70.

The Polaroid OneStep SX-70 was posted on the Ideas page in early 2022, reaching the magic 10,000 in less than two months and being approved by LEGO in the same year. Looking at the finished build next to the original idea reveals that it’s very similar – as you would expect it to be as it’s essentially aiming to emulate, as closely as possible, a real object.

The box of for the LEGO Polaroid OneStep. Image credit: Amy Davies

It has been designed by Marc Corfmat (known as Minibrick Productions), who, as we learn from the included instruction manual, is a mechanical engineering student – go figure.

I’m a reasonably experienced LEGO builder, but I tried to approach this set as if I was picking it up for the first time, perhaps since childhood. If I had to guess, a lot of our readers may be tempted in by this set having not put together a set for some time. I’ve also built the 3-in-1 Retro Camera too – look out for a review soon.

LEGO Polaroid OneStep SX-70 Camera: Build Quality

This is the first LEGO set I’ve encountered which uses paper bags for the packaging of the bricks inside the box – paper has been promised to replace the plastic for a while, so it’s good to see it finally starting to happen, helping to give the product more sustainably – and I think it also adds to the “classiness” of the set, something which you might expect or hope for considering its price point.

The paper packaging inside the box is a step away from unsustainable plastic (though there is still some as you can see). Image credit: Amy Davies

As well as the brick packets, there’s also the fairly hefty instruction manual. Inside it you’ll of course learn how to put together the OneStep SX-70, but you’ll also learn some interesting facts about the build design, its designer, and even the history of the Polaroid, too – all excellent touches and again reflective of the high price point.

The bricks are separated into four different packages, which you approach in order as you move through the instruction manual. Personally I find this is a good way to “portion out” my LEGO builds, if for example my time is restricted or I know I need to do something else in between – I know I can complete a bag or two and save the rest for another time.

The starting instructions for the LEGO Polaroid SX-70. Image credit: Amy Davies

I was able to complete the set in a couple of sessions of about an hour each – as mentioned, I’m a reasonably experienced LEGO builder, so the time may vary. There’s no rush though – and naturally a lot of the enjoyment of LEGO is the build process so why not take your time to enjoy putting it together.

If you’ve put together any LEGO recently, you’ll be familiar with how the instructions work – everything is pictorial and fairly obvious to follow for the most part. This is a set designated as “18+”, so you can expect some trickier parts than you might find in something designed for kids.

This is particularly true for the mechanism which ejects the film, which makes use of some slightly fiddly construction elements, which you need to make sure you build correctly – follow the instructions as carefully as you can and don’t be afraid to go back to double check you’ve put all the pieces exactly where they should be. I’ll admit here that I asked my husband for help as the mechanism wasn’t working properly – he’s an even more experienced AFOL and I knew he’d be able to spot the problem far quicker than I. It was something which was entirely my fault however, but it’s worth remembering to check and double check those instructions.

The SX-70 Film Pack. Image credit: Amy Davies

A nice touch is that the camera comes with a film “pack” to store the “prints” in. Here we’ve got some actual printed pieces, whereas elsewhere in the set stickers are used. Actual printed pieces invariably look better, but of course cost LEGO more to put into production – so it’s nice to see them included on a set at this price.

For the actual camera, you have the choice to affix a sticker which says OneStep or a sticker which says “1000” – this is because the OneStep SX-740 was called the Polaroid 1000 in Europe, so you may feel inclined to use this sticker instead if you remember it that way.

Another sticker is used for the exposure dial on the front of the camera. This looks pretty good, but already the sticker is starting to come away – so again, a real printed piece would have been better if possible. One of the big problems with attaching stickers is that they’re so small, it can be fiddly to get them aligned well. A pro tip here is to use the brick separator that comes with the kit – stick the edge of the sticker on the tip of the separator, using it to line up where you want it exactly before placing it down permanently. That extra bit of dexterity can really come in handy, rather than relying on one’s own fat fingers alone.

The SX-70 about half way through the building process. Image credit: Amy Davies

Another nice touch of this set is that the viewfinder is “real” – as in you can look through it. It’s a clever touch, that means you can play with the camera as if it actually is a genuine OneStep. The film slot at the front can be accessed by folding down a door at the front – here you can insert the fake prints supplied with the set, then (assuming you’ve built it correctly, gulp), press the shutter button on the front and watch with amazement as a real print pops out of the slot. That’s a really neat play feature which helps elevate the set above pure “ornament” and explains why it commands a high price.

The “prints” that are included show Edwin Land, the inventor of the Polaroid, a picture of LEGO HQ, and in a cute touch, a picture of the designer’s sister. The prints have a special coating on and feel as if they would withstand quite a lot of insertion and ejection from the slot – certainly more than enough before you get bored of showing it off. In theory I guess you could also make your own prints to insert here too. I haven’t tried it with any “real” Polaroid prints, but, even if the size is the same, the LEGO prints are much stiffer, so I don’t think real prints would work here in quite the same way, or withstand the mechanism.

Interior view of the shutter release mechanism – as you can see there are some slightly fiddly pieces to contend with at this point, but be patient and thorough and you’ll get there. Image credit: Amy Davies

Unlike with the Retro Camera 3-in-1 set, the “lens” on the front of the set contains no clear plastic elements. The large black pieces that make up this element however looks pretty convincing from a distance, giving a great overall impression of the real thing.

A rear view of the SX-70 – showing the viewfinder, which you can actually look through, neat. Image credit: Amy Davies

LEGO Polaroid OneStep SX-70 Camera: Verdict

Overall, this is a wonderfully designed set and certainly looks striking on a shelf. Indeed, it looks like the real thing – definitely from a short distance away.

The build itself is enjoyable – if a little fiddly at times (you might say that’s part of the fun though, figuring it out) – and is a great way to spend an afternoon putting it together.

The SX-70 with the film pack and prints. Image credit: Amy Davies

Is it worth the £69.99 price point? Although quite a high price, the play features, including the film ejection and the working viewfinder, make it feel like reasonably good value – as well as the fact that it looks so close to the original real deal. I’d perhaps value it at closer to the £50-£60 mark, but you always do expect to pay a slightly higher price for these “Ideas” sets, especially those not intended for quite such a mass market as other sets.

We might see some discounts, depending on how well the set is selling – but it’s equally true that it might be difficult to get hold of if it finds itself a favourable audience. If you’ve got your heart set on owning this, I probably wouldn’t wait too long, but if you’re on the fence, waiting to see if it comes down in price might be worth the gamble.

That said, I can see this being a very popular set with both LEGO and Polaroid / general photography enthusiasts, and had it been available at Christmas time, being top of the “best gifts for photographers” type lists you see populating the internet in November/December – you can surely expect to see it on the Christmas 2024 buying guides.

Related reading:

• New photo book shows off the world of LEGO photography
• Polaroid brings back the classic instant camera with launch of the new OneStep 2
• Rankin shoots portraits to mark LEGO’s 90th anniversary

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Designed to be used by kids on camp, this 8MP digital camera doesn’t have a screen, meaning kids can stay in the moment, rather than being distracted by a screen and reviewing photos. This is something that adults could also benefit from. 

The Camp Snap camera is a great looking camera. Photo JW/AP

The Camp Snap Camera has a total of one button, and one switch. You use the shutter release button to switch the camera on, take photos, and then hold it down to switch the camera off. The switch on the back is used to set the flash to On, Off, and Auto. And that’s it.

A small screen on the back counts how many photos you’ve taken, and to compose your shots, you use the optical viewfinder. I’m not aware of any other camera that’s as simple and uncomplicated to use as this. There’s no Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to complicate matters, and you don’t have to connect it to a phone to compose your shots. Just look through the viewfinder, and snap!  

Camp Snap Camera Key Features 

• 8MP CMOS Sensor
• Fixed focus f/3.2 lens
• Optical viewfinder
• No screen / screen-free
• USB type-C
• Rechargeable battery (600mAh, non-removable)
• LED flash
• 4GB MicroSD card included
• Available in several colours
• $65 / £68 

The controls are simple and easy to use, with just a shutter release button, and flash switch. The shutter release button is also the on/off switch. Photo JW/AP

It looks a little like a vintage Kodak instamatic, or the newer Kodak half-frame film cameras, but rather than spending money on film processing, you can simply plug in a USB cable and get your photos off the camera.  

This digital camera may look like a retro camera, and whilst you can buy a vintage digital camera, in comparison with this you get all the mod-cons, such as modern USB connections, with USB type-C on the bottom (and a USB type-C cable in the box).  

Underneath the Camp Snap camera you’ll find a covered USB-C socket and a MicroSD card slot, covered with a plastic cover. Photo JW/AP

Also on the bottom is the MicroSD card slot, with a pre-installed 4GB MicroSD card, which is kept in place under a small plastic cover. To change this, you’ll need a small screwdriver, this makes it more child friendly, as it’ll be difficult to accidentally lose the memory card, and all you photos. 4GB should be enough for over 1000 photos. 

The photos produced also offer a simpler, more vintage look, and if you want to switch to black and white, you can apply a firmware to the camera from Camp Snap’s website. It would be nice if you could use the switch on the back to switch between colour and black and white, for example, if you didn’t want to use the flash feature.  

On the back is the counter with RED numbers, and the flash switch with on/off and auto settings. Photo JW/AP

The flash on the camera is a small LED light, that’s best avoided, as colours are often somewhat off when using this.  

Unlike some other budget cameras, this 8MP digital camera, is actually an 8MP digital camera! There’s a fixed focus lens, and EXIF information reports the lens as having an f/3.2 aperture. The lens is roughly around 35-40mm equivalent.  

These types of cameras used to be called “toy cameras” or “Lo-Fi cameras” but now there’s a fresh resurgence in vintage styled film cameras, so why not have a vintage styled digital camera? 

Camp Snap Camera Image quality 

In good light, outdoors, the camera will give images that have a certain charm. They are low in dynamic range, with a vintage 80s/90s film look to them, as colours can often look somewhat off. As light levels drop, noise can appear and give a nostalgic look, especially if you end up with a finger in the frame.  

Camp Snap camera, outdoors on a mostly grey day. Photo Joshua Waller

Spca1628 · f/3.2 · 1/50s · 7.4545454545455mm · ISO200

In low-light, and indoors images are not great, with noise, under-exposed shots, and generally poor results. If you’re prepared to convert your images to black and white (or install the black and white filter) then images can look better.  

Low dynamic range can add to the vintage look, along with stray fingers in the shot! Photo Joshua Waller

Spca1628 · f/3.2 · 1/99s · 7.4545454545455mm · ISO200

The slowest shutter speed the camera will use is 1/33s, and the highest ISO speed is ISO800. It’s all automatic, with no control over shooting what-so-ever, except for the use of flash. If you do use flash, then colours can end up with a blue tint, so it’s best avoided. 

Even in low-light, the slowest shutter speed used is 1/33s. Photo Joshua Waller

Spca1628 · f/3.2 · 1/33s · 7.4545454545455mm · ISO800

This camera isn’t really designed for ultimate image quality, and any smartphone will easily give significantly better results. However, it’s the general ease of use, vintage styling, lack of screen, and nostalgic looking images that give this camera real appeal. A retro styled camera with a simple viewfinder is incredibly easy to hold and use.

Value for money

This is certainly a strong point of this camera available, directly from Campsnapphoto.com, for around $65 / £68 (inc taxes and shipping to UK), this is roughly half the price of most compact digital cameras, and similar in price to some film cameras. 

The low price helps make up for the lack of screen and more advanced features, and makes this a camera you can take anywhere without worrying too much about it being dropped, damaged, or stolen.  

Camp Snap Camera Verdict 

Is this camera for everyone? Of course not, but for those that want something simple, fun, and affordable, this can be a great camera to use. If you’re bored of the complexity and worry when taking photos, and want to simply press a big shutter button, then this camera could be for you.  

There’s something nice about looking through a viewfinder, not worrying about the technical details, not worrying about how much your camera cost, and simply pressing the shutter button, not knowing what the results will be. And once you’ve bought this camera, it’s much cheaper than the alternatives such as shooting film!  

Camp Snap Camera in brown. Photo Joshua Waller

If you can live with the shutter delay when shooting, then you’ll be able to enjoy using this camera, but this does make it difficult to capture fleeting moments. Image quality can be hit and miss as well, but at roughly $65 / £68, some of theses things can be forgiven. 

For more options have a look at our guide to the best vintage digital cameras, or have a look at classic compact digital cameras.

Nb. for future product development, it would be nice to see a reduced shutter release delay, as well as an option of using the switch on the back to switch between black and white and colour shooting. A macro switch would also be a neat addition to future models, as well as the ability to sync the date/time of the camera.  

Numbers for nerds: HK8M-H278-V5.0 (mainboard), HK8M-K201.2 (sensor), EXIF make/model: Icatch Spca1628.

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Insta360 GO 3 at a glance:

• Starts at $400 / £400: check best price
• Thumbsize camera unit with easy magnetic mounting
• Range of kits available for different purposes
• Action Pod with flip-up touch screen included for vlogging, live preview and boosted battery life
• In the box – magnetic lanyard, easy clip, tripod mount, adhesive plate
• Available in three built-in storage options: 32GB, 64GB, 128GB
• insta360.com

GoPro has been the market leaders for compact action cameras for some time now, but the Insta360 GO 3 entered the fray with the GoPro Hero 11 and 11 Black Mini. The recent GoPro Hero12 Black with its HDR video, it must be said is in a class of its own.

Starting at $400 / £400 for a standalone 32GB Insta360 GO 3 and a few accessories (Action Pod, Lens Guard, Magnet Pendant, Pivot Stand and Easy Clip) there are a vast range of camera bundles and additional accessories to choose from that a range of individual needs, including content creators, action junkies and water sports lovers. There’s even a fetch stick available for playing with your dog.

The standard standalone Insta360 GO 3 camera bundle. Photo: Jessica Miller

X-T4 · f/5 · 1/110s · 37.6mm · ISO160

Insta360 GO 3 Features:

The main differences between the Insta360 GO 2 and GO 3 are the housing/charging case designs, video quality and battery life. The GO 3 comes with the new Action Pod featuring a 2.2inch flip-up touchscreen allowing for remote controlling and Live Preview for a hands-free point of view.

The Insta360 GO 3 features the same 11.24mm f/2.2 (35mm equivalent) camera that can capture images in 16:9, 9:16, 1:1 and 2.7:1 ratio and video in 16:9 and 9:16. The GO 3 also has two microphones and is Voice Control enabled.

Recording modes can be easily changed using the quick menu. Photo: Jessica Miller

X-T4 · f/8 · 1/125s · 80mm · ISO250

The Insta360 GO 3 features lots of creative shooting modes that have been fun to play around with. Including the FreeFrame video feature, as well as TimeShift (hyperlapse), Slow Motion, Timelapse, Starlapse and Interval capture features. The 360 degree Horizon Lock within the FreeFrame video mode keeps footage level, a feature that would be beneficial in all modes available on the camera.

The Insta360 Studio app, available for iOS and Android, gives you the option of recording, processing your files and editing. Plus, when shooting in FreeFrame mode, you can make readjustments to field of view or change aspect ratios in the app with ease.

Photo: Jessica Miller

X-T4 · f/4.5 · 1/160s · 63mm · ISO160

Action Pod

The GO 3 camera snaps into the Action Pod housing, turning it into what looks like a more traditional action camera. The flip-up screen is a great addition for selfies and vlogging. The housing consists of power, shutter and quick menu control buttons, along with clip assisted magnetic clamps on the base that can be securely mounted to accessories.

When docked in the Action Pod, recording time and battery life of the camera is boosted. The larger 310mAh battery allows the GO 3 camera alone to offer about 45 minutes of continuous recording at 1080p but combined with the Action Pod, which doubles as a charging case, this increases to 170 minutes.

The Action Pod also offers wireless control of the GO 3 camera, even when the camera isn’t docked in the housing. Preview footage shown on the Action Pod is compressed to increase viewing speed. Hence, when testing the connectivity between the GO 3 camera and the Action Pod, I found that the connection and live preview would freeze and pixelate before disconnecting at around 10 metres – but still record the footage.

The Insta 360 GO 3. Photo: Jessica Miller

X-T4 · f/5.6 · 1/250s · 34.2mm · ISO160

Insta360 GO 3 Build and handling:

The Insta360 GO 3 camera weighs in at a mighty 35g – making it one of the most wearable and easily portable cameras around. The camera is magnetic, making mounting to a vast range of metal surfaces (fridge doors, lamp posts for example) and Insta360 accessories convenient.

The camera design itself is clean and very simple, as well as being easy to use. The front of the camera features the lens, the lower section of the body acts as a button to start and stop recording, plus an LED light to let you know its current status, e.g. recording or charging, and two microphone ports. Even when the camera is off, pressing the body to start the camera will start recording instantly – thanks to Quick Capture.

The Insta360 GO 3 camera is approximately the size of my little finger and can fit in the palm of your hand. Making it a very portable piece of kit. Photo: Jessica Miller

X-T4 · f/5.6 · 1/280s · 34.2mm · ISO160

The camera has waterproofing down to 4.87m, making it suitable for sports and activities on both land and in water. However, the ActionPod is only rain and splashproof – which I found to be a big disadvantage being an avid swimmer and paddleboarder. I wouldn’t recommend taking the camera into water without other water-specific accessories or attachments, given it’s so small it could also be easily lost or forgotten. If you want to take the combined kit into the water, you’ll need to purchase the Dive Case separately ($60 /£60) – which allows you to take it down to up to 60m.

Standard photo, linear. Photo: Jessica Miller

The Action Pod provides a single USB-C port that allows for charging and data transfers. Connectivity is also available through Bluetooth 5.0 and 5GHz WiFi. The unit does not contain a MicroSD card slot for extra storage, so if considering this model, it’s worth thinking about the space you need. The camera comes in three different storage options 32GB, 64GB, 128GB.

A Water Sports bundle or additional accessories are available for water sports. Insta360 GO 3 inside the Diving Case, mounted on the Floating Hand Grip. Photo: Jessica Miller

X-T4 · f/6.4 · 1/500s · 23.5mm · ISO320

Mounting on accessories like the Pivot Stand and Easy Clip, and even metal surfaces, allows for creative footage and photos from interesting points of view. I found the magnetic connection between the camera and accessories to be very strong, so I wasn’t concerned about the camera falling out. Nor do I find it obtrusive when wearing the camera, due to being lightweight.

The adjustable Magnetic Pendant is a versatile accessory you can wear under your clothing making it a great POV piece of kit that most cameras won’t be able to achieve. It also comes with an Angle Adjustment Insert, which does what it says in the name: adjusts the angle of the camera. Likewise, the Mini 2-in-1 tripod is not only a small extendable tripod, but also a selfie stick – handy and useful piece of kit when travelling.

The Magnetic Pendant can be worn beneath clothing for an interesting POV. Photo: Jessica Miller

X-T4 · f/7.1 · 1/125s · 52.4mm · ISO250

The Easy Clip fits perfectly fine with a baseball cap. The camera piece alone fits into this accessory, it snaps in with ease and is very robust. On this occasion when running, the clip was secure and didn’t move. Accessories including a Head Strap, Chest Strap, Hand Mount and even a ND Filter set are also available.

Insta360 GO 3 clips onto surfaces like a baseball hat with ease, using the Easy Clip. Photo: Jessica Miller

X-T4 · f/4.5 · 1/500s · 42.9mm · ISO320

Insta360 GO 3 Performance and Image quality:

There is little to no progression in the image quality the GO 3 produces from the GO 2, with resolutions up to 2560 x 2560 6.6MP photos in 1:1 aspect ratio (2560×1440 3.7MP in 16:9). Images can be recorded in DNG RAW format as well as JPEG, allowing for some post-production freedom. There is also a manual photography mode for adjusting settings yourself. The Linear lens setting gives good results, with the Ultra-wide and Action lenses providing a lot of fish-eye style distortion in the centre of the frame – lens style can be changed within the app after recording so long as you have recorded using FreeFrame.

Recording can be done in 16:9 and 9:16 ratios in camera. Photo: Jessica Miller

X-T4 · f/5.6 · 1/125s · 56.5mm · ISO250

Standard 16:9 photo, Linear. Photo: Jessica Miller

Using FreeFrame editing in-app, changing the original 16:9 image above to 9:16. Photo: Jessica Miller

Using FreeFrame editing in-app, changing the original 16:9 image above to 1:1 square ratio. Photo: Jessica Miller

Despite it being an increase on the GO 2’s 1440p, video resolution is still much lower than the GoPro Hero 11’s 5.7k capabilities and doesn’t offer 4K recording. This little camera can shoot 2.7k video at 24/25/30 fps – but only in standard Video mode, Pre-recording and Loop Recording modes. Both photos and videos are clear and the quality will be enough for sharing on online platforms, like Youtube and Instagram with plenty of detail.

In addition, video and image recording is also available in 9:16 vertical format without needing to rotate the camera, making this a more accessible piece of kit for short-form content creators and TikTok users. When filming video in FreeFrame mode, edits of 16:9, 9:16 and 1:1 aspect ratios can be made from the same video footage, and easily changed in the Insta360 app (Note: you need to select the aspect ratio within the app and then export the footage to get this and will not work for standard video mode). It’s worth noting however that in FreeFrame, footage can only be captured up to 1440P at 50fps. Aspect ratio can also be changed within the app for all photos, including Film Pano and 2.7:1.

When it comes to audio, I have found it to be of good quality and clear when speaking. However, despite wind reduction being selected in settings in windy conditions, by the sea for example, all you can hear is the wind and any extra sound is broken up or eradicated.

FlowState Stabilization within the FreeFrame Video setting works extremely well, when doing a lot of movement the clips are really smooth with no shake. When recording standard video, you will still get smooth results with the in-camera stabilisation but with some shake or bouncing – e.g. when running. However, the level of stabilisation can be adjusted in the settings. The below video shows high level stabilisation.

The below video has been edited within the Insta360 app, changing the aspect ratio from the original 16:9 above to 9:16.

Verdict:

Part of the sell of the Insta360 GO 3 is its small size and ability to go completely hands-free – to forget about it for easy shots. Which is a big attraction. But the broad range of accessories available for different situations and the big positive of being able to shoot in 9:16 format, make the Insta360 GO 3 a well-designed, flexible piece of kit suitable for any creator.

However, despite having a lot of shooting capabilities and accessories, the limited image and video resolution is likely to not hit the mark for more serious users. Considering technologies have advanced to include 4K video and higher-resolution imagery, the GO 3 feels a bit behind. But for more casual users or creators not worried about the top-end specs, this would still make a fantastic option for capturing the action. For vloggers, likewise, the options for different point of view footage and social media users wanting to elevate their content, I can see this being a useful tool.

For more options, why not also have a look at the best vlogging cameras and waterproof cameras!

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Following on from the Leica Q of 2015 and the Q2 from 2019, the new Leica Q3 brings an. exciting slew of updates and new features. Chief among them are a higher-resolution 60MP full-frame sensor, a tilting screen, and significantly upgraded autofocus.

Leica Q3 at a glance:

• $5,995 / £5,300
• 60.3MP full-frame sensor
• 28mm f/1.7 optically stabilised lens
• ISO 50-100,000
• Up to 15 fps shooting
• 5.76m-dot, 0.76x viewfinder
• 3in, 1.84m-dot tilting screen
• 8K 30p; 4K 60p; Full HD 120p
• Leica.com

The Leica Q3 is a premium compact camera with a fixed 28mm f/1.7 lens. Image credit: Andy Westlake

The essentials that define a Q remain in place, however. On the front, there’s a fixed, optically stabilised 28mm f/1.7  lens, whose barrel plays host to traditional manual focus and aperture rings. The body is styled to be reminiscent of Leica’s M-series rangefinders, including a stepped top-plate, shutter speed dial, and rounded ends. There is also a large corner-mounted electronic viewfinder.

The screen now tilts up and down for waist-level or overhead shooting in landscape format. Image credit: Andy Westlake.

At £5300, the Leica Q3 is anything but mainstream. Perhaps the nearest thing it has to a competitor is the Fujifilm X100V, which uses a similar design but a smaller 26.2MP APS-C sensor and a narrower 35mm equivalent f/2 lens, for £1,350.

There’s also the pocket-sized Ricoh GR III for £949, with its 24MP APS-C sensor and 28mm equivalent f/2.8 lens. But this offers a very different shooting experience, as it has a fixed screen and no viewfinder.

While the Q3 is expensive, it’s not quite Leica’s classic M11 rangefinder, which costs £7,500 before even adding a lens. So what makes the Q3 so special?

Leica Q3: Features

Let’s look at the Leica Q3’s specifications in more detail. Firstly, it uses a variant of the excellent 60MP full-frame BSI-CMOS sensor, previously deployed in the M11. But here, it includes phase detection elements for autofocus; presumably, even more closely related to those used in the Sony Alpha A7R IV / A7R V and Sigma fp L. As on the M11, you don’t have to shoot in full resolution all the time, but can also record both JPEG and raw files at either 36MP or 18MP, when you don’t need such huge levels of detail and would rather save on card space.

The camera’s back is substantially rearranged, due to the addition of the tilting screen. Image credit: Andy Westlake

 As on previous Q models, the sensor is paired with a fixed Summilux 28mm f/1.7 ASPH lens, which employs 11 elements in 9 groups including three aspherical elements. This has a couple of unusual tricks. Unlike most full-frame large-aperture wideangle primes, it includes optical image stabilisation, which cleverly only kicks in at slow shutter speeds when it’s needed.

Also, while the standard minimum focus distance is about 30cm, twisting a ring at the back of the barrel shifts the lens into macro mode, so that it now focuses as close as 17cm. An attractive rectangular screw-on hood is included, and there’s a thread for 49mm filters.

Twisting a ring on the lens barrel shifts it into macro mode, reducing the minimum focus distance from 30 to 17cm. Image credit: Andy Westlake

In concert with the new Maestro IV processor, the sensor offers a standard sensitivity range of ISO 100-100,000, plus a ‘pulled’ ISO 50 setting. It also enables continuous shooting at up to 4 frames per second with continuous AF, and 15 frames per second with focus fixed, with a buffer of at least 63 shots in raw. Shutter speeds are available from 120sec to 1/2000sec using the in-lens mechanical shutter, extending to 1/16,000sec using the electronic shutter. For long exposures, you get a handy ‘T’ mode, which is far more convenient than the usual Bulb option, as one press of the button starts the exposure and a second ends it.

A rectangular lens hood is supplied, along with a chunky push-on metal cap. Credit: Andy Westlake

The new sensor also facilitates an addition to the camera’s Digital Zoom mode. This exploits the high-resolution sensor to enable in-camera cropping to match a familiar set of focal lengths. The image area is indicated by a frameline in the viewfinder, with the camera recording both a cropped JPEG and a full-resolution uncropped raw file alongside it. With the 35mm, 50mm and 75mm equivalent options already on the Q2, there’s a new 90mm setting on the Q3. These crop modes give 39MP, 19MP, 8MP and 6MP files respectively, which makes them genuinely useful – especially the 35mm and 50mm options.

There’s a hot shoe for external flash units, while the shutter button is threaded to accept a mechanical cable release. Image credit: Andy Westlake

Turning our attention to the autofocus system, Leica has brought on board plenty of extra ‘L²’ technology from its strategic alliance with Panasonic. Not only does the Q3 now include phase detection, promising five times quicker autofocus, it also gains subject recognition for people and animals. Interestingly, Leica says it also exploits Panasonic’s depth-from-defocus (DFD) system to build up a depth map of the scene.

The battery slots directly into the base, while the SD card lives behind a hinged door. Here you can also just see the contacts for the Q3’s unique wireless charging grip. Image credit: Andy Westlake

Other features new to the Q series include an intelligent Dynamic Range (iDR) option, which aims to boost JPEG shadow detail in high-contrast situations. There’s also a new Perspective Control option for fixing converging verticals, which previously appeared on the M11. When the camera is pointed upwards, it automatically detects the angle, which allows it to produce geometrically corrected JPEG files without any user input. But the really clever bit is that it draws trapezoid-shaped framelines live in the viewfinder (or onscreen), indicating the area that’ll end up in the final image.

Leica’s Perspective Control mode draws trapezoid framelines that indicate the final image area. Image credit: Andy Westlake

Another big upgrade is the Q3’s video potential, with the camera now supporting 8K recording at 30fps, 4K at 60 fps, or Full HD at 120fps. Leica has added an HDMI output for connecting to an external monitor or recorder and a USB-C port for power. Other advanced video features include ProRes recording, Leica’s L-log profile, and LUT compatibility.

All of this makes it a surprise that there’s no microphone socket for higher quality sound. Leica is promising a firmware update that will allow audio input via the USB-C port, and suggests that in the meantime, you can use an external recorder.

Leica has added a micro-HDMI port for video out, plus a USB-C port for connectivity, power delivery/charging, and in future, audio input. Image credit: Andy Westlake

When it comes to connectivity, both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are built-in for use with the Leica Fotos app for Android and iOS. This gives full remote control over the camera and allows both images and videos to be copied to your phone for sharing. Unusually, the camera can also be wired directly to iOS devices using Leica’s proprietary USB-C Lightning cable, which should give a more stable connection. Unfortunately, Android users have no such luck.

Leica Q3 key features:

Leica has maintained the essence of the Q design, while adding some compelling new features:

• Storage: A single UHS-II SD card slot is found in the base of the camera, behind a hinged door that’s right beside the tripod socket
• Power: Leica has introduced a higher-capacity BP-SCL6 Li-ion battery, which promises 350 shots per charge. It’s the same size and shape as the BP-SCL4 used by the Q2, and cross-compatible
• Connectors: There’s a micro-HDMI port for video output, along with are USB-C for power delivery, battery charging, and direction connection to an iPhone / iPad
• Wireless charge: Leica is offering the add-on HGF-DC1 Wireless Charging Handgrip, along with a charging pad that’s matched to the camera’s size and shape
• Shutter release: In a nod to Leica’s film-camera heritage, there’s a traditional screw-in cable release connector on the shutter release button
• Customise: A wide range of accessories is available, including leather straps and half-cases, plus metal thumb-rests, lens hoods, hot-shoe covers and soft-release buttons, in a choice of colours

Leica Q3: Build and Handling

From the front, the Q3 looks almost exactly like its predecessor, with the same classic styling. However, there’s a major change at the back: for the first time on a home-grown Leica camera, the screen now tilts up and down rather than being fixed. This has knock-on effects to certain aspects of the control layout and handling.

Like previous models the Q3 has focus and aperture rings on the lens, and a shutter speed dial on top. Image credit: Andy Westlake

For the most part, though, the Q3 offers a very similar experience to its predecessors. Needless to say for a £5,300 camera, build quality is exemplary, with a robust all-metal body shell that includes weather sealing to the IP 52 standard. At 743g it’s pretty weighty, but still feels surprisingly comfortable and secure in your hands, thanks to the signature curved ends. Crucially, the tilting screen mechanism feels just as robust as the rest of the camera, too.

The Q3 adheres to Leica’s philosophy of stripping a camera back to its essentials, and not getting bogged down with peripheral features and obscure menu settings. All the main shooting controls are essentially unchanged, meaning you get a set of traditional analogue control dials complemented by a modern electronic interface for secondary options. Along with aperture and focus rings on the lens, and a shutter speed dial on top, there’s also a thumb dial to set exposure compensation or fine-tune shutter speeds, with a button in its centre for changing ISO. A 4-way d-pad on the rear is used for positioning the focus area.

The Q3’s revised rear control layout is perhaps aesthetically less pleasing, but operationally it’s an improvement. Image credit: Andy Westlake

All these key controls are well placed for shooting with the camera to your eye. The manual focus ring is lovely and smooth, while the dials operate with satisfying clicks. This brings a real tactile pleasure to using the camera, and makes it extremely engaging to shoot with.

The tilting screen does, however, necessitate a change in the rear control layout, as there’s no space for the column of three buttons that ran down the left side of the screen on the Q2. As a result, the Play and Menu buttons have moved above and below the d-pad respectively, while the Fn button migrates to a position below the shutter speed dial, alongside a second unmarked Function button. In typical Leica attention to detail, the left-side of these two buttons is slightly raised, making them easy to distinguish by touch with the camera to your eye.

Tapping the menu button once brings up this touch-sensitive onscreen control panel.Image credit: Andy Westlake

Pressing the Menu button first brings up an onscreen status panel, which provides a quick way of changing secondary settings using the touchscreen. Subsequent presses cycle through the menu, which includes just six pages of settings. This is not to say that the Q3 left me thinking that any important option was missing. Compared to the 49-page menu of the Sony ZV-1 Mark II that I was testing at the same time, it’s a breath of fresh air.

As a result of this rearrangement, the Q3 operates a bit differently to other current Leica cameras, so existing users may need time to adapt. But it didn’t take long for me to conclude that this new layout counts as a clear improvement in usability. All the buttons are now within reach of the right thumb, rather than requiring a shift in grip of your left hand to operate the Menu or Play buttons. I just wish the Menu and Play buttons were the other way around, to make the former that bit easier to press with the camera to your eye.

Leica Q3: Viewfinder and screen

For composing and viewing your images, the Q3 gains an upgraded viewfinder compared to the Q2, with a 5.76m-dot panel in place of the previous 3.69m-dot unit. It really is an excellent viewfinder, with a decently large 0.76x magnification and the option to switch between 60fps and 120fps frame rates, depending on whether you prefer to conserve battery life or see super-smooth motion.  Leica previews colour processing and exposure, and offers various ‘Capture Assistants’ including grid lines, electronic levels, a live histogram, and a zebra pattern overexposure warning.

The Q3’s corner mounted viewfinder has a wide rubberised surround. Image credit: Andy Westlake

One oddity comes with respect to depth-of-field preview, which is completely unavailable in autofocus mode, as far as I can tell. However it is available all the time in manual focus, with the camera stopping the lens down to the taking aperture when you half-press the shutter button. It’s a strange operational quirk, but quite handy once you know realise what’s going on.

For me, though, one of the Q3’s most important updates is its tilting screen. It’s great for a whole range of subjects, facilitating such things as low-level macro, discreet waist-level shooting for street photography, and the ability to maintain a better connection with your subject when shooting environmental portraits. I’d actually go so far as to say that it transforms how you can use the camera.

The new tilting screen allows discreet waist-level shooting. Image credit: Andy Westlake

One small operational quirk is that while there are notches on the top and bottom edges of the screen to grab when tilting it, you don’t get any kind of grip on the side, as is common to similar designs on other cameras.

It’s also worth noting that the screen only tilts up and down, rather than being a 3-way design like those used by Fujifilm, Nikon and Panasonic. So it’s of rather limited use when you’re shooting in portrait format. Clearly Leica wanted to maintain its usual build-quality standards without making the camera body too thick. All in all, I think it’s an acceptable compromise.

Leica Q3: Autofocus

Another aspect of the camera’s operation that sees a significant update is autofocus. Not only does the Q3 boast on-sensor phase detection, it also gains subject recognition for humans and animals. So while the Q2 was best suited to shooting static subjects, the Q3 can now also plausibly track focus on those that move. But it’s still limited by the speed with which the lens can adjust focus, so don’t expect it to keep up with fast, erratic subjects.

Subject detection is great for quick grab shots. Leica Q3, 1/20sec at f/1.7, ISO 100. Image credit: Andy Westlake

Click on any sample image to see a full-resolution version

Phase detection AF is available anywhere within the frame, with the camera offering multiple focus area options ranging from a fine spot to a multi-point zone covering approximately one-third of the image width and height. There’s also a conventional tracking mode based on pattern and colour, which like the subject recognition options, is accessed from the AF area mode. Alternatively, you can let the camera choose what to focus on.

Switch to subject detection for people, and the system will recognise the body, face, and then eye as they get larger within the frame, which I found to be really useful both for portraits and street shooting. When the camera detects multiple possible subjects, it’ll outline the one it’s concentrating on in yellow and the rest in white, and you can switch between them quickly and easily using the d-pad.

The combination of magnification and peaking makes manual focusing a breeze. Leica Q3, 1/25000sec at f/1.7, ISO 100. Image credit: Andy Westlake

This all works just as we’d expect, with pretty quick, quiet and accurate autofocus. However, when you have time for slower, more considered shooting, the Leica Q is also a real pleasure to use in manual focus mode. In a neat bit of design, switching between AF and MF is done simply by twisting the focus ring, while pressing down a small interlock button on the focusing tab. The focus ring itself feels almost exactly like using a traditional manual control, despite operating electronically.

Once you’re in manual mode, turning the focus ring automatically activates magnified view, which gives a choice of 3x or 6x settings. This is quite modest in terms of enlargement, especially given the 60MP resolution, but thankfully it’s assisted by a focus peaking display that highlights in-focus edges. It turns out that in practice, these two aids complement each other well, and I was able to get consistently accurate results very easily.

Leica Q3: Performance

Shooting with the Leica Q3 is pretty much a unique experience. With its fixed 28mm lens and analogue control dials, this isn’t a general-purpose, do-anything camera – instead it’s best suited to certain types of subjects. This also means that all aspects of its performance have to be judged accordingly.

With its 60MP sensor and sharp lens, the Leica Q3 is capable of capturing a huge amount of detail. Leica Q3, 1/125sec at f/8, ISO 100. Image credit: Andy Westlake

In practical use, the Q3 is fast, responsive, and essentially silent, which is great for such things as street photography or events. Its continuous shooting performance is more than adequate, given that it’s far from being the obvious choice for sports and action. I can’t see much reason why you’d ever set it to 15fps, but the option is there if you need it. However, the option to shoot at 4fps with autofocus is genuinely useful and works pretty well.

The Leica Q3 is quiet and unobtrusive, which is great for street shooting. Leica Q3, 1/100sec at f/8, ISO 100. Credit: Andy Westlake

I had no concerns about battery life, with Leica’s 350 shot per charge rating looking perfectly reasonable. The ability to top up from a powerbank during a break in shooting is very welcome, too.

The lens is a decent performer at large apertures and just gets better when stopped down. Leica Q3, 1/2000sec at f/1.7, ISO 100. Image credit: Andy Westlake

Just as we’ve seen with previous Q models, the lens is an excellent performer. It’s capable of resolving plenty of fine detail in the centre of the frame when used wide open at f/1.7, and just gets better when stopped down. As I used it at normal full-frame working apertures around f/8 to f/11, it’s seriously sharp from corner to corner. Diffraction takes the edge off the sharpness at f/16, but this is often an acceptable trade-off for the increased depth of field. Aberrations such as distortion and lateral chromatic aberration are corrected in software, leaving you with clean-looking images.

Even at f/16, I was struggling for depth-of-field here – the background is a little blurred. Leica Q3, 1/60sec at f/16, ISO 100. Image credit: Andy Westlake

I found the lens’s optical stabilisation allowed me to get consistently sharp results at shutter speeds as slow as 1/6sec. While this is certainly handy, the in-body IS systems in the latest mirrorless cameras can reliably go even slower. That said, the Q3’s combination of large aperture, effective OIS and strong high-ISO performance make it great for low-light shooting.

The built-in optical stabilisation allows hand-held shooting at slow shutter speeds. Leica Q3, 1/6sec at f/8, ISO 100. Image credit: Andy Westlake

Leica’s metering tends towards the conservative, which means that the camera generally does a very good job of protecting highlight details from clipping. Likewise, auto white balance is technically very accurate. Aesthetically, though, that’s not necessarily always what you want, and in many situations I’d prefer a warmer rendition. As a result, the camera’s output can look great in sunlight, but equally, it can be decidedly muted on dull days.

In good light, the camera can deliver attractive JPEG images. Leica Q3, 1/50sec at f/8, ISO 100. Credit: Andy Westlake

Indeed, this isn’t a camera that I’d personally choose for shooting JPEG files. I’m not a big fan of Leica’s colour rendition, with the default Standard profile being rather muted, while Vivid veers too far the opposite way into over-saturation. However, this is very much a matter of personal preference. The conventional black & white mode is a touch too flat for my liking, too. But the exception is the high-contrast B&W option, which I liked a great deal, and used a lot.

Leica’s High Contrast B&W JPEG profile gives great results. Leica Q3, 1/50sec at f/8, ISO 200. Image credit: Andy Westlake

Just as with the M11, though, any shortcomings the Q3 may have as a JPEG shooter are easily forgiven the moment you start working with its raw files. Not only are they packed full of detail, there’s also immense dynamic range at low ISO settings. With files shot at ISO 100, I was easily able to pull at least four additional stops of detail out of the shadows without being concerned by excessive noise. In practice, this means that you can shoot directly into the setting sun and bring up foreground detail that’s invisible in the JPEG output.

Here, the sensor’s huge dynamic range allowed me to make massive tonal adjustments without any excessive image noise showing up. Leica Q3, 1/200sec at f/11, ISO 100. Image credit: Andy Westlake

Of course, one objection to shooting 60MP DNG files all the time is the sheer amount of disk space they take up – my sample images ranged from 67MB to 100MB in size. But on the Q3, you can just drop the file size down to 36MP or 18MP without losing the benefits of raw. Even at 18MP, you should be able to make an extremely detailed A3 print. This is a neat feature with a real user benefit.

Here I used Leica’s Perspective Correction mode to ensure I had the correct framing, then processed from raw. Leica Q3, 1/50sec at f/11, ISO 100. Image credit: Andy Westlake

One feature that I really appreciated was the Perspective Correction mode. We’ve seen various other in-camera means of fixing converging verticals, but nothing this simple and effective. It just makes perfect sense for shooting buildings, to the extent that you wonder why nobody else has done it before. But the real beauty of Leica’s implementation is that it’s just as useful for raw shooters, providing a means of visualising how you need to frame an image to include all the elements you want.

Given the sensor’s resolution, the digital zoom mode can be genuinely useful. This is the 8MP 75mm option. Leica Q3, 1/2000sec at f/8, ISO 100. Image credit: Andy Westlake

Likewise, I’m a fan of Leica’s version of Digital Zoom. That 28mm lens isn’t ideal for everything, but the extreme cropping capability offered by the 60MP sensor helps make up for it. Again, it’s not just for JPEG shooters, but is also really a useful means of visualising how best to frame a shot that you’re going to process from raw.

Leica Q3: ISO and Noise

Due to its fixed 28mm lens, I’ve chosen not to test the Q3 with our standard test scene. Instead, I’m showing an ISO series of a different setup, which I shot using the 50mm digital zoom setting, giving 18MP files. Keep this in mind if you download and examine the full-resolution images.

High-ISO image quality is very good indeed. Leica Q3, 1/30sec at f.8, ISO 6400. Credit: Andy Westlake

With its 60MP sensor, the Q3 can match any other full-frame camera on the market in terms of detail rendition. Not only does it give really excellent results at ISO 100, there’s barely any drop in quality at ISO 800, even when viewing files close-up onscreen. The very finest detail starts to blur away at ISO 1600, and noise has an ever-increasing impact thereafter. But even so, I’d be quite happy shooting at up to ISO 25,000 if the situation required, especially given the capabilities of the latest AI noise reduction software. But I’d avoid going any higher.

Below are 100% crops from each ISO setting, shot in DNG raw and converted using Adobe Camera Raw. Click on any one to see the high-resolution version (18MP 50mm crop).

Leica Q3, ISO 100, DNG raw + Adobe Camera Raw.

Leica Q3, ISO 800, DNG raw + Adobe Camera Raw.

Leica Q3, ISO 3200, DNG raw + Adobe Camera Raw.

Leica Q3, ISO 12500, DNG raw + Adobe Camera Raw.

Leica Q3, ISO 25000, DNG raw + Adobe Camera Raw.

Leica Q3, ISO 50000, DNG raw + Adobe Camera Raw.

Leica Q3, ISO 100000, DNG raw + Adobe Camera Raw.

Leica Q3: Our Verdict

When Leica first invited me to see the new Q3, I must admit that I wasn’t expecting all that much. This isn’t a slight on Leica, instead it’s testament to how the Q2 felt like an almost perfectly realised concept, and I couldn’t see how it could be dramatically improved. But it turns out that I rather underestimated Leica’s designers.

The Leica Q3 is a truly excellent camera – just very expensive. Image credit: Andy Westlake

While the new 60MP sensor improves image quality beyond the Q2’s already impressive levels, that’s arguably the least important of the major updates. I think there’s almost as much to be said for the ability to shoot in raw at lower resolutions; after all, it’s not as if you need to make poster-sized prints all the time. But the dramatically improved autofocus and the tilting screen both bring significantly more to the table, in terms of expanding what the camera can do, how you can use it, and the kind of pictures you can successfully take. And they elevate the Q3 to being a significantly more capable photographic tool.

Leica Q3, 1/320sec at f/8, ISO 100. Image credit: Andy Westlake

Of course, you still get all the ingredients that make the Q series so tasty, including the classic design, traditional controls and superb build quality. I’m not entirely convinced by the aesthetics of the screen’s design, though; it’s a shame that Leica hasn’t made it fit flush to the camera’s back. As a result, the Q3 doesn’t look quite as elegant as its predecessor from some angles. But that’s a small price to pay for the additional shooting flexibility.

Overall then, the Leica Q3 is a superb performer that’s lovely to use, and capable of producing fantastic images. It’s a very real upgrade over the Q2. Unfortunately, it’s prohibitively pricey for most photographers, but for those with deep enough pockets, it’s the best of its kind you can get.

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Leica Q3: Full Specifications

Leica Q3 front view. Credit: Andy Westlake

The post Leica Q3 – our in-depth review of this premium compact camera. appeared first on Amateur Photographer.

Sony RX100 VII: At a Glance

• New price $1,298 / £1,049
• Used price $1,019-1,129 / £914-959
• 24-200mm equivalent, f/2.8-4.5 lens
• 20MP 1in sensor
• Pop-up electronic viewfinder
• Tilting touchscreen LCD
• 20 fps shooting
• 4K video recording
• Sony

The RX100 VII employs a pop-up EVF and tilting rear screen

Aiming it at the growing vlogging community, Sony also gave the RX100 VII a 3.5mm mic port, enhanced video features and a more sophisticated AF system.

Sony revolutionised the pocket camera in 2012, when it released the original RX100 that employed a 1-inch type sensor to give significantly better imager quality compared to anything that had come before it. Since then, smaller-sensor cameras have lost favour with enthusiast photographers, with only Canon and Panasonic continuing to challenge Sony in this area of the camera market.

Since then, Sony has released successive RX100 generations almost every year up until the RX100 VII debuted in 2019. The most significant updates came with the Sony RX100 III, which sported a large-aperture short zoom and a pop-up electronic viewfinder, and then the RX100 VI, which adopted a then brand-new 24-200mm equivalent zoom. As of October 2023, the Sony RX100 VII remains the latest iteration of the camera.

Physically, the RX100 VII is near-identical to its predecessor

Sony’s RX100-series compact cameras have always been at the top end of the price bracket, and the Sony RX100 VII became the most expensive to date with a retail price of $1,198 / £1,200 at its launch. In the UK, its price has come down slightly in the three years since launch and you can now find it for around £1,049. However, in the US, it’s $1,298 so higher than its launch price.

The problem, as is often the case with Sony, is this price tag puts it squarely at the top as the most expensive compact camera of its kind on the market. For comparison, Panasonic’s long-zoom Lumix ZS200D / TZ200D can be found for around $650 / £679. Canon also offers an interesting competitor too, in the shape of the PowerShot G5 X Mark II with its large-aperture 24-120mm equivalent zoom and a price tag of $849 / £849 so significantly cheaper than the RX100 VII. So how can the RX100 VII conceivably justify its astronomical cost?

• For more options have a look at the best Sony cameras

Sony RX100 VII: Features

On paper, the RX100 VII has almost the same core specifications as last year’s model. It’s built around a 20-million-pixel 1in stacked-CMOS sensor that offers a sensitivity range of ISO 100-12,800. The lens is the same 24-200mm equivalent f/2.8-4.5 zoom, and the pop-up viewfinder and tilting touchscreen are unchanged. Indeed in one respect, the VII has gone slightly backwards, with ‘just’ 20 frames per second continuous shooting rather than 24 (which is still twice as fast as you’ll likely need).

The lens extends considerably to its 200mm equivalent telephoto position

So what has actually changed? Most importantly, Sony has combined a new generation sensor with its latest Bionz X processor, and this brings a significant update to the camera’s hybrid AF system. It now combines 357 on-chip phase-detection points covering 68% of the frame with 425 contrast-detection areas. Sony claims that the AF acquisition time has reduced from 0.03sec to 0.02sec, and while that 1/100sec difference won’t be noticeable very often, it should help with fast-moving subjects. The new innards also eliminate viewfinder blackout during continuous shooting.

What’s more important in practice is that you get the firm’s impressive Real-time Eye AF and Real-time Tracking systems, which in its recent cameras has proven to be incredibly effective at holding focus on subjects as they move around the frame. Set the camera to continuous focus and tracking, and you can almost forget about moving the AF area or changing focus modes ever again.

The tilting screen is good for low-angle shooting

Sony has also added an oddly-named ‘Single Burst Shooting’ option, which takes a burst of seven frames from a single press of the shutter button in very quick succession; either 90fps, 60fps or 30fps. The idea is that you then select one frame that catches the perfect moment, similar to modes we’ve seen on some recent smartphones. It can be combined with the self-timer in a bid to catch group shots where nobody’s blinking, but this requires a separate trip into Sony’s impenetrable menus to set up. Other additions include a comprehensive intervalometer function for timelapse shooting, as first seen on the Alpha 6400 earlier this year.

As usual from Sony, the RX100 VII has an impressive video specification. It can record 4K 3840 x 2160 footage at 25fps with full pixel readout, which delivers highly detailed footage with no field of view crop. There’s a raft of additional advanced features, including S-Log2 and S-Log3 profiles for easier colour grading in post-production, Hybrid Log-Gamma for HDR recording, and super-slow motion video at 250fps, 500fps, or 1000fps. Real-time Eye AF is also available during video recording, meaning the camera should keep human subjects in focus no matter how they move. At long last, there’s a microphone socket for recording higher quality audio, but with no hot shoe, you’ll need to use a bracket to fix one to the camera.

Sony has added a microphone socket next to the USB and HDMI connectors

Wi-Fi is built in for connecting to your smartphone or tablet, using Sony’s Imaging Edge Mobile app. This allows remote control of the camera from your phone, with a live view display and the ability to change most camera settings. Inexplicably, though, you can’t set the focus point by tapping on your phone’s screen, which is generally the second-most useful control after the shutter button. Also, while the app has a playback option, it doesn’t show the pictures on your camera’s memory card, but instead only those already transferred to your phone. To copy images you’re expected to browse them on the camera instead, and push them over by pressing the Fn button (which actually works well). Sadly, there’s still no in-camera raw converter for optimizing your images before sharing them.

Bluetooth is also on board, but disappointingly is only used for geotagging your images. Unlike with Canon or Panasonic, you can’t use your phone as a simple remote release, or browse through your photos while your camera is safely stowed in your pocket or bag.

Sony RX100 VII: Focal points

The RX100 VII shares its core design with its predecessor, with the main changes being internal

• The 24-200mm equivalent 8x zoom lens uses 15 elements in 12 groups, with 8 aspheric elements including 4 Advanced Aspheric lenses, and 2 ED glass elements.
• The Micro USB connector can be used for charging the battery or powering the camera directly, attaching a wired remote control, or copying your images onto a computer. Below it is a micro HDMI port, with a stereo microphone input now found above.
• One disadvantage of the pocket-sized body it that is can only accommodate the small NP-BX1 battery, which is rated for just 240 shots using the viewfinder, or 260 with the LCD – 20 more than the RX100 VI.

The NP-BX1 battery is rated for up to 240 shots per charge

• A tiny flash unit pops up out of the top-plate, released by a sliding switch just behind the power button.
• The RX100 VI’s touchscreen gains no new functions, which means it can only be used to set the focus point and zoom into your images in playback, but not change settings. It can be set facing forwards for selfies or vlogging.
• Secondary settings are accessed most easily using the onscreen function menu, by pressing the Fn button. It’s clearly laid-out and quick to use, and can be customised for stills and video independently.
• Built-in Wi-Fi allows connection to a smartphone or tablet for image transfer or remote control via Sony’s free Imaging Edge Mobile app for Android or iOS. NFC can quickly set up a connection with compatible Android devices, while Bluetooth can be used for geotagging your images.

Sony RX100 VII: Build and handling

While the RX100 VII gains new innards and features compared to its predecessor, in other respects Sony has recycled the same old design. Unfortunately, this isn’t entirely a good thing. On the positive side, the metal-shelled body feels reassuringly robust, and the clean lines make it easy to slip into a pocket. But Sony still hasn’t fixed any of the RX100 design’s many and varied handling flaws.

The smooth, gripless body needs a wriststrap at the very least

As a result, the super-smooth body will try to slip through your fingers like a bar of soap at any inopportune moment, so you’ll need to use a wrist strap at the minimum. In fact the first thing buyers should do is add the stick-on Sony AG-R2 grip, which adds nothing to the camera’s size while vastly improving its handling. It should really be included in the box, or even better built-in from the start, but instead you need to pay $15 / £12 extra just to keep hold of the camera properly.

As with the previous six RX100 generations, the latest model is also pretty horrible to use if you want to treat it as anything more than a basic point-and-shoot. A good camera should get out of your way and make it easy for you to change all the key settings, but the RX100 VII prefers to fight you every step of the way. The control dial on the back is awkwardly positioned, while the smoothly rotating one around the lens is awful, as it gives no tactile feedback at all. By default both do the same thing most of the time, which completely misses the point of a two-dial camera.

The buttons are all small and difficult to locate by touch when using the EVF

The buttons are all tiny and difficult to locate by touch with the camera to your eye, with the most important exposure settings (ISO and exposure compensation) placed on buttons as far away from your thumb’s resting position as Sony could possibly have put them. Luckily, it’s possible to set the front dial to control exposure compensation directly. As on the RX100 VI, the zoom lever works just a bit too quickly, making it difficult to set precise composition. This speed is customisable, but only to an even-faster setting. You can get more precise control by assigning zoom to the lens dial, but this feels like a waste of the camera’s limited control set.

Secondary functions are accessed from the well-implemented onscreen Fn Menu. Usefully, this can be customised separately for stills and video shooting, which will let you minimise trips into the huge, poorly organised and often cryptically-labelled menu system, that’s now ballooned to include over 170 settings spread across 35 sections. Thankfully you can build a list of your most-used settings in the My Menu section, and save multiple shooting configurations for recall from the MR position on the mode dial. Both are well worth taking the time to set up.

Multiple setups can be saved and recalled from the MR position on the mode dial

One interface update inherited from the Alpha 6400 is the My Dial function, which allows you to temporarily re-assign the two controls dial by pressing a function button. This should be a valuable feature, but unfortunately it suffers from the same fundamental flaw of not telling you what it’s doing during viewfinder shooting, which makes it surprisingly awkward to use.

With other brands’ small cameras we find the touchscreen goes a long way to offsetting their handling quirks, but unfortunately Sony still hasn’t bothered programming it with many functions. You can select the focus point when you’re shooting with either the screen or the viewfinder, and double-tap to zoom into images during playback, then scroll around them to check focus and detail. But you can’t change any shooting settings, or make menu selections by touch. Given that Canon and Panasonic both have excellent, fully integrated touch interfaces, this is a poor showing from Sony.

The camera’s tiny body is ill-equipped to provide easy access to all its advanced features

Overall it’s now impossible to ignore that the RX100 VII’s technological prowess has completely outgrown its body design and control layout. You have to question the logic of adding all its clever autofocus and continuous shooting features, if they take so long to find and set up that you’ve missed the moment anyway.

Sony RX100 VII: Viewfinder and screen

One area where the RX100 VII excels is when it comes to composing your images, thanks to its pop-up EVF and tilting screen. The latter’s double-hinged design means it can tilt 90° downwards for overhead shooting, or 180° forward for selfies or vlogging. Its main failing is that it’s not bright enough to be usable in direct sunlight. A super-bright Sunny Weather menu setting is available to help with this – I’d add it to the My Menu.

The screen can face forwards over the camera for selfies or vlogging

Popping-up the viewfinder also turns the camera on, which makes perfect sense. Unfortunately pushing it down again turns the camera off, which is irritating given that you probably just wanted to use the screen instead. Thankfully you can disable this behaviour, but only by trawling through the menu to decipher ‘Function for VF close’ and set it to ‘Not Power OFF’.

The pop-up electronic viewfinder is very good indeed

On a more positive note, the viewfinder itself is very good: the 2.36-million-dot OLED is bright and clear, and its 0.59x equivalent magnification gives a decent sized view. Its design is a considerable improvement on the Canon PowerShot G5 X II or the short-zoom RX100s, as you don’t have to pull out the eyepiece after popping-up the EVF, or retract it before pushing the finder back down. But I still prefer using a finder that’s fixed in place and always available, like on Panasonic’s ZS / TZ models.

Sony RX100 VII: Autofocus

Sony’s big update this year, across all of its camera range, is its new AI-based real-time autofocus. Technically, the firm says that the RX100 VII now keeps track of the subject by analysing its colour, pattern and distance in real time, including face- and eye-recognition, while the camera conducts 60 autofocus calculation every second. The camera can seamlessly switch between focusing on the subject’s face and eye, and even hold focus if they turn away from the camera.

Sony RX100 VII, 39mm equivalent, 1/1000sec at f/4, ISO 100

Real-time Eye AF works for both humans and animals, although not at the same time. Instead you have to select in the menu whether you prefer your family or your pets to be in focus. Also, while Eye AF can be combined with focus tracking for humans, this isn’t allowed for animals, which is odd, as many pets have been known to run around a bit. Otherwise, the RX100 VII’s AF system has real practical advantages. When photographing people, you no longer have to specifically enable Eye AF by pressing a function button – it just works all the time.

Sony RX100 VII, 54mm equiv, 1/160sec at f/5.6, ISO 250

The tracking mode is also incredibly good at sticking to your specified subject, no matter how it moves or you recompose your image. I found that this means you don’t necessarily even have to move the focus area around the frame – instead you can acquire focus and recompose, with the AF point sticking to the subject and keeping it in correct focus. With a camera like the RX100 VII that doesn’t have a dedicated AF area controller, this turns out to be a godsend.

The Sony RX100 VII’s monitor flips up for easy selfies and vlogging

Out of the box, AF tracking isn’t enabled, and when you try to turn it on, the camera will first declare that you can’t, because you need to switch to AF-C first. But once it’s set up, it works really well, with autofocus being ludicrously quick, essentially silent, and highly accurate. Even with fast-moving subject the hit-rate is very high, and the camera is no longer prone to dropping a sequence of three or four frames slightly out of focus like its predecessor did.

Sony RX100 VII, 69mm equiv, 1/1250sec at f/4, ISO 100

If you’d prefer to specify the focus point manually, this is still an option, and when you’re shooting with the rear screen, you can simply tap on the subject. But with the viewfinder you’ll need to either enable the Touch Pad function to use the touchscreen, or if this doesn’t work for you, press the button in the centre of the rear dial then use the d-pad to set the focus point. This is pretty clunky, but no zoom compact is really much better. Thankfully, you can now set the focus area to be displayed in red, rather than the invisible middle-grey Sony has favoured in recent years.

Sony RX100 VII: Performance

Just like its predecessor, in most respects the Sony RX100 VII is an exceptionally snappy performer. It powers up in about a second, and from then on responds instantly to all of the controls. In particular its high-speed focusing and shooting means that you should very rarely miss a shot, just as long as you can set it up in time.

The RX100 VII gives excellent images in good light. 30mm equiv, 1/1000sec at f/4, ISO 100

Auto white balance likewise does a very good job, and Sony seems to have reduced the tendency towards overly cool results in sunny conditions that I observed with the previous model. The JPEG colour has also been pepped up a bit, and the overall result is that the RX100 VII gives some of the most attractive files directly out-of-camera that I’ve seen from any Sony camera. In many cases I’d be perfectly happy to share them on social media directly, although some still benefit from brightening and colour-cast correction.

I found the metering to be exceptionally reliable in the multi-pattern mode, so while the usual array of modes are available such as average and spot, I didn’t need to use any of the others. The electronic viewfinder gives a reliable preview of how the image should turn out, so you can apply exposure compensation if necessary. There’s perhaps a slight tendency towards underexposure in certain conditions, which means the camera generally won’t clip highlight detail. Sony’s Dynamic Range Optimiser function does a great job of bringing out shadow detail in high-contrast scenes.

Out-of-camera JPEGs are generally attractive. 200mm equivalent, 1/400sec at f/4.5, ISO 100

Like all compact cameras, the lens-shutter design is extremely quiet in operation. In fact if you turn off the various operational beeps and fake shutter sounds and engage the electronic shutter, the camera is completely silent. Thankfully in a welcome improvement over the RX100 VI, it uses the same subtle visual cues as the high-speed Alpha 9 to indicate when it’s shooting.

The camera only has a conventional SD slot rather than the faster UHS-II type, so it can take a long time to record a burst of images to card, especially if you shoot 20fps bursts. This doesn’t have too much impact on operation, as you can still shoot more images and change many settings while the camera is writing. However you can’t initiate video recording until it’s finished, or adjust the flash or drive modes.

The long zoom is great for picking out details. 200mm equiv, 1/250sec at f/4.5, ISO 100

The lens is an excellent performer, especially considering its relatively long range. It’s very sharp in the centre wide open, but the corners are slightly soft, particularly at the extremes of the range. As a result, you’ll want to close it down a stop or two when shooting scenes such as landscapes where there’s detail right across the scene. I’d avoid the minimum aperture of f/11, as it gives very soft images due to diffraction.

Image quality is quite acceptable up to about ISO 3200 before digital noise makes an impact. 113mm equiv, 1/125sec at f/5.6, ISO 2500

Battery life isn’t great, with the small NP-BX1 rated for 240 to 640 shots per charge, depending on whether you use the LCD or viewfinder. To get the most out of it I’d recommend setting more aggressive power-management settings than Sony’s defaults, and making a point of powering the camera off after shooting. Even then, it makes sense to buy a spare battery and a charger to ensure you can get through the day.

Sony RX100 VII: Image quality

While the RX100 VII sports the latest generation of Sony’s 20MP 1in sensor, this doesn’t bring much obvious change in terms of image quality. So just like the RX100 VI it delivers highly detailed images at low ISO settings, while keeping noise fairly well under control at sensitivity settings up to ISO 1600 or so. The top ISOs are just about tolerable if you convert to black & white, but even then, visible banding artefacts can creep into shadow regions.

ISO 6400 looks OK in black & white, but banding artefacts can be traced in darker tones. 200mm equiv, 1/160sec at f/4.5, ISO 6400

This means that the RX100 VII has no significant advantage over other compact cameras with the same size sensor, including the Canon PowerShot G5 X Mark II and the Panasonic ZS100 / TZ100 and ZS200D / TZ200D in terms of raw image quality. Instead the main differentiators between these cameras will be the lens, and for JPEG shooters, the in-camera processing.

Sony RX100 VII: Resolution

Looking at the JPEG output, the camera resolves around 3200 lines per picture height at ISO 80, with the camera’s processing blurring higher frequencies in a bid to minimise sampling artefacts. Switch to raw and this improves dramatically, with almost 3600 lph resolved in our chart test. As always, increasing the sensitivity results in a progressive drop in resolution, with 3200 lph achieved at ISO 400, and 2800 lph at ISO 3200. The top two settings deteriorate even more rapidly, with just 2600 lph attained at ISO 6400, and 2400 lph at the highest option of ISO 12,800. From the 100% crops below, multiply the number below the lines by 200 to calculate the resolution.

Sony RX100 VII resolution: ISO 100, raw

Sony RX100 VII resolution: ISO 400, raw

Sony RX100 VII resolution: ISO 3200, raw

Sony RX100 VII resolution: ISO 12,800, raw

Sony RX100 VII: ISO and noise

At low ISOs the RX100 VII produces excellent image files with no visible noise and plenty of fine detail. There’s very little deterioration up to ISO 400, but beyond this, noise becomes more prominent and fine detail deteriorates. However you’ll still get entirely usable images at ISO 1600 if you don’t need to print them large. However at ISO 3200, fine low-contrast texture has essentially been swamped by noise. The top two settings really don’t look great, with lots of noise and some banding creeping into shadow areas. ISO 6400 might be OK when there’s no other option, but I’d steer clear of ISO 12,800 completely.

Sony RX100 VII detail and noise: ISO 100, raw

Sony RX100 VII detail and noise: ISO 400, raw

Sony RX100 VII detail and noise: ISO 1600, raw

Sony RX100 VII detail and noise: ISO 3200, raw

Sony RX100 VII detail and noise: ISO 6400, raw

Sony RX100 VII detail and noise: ISO 12,800, raw

Sony RX100 VII: Verdict

With the RX100 VII, Sony has done what it does best, and crammed an astonishing amount of technology into a tiny package. Somehow it’s fitted a 24-200mm equivalent zoom, electronic viewfinder, tilting screen, 20 fps shooting and 4K video recording into a body that you can slip into a jacket pocket. Its autofocus system is a genuine advance too, especially if you regularly shoot erratically moving subjects such as sports or children. This is, without doubt, the most accomplished pocket camera on the market.

The RX100 VII is technically the most accomplished pocket camera you can buy

Unfortunately, though, the RX100 VII is also a glaring example of Sony doing what it does worst, and cramming complex features into an interface and body design that’s ill equipped to integrate them. Sometimes it’s merely unpleasant to use, but other times it feels actively obstructive. It’s a real shame that Sony hasn’t put the same effort into improving the RX100 design as it has into evolving its Alpha 7 series models.

The big other question is whether you’re prepared to pay a huge premium for a bunch of advanced features you may rarely, if ever use. Its cheaper competitors may not have quite the same capabilities, but they’re really not that far off. So if you want a small pocket camera with a viewfinder for creative photography, then the Canon PowerShot G5 X Mark II might be a better bet. Meanwhile if you just want a long zoom lens and decent image quality in a compact design, Panasonic’s Lumix ZS100 / TZ100 or ZS200D / TZ200D both deliver this at a much lower price.

With its small size and versatile lens, the RX100 VII is a great travel camera. 54mm equiv, 1/800sec at f/5, ISO 100

Ultimately, then, the RX100 VII is much the same story as its predecessor: incredible technology in a deeply flawed body design at an eye-watering price. And much as I said with the RX100 VI, I’d struggle to justify spending $1,298 / £1,049 on a point-and-shoot that’s so frustrating to use, no matter how good the results. But if you can afford it and are prepared to live with its flaws, the Sony RX100 VII is a phenomenally capable pocket camera.

Sony RX100 VII: Specifications

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Sony RX100 VI: At a glance

• Used $764-915 / £714-854
• Launch $1198 / £849
• 24-200mm equivalent, f/2.8-4.5 lens
• 20MP 1inch BSI CMOS sensor
• Pop-up electronic viewfinder
• Tilting touchscreen LCD
• 24 fps shooting
• 4K video recording

The RX100 VII is technically the most accomplished pocket camera you can buy. Image credit: Andy Westlake

When Sony released the original RX100 back in 2012, it revolutionized the pocket camera at a stroke. With its 20MP 1in-type sensor giving vastly better image quality than the tiny sensors previously used in this type of camera, it made the competition obsolete at a stroke.

Successive RX100 generations have maintained Sony’s technological lead, with the adoption of a tilting screen in the RX100 II, a pop-up viewfinder and large-aperture zoom in the RX100 III, 4K video in the RX100 IV and high-speed shooting on the RX100 V. The cost has also shot up along the way, but Sony’s solution has been to keep every model on the market at tiered price points. The cameras have remained consistently popular, and one will generally always show up on a list of the best Sony cameras.

With the RX100 VI, Sony made perhaps its most significant change yet. In place of the 24-70mm equivalent f/1.8-2.8 zoom used by the previous three generations, it’s added a considerably longer 24-200mm equivalent lens, albeit with a smaller maximum aperture of f/2.8-4.5. Impressively, it’s done so while retaining almost the same small body size – the lens barrel is just 1.8mm longer. In the process it has become a true competitor to Panasonic’s DMC-ZS100 / TZ100 and DMC-ZS200D / TZ200D premium travel zoom cameras. Check out our comparison review of the Sony RX100 VI versus the Panasonic Lumix ZS200 / TZ200 here.

But it also risks confusing buyers: the RX100 VI is a very different beast from the RX100 IV, and any other company would have used a clearly different name.

The RX100 VI is noticeably smaller than its main rival, the Panasonic DMC-ZS200 /TZ200, which has been updated to the DMC-ZS200D / TZ200D with a higher resolution monitor. Image credit: Andy Westlake

The other catch is the price. The RX100 VI is more expensive than the Panasonic DMC-ZS200D / TZ200D ($650 / £679), which we already considered very expensive for this kind of camera, and over twice the price of the Panasonic DMC-ZS100 / TZ100, available used at $598 / £365. This is a huge premium to pay for its compact size and high-speed shooting capability, especially considering that the RX100 VI retains many of the same operational and handling flaws as its predecessors.

Sony RX100 VI: Features

In essence, the RX100 VI has all the same core features as the previous model, just with a new lens. So it’s based around 20-million-pixel 1in type sensor that employs Sony’s exclusive stacked CMOS design. This uses back-illumination technology for reduced noise, while sandwiching a secondary RAM chip onto the sensor for faster readout speeds. The sensitivity range is ISO 125-12,800, which is pretty much standard for this sensor size.

A tiny flash unit pops up from the top-plate, released by a sliding switch. Image credit: Andy Westlake

Sony has used the same high-powered Bionx X processor as in its professional Alpha 9, backed up by a front-end LSI that enables fast data throughput. This results in a truly phenomenal continuous shooting rate of 24 frames per second at full resolution, with a 233-shot JPEG buffer, while continuously adjusting focus and exposure between frames. Just how many photographers will need this capability on a pocket compact is a different question.

The Zeiss branded 24-200mm equivalent 8x optical zoom lens uses 15 elements in 12 groups, with 8 aspheric elements including 4 Advanced Aspheric lenses, and 2 ED glass elements. It may be shorter than either the TZ100’s 25-250mm or TZ200’s 24-360mm equivalent optics, but it has the advantage of a usefully-faster aperture at the long end, at f/4.5 compared to f/5.9 or f/6.4 respectively. Crucially, this means it should be less affected by the resolution-sapping effects of diffraction, so should give sharper results at telephoto.

The lens extends considerably to its fully-zoomed position. Image credit: Andy Westlake

Low-light shooters would probably still do better to stick to the RX100 V and its shorter-but-faster f/1.8-2.8 zoom, while videographers will be disappointed by the lack of a built-on ND filter. However photographers who like to shoot portraits will gain more from the extra zoom than they’ll lose from the smaller f-number. The RX100 VI should give greater background blur than the RX100 V, along with more flattering perspective, if you can take a step or two back from your subject and zoom to 100mm or longer.

Autofocus employs a hybrid system, with 315 on-chip phase-detection points that cover 65% of the frame, coupled with 25 contrast-detection areas. Sony claims that this brings the world’s fastest AF for a 1in sensor camera of just 0.03sec. High-density Tracking AF clusters focus points around moving subjects for increased accuracy, while Sony’s much-touted Eye AF is also onboard for shooting portraits.

The small NP-BX1 battery is rated for just 220 shots using the viewfinder, or 240 with the LCD. Image credit: Andy Westlake

As usual from Sony, the RX100 VI has an impressive video specification. It can record 4K 3840 x 2160 footage at 25fps with full pixel readout, which delivers highly detailed footage with no field of view crop. There’s a raft of additional advanced features, including Hybrid Log-Gamma for HDR recording, and super-slow motion video at 250fps, 500fps, or 1000fps. This all makes the lack of any provision for an external microphone for high-quality sound even more perplexing.

Beyond the camera’s remarkable core spec, it doesn’t sport much in the way of extras. For instance, there’s no built-in intervalometer for time-lapse shooting, and with the demise of Sony’s PlayMemories in-camera apps, no way of adding one except by plugging an external controller into the micro USB port. Likewise, there’s no in-camera raw converter for optimizing your images before sharing them.

Sony RX100 VI: Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Connectivity

Wi-Fi is of course built in, along with both NFC to quickly set up a connection with compatible Android devices. The RX100 VI has Bluetooth connectivity, but it’s only used for geotagging your images, and disappointingly you don’t get any of the neat features it brings to the Panasonic ZS200D / TZ200D or Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark III. So you can’t use your phone as a basic, always-connected remote release, or browse through your photos while your camera is safely stowed in your pocket or bag.

Using PlayMemories Mobile you can copy images to your phone, or control the camera remotely

Sony’s PlayMemories Mobile app for Android and iOS does at least provide full remote control of the camera complete with live view display, and allow you to transfer images to your phone or tablet for sharing. But it’s relatively clunky and unintuitive and is now looking rather dated. For example you have to fire up specifically the remote control mode from the camera itself, and can’t simply take control from the app. You also have to choose between being able to push images from the camera to your phone using the Fn button, or being able to browse the card from your phone – most other brands happily let you do both.

Sony RX100 VI: Build and handling

While the RX100 IV uses a different lens from its predecessor, in other respects Sony has recycled pretty much exactly the same design. This, however, is a mixed blessing. On the positive side, the metal-shelled body feels reassuringly robust, and the smooth, clean lines make it easy to slip into a pocket, aided by the top-plate controls all being flush to the body. Both the flash and viewfinder pop up from the top plate, released by mechanical switches; it’s astonishing Sony has managed to fit them in. It’s just a shame Sony can’t make the camera weather-sealed like the Canon G1 X Mark III.

An add-on grip is essential – this is a cheap third-party option off eBay. Image credit: Andy Westlake

That smooth body has its drawbacks, though: as usual for an RX100, it has all the assured handling of a bar of soap. At the very least you’ll need a wrist strap to save the camera when it inevitably slips from your grasp, and I’d strongly advise adding the stick-on Sony AG-R2 grip, or one of the multitude of third-party alternatives. But it’s ridiculous that you need a $15 / £14 accessory just to be able to hold the thing securely. The grip adds nothing to the camera’s size, so should be built-in from the start, or at least included in the box.

When the original RX100 appeared, the excitement of seeing a relatively large sensor in a body design copied from Canon’s excellent PowerShot S series was tempered by the fact that Sony had managed to make a complete mess of the control logic. Six years and five generations later, it’s still a pretty horrible thing to use. A good camera should get out of your way and make it easy for you to change all the key settings, but with the RX100 VI, I usually felt like I was fighting against it instead.

The rear screen is finally touch sensitive, but has few touch functions. Image credit: Andy Westlake

At least Sony has now added a touchscreen, meaning it’s finally possible to select the focus point quickly when you’re shooting with either the screen or the viewfinder. You can also double-tap to zoom into images during playback, and then scroll around them to check focus and detail. But it doesn’t do anything else: you can’t even change any shooting settings or make menu selections by touch. Compared to Canon and Panasonic’s fully-integrated touch interfaces, this just feels lazy; it’s as if the iPhone never happened.

As a result, most of your interaction with the camera comes via the physical controls. They get the job done, but they’re far from brilliant. The buttons on the back are small and fiddly, and being flush to the camera’s surface, near-impossible to locate by touch with the camera held to your eye. The rear dial doubles as a 4-way d-pad, but while it’s one of the better examples of its type, it’s uncomfortably placed for viewfinder use compared to the TZ200’s top-plate dial, which falls much more naturally under your thumb.

The rear buttons are all very small, while the dial is poorly-placed for viewfinder shooting. Image credit: Andy Westlake

Likewise the key manual controls of exposure compensation and ISO are located on the ‘down’ button of the d-pad and the C button at the camera’s lower right corner, as far away from your thumb’s resting position as they could possibly be. So it takes lots of right-hand contortions just to change basic exposure settings: on a sensible camera these controls would be placed at your fingertips.

Like most modern compacts, the RX100 VI also has a control ring placed around the lens. Out of the box it mostly does the same thing as the rear dial, which doesn’t make much sense. Luckily you can customize it to operate other functions instead; I set it for exposure compensation. Unfortunately, being smoothly-rotating it’s not very satisfactory for changing exposure settings, as the lack of any tactile feedback precludes quick ‘count the clicks’ changes, while also making it easy to knock inadvertently. This stands in stark contrast to Canon’s similarly-sized PowerShot G7 X Mark II, with its large buttons and excellent switchable clicked / clickless lens dial.

The control dial around the lens gives no tactile feedback. Image credit: Andy Westlake

Sony highlights the fact that the zoom speed is customisable, but even at its standard setting, I found it just a little faster than ideal for precise composition. The alternative setting is even quicker, and while this will get you from wide to telephoto very rapidly indeed, it won’t let you hit any intermediate point with the faintest degree of precision. As is often the case you can get finer control of the zoom by assigning it to the lens dial, but then changing exposure settings becomes even more of a trial.

Secondary functions are accessed from the well-implemented onscreen Fn Menu. It’s clearly laid-out and quick to use, and can be customised for stills and video independently, which you’ll almost certainly want to do. This will let you minimise trips into the huge, poorly-organised and often cryptically-labelled menu system. Thankfully you can now build a list of your most-used settings in the My Menu section. You can also save shooting configurations for recall from the MR position on the mode dial, which is equally well worth setting up.

The RX100 VI’s tiny size means it’s very portable, but seriously compromises usability. Image credit: Andy Westlake

After using it for a few weeks, though, I have to conclude that the RX100 VI’s high-end aspirations have completely outgrown its body design. If you’re prepared to treat it as a glorified point-and-shoot, with zoom and exposure compensation your main creative controls, then it works OK. But Sony really needs to work out a way of making all its clever technology much easier to access, and ideally rework the control setup completely.

Sony RX100 VI: Viewfinder and screen

One area where the RX100 VI has a real edge over its biggest rival is when it comes to composing your images. Not only is its pop-up EVF rather larger than the Panasonic TZ200’s corner-mounted example, its screen tilts too, while the TZ200’s is fixed in place. In fact its degree of movement is unusually large: a double-hinged design means it can tilt 90° downwards for overhead shooting, or 180° forward for selfies or vlogging.

The dual-hinged screen can tilt through 270°, from pointing forwards to directly down. Image credit: Andy Westlake

The screen’s main failing is that it’s not especially bright, so unlike the ZS-200D / TZ200D’s it’s not very usable in direct sunlight. A super-bright Sunny Weather setting is available to help with this, but requires a trip to the menu to activate – I’d add it to the My Menu. It also has a slight colour cast in the highlights, which is particularly visible when playing back black & white images.

Popping-up the viewfinder also turns the camera on, which makes perfect sense. Unfortunately pushing it down again turns the camera off, which is irritating given that you probably just wanted to use the screen instead. Thankfully you can disable this behaviour, but only by trawling through the menu to decipher ‘Function for VF close’ and set it to the obliquely-titled ‘Not Power OFF’.

The RX100 VI’s viewfinder pops up from the top-plate. Image credit: Andy Westlake

On a more positive note, the viewfinder itself is really very good: the 2.36-million-dot OLED is bright and clear, and its 0.59x equivalent magnification matches many mid-range DSLRs or mirrorless cameras. Its design is a considerable improvement on previous RX100 generations too, as you no longer have to pull out the eyepiece after popping-up the EVF, or retract it before pushing the finder back down. This makes a surprisingly large improvement to the experience of using the camera. But I still prefer using a finder that’s fixed in place and always available, and on countless occasions I put the camera up my eye only to find the viewfinder wasn’t there.

Sony RX100 VI: Autofocus

Sony has re-used the same AF system that we’ve previously seen on both the short-zoom RX100 V and the RX10 IV bridge camera. I was extremely impressed by it on the latter, and it continues to work in much the same vein on the RX100 VI. It acquires focus on static subjects in the blink of an eye; indeed it’s noticeably quicker than the Panasonic ZS200D / TZ200D, which itself is absolutely no slouch.

The RX100 VI’s rapid AF worked well for photographing this heron. Image credit: Andy Westlake

However it’s when you point the camera at a moving subject that the system really comes into its own. It can keep track of a moving subject, and more importantly keep it in focus, while shooting faster than any interchangeable-lens camera on the planet. Like the RX10 IV it will occasionally drift away from perfect focus for a frame or two, but it’ll quickly snap back. This kind of continuous-AF performance is remarkable for a pocket camera.

Out of the box, the RX100 VI is set up to automatically select the focus point and decide whether or not the subject is moving. Sometimes it gets this right, but just as often it doesn’t, and at this point you’ll need to override its decisions. When you’re composing with the screen, you can at least tell the camera where to focus by tapping the subject, but bizarrely Sony provides no sensible way of selecting a focus point when using the viewfinder.

For layered scenes like this you need to be able to specify the focus point, as the camera will probably make the wrong decision. Image credit: Andy Westlake

To rectify this, you’ll need to either enable the Touch Pad function, which allows you to set the focus point using the touchscreen while you’re looking through the viewfinder. If this doesn’t work well for you, you can reconfigure the button in the centre of the rear dial to Focus Standard and set the focus area mode to Flexible Spot. But if you choose the latter, you can’t activate Eye AF for shooting portraits. The rear dial function is also reassigned to changing the focus area size, rather than exposure settings, whenever you enter focus area selection mode.

Sony RX100 VI: Performance

With all the processing power it has on board, you’d expect the RX100 VI to be an exceptionally snappy performer, and in most respects it delivers. It powers up in about a second, and from then on responds pretty snappily to all of the controls. In particular its high-speed focusing and shooting means that you should very rarely miss a shot.

The metering errs towards underexposure, meaning you’ll need to apply positive compensation to light-toned scenes like this, or brighten them in post-processing. Image credit: Andy Westlake

While the usual array of metering modes are available, I found the autoexposure to be sufficiently reliable in the multi-pattern mode that I didn’t need to use any of the others. Naturally you’re aided here by the electronic viewfinder giving a reliable preview of how the image is going to look, so you can apply exposure compensation if necessary. If anything, I saw a tendency towards underexposure, which means the camera generally won’t clip highlight detail. Sony’s Dynamic Range Optimiser function does a great job of bringing out shadow detail in high-contrast scenes.

I’ve often found auto white balance to be unreliable on Sony cameras, but I had better luck with the RX100 VI, which generally gave more pleasing results. It even did well under conditions that some other cameras find confusing, for instance neutralising the green colour cast that’s found in the shade of foliage on sunny summer days. There’s still a slight bias towards the cool side on sunny days, though, and some users may also prefer to boost the JPEG colour saturation beyond Sony’s distinctly restrained standard setting. But in general, most of my JPEG files showed quite attractive colour rendition, but benefited from minor corrections in post-processing.

Sony’s auto white balance worked perfectly here. Shot side-by-side, the Panasonic ZS200D / TZ200D gave a strong green cast in comparison. Image credit: Andy Westlake

Like all compact cameras, the lens-shutter design is extremely quiet in operation. In fact if you turn off the various operational beeps and fake shutter sounds and engage the electronic shutter, the camera is completely silent. But then you get no feedback from the camera that it’s actually shooting, so it could really do with the same kind of visual cues Sony has used in its high-speed Alpha 9 mirrorless camera.

The camera’s slim frame means that there’s only space for a conventional SD slot rather than the faster UHS-II type, meaning it can take a long time to record a burst of images to card, especially if you shoot 24fps raw for a few seconds. This doesn’t have too much impact on the camera’s operation, as you can still shoot more still images or change most settings while the camera is writing. However you can’t initiate video recording until it’s finished, or strangely, change the continuous shooting speed.

The lens is impressive given its range. This was shot wide open at 24mm equivalent. Image credit: Andy Westlake

The lens is an excellent performer considering its relatively long range. Like most extended-range zooms it’s very sharp in the centre wide open, but less good in the corners, and you’ll want to stop it down to f/4 or f/5.6 when shooting scenes such as landscapes where there’s detail right across the scene. In the middle of the zoom range the lens is simply stunning, giving excellent sharpness from corner to corner. Likewise at the telephoto end, the centre is still very sharp, although the corners are a touch soft at maximum aperture.

The RX100 VI’s extended telephoto range is invaluable for detail shots. Image credit: Andy Westlake

Indeed in my side-by-side comparisons, the RX100 VI’s lens is so much sharper at 200mm and f/4.5 than the ZS200D / TZ200D’s at 360mm and f/6.3 that in good light, you can get almost the same level of detail from both cameras when shooting distant subjects. One word of warning though; I’d avoid the minimum aperture of f/11, as it gives very soft images due to diffraction.

The RX100 VI includes a decent in-camera back & white mode. Image credit: Andy Westlake

One real weakness of the RX100, though, is battery life. The small NB-BX1 battery is rated for 220 to 240 shots per charge, depending on whether you use the LCD or viewfinder. But to get anything close to this in real-world use you’ll probably need to configure much more aggressive power-management settings than Sony’s defaults, and obsessively power the camera off after shooting. Even then, I’d certainly recommend buying a spare battery and an external charger to make sure you can get through the day.

Sony RX100 VI: Image quality

We’ve seen this sensor and processor combination in several Sony cameras now, so it’s pretty much a known quantity. As in the RX100 V and RX10 IV, it delivers highly-detailed images at low ISO settings, while keeping noise fairly well under control at sensitivity settings up to ISO 1600 or so.

High ISO settings are only really usable at small reproduction sizes: this was shot at ISO 8000. Image credit: Andy Westlake

In terms of sensor output quality there’s no significant advantage over compact cameras with 1in backside-illuminated sensors, including the Panasonic ZS100 / TZ100 and ZS200D / TZ200D. Instead the main image-quality differentiators between these cameras will be the lens, and for JPEG shooters, the in-camera processing.

Sony RX100 VI: Resolution

Looking at the camera’s JPEG output, the RX100 VI resolves around 3200 lines per picture height at ISO 80, with the camera blurring higher frequencies in a bid to minimise processing artefacts. The resolution drops only slowly as the sensitivity is raised, with almost 3000 l/ph registered at ISO 1600.

Above this it falls more rapidly though, to 2800 l/ph at ISO 6400 and 2400 l/ph at ISO 12,800. In raw, I’d expect to see higher resolution at lower ISOs, but with the risk of false colour and aliasing. These tests were shot in the middle of the zoom range, at 50mm equivalent, where the lens is at its strongest.

Sony RX100 VI, JPEG, ISO 100

Sony RX100 VI, JPEG, ISO 200

Sony RX100 VI, JPEG, ISO 400

Sony RX100 VI, JPEG, ISO 800

Sony RX100 VI, JPEG, ISO 1600

Sony RX100 VI, JPEG, ISO 320

Sony RX100 VI, JPEG, ISO 6400

Sony RX100 VI, JPEG, ISO 12,800.

Sony RX100 VI: ISO and noise

At low ISOs the RX100 VI produces excellent image files with no visible noise and plenty of fine detail. In typical Sony fashion, colours are reproduced accurately, but a little subdued compared to some other brands. There’s very little deterioration at ISO 400, but beyond this, noise becomes more prominent and fine detail deteriorates. However you’ll still get entirely usable images at ISO 1600, if you don’t need to print them large.

At ISO 3200 fine low-contrast texture has smeared away all-but-completely, but colour is still maintained well. However the top two settings give image files that really don’t look great. ISO 6400 might be OK when there’s no other option, but I’d steer clear of ISO 12,800 completely.

Sony RX100 VI, JPEG, ISO 100

Sony RX100 VI, JPEG, ISO 200

Sony RX100 VI, JPEG, ISO 400

Sony RX100 VI, JPEG, ISO 800

Sony RX100 VI, JPEG, ISO 1600

Sony RX100 VI, JPEG, ISO 3200

Sony RX100 VI, JPEG, ISO 6400

Sony RX100 VI, JPEG, ISO 12,800.

Sony RX100 VI: Verdict

There’s no doubt that the Sony RX100 VI is an astounding technological feat. After all, here’s a camera with a 24-200mm equivalent zoom, built-in viewfinder, 24 fps shooting at full resolution, and 4K video recording. Yet this is all somehow crammed into a body that takes up barely any more space than a Rollei 35, which many photographers will fondly remember as one of the smallest 35mm cameras ever made. Despite its tiny size, the RX100 VI also has some clear advantages over its Panasonic TZ rivals: it’s quicker, its pop-up viewfinder is larger, and its tilting LCD is extremely useful. Oh, and it takes really good pictures, too.

The camera’s tiny body is ill-equipped to provide easy access to all its advanced features. Image credit: Andy Westlake

The first problem, though, is that you have to part with an awful lot of money for the privilege of owning one. With recent price reductions, it’s still a large sum to spend on what is essentially an upmarket point-and-shoot, and you’ll also need to budget for a handgrip, a couple of spare batteries and a charger, just to get through the day without dropping the camera or running out of juice.

Much of this cost is down to Sony’s advanced sensor and processor technology, so if you expect to be making good use of the camera’s impressive speed, autofocus and video abilities, it could count as money well spent. But to me it’s overkill: the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS200 / TZ200 and DMC-ZS100 / TZ100 provide everything most users are likely to need at a considerably lower price.

The RX100 VI’s lens is impressively sharp. Image credit: Andy Westlake

The other problem with the RX100 VI is that it’s just so fiddly to use. The clickless lens ring, tiny buttons and lack of any finger grip place it at precisely the opposite end of the spectrum to that other over-$1000 / £1000 super compact, Canon’s PowerShot G1 X Mark III, which handles brilliantly but has a disappointingly short zoom range. Luckily, for all its failings, the RX100 VI can be made more tolerable by exploiting its extensive customisation options. Set the lens dial to exposure compensation, turn on touch-pad AF for viewfinder use, disable auto power-off when you push down the viewfinder, and customise the Fn Menu and My Menu, and it’s merely irritating rather than infuriating.

Despite all my criticism, I’m not saying you shouldn’t buy the Sony RX100 VI. In many respects it’s a brilliant camera, and more accomplished than the Panasonic DMC-ZS200 / TZ200 in several key areas. But personally, I’d struggle to justify spending so much on a point-and-shoot that’s so frustrating to use, no matter how good the results, when the Panasonic DMC-ZS100 / TZ100 and DMC-ZS200 / TZ200 are just so much better value. However if you can afford it, and are prepared to put up with its foibles, there’s no doubt that the Sony RX100 VI is a phenomenally capable pocket travel camera.

Have a look at our guide to the best Sony cameras, plus see what’s new on the newer Sony RX100 VII.

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The key point to understand about the PowerShot V10 is that it’s designed almost entirely for video – and in particular, videoing oneself. It’s also capable of shooting 20MP still images, but that’s almost beside the point. Currently, almost all the best cameras for vlogging look much as the same as the best cameras for photography, but are just used with the lens facing the opposite direction. Clearly, Canon has looked at all those people awkwardly pointing a stills camera design back towards themselves, and decided it’s time for a rethink of the camera’s shape and layout.

When operated one-handed, the video record button falls nicely under your thumb. Credit: Andy Westlake

As a result, the V10 is designed so it’s easy to operate one-handed, with a shape that makes it far more secure to hold. It can be used in either hand, with its prominent central record button falling nicely under the thumb – left or right. It also has a flip-up screen and built-in folding stand, which allows the camera to be set down on a table at almost any angle. As a result, you don’t necessarily need to carry a tripod or grip.

Crucially, the camera folds down neatly into a reasonably compact package, meaning it won’t take up much space in bag, and will indeed slip into larger pockets. Packed down with the stand and screen folded, it’s not dissimilar in size to a conventional compact camera, and it weighs just 211g. This design does results in certain compromises – the screen is very small, and there are barely any physical controls – but that might not be a problem for the target audience.

Packed down with the screen and stand folded, the V10 makes for a neat and reasonably compact package. Credit: Andy Westlake

So with that out of the way, let’s delve deeper at the Canon PowerShot V10’s features and design, and whether it appears to make sense for its target market.

Canon PowerShot V10: Features

Let’s take a closer look at the camera’s features. It’s based around a 20MP 1-inch type sensor, which is paired with a 19mm equivalent f/2.8 ultra-wide lens. Full HD recording is available at up to 60 frames per second and with sensitivities up to ISO 6400, while 4K offers up to 30fps, with a maximum of ISO 3200. Canon says it can record for up to an hour in a single take. Digital image stabilisation is available for hand-held shooting, but there’s no lens-based optical stabilisation. Autofocus is provided by contrast detection alone – there’s no phase detection onboard. But with this lens, that may not matter much.

Stereo microphones are placed on the top of the camera. The three small central holes are for the speaker. Credit: Andy Westlake

Audio is recorded via stereo microphones on the top plate, which naturally, Canon claims will deliver considerably higher quality sound compared to a smartphone. There’s also a standard 3.5mm stereo input socket on the side, so you could plug in a wireless lapel mic if desired. The mics are omni-directional and have an automatic electronic wind filter function. In the UK, the camera will come in as an ‘Advanced Vlogging Kit’ that allows the attachment of small windshields to each mic, via stick-on magnetic adapter rings – but this will inevitably obstruct the screen.

Power is provided by a built-in rechargeable battery, while files are recorded to a microSD card. There’s a micro HDMI socket for video output, and USB-C port for connecting the camera to a computer, charging the battery, or powering the camera directly. You’ll need a USB-C PD supply for the latter, but Canon says you can use practically any USB power source for charging.

There’s a micro SD card slot in the base, along with a conventional metal tripod socket and a wrist strap attachment point. Credit: Andy Westlake

The camera can also be used as a webcam when connected to a computer by USB-C, without any need to install additional software, and this worked perfectly once we’d set the USB connection mode to the “Video calls / streaming” setting. This supports Full HD video resolution at 30fps.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are built in for wireless smartphone connectivity via the Canon Camera Connect app. This allows you to control the camera remotely from your phone, and then copy your video across for sharing on social media.

Using the V10 as a webcam connected to a Windows 11 laptop, using the provided USB Type-C cable. Photo Joshua Waller

In addition, the PowerShot V10 can be used for live streaming when connected to your smartphone over Wi-Fi, in Full HD at 30fps and a choice of 6 Mbps for higher quality, or 3.5 Mbps when you have more limited connectivity, via the Canon Camera Connect app. However, you can’t record to card at the same time.

Canon PowerShot V10: Operation and controls

Where conventional cameras tend to be designed so you can easily change exposure parameters on a shot-by-shot basis, Canon has recognised that vlogging brings a very different approach. Instead, once the camera is initially set up and recording started, chances are it’ll be left alone for a while. So there are no dials and just minimal buttons on the back, with most aspects of the camera’s operation controlled through a suitably tweaked version of Canon’s familiar onscreen Quick Control interface.

This is the display before you start recording. Settings are changed via the onscreen Q button. Credit: Andy Westlake

Given the small 2inch 460K touchscreen, displays are necessarily simple and uncluttered. Tapping the Q button on the lower right gives access to the main settings, while tapping the camera button top right switches between shooting video and still images. There are physical button for playing back your clips, or diving deeper into camera settings via the menus. As the buttons on the back are recessed, you’re less likely to press them accidentally when holding the camera facing towards you.

Once you get into changing settings via the Q menu, the onscreen touch buttons do sometimes end up small and cramped, for instance for selecting video resolution and quality. Thankfully Canon’s touch interface is, as always, precise and responsive, so I didn’t find myself activating the wrong options. Others may find it all a bit too fiddly, though.

As the screen is rather small, the onscreen touch buttons can get small and cramped. Credit: Andy Westlake

Ultimately, it’s best to think of the Canon PowerShot V10 as a point-and-shoot vlogging camera that aims to be as simple as possible to use.

Video performance

Video options are relatively straightforward, with Auto, Smooth skin, Movie IS, and Manual Exposure modes. These are almost entirely self-explanatory, with Auto being the automatic mode, Smooth skin offering skin smoothing options, Movie IS being setup with digital image stabilisation (DIS) set to enhanced, and manual exposure being, you guessed it, for manual settings. The manual mode lets you adjust the shutter speed, aperture, and ISO speed.

The options available vary depending on which mode you’re in, but you can also add colour filters, digital zoom, and adjust the colour tone. There are no high-speed video options available, which will disappoint some people.

The lack of optical image stabilisation is noticeable, particularly when walking with the camera. The enhanced digital image stabilisation (DIS) gives the most stable footage, but even this is not enough if you are walking. It’s likely that ‘your mileage may vary’ depending on how stable you can hold the camera, or whether you’re using a grip, or gimbal setup.

If you’re using the camera on a tripod, or using the provided stand, then this is much less important. For example if you simply wanted to use the camera at home for streaming or as a webcam, or were going to record video from a fixed location then stabilisation performance becomes almost entirely irrelevant.

Audio quality from the built-in stereo microphones is good, with a digital wind filter giving some protection from wind noise. The ‘Canon PowerShot V10 Advanced Vlogging Kit‘ gives you, in additional to the usual box contents, a camera cage, a lens cap, a black textile case, and two mini windshields, which will help keep audio free from wind noise.

Using the V10 to record 4K video can result in an overheating warning showing on screen. Photo Joshua Waller

When recording 4K video, the camera will warn you that the recording time may be limited if the camera overheats. When testing this, recording 4K video at 25fps, indoors, in a relatively low temperature room (<20C), we were able to record 22 minutes before the camera shutdown due to overheating. If you’re planning on recording longer than this, and live in a warmer location, then this could be an issue to be aware of.

To switch between NTSC (60/24fps) and PAL (50/25fps) frame rates you have to go to the custom settings menu and switch between NTSC and PAL video systems. Why you can’t just select the different frame rates within the video settings menu, we’ll never know.

The Ultimate Vlogging Camera?

Using the Canon Powershot V10 for stills photography

Whilst you can use the Canon V10 for stills photography, it’s not really a good idea. If you do there’s no two-step shutter button, so you’ll have to use the touchscreen if you want to pre-focus to set the focus area. This means you may have to take a few shots, especially when shooting close-up objects, to make sure you get the right thing in focus.

Canon Powershot V10 sample photo. Photo Joshua Waller

Results can look good, with Canon’s usual colour reproduction, which is very pleasing. Low-light performance is a lacking, with a noisy image produced, and low levels of detail when the ISO speed went up to ISO 3200.

Canon Powershot V10 sample photo. Photo Joshua Waller

The shooting mode is entirely automatic, and the camera will automatically detect the scene. There are very few options available, and you can setup a self-timer, but beyond this there is only the image size and aspect ratio to change.

Canon Powershot V10 sample photo. Photo Joshua Waller

Canon PowerShot V10 Verdict

While Canon hasn’t made a new PowerShot compact camera for enthusiast photographers since the G5 X Mark II and G7 X Mark III in 2019, it’s dabbled with other less conventional concepts, in a bid to find new markets. The V10 vlogging camera follows on from the somewhat eccentric PowerShot Zoom ‘digital monocular’ and the PowerShot PX ‘automonous camera’, neither of which seems to have set the world on fire. But I think the new model has a rather better chance of finding an audience, not least because there’s a clearly established market for other vlogging cameras, particularly the Sony ZV-1.

Where the V10 stands apart lies in its ease of use. Take the camera out of your bag, fold out the screen and the stand, and you can put it down on a table and start recording there and then. I also found it a more practical shape for using one-handed than a conventional camera design. Left-handed people will be delighted to see a product that’s designed for them, too! So there are real potential selling points here, even over a very well established rival, particularly as the V10 is cheaper than the alternatives, such as the Sony ZV-1F.

Unlike conventional camera design used for self-recording, the V10 feels secure when held in one hand. Credit: Andy Westlake

As with any novel design, there are some drawbacks too. The screen is very small, to the extent that I really wouldn’t want to use it for composing still images; however, I found it fine for framing videos before starting recording. The add-on microphone windshields are a slightly clunky fix to a problem the initial design ignored, and which Sony addressed much more elegantly. As a result, the V10 is probably better suited to indoor shooting, but then again, that’s what a lot of vloggers do.

Overall, though, I think the Canon PowerShot V10 is a bold and unusual design that has a real chance of making inroads into its target market. Only time will tell how that pans out in practice, but it’s always good to see manufacturers trying something different.

If you like the design and styling of the Canon Powershot V10, then this could be an interesting video camera for you, but there are a number of limitations that could make it a difficult choice, depending on your needs.

For recording video out and about, the lack of optical image stabilisation could be a massive drawback, with most smartphones and cameras offering optical image stabilisation (and digital IS combined), which is massively better than just digital image stabilisation on it’s own.

If shooting in conditions where HDR video is needed, the lack of HDR video support will mean that most smartphones will produce better video results, and these also have the benefit of significantly larger screens.

For those looking to setup a budget priced studio camera, or perhaps record live music, the built-in stand, compact size, and relatively low price of the Canon Powershot V10 mean this a camera that could be a good choice, however, if you want to use it for 4K video recording, then overheating can massively limit recording time.

However, if you only want to record shorter 4K videos, or use FullHD, and are mostly going to use the V10 in one place, then it could be a good option, and it’s currently one of the cheapest dedicated vlogging cameras available.

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It may weigh less than 249g but it punches above its weight in the image-quality stakes. Angela Nicholson has been at the control sticks and took this compact drone for a test flight. Read on to find out how the Mini 4 Pro performs in aerial photography.

DJI Mini 4 Pro – At a glance

• $759 / £689 with the DJI RC-N2 controller
• $959 / £869 with the DJI RC2 controller
• Drone with integrated camera
• Weighs less than 249g
• 12/48MP 1/1.3-inch CMOS sensor
• 4K video recording at up to 100p
• 24mm equivalent f/1.7 lens
• 3-axis mechanical stabilisation
• www.dji.com

Image: DJI

DJI Mini 4 Pro – Features

• Folding design – As usual, the drone’s arms fold against the body to make it easier to transport
• Propellers – The four propellers are user-replaceable, but a small screwdriver is required to attach each blade
• Object detection – Sensors around the drone’s body inform the object avoidance system
• Vertical or horizontal shooting – The camera can be rotated through 90° for vertical shooting

Image: DJI

Hasselblad X2D 100C · f/13 · 1/125s · 80mm · ISO100

The DJI Mini 4 Pro is the newest addition to DJI’s line-up of drones weighing less than 250g. This weight is crucial as it means you only need to get an Operator ID from the CAA to fly the Mini 4 Pro in the UK. Once that’s sorted, provided you have the landowner’s permissions to take-off and land, you are okay to fly it almost anywhere except for designated flight restriction zones such as airports, military zones, and prisons.

Predictably, ensuring the Mini 4 Pro stays under the 249g mark inclusive of its battery, propellers, and a microSD card, gives it a rather fragile feel. But like its predecessor, the Mini 3 Pro, you still get a 1/1.3-inch type sensor in the camera.

Again like the Mini 3 Pro, the standard Intelligent Flight Battery that comes with the drone allows up to 34 minutes of flying. A beefier Intelligent Flight Battery Plus boosts that to 45-minutes but it pushes the drone’s weight above 250g, so DJI doesn’t sell it in the UK.

Image: DJI

DJI Mini 4 Pro – Camera capabilities

DJI appears to have used the same camera hardware in the Mini 4 Pro as is in the Mini 3 Pro. Consequently, its sensor has a quad-Bayer design. Essentially, this means every pixel is split into four sub-units that can report individually or collectively, so there’s a choice of shooting 12MP or 48MP images in DNG raw and JPEG format.

Image: Angela Nicholson

NIKON Z 8 · f/4 · 1/1250s · 49mm · ISO100

The lens is also the same 24mm-equivalent optic with a fixed aperture of f/1.7. There’s a familiar sensitivity range of ISO 100-6400 in Normal mode and a shutter speed range of 1/16,000 to 2 sec when shooting 12MP images, or 1/8000 to 2 secs when shooting 48MP images. What is new, however, is a switch to Normal, 10-bit HLG (for compatible TVs) and 10-bit D-Log M video profiles instead of Normal and D-Cinelike. In addition, the frame rate in SlowMo mode for 4K (3840 x 2160) video is boosted from 60fps to 100fps. In regular video mode, the maximum frame rate for 4K video is 60fps.

Interestingly, DJI has ditched the 2.7K video option that’s available with the Mini 3 Pro but Full HD recording is still possible up to 60fps (200fps in SlowMo mode).

Image: Angela Nicholson

FC8482 · f/1.7 · 1/3000s · 6.72mm · ISO200

DJI Mini 4 Pro – Automated features

Like most of DJI’s other recent drones, the Mini 4 Pro incorporates nifty features like Mastershots, FocusTrack, and QuickShots that simplify capturing dynamic video. It’s also possible to rotate the camera through 90° for portrait orientation shooting with a tap on the controller.

In addition, DJI has upgraded the Mini 4 Pro’s obstacle avoidance system to omnidirectional by adding upward-facing sensors. That’s useful if you’re flying under trees or bridges. Overall, the system performs very well, although it’s deactivated when the drone is flying in an automated mode, so you need to be alert to potential collisions. There are also times when you may need to enter the Safety section of the menu on the controller to turn off the obstacle avoidance system to let you get close to a subject or fly between trees.

Image: Angela Nicholson

NIKON Z 8 · f/4 · 1/1000s · 49mm · ISO100

The Mini 4 Pro has a claimed wind resistance of 10m/s (22.3mph) and it stays put in a light breeze, but you’ll hear the motors change pitch as it’s buffeted. Nevertheless, the gimbal does a great job of stabilising the footage.

DJI Mini 4 Pro – Image Quality

While they may not match those from a full-frame camera, the results from the DJI Mini 4 Pro are impressive and certainly capable of delivering the ‘wow’ factor. In the Normal colour setting, the colours are vibrant and just the right side of being too saturated while the contrast is good. Switching to D-Log M delivers flatter footage with scope for grading to get it looking as you like.

Image: Angela Nicholson

FC8482 · f/1.7 · 1/4000s · 6.72mm · ISO210

Generally, the JPEGs look punchier than the raw files and they can look great. However, when the results are viewed at 100% on a larger screen, the sharpening and contrast sometimes look harsh, especially in 48MP images. Consequently, after even light editing, the raw files often deliver more acceptable images.

Flare isn’t a major issue with the Mini 4 Pro, but it is an occasional problem. In video you may see bands of low contrast pass across the frame as the drone moves relative to the sun, which isn’t a big problem and can be attractive, but there’s sometimes a bright spot that draws the eye in stills and video.

Image: Angela Nicholson

FC8482 · f/1.7 · 1/2500s · 6.72mm · ISO200

Controller choice

DJI offers the Mini 4 Pro with either the DJI RC-N2 controller or the DJI RC2 controller. Of the two, the DJI RC2 is the better choice as it has its own screen and doesn’t require a smartphone to be connected. This means its quicker and easier to get ready to fly, plus your phone is free for normal duties. But it adds a hefty £180 to the price.

DJI Mini 4 Pro with R2C controller, Image: DJI

DJI Mini 4 Pro – Verdict

The DJI Mini 4 Pro doesn’t make any significant upgrades on the Mini 3 Pro, especially for those more interested in aerial photography than videography. It’s certainly not enough to tempt most Mini 3 Pro users to upgrade. However, its price is so close to that of its predecessor that it makes the logical choice between the two.

The Mini 4 Pro packs an impressive array of features into its tiny, lightweight form and is very easy to fly. And while the Mini 3 (£429 with the DJI RC-N1 controller or £569 with the DJI RC) maybe a more palatable price for first-time drone pilots, the Mini 4 Pro is a great option for experienced fliers looking for a smaller alternative to their main drone.

Related reading:

• DJI Mini 2 review
• DJI Mini 3 review
• DJI Pocket 2 vs DJI OM 5 review

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OM System / Olympus Tough TG-6 at a glance:

• $499 / £399
• 12MP 1/2.3in BSI CMOS sensor (6.2 x 4.6mm)
• 25-100mm f/2-4.9 (35mm equivalent) lens
• ISO 100-12,800
• 4k 30p video, 120p at Full HD
• 3in 1.04m-dot LCD
• IPX8 waterproof rating up to 15m

With a current street price of $499 / £399 this point-and-shoot camera is aimed at those who want to take their creativity to inhospitable locations, such as underwater or areas bogged down with mud and dust, without spending thousands on professional cameras, lenses and pricey underwater housings.

OM System Tough TG-6: Features

As with the predecessor, the Olympus TG-5, you get a 12MP 1/2.3-inch BSI sensor, 25-100mm (35mm equivalent) f/2-4.9 zoom lens and exceptional build quality, which we’ll explore further below. A raft of fun and innovative features makes their way over as well, eg Pro Capture, which records a short rolling (0.5s) ‘security’ burst of five images immediately before you take the shot, in case you miss the moment.

As with the TG-5 you can capture images in JPEG or Raw. The former is great if you aren’t comfortable editing your images and the results are punchy, vibrant and full of details. If you do want to tinker with post-production, you’ll appreciate the ability to capture Raw files. You can also record video up to 4k at 30p, as well as 120p at Full HD or even 480fps at 720p – great for slow motion footage.

The OM System Tough TG-6 is widely regarded as one of the best underwater/adventure compacts ranges on the market. Image credit: Kirk Schwarz.

For those venturing under the waves the underwater modes now boast a fifth option – Underwater Microscope – that fills out the close-up options. You can also take advantage of the 1cm close focusing distance outside of the macro modes, and it really shines.

One very welcome addition is a higher resolution 3in 1.04m-dot LCD (up from 460K). This is great for identifying fine details, and since the TG-6 lacks a viewfinder, you’ll be spending a lot of time here. It isn’t touch compatible, but with such a strong focus on underwater operation this continues to be justifiable.

Finally, it wouldn’t be a Tough review without mention of the suite of field sensors and GPS data that continues to impress. This can imprint your metadata with specific location and time details – handy for image sorting and as an aide-memoir.

1cm close focus distance and IPX8 rating makes taking to the water a breeze. Olympus Tough TG-6, at 25mm 1/400sec. at f/8, ISO 100. Image credit: Kirk Schwarz.

OM System Tough TG-6 Key Features:

1 – Build quality – The TG-6 continues to uphold the gold standard for rugged compact cameras. For around £400 / $500 you get a camera that works flawlessly at up to 15m underwater and can withstand drops from head height onto solid surfaces.

2 – Ease of use – Embracing the point-and-shoot ethos, this camera makes unthinkable shots a reality. If you’re a veteran photographer looking for a holiday camera, you’ll instantly know your way around. If you’re completely new, however, menus and prompts will nudge you in the right direction for the perfect shot.

3 – Portability – For the entirety of this review, the camera has been stowed inside a coat pocket. That’s something we can’t say for our daily drivers. And since it only weighs a smidge over 250g, it weathers its standby periods in relative obscurity.

4 – Features – Packing seemingly advanced features into compacts is nothing new, but OM System cameras have some great options to play with. Macro genuinely lets you get close up, Pro Capture will increase your chances of nailing action shots and Live Composite is great fun for light trails and night photography.

5 – Simplicity – In an age where we’re constantly demanding more from our tech, the TG-6 revels in its set-and-forget mentality. The options are there if you need them, but you can easily get away with choosing a single mode and snapping until your heart’s content.

6 – LCD screen – It may sound like an odd thing to praise a 3in 1.04m-dot LCD in this day and age, but given the previous screen was only 460k dots the increase really does create a better overall user experience when you’re framing and reviewing your images.

Some of the controls, which sit screen-adjacent, are a bit on the small and fiddly side when wearing thicker gloves, but get your settings sorted ahead of time and you’ll be ok. Image credit: Kirk Schwarz.

OM System Tough TG-6: Build and Handling

Despite appearing nigh-invulnerable, the TG-6 remains incredibly svelte and pocketable. Image credit: Kirk Schwartz.

No one can deny the excellent design of the Tough series. This camera is built to be submerged up to 15m (or 45m with the additional PT-059 underwater case), withstand a 100kg crushing and drops from up to 2.1m in height – yes, it works! It’s also at home in temperatures as low as -10 degrees / 14 Fahrenheit and comes with a dual-pane anti-fog design that prevents annoying lens fogging that occurs with sudden changes of temperature.

To ensure the two compartments (charging and battery/SD) remain airtight the TG-6 uses a dual locking mechanism. It’s a simple but effective system and you can forgive any mildly annoying fiddling on dry land when it affords such versatility.

To ensure the two compartments (charging and battery/SD) remain airtight the TG-6 uses a dual locking mechanism. Image credit: Kirk Schwarz.

Despite appearing nigh-invulnerable, the TG-6 remains incredibly svelte and pocketable. It weighs in at a cheeky 253g, three more than the TG-5, and fits snugly in the hand. Excluding the shutter button, zoom and exposure compensation dial, your main point of control is on the rear of the body, with the D-pad offering the usual range of shortcuts, such as flash and drive mode. It’s compact, but easy to use even with thin gloves.

OM System Tough TG-6: Performance and Image Quality

Although there’s not a huge progression from the previous model, the TG-6 does what it sets out to do and does it well. The 1/2.3-inch sensor belts out pleasing images in a 4:3 aspect ratio. Images are vibrant and punchy with a good amount of fine detail, especially at f/2, and the AWB does a great job capturing natural colours.

The AWB does a great job capturing natural looking colours. Olympus TOUGH TG-6, at 30mm 1/250 sec. at f/9, ISO 100. Image credit: Kirk Schwarz.

The 4x zoom 25-100mm lens offers an f/2 aperture at the wide end – great for darker conditions – dropping f/4.9 at longer focal lengths, which means the shutter speed will decrease and ISO increase to balance this out.

The in-built flash can help offset any losses with close subjects and the ISO copes well up to ISO 1600, but beyond that noise becomes quite noticeable. Noise reduction is quite aggressive too, so we suggest turning that off if you want to get the best from your low-light JPEGs.

Ghosting is very aparent, especially at longer focal lenghts, when shooting into a bright light source. OM System Tough TG-6, at 100mm 1/13 sec. at f/4.9, ISO 1600. Image credit: Kirk Schwarz.

There are some unfortunate ghosting effects when shooting toward the sun or a bright light source (the purple blobs shown above), especially at longer focal lengths. This will only really present an issue when shooting night scenes with street lighting or sunsets for example but can present with strongly backlit subjects too.

At 100mm you start to lose fine detail in the edges. Olympus TOUGH TG-6, at 100mm 1/250 sec. at f/6.3, ISO 100. Image credit: Kirk Schwarz.

We also noted that the images are slightly softer at the furthest reaches of the zoom lens losing detail on the edges of the subjects. It’s not a deal breaker and won’t be as noticeable for those viewing on social media, but it’s there if you know what to look for.

Leaning into the point-and-shoot ethos you have a range of shooting options that offer everything from full to semi-automatic modes. If you want more control, then the ‘A’ (aperture) mode allows you to set the f-stop (you get four options) and the camera will fill in the gaps.

Underwater macro lets you get very close to your subject. Olympus TOUGH TG-6, at 100mm 1/100 sec. at f/14, ISO 250. Image credit: Kirk Schwarz.

SCN and the underwater mode – represented by a fish – give you a wide range of scenarios to choose from, supplying the best settings to match. This is great for users who aren’t interested in fiddling with settings when the shot at hand is about to swim away.

The metering had a tendency to overexpose shots – easily solved with the EV compensation. Olympus TOUGH TG-6 at 67mm 1/160 sec. at f/5, ISO 100. Image credit: Kirk Schwarz.

There’s an exposure compensation dial, next to the shutter button, and we found this extremely useful since the metering tended to come up on the bright side. Having the ability to drop to -2EV, thus informing the camera to darken the scene, really helped to get the most from our images.

To ensure you get the best from your shots you have 25 contrast detection autofocus points that include a Single AF, AF Tracking and Face Detection modes. The base AF works well, though we found sticking with the central point and recomposing was easier than changing points.

The tracking system is OK for slower subjects but struggled with faster moving targets. Similarly with the Face Detection mode which appears sticky but struggles with any more pacey movement.

Jellyfish at Brighton Sea Life Centre. Olympus TOUGH TG-6, at 44mm 1/40 sec. at f/2.9, ISO 800. Image credit: Joshua Waller

The new higher resolution screen is a nice touch. Composing your shots is simple and the display is extremely close to your final shot. It’s also bright and remains surprisingly visible when you’re working in harsh sunlight. Some of the controls, which sit screen-adjacent, are a bit on the small and fiddly side when wearing thicker gloves, but get your settings sorted ahead of time and you’ll be ok.

The Olympus Tough TG-6 features the clever Live Composite mode from the Olympus / OM System mirrorless cameras and lets you see the exposure develop on screen. Olympus TOUGH TG-6, at 41mm 1 sec. at f/4, ISO 100. Image credit: Kirk Schwarz.

Video recording:

The video options are a nice addition and very capable for a compact. 4K gives crisp textures and punchy colours. The higher frame rates are nifty for slow motion, but it comes at the cost of decreased quality, with 480fps being extremely ‘fuzzy’ and prone to flicker (at 720p), and 120fps being available for Full HD.

Autofocus will try and maintain focus throughout and does a good job if you’re moving slowly. As with tracking, faster subjects or camera movements tend to stump the system. The dedicated record button is also a touch recessed and easy to lose track of in the maelstrom, especially if you’re wearing gloves.

If video is your main concern, you may want to consider action cameras like the GoPro Hero11 Black or DJI Osmo Action 3 that are designed with this in mind and come with their own raft of features and hands-free benefits.

OM System Tough TG-6: Verdict

In a world where the compact camera market has been virtually wiped out by smartphones, the Tough TG-6 builds on its own niche in an area few smartphones are willing – or able – to go.

Top of OM System Tough TG-6. Image credit: Kirk Schwarz.

It revels in its seemingly nigh-indestructibility and lives up to its name. As you’d expect from the small sensor, image quality isn’t world-class and there are better options for above-ground work. That said, if you want to dominate anywhere up to 15m below the water’s surface, without spending a small fortune, the TG-6 really shines and earns its reputation.

For more options have a look at the best waterproof cameras!

Related articles:

• Best compact cameras
• The best travel cameras and holiday cameras available now!

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Bottom memory card and battery compartment with locking system, on the OM System Tough TG-6. Image credit: Kirk Schwarz

The post OM System Tough TG-6 Review appeared first on Amateur Photographer.

• $1717 / £1,349
• 26.1MP APS-C X-Trans CMOS 4 sensor
• X-Processor 4
• Fixed 23mm F2.0 lens
• Hybrid Viewfinder (OVF&EVF)
• Two-way tilting touchscreen
• 4K video at 30fps
• Compatible with legacy conversion lenses

The rise of smartphones, with their slimline convenience and rapid improvements to their cameras, has seriously disrupted the world of dedicated compact cameras. Despite the effects on demand for these, Canon, Fujifilm, Ricoh, Panasonic, Sony and Leica continue to make compact cameras.

Our Best Compact Cameras article is a great place to start; and where the X100V is rated as the best retro compact camera.

Many of the brands mentioned above focus on producing ‘premium’ type of compact, which are known for offering large sensors, superb electronic viewfinders and fast, high-quality lenses.

Fujifilm’s popular X100-series has gained an excellent reputation with street and travel photographers. The combination of classic design, fast fixed lens, large APS-C sensor and hybrid viewfinder has been its recipe for success.

With the fifth member in the X100-series, Fujifilm has continued to find ways to improve it by listening carefully to those who use it routinely. But does the X100V still appeal and justify a four-figure price tag from new? It’s time to find out…

The Fujifilm X100V (right) pictured alongside its predecessor the Fujifilm X100F (left). AP would like to thank MPB.com for supplying the X100F for comparison purposes

To find out what it’s like to own and use the Fujifilm X100V have a look at our Fujifilm X100V Field Test.

Fujifilm X100V Review: Features

Viewed from the front, the X100 does not appear so different from its antecedents. While it retains the soul of the original X100 and X100S, X100T and X100F that have followed, the X100V has changed in many other ways.

Rather than inheriting the lens from the X100F, Fujifilm has reconfigured it. The configuration of 8 elements in 6 groups remains unchanged, but the lens now unites a pair of aspherical elements in its construction. Previous generations have had just one.

A ring at the front of the X100V’s lens can be unscrewed. This allows the attachment of conversion lenses or the weather-resistant kit Fujifilm makes for the camera

The 23mm fixed focal length (equivalent to 35mm) and aperture range (f/2 to f/16) is the same and it upholds a minimum focusing distance of 10cm. Fujifilm alleges the newly added aspherical element results in better edge-to-edge sharpness, lower distortion and improved performance at close focus distances – something I’ll touch on in more detail later in this review.

The good news for those who own existing adapters or legacy conversion lenses is that the dimensions of the lens are identical to existing models, making them fully compatible. Users also have the option to unscrew a ring at the front and attach Fujifilm’s wide conversion lens (WCL-X100 II) or tele-conversion lens (TCL-X100 II), turning the X100V’s 23mm lens into a 28mm equivalent (0.8x) or 50mm (1.4x) equivalent.

The X100V has a cleaner, crisper finish to the edge of its body compared to its predecessors

It’s important to acknowledge that Fujifilm’s first-generation conversion lenses remain compatible. Unlike the second-generation versions though, these aren’t automatically detected by the X100V when they’re attached and require you to manually select ‘tele’ or ‘wide’ from the conversion lens option in the menu; or from a function button to which it can be set.

Behind the X100V’s lens lies the same sensor and processor combination as found inside many of Fujifilm’s premium X-series mirrorless models. The back-illuminated 26.1-million-pixel X-Trans CMOS 4 APS-C sensor and quad-core X-Processor 4 bring a number of benefits to the X100V, including a wider sensitivity range of ISO 160-12,800 (extendable to ISO 80-51,200), along with continuous shooting rates of up to 11fps with the mechanical shutter, 20fps with the electronic shutter, or 30fps with a 1.25x crop.

The joystick becomes the main way to navigate the X100V’s menu. It’s not possible to navigate the main menu via the touchscreen

Although such fast shooting speeds aren’t a prerequisite of street, travel or documentary users to whom the X100V is most likely to appeal, it’s great to see Fujifilm’s latest generation X-Trans CMOS 4 technology being used for the first time inside an X100-series model.

The X100V’s autofocus has been improved too. Like Fujifilm’s premium X-T and X-Pro models, the X100V spreads 2.16-million phase-detection pixels across the surface of its sensor and obtains focus as hastily as 0.02sec. As well as the ability to acquire focus in light levels as low as -5EV, users get to choose from 117 AF points arranged in a 9×13 formation across the frame, or increase this to a 425-point layout (17×25 grid) for more precise positioning.

Single, continuous and manual focus modes are accessed from the side of the body via this switch

The X100V is also equipped with face and eye detection, AF-C custom settings and Fujifilm’s AF range limiter function. The latter is used to tell the lens to focus across a specific range of distances. This can be useful when the distance to the subject you’re photographing remains consistent and you’d like to eliminate the lens focusing across a wider AF range than necessary.

As we’ve seen on other X-Series models, the X100V’s mechanical focal plane shutter has a 1/4000sec limit. By activating the electronic shutter there’s the option to shoot at up to 1/32,000sec, which can be particularly useful when you’d like to work with wide apertures in bright conditions. Helpfully, the X100V has its own 4-stop ND filter built-in too, which goes one better than the 3-stop ND filter offered on the X100F.

The on/off switch is chunkier than previous versions. All dials rotate positively and precisely, including the exposure compensation dial that offers +/-5EV control from its ‘C’ setting

Adding to its long list of new features is a monochromatic colour mode that gives users precise control over how warm or cool images appear. Eterna and Classic Negative film simulations are added too and every film simulation is available when shooting video. For more on film simulations and to find out which camera manufacturer has the best, check out our guide to Which maker has the best film-simulation modes?

Those who enjoy recording video can shoot 4K footage at 30p/25p/24p with a bit rate of 200Mbps for up to ten minutes. Full HD video at up to 120fps is available for a maximum record time of fifteen minutes. Anyone wishing to record in 10-bit, 4:2:2 can do so via the X100V’s HDMI port and it’s good to see face/eye detection being supported in video mode. At the side, the X100V is equipped with a 2.5mm mic input, USB Type C port and HDMI (Type D) micro connector.

The 2.5mm mic input at the side is located above the USB Type C port. A green LED illuminates above the Q Menu button when the camera is being charged in-camera

Like the X100F, the X100V accepts Fujifilm’s widely used NP-W126S battery. Shooting stamina is upped to 350 frames using the EVF, or 420 shots using the optical viewfinder. In-camera charging via USB is supported and a USB cable (type A to C) comes supplied in the box. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth feature too, enabling wireless transfer and wireless remote control. Both require Fujifilm’s Camera Remote app to be installed on iOS and Android mobile devices.

Fujifilm X100V Review: Weather resistance

One of the criticisms X100-series models have received in the past is their lack of weather resistance. Fujifilm has acknowledged that many photographers want to have the option of shooting with the X100V when the weather takes a turn for the worse and not succumb to stowing it away in a pocket or bag to prevent unfavourable weather affecting its performance.

As well as adding weather resistance around the body and to the viewfinder to ensure the X100V is more durable, Fujifilm has released an optional weather-resistant kit that consists of an AR-X100 adapter ring and PRF-49 protection filter.

By attaching the adapter ring and filter, the lens, which is prone to extending and retracting very slightly when focusing, becomes sealed and resistant to ingress of water, moisture, dust and sand. The weather resistant kit costs $123 / £99 and is available in both black and silver to match the colour of the two finishes the X100V is available in. Used versions of the weather resistant kit can also be found online from $98 / £79.

Fujifilm X100V Review: Build and Handling

I’d go as far as saying the X100V has received the biggest shake up in terms of its build and handling in the history of the X100-series. On close examination you’ll notice the finish to the edge of the body is sharper, which has been achieved by manufacturing the top and bottom plates from single pieces of aluminium.

The aluminium covers that are built around a magnesium alloy frame to uphold a high level of robustness, are also exquisitely finished in a satin coating, with the all black version being anodised rather than painted to give it a deep black finish.

A close up view of the X100V’s hard-wearing aluminium top plate

One of the changes at the rear has seen the four-way buttons removed, with the drive dial being relocated to where the view mode button was on the X100F. This change forces users to nudge the joystick when navigating the menu and means there aren’t any buttons beneath your thumb for quick access to customised functions.

Shifting the Q-menu button to the right a little has helped prevent accidental presses. However it is slightly too small and there were times when it felt like I was searching for it with the viewfinder raised to my eye. The rear dial, like the front dial, benefits from a better-knurled finish and both can be depressed to activate user-defined functions.

Some users may find the Q Menu button too small and positioned a little too far to the right

Like the X100F, the X100V features an ISO dial that’s built around the shutter speed dial on the top plate. To address criticisms that it was too fiddly on the X100F, Fujifilm has redesigned it. It’s similar to the arrangement found on the X100F in the way the outer portion of the dial is lifted to adjust the ISO value. Another plus is that it no longer requires lifting it and rotating it simultaneously. Pull the outer ring up and the ISO dial can be rotated freely with your thumb before it’s pushed back down to lock it in place.

Users who’d like to adjust the sensitivity on the fly also have the option to set the ISO dial to its ‘C’ setting and use the front dial. This has always been my preferred way of working when needing to setup and shoot quickly. As we’ve seen before, the on/off switch encircles the X100V’s threaded shutter button that accepts traditional style screw-in cable releases. Although the button next to it is no longer labelled as a function button, users will find that it can be held down to specify the setting you’d like to assign it to.

Here the ISO dial is in its raised position ready to be rotated. The dial rotates incredibly smoothly and is pushed down to lock it in place

Like previous generations, the X100V feels solid, well constructed and ready to put up with some rough and tumble as well as daily wear and tear. Its premium build quality is immediately obvious when you pick it up and it’s neither too big or heavy that it feels a burden to carry on days out.

Another benefit of its new weather resistance is that it allows you to head out with just one camera. In the past many X100-series users have been known to carry a weather-sealed X-series body, such as an X-Pro2, in their bag for when wet weather strikes. Provided you remember to pack or attach the weather resistant kit before heading out, taking a second weather-sealed camera out at the same time is no longer a necessity.

Fujifilm X100V Review: Viewfinder and Screen

Once again the X100V sports a hybrid optical/electronic viewfinder. In its optical mode the finder provides parallax-corrected frame lines, detailed exposure information and other icons revealing battery status, film simulation and image quality settings around the outside of the frame. It should be pointed out though that these aren’t always the easiest to view in bright or backlit conditions.

The switch directly below the ISO dial at the front of the body is used to switch between the optical and electronic viewfinder when the camera is raised to your eye

Compared to the X100F’s optical viewfinder, which offered 92% coverage and a 0.5x magnification, the X100V’s has increased to 95% coverage and 0.52x magnification. The EVF, which is activated by pulling the switch at the front of the body, is the best we’ve ever used on an X100-series model. The jump in resolution to 3.69-million dots, higher 0.66x magnification and improved brightness contribute to a clear and refined viewing experience.

This comparison of the X100F (left) and the X100V (right) shows that the new tilting screen adds no extra bulk at the rear. AP would like to thank MPB.com for supplying the X100F.

Complimenting the upgraded viewfinder is an entirely new LCD screen that can be used for composition and playback purposes. The X100V is the first X100-series model to feature a two-way tilting 3in, 1.62-million-dot touchscreen that assists with shooting from the hip or any awkward angles.

A view of the X100V’s new tilting touchscreen pulled out and the main menu on display

Fujifilm has overcome the challenge of implementing a tilting screen without adding any bulk by making it thin – and not so thin that it feels flimsy. One thing to note regarding its manoeuvrability is that when you’d like to angle the screen down you do need to pull it out a little first. The touchscreen control extends to the quick menu, but the main menu can’t be controlled by touch as you can with Fujifilm’s entry-level X-A7 and X-T200 mirrorless cameras.

Fujifilm X100V Review: Performance

To get a better understanding of how the X100V’s lens performs, I conducted several side-by-side tests with an X100F that was kindly loaned to us from MPB.com who specialise in buying and selling second-hand cameras. Just like the X100F, the X100V produces impressive corner-to-corner sharpness with minimal distortion and chromatic aberration.

Fujifilm X100F, 1/40sec at f/2, ISO 200

Fujifilm X100V, 1/40sec at f/2, ISO 200

At long focus distances the X100V’s lens produces marginally sharper results towards the edge when it’s used at its maximum aperture. Where the obvious difference lies though is at close focusing distances (see above examples). Images taken on the X100F appear very soft wide open when you attempt to focus on subjects as close as 10cm. Identical shots taken on the X100V revealed that sharpness at close distances is far superior, so much so you won’t find that you’re forced to stop down to f/4 or smaller like you are on the X100F.

These findings confirm that the changes to the optical design have made a notable difference. That said, the lens does continue to exhibit veiling flare in instances when you shoot directly towards the sun. The lens hood (LH-X100) that Fujifilm makes for its X100-series can be purchased for $87/£69 to help mitigate flare.

Fujifilm X100V, 1/1700sec at f/5, ISO 160 (Image captured on a Timeline Events charter) Taken using Fujifilm Monochromatic Color mode

The start-up time of the camera is rated at 0.5secs, which is slightly slower than the X-Pro3, but not something I found to be a deal-breaker. The auto power off function can be set between 15secs and 5 minutes and by setting this up you can preserve battery life, plus it saves you using the on/off switch quite as often.

The advantage that comes with having many more phase detection points spread across the sensor is more responsive autofocus acquisition. The X100V doesn’t tend to hunt as much as the X100F, which is something I picked up on when the focus point was positioned towards the edge of the frame and I attempted several shots in a dim indoors environment.

Fujifilm X100V, 1/350sec at f/2, ISO 80

Although I didn’t encounter any missed opportunities during my testing because it failed to achieve focus fast enough, the fact the lens moves in and out during focusing does mean it can’t perform at the same rapid speed of today’s internal-focus lenses. Just like Fujifilm’s latest mirrorless cameras, face and eye detection makes critical focusing a breeze when shooting portraits, with a yellow square inside the green face detection box revealing which eye it’s locked onto.

From the main menu the X100V provides a plethora of options to aid with day-to-day shooting. The mechanical shutter is very quiet, but having the option to take images in silence by activating the electronic shutter is great for street photographers who’d like to blend in with their surroundings and go about their work unnoticed.

Fujifilm X100V, 1/1900sec at f/2, ISO 1600, Taken using Fujifilm Acros film simulation mode

A couple of batteries should suffice for a day’s shooting if you don’t plan to charge the camera on the go via USB, but be warned that transferring images wirelessly can see the battery level drain very quickly. Having the option to plug the X100V into a USB power-bank or USB car adapter to ensure power levels don’t drop low is very convenient.

There are no surprises in terms of the X100V’s sensor output. In typical Fujifilm fashion the quality of images straight out of the camera leaves nothing to be desired, with faithful colour and accurate exposure being met by high levels of detail and excellent noise control.

Fujifilm X100V, 1/1500sec at f/2, ISO 80 (Image captured on a Timeline Events charter)

The new Classic Negative simulation has quickly become a favourite of many X-Photographers and produces a vintage film vibe with increased saturation and more contrast than you get using Classic Chrome. When you go back to using the Standard/Provia mode after using some of the rich film simulation modes colours can appear a little dull and lacking in vibrancy.

Experimenting with the tone curve using the highlight tone and shadow tone options that you’ll come across in the Q menu or main menu lets us to maximise the dynamic range in JPEG images without affecting raw files. Increasing the highlight tone to a positive value brightens the highlights and decreasing it to -1 or -2 retains detail in brighter areas. As for the shadow tone, increasing it to a positive figure darkens the shadows, whereas decreasing the value to -1 or -2 retains detail in the darkest areas. One slight peculiarity you’ll need to get your head around when adjusting these settings is the counterintuitive operation of the rear dial.

A fast burst performance isn’t the be all and end all for street and documentary photographers, nevertheless it’s something we always make a point of testing. Loaded with a fast SDHC UHS-II card capable of 260MB/s read and 240MB/s write speeds the X100V managed to record 18 raw files at 8fps or 11fps using its mechanical shutter. This figure increased to 40 frames at 11fps when the image quality was set to Fine JPEG.

Engaging the X100v’s electronic shutter allowed 17 raw files to be recorded at 20fps before slowdown occurred – one frame more than was recorded at 30fps with a 1.25x crop. Approximately 33 Fine JPEGs were recorded at 30fps before the camera showed signs of slowing.

Fujifilm X100V Review: Image Quality

The X100V features the tried and tested 26.1-million-pixel X-Trans CMOS 4 APS-C sensor that’s used by the X-T4, X-T3, X-Pro3 and X-T30. It has a back-illuminated structure to enhance low-light performance and with no optical low-pass filter users will find extremely fine detail is preserved high into the ISO range.

While the finest image quality is achieved by shooting in Raw, the quality of JPEGs straight out of the camera is astonishingly impressive. JPEGs don’t suffer from being too heavily processed, with colours remaining punchy and true-to-life.

Fujifilm X100V: Resolution

The level of detail recorded by the X100V’s sensor is comparable to the detail resolved by the X-T3, X-T30 and X-Pro3. It resolves a maximum of 3,400l/ph between ISO 100 and ISO 400, with resolution dropping ever so slightly at ISO 800 to 3,200l/ph. Pushing past ISO 800 sees the level of detail stand up extremely well with 3,200l/ph being resolved at ISO 1600 and 3,100l/ph at ISO 3200. Detail dips below 3,000l/ph when the sensitivity is pushed beyond ISO 6400. The detail resolved at ISO 12,800 (2,900l/ph) remains high and the sensor even manages to resolve 2,400l/ph when shooting in the expanded ISO 51,200 setting.

Fujifilm X100V, ISO 80, RAW

Fujifilm X100V, ISO 100, RAW

Fujifilm X100V, ISO 200, RAW

Fujifilm X100V, ISO 400, RAW

Fujifilm X100V, ISO 800, RAW

Fujifilm X100V, ISO 1600, RAW

Fujifilm X100V, ISO 3200, RAW

Fujifilm X100V, ISO 6400, RAW

Fujifilm X100V, ISO 12800, RAW

Fujifilm X100V, ISO 25600, RAW

Fujifilm X100V, ISO 51200, RAW

Fujifilm X100V: Noise

The X100V is the fourth Fujifilm X-series camera we’ve tested that uses the 26.1-million-pixel X-Trans CMOS 4 APS-C sensor. Shoot between ISO 80 and ISO 800 and you’ll be guaranteed wonderfully clean images free of noise. It’s only when you select ISO 1600 that you start to notice noise appearing under close inspection. Noise is so well controlled at the ISO 1600 and ISO 3200 settings that users won’t find themselves shying away from using them. ISO 6400 is useable too with some noise reduction applied, but luminance noise does start to become a little more pronounced in images captured at ISO 12,800. The detail that’s resolved at ISO 12,800 isn’t quite what it is at ISO 3200, however this wouldn’t put me off pushing the X100V to ISO 12,800 in low-light situations. The extended settings should be given a wide berth if you want to preserve optimum image quality.

Fujifilm X100V, ISO 80, RAW

Fujifilm X100V, ISO 100, RAW

Fujifilm X100V, ISO 200, RAW

Fujifilm X100V, ISO 400, RAW

Fujifilm X100V, ISO 800, RAW

Fujifilm X100V, ISO 1600, RAW

Fujifilm X100V, ISO 3200, RAW

Fujifilm X100V, ISO 6400, RAW

Fujifilm X100V, ISO 12800, RAW

Fujifilm X100V, ISO 25600, RAW

Fujifilm X100V, ISO 51200, RAW

Fujifilm X100V Review: Verdict

It’s clear that Fujifilm has a good thing going with its X100-series. We’ve seen it evolve a long way and the X100V continues to preserve the iconic design and classic styling that X100-series cameras have become known and loved for.

With the X100V, Fujifilm hasn’t updated it by simply adding their latest X-Trans CMOS 4 sensor and fastest processor. They’ve advanced it to the nth degree and created a better tool for photographers who like the simplicity that comes with working with a fixed lens compact and others who’d like a beautifully designed camera that conveniently fits a jacket pocket, which can be pulled out in a moments notice to capture truly stunning images.

AP’s Michael Topham raises the X100V’s to his eye and tests the improved hybrid viewfinder

The X100V improves in many crucial areas, not least its lens, which contributes to much sharper, crisper images when shooting close subjects at wide apertures. Then there’s the autofocus system, which is snappier in operation and covers a wider area of the frame. The ability to record 4K video, albeit up to 10 minutes in length and without being able to employ the ND filter, is good to have too and the new tilting screen is so thin it allows users who’d like to shoot inconspicuously from the hip to do so without adding any extra bulk to the body.

The X100V is ideal for day trips, short breaks or times when you’d simply like to head out with something smaller and lighter than your DSLR or mirrorless system

There will be some who’d prefer it if it was weather sealed out of the box or supplied with the weather resistant kit at no extra cost, but this is a minor gripe on what is otherwise a very robust and extremely well finished camera. The removal of the four-way buttons at the rear is my only real criticism, which I’d like to have seen preserved like they are on Fujifilm’s X-T3 and X-T4. Though I accept the touchscreen can be swiped to access different functions, this isn’t the same in my opinion to having physical buttons below your thumb that you can quickly and easily access with your right hand.

You’ll have a job to fit the X100V in a trouser pocket, but it’ll fit most jacket pockets with ease

To conclude, the X100V is a gorgeous little camera that’s as satisfying to look at as it is to shoot with. It has a special thing going for it in the way it inspires you to venture out and take pictures, which I put down to how easy it is to carry and the great images it creates straight off the bat. Anyone who buys the X100V can’t fail to fall in love with it.

If your budget doesn’t quite stretch to the fabulous X100V, check out the best Fujifilm cameras, and don’t miss our guide to the best Second-hand Classic Compact Cameras. and if you can’t find the X100V, then have a look at our guide to the best retro Fujifilm X100V alternatives. 

Fujifilm X100V: Hands on First Look

Fujifilm X100V: At a glance

• $1682 / £1,349
• 26.1MP APS-C X-Trans CMOS 4 sensor
• X-Processor 4
• 23mm F2.0 lens
• Hybrid Viewfinder (OVF&EVF)
• Two-way tilting touchscreen
• 4K video at 30fps
• Compatible with legacy conversion lenses

Hot on the heels of its latest entry-level mirrorless release, the X-T200, Fujifilm has unveiled its fifth model in its iconic and stylish X100 series. The all-new Fujifilm X100V replaces the Fujifilm X100F from 2017 and introduces a number of improvements to make it the most advanced premium fixed lens compact in Fujifilm’s history.

It might not appear vastly different on first glance, but the X100V has been improved in a number of ways

Top of the list of new and improved features are a redesigned 23mm F2.0 fixed lens, a two-way tilting screen and advanced weather resistance – things we’re told Fujifilm has received many requests for from existing X100 users.

We recently laid hands on the X100V at Fujifilm’s X-Summit 2020 live broadcast in London where we got a chance to study it in detail and form some early impressions.

Fujifilm X100V: Features

The X100V is the latest X-series camera to inherit Fujifilm’s 26.1MP X-Trans CMOS 4 APS-C sensor and quad-core X-Processor 4. These are also used in the X-T3, X-Pro3 and X-T30. Together they deliver a sensitivity range of ISO 160-12,800 (extendable to ISO 80-51,200), along with continuous shooting rates of 11fps with the mechanical shutter, 20fps with the electronic shutter, or 30fps with a 1.25x crop.

The top plate of the Fujifilm X100V. The ISO dial that’s merges with the shutter speed dial has been redesigned to make it easier to use

To compliment the X100V’s sensor, Fujifilm has designed a new 23mm F2.0 lens for the X100V that promises better resolution, lower distortion and improved performance in the corners and at close focus distances. The good news is that the improvements to the optics have had no influence on the size of the lens, meaning it remains fully compatible with existing adapters and legacy conversion lenses.

Photographers can use the wide conversion lens (WCL-X100 II) or tele-conversion lens (TCL-X100 II) to extend the X100V’s fixed 23mm focal length (equivalent to 34.5mm in 35mm terms) to a 28mm equivalent (0.8x) or 50mm (1.4x) equivalent lens.

There are quite a few changes at the rear. The X100V introduces a two-way tilting touchscreen and excludes the four-way controller that was present on the X100F

In addition to weather sealing around the body and viewfinder, Fujifilm has designed a weather resistance kit for the X100V (£99) to enhance its operability in poor weather. The adapter ring (AR-X100) and protection filter (PRF-49) make the X100V fully weather resistant and for UK customers this kit will be sold at half price (£49.50) when purchased with the camera.

Like its predecessors, the X100V features a hybrid optical/electronic viewfinder. In its optical mode, the finder continues to provide parallax-corrected frame lines, along with detailed overlaid exposure information, but now offers wider 95% coverage and a higher 0.52x magnification. As for the EVF, this has been upgraded to offer a clearer viewing experience with a 3.69-million-dot resolution, 0.66x magnification and improved contrast and brightness.

In this view the small quick menu button and USB Type-C port that supports in-camera battery charging are clear to see

The X100V’s autofocus performance goes one better too. It can now focus down to -5EV in low light and spreads no fewer than 2.16-million phase-detection pixels across the surface of its sensor. Users can select from 117 AF points laid out in a 9×13 formation, which can be increased to a 425-point layout consisting a 17×25 grid.

Furthermore, the X100V provides enhanced face and eye detection and is equipped with Fujifilm’s focus limiter function that can be used to set the lens to a specific range of distances, which can be useful when the distance to the subject photographed remains consistent and fast focus is required.

The Fujifilm X100F had a built-in 3-stop ND filter. The X100V now has a built-in 4-stop ND filter

Other new additions include built-in 4-stop ND filter, which improves on the X100F’s built-in 3-stop ND filter, and a wider selection of film simulation modes. These include the Classic Negative mode that made its debut in the Fujifilm X-Pro3.

Videographers benefit from having the ability to record 4K video at 30p or Full HD at up to 120fps. Those who’d like to record in 10-bit, 4:2:2 can do so via the X100V’s HDMI port, it has a 2.5mm microphone input at the side, and film simulation modes, such as Eterna, can be applied to video footage.

The X100V accepts Fujifilm’s Lithium Ion NP-W126S battery. The single SD card slot is once again positioned next to the battery compartment

Another welcome improvement is the X100V’s improved battery life. This lasts for 350 frames when using the EVF, or 420 frames using the optical viewfinder (OVF). With a USB Type-C port at the side, users have the option to charge on the go, and just as you’d expect, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth is built-in to enable wireless transferring and remote control with devices running Fujifilm’s Camera Remote app.

Fujifilm X100V: Build & Handling

The X100V shares the same charm and elegance with its predecessors, however there are quite a few differences that aren’t immediately obvious. With regard to its build quality, the top and bottom plates are now manufactured from single pieces of aluminium, resulting in a much cleaner and crisper finish around the edge of the body than previous versions.

From left to right we see the X100V, X100F, X100T, X100S and the original X100 from 2010

The aluminium covers, which are built around a magnesium alloy frame to uphold a high level of robustness, are also exquisitely finished in a satin coating, with the all black version being anodised rather than painted to give what Fujifilm calls a ‘deeper black finish’.

On the top plate, the X100V, like the X100F, benefits from an ISO dial that’s built around the shutter speed dial. It’s rather similar to the arrangement you’ll find on Fujifilm’s X-Pro3 in that the outer portion of the dial is lifted to adjust the ISO value, but it’s also vastly improved in the way it doesn’t have to be lifted and rotated simultaneously. Pull the outer ring up and the ISO dial can be rotated freely with your thumb before it’s pushed back down to lock it in place. It’s a much-improved design that we can see other X-series models benefiting from in the future.

The finish to the X100V’s top plate is crisper and the edges are sharper than previous versions. The top and bottom plates of the camera are constructed from aluminium

At the rear of the camera some further changes have been made. The most significant is the new two-way tilting 3in, 1.62-million-dot touchscreen that replaces the fixed screen of old. By designing the screen unit incredibly thinly, users get the benefit of a tilt screen with no additional bulk – indeed you wouldn’t really know it’s a tilt screen if it wasn’t for the cut-out at the bottom corner of the body that makes it easier to pull out.

Touchscreen control extends to the quick menu, however the X100V doesn’t support navigation of the main menu by touch like we’ve recently seen on Fujifilm’s entry-level X-A7 and X-T200 mirrorless cameras.

The X100V’s touchscreen allows you to select and adjust settings from the quick menu, but can’t be used to navigate or select settings from the main menu

The other change at the rear is the absence of a four-way controller. Instead users are encouraged to use the joystick and the Menu/OK, playback and DISP/Back buttons that are aligned beneath. A quick menu button remains, but this has been shifted to the right a little to prevent accidental thumb presses.

Though the thumb grip is said to have been refined, the feel of the X100V in the hand when you’re shooting is almost identical to its predecessor, the X100F.

Fujifilm X100V: First Impressions

It’s clear that with the X100V, Fujifilm has listened carefully to what existing X100 users have had to say and responded by making a series of valuable improvements to key areas of its operation and design.

AP’s Michael Topham gets hands on with the new Fujifilm X100V outside Fujifilm’s House of Photography store in London. The X100V’s viewfinder is claimed to be better sealed against dust and moisture

If the examples we were shown of how the new lens resolves sharpness is anything to go by, we can expect the X100V to produce far better image quality in the corners, plus with the addition of weather resistance, photographers will no longer be afraid of using it, or feel forced to switch to a different camera when the weather conditions takes a turn for the worse.

As well as the very popular silver finish pictured here, the X100V will be made available in all-black

Adding a tilt screen will be of huge benefit to street photographers who like to shoot inconspicuously from the hip and other tweaks such as improving the hybrid viewfinder, refining ISO control from the top plate and giving it an even more premium finish are likely to allure existing X100 users into thinking about an upgrade. We instantly fell in love with the X100V in the short time we used it and can’t wait to test it and put it through its paces in a few weeks time when we receive our review sample.

Fujifilm X100V: Availability and pricing

The X100V, which will be made in black and silver will cost £1299 when it goes on sale. The silver version will be available first and is expected to hit the shelves and online retailers from the 27th February. The black version of the X100V is expected to follow a little later and be available from the 12^th March.

To make the X100V weather resistant, users will need to buy the new weather resistant kit. We’re told the viewfinder also features new sealing to prevent dust creeping inside

The X100V weather resistance kit, which includes an adapter ring (AR-X100) and filter (PRF-49), will cost an additional £99, however it’ll be sold at half price (£49.50) in the UK when it’s purchased at the same time as the camera.

An optional premium leather case (LC-X100V) will also be available for the X100V, which has been designed to compliment the classic design, whilst providing access to the camera’s battery and memory card compartment. The black case will cost £79.

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