Sony Cyber-shot RX100 Digital Camera Review

Speed and Timing

The RX100 supports both a burst mode and true continuous shooting with no buffer limit. In this same menu, you'll also find a lightly customizable self-timer with options for self-portrait, as well as exposure and white balance bracket settings.

Using Speed Priority mode, which triggers a 10 shot burst followed by slower shots that continue indefinitely, we clocked the RX100 at exactly 10 frames per second for the initial burst. Continuous shooting, which does also slow down eventually, is slower at only 2.5 frames per second.

RAW drive modes are also supported, at the cost of reduced speed. The fastest RAW burst the camera can manage is a little over 4.2 frames per second. Not bad.

Focus Speed

Focus is usually reliable and moderately fast, however there are some issues with real-world usage that will crop up from time to time. First, minimum focus distance is rather strict when you're zoomed in. The problem is alleviated at the closest focal length, but for portrait photography you'll need to back up to a reasonable distance. Second, the f/1.8 lens is capable of producing an in-focus area that's so narrow you may have trouble keeping your subject inside it after locking focus, especially while hand-holding. A decent way around this is to use continuous autofocus in conjunction with subject tracking.

Manual focus is a "by wire" solution, but it's responsive enough to give the illusion of direct lens manipulation. Image preview is also quick enough to use in the field, making Sony's solution far better than what we're used to from compacts.