Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 IV Review
Sony’s RX10 series has delivered premium image quality in a fixed-lens, bridge camera design since its introduction. The fourth edition, the RX10 IV ($1,699.99), upgrades the image sensor to include phase detection focus, so it can shoot at up to 24fps while tracking subjects. That’s a big plus for sports and wildlife photographers who want to pack light—the camera has 600mm reach. It delivers image quality that’s better than superzooms with small sensors, and also offers best in class capture speed and autofocus. Not everyone needs this type of power, however, and you can save a few hundred dollars without sacrificing image quality by opting for our Editors’ Choice RX10 III. But if you don’t mind paying some extra money for additional speed, the RX10 IV is worth the premium.
Mục lục
Design
The RX10 IV ($1,698.00 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) is nearly physically identical to the RX10 III. It’s designed in a bridge style—the body is similar in size and shape to an SLR, but the lens is integral to the design rather than interchangeable. It measures 3.7 by 5.2 by 5.7 inches and weighs 2.4 pounds. The body is black, with a mixed polycarbonate, rubber, and metal exterior and an internal magnesium alloy chassis. It’s a weather-sealed design, with enough protection to use in rainy or dusty environments without worry.
The fixed lens is the same 8.8-220mm (24-600mm equivalent) f/2.4-4 design used by the RX10 III. It’s tied for the longest in the class—the RX10 III uses the same one, and the Canon PowerShot G3 X sports a 24-600mm f/2.8-5.6 zoom, dimmer and slower to focus than the RX10 IV. To get an idea of the range of the 24-600mm zoom, take a look at the image below: the left half is 24mm and the right half is 600mm, a tight shot of the full moon.
Other superzooms have longer designs, like the 65x Canon PowerShot SX60 HS. But they use smaller image sensors and narrower apertures. The RX10 IV uses a 1-inch sensor design with a surface area that’s four times that of the 1/2.3-inch designs used in more affordable bridge models.
In addition to the 25x zoom ratio, the lens doubles as a capable macro. It focuses to 1.2 inches at the wide angle and to 2.4 feet when zoomed all the way in, good enough for 1:2 magnification. There’s a focus limiter switch on the barrel; when turned on it disables macro capture, only focusing on subjects farther than 10 feet (3 meters) away. It speeds focus when photographing distant subjects.
1 Cool Thing: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 IV
1 Cool Thing: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 IV
Optical stabilization is rated to 4.5 stops by CIPA and I found it to work a little bit better than that. I was able to capture consistently crisp images at 1/13-second when shooting at 600mm, better than 5 stops of compensation. The lens doesn’t have an integrated neutral density filter (included in the shorter zooming RX10 and RX10 II). If you’re a fan of long exposure photography, or want to keep your video shutter speed lower to maintain a traditional shutter angle, you’ll want to invest in a set of 72mm ND filters to attach to the front of the lens when needed.
In addition to the limiter switch, the barrel has a focus hold button; when held in it prevents autofocus from activating. The lens itself has a physical aperture ring; it can be set from f/2.4 through f/16 in third-stop increments or to turn freely without detents. Knurled metal zoom and manual focus rings are also on the barrel. The zoom ring can be set to make minor adjustments or step zoom to the 24, 28, 35, 50, 70, 85, 100, 135, 200, 300, 400, 500, and 600mm positions.
The focus adjustment toggle rounds out the front controls. It can be set to AF-S (Single), AF-A (Auto), AF-C (Continuous), or DMF (Direct Manual Focus) modes. AF-A switches between single and continuous focus based on the scene, and DMF allows you to override autofocus at any time using the manual focus ring.
Up top, starting at the left, is the Mode dial. It turns freely, without any sort of locking mechanism. The hot shoe is centered behind the lens and pop-up flash; you’ll want to remove the lens hood when shooting at 35mm or wider with the flash, as the hood can create a shadow at the bottom of your image.
The mechanical flash release is just to the right, in a row of buttons that also includes the top LCD backlight control, and the programmable C1 and C2 buttons. Behind the row you’ll find the monochrome information LCD and a dedicated EV adjustment dial with third-stop adjustments from -3 to +3 EV. The shutter release (threaded so you can use a mechanical release cable), zoom rocker, and On/Off switch are at the top of the handgrip.
The Menu button is at the top left corner of the rear plate, to the left of the EVF eyecup. Record and the rear control wheel are to the right of the EVF. The AE-L and Fn buttons are just below the wheel, in between the LCD and thumb rest, and there’s a flat command dial with a center button and four directional press controls below the two buttons. Play and Delete/C3 buttons round out the rear controls, below the flat dial.
All of the C buttons are programmable, as are the right, down, and left directional presses on the flat command dial. Pressing Fn launches an on-screen overlay menu, also customizable, with additional control options. Sony’s menu system is quite extensive, and not perfectly organized, so it is worth it to spend some time setting up the camera to customize its controls and Fn menu to suit your needs. There’s also a customizable My Menu page, a good place to put commonly used functions so you don’t have to scroll through dozens of menu pages to find the one you want to adjust.
The LCD is a 3-inch, 1,440k-dot panel with touch support. It’s bright and sharp, and tilts up or down, but it doesn’t swing out from the body or face all the way forward. That’s a shame when you consider how good of a video camera the RX10 IV is.
Touch functionality is also limited. You can tap to set a focus point, but you can’t navigate menus via touch. Sony does include Touch Pad focus adjustment. When the camera is to your eye you can slide your finger across the LCD to move the active focus point. It works, but not as well as a dedicated focus control.
The electronic viewfinder is big, bright, and sharp. It boasts a 0.7x magnification factor, an OLED design, and a 2,359k-dot resolution. There’s an eye sensor, so it turns on and off automatically as you bring the camera to your eye, and Sony has eliminated the sensitivity issue that plagued the first two RX10 ( at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) models; it’s difficult to accidentally trigger the eye sensor with your body, and it doesn’t work at all when the screen is tilted out.
Connectivity and Power
The RX10 IV includes Bluetooth, NFC, and Wi-Fi. It can pair with Android and iOS devices in order to transfer images or videos or for remote control. Image transfers are quick—the camera resizes images to 2MP to speed things up—but video transfer, especially if you’re shooting at 4K, can take a while, even when using a top-end smartphone.
Physical connections include the multi-interface hot shoe, which can accommodate an external flash or Sony’s XLR audio adapter, 3.5mm headphone and microphone jacks, micro HDMI, and micro USB. The battery charges in-camera via USB; Sony doesn’t include an external charger with the RX10, just a cable and a USB-to-AC adapter. The included battery is good for about 400 shots using the rear LCD, 370 shots with the EVF, or up to 75 minutes of video per CIPA standards, which should get you through a full day of shooting. But if you want to invest in a spare battery, it’s wise to buy an external charger at the same time—that way you can use the RX10 IV as you recharge the spare battery, or charge one in-camera and one out of camera at the same time.
The memory card slot is on the right side, separate from the bottom-accessible battery compartment. It’s a single slot with support for SD, SDHC, SDXC, and Memory Stick Duo formats. Its speed rating tops out at UHS-I, so you can’t take advantage of the speed offered by the latest ultra-fast UHS-II SD cards.
Performance and Autofocus
Because its lens has to extend to start shooting, the RX10 IV is a little slow to power on, focus, and capture an image—it takes about 2.3 seconds to do so. That’s par for the course for a superzoom camera. But its autofocus system is very speedy, locking on almost instantly when shooting in bright light, and managing a 0.4-second focus lock in very dim conditions.
And it’s the autofocus system, and burst rate, that really set the IV apart from the RX10 III ($1,298.00 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) . While you can shoot JPGs at 14fps and Raw images at 8fps with the III, the IV ups the burst rate to a staggering 24fps, even in Raw format, and adds on-sensor phase detection for better subject tracking.
See How We Test Digital Cameras
Shooting fast-moving action—a soccer match for example—is something you can do more effectively with the RX10 IV than with the III, even if shooting at 24fps is an overkill for many subjects—and can fill up your memory card more quickly. You can still take advantage of the faster focus system when dialing the burst rate down to a more reasonable 10fps by setting it to medium instead of high.
The shooting buffer is large enough to hold 105 Raw+JPG, 106 Raw, or 228 JPG shots when shooting at 24fps. Clearing it to a memory card does take some time—70, 50, and 75 seconds respectively, when paired with the fastest UHS-I card we had, rated at 95MBps. I wish the slot was UHS-II, which could cut buffer clear times by a third, as you can’t start recording a video if there are any images left in the still buffer.
You have some different options in terms of focus area. The default setting is Wide, which covers about 65 percent of the sensor with phase and contrast detection points. You can couple this with EyeAF (you’ll need to turn it on in the menu; I mapped it to the rear center button to match the operation of Sony’s a7 and a9 mirrorless camera family) for the best results when photographing people. It will try and detect and focus on your subject’s eyes, and falls back to standard face detection if it can’t identify an eye.
You can override the Wide area by tapping on the rear screen; it changes the focus mode to Flexible Spot, which only looks for focus in a small area of the frame. You can also set the camera to use the Flexible Spot at all times (with Small, Medium, and Large options available for the spot size), Center point only focus, or Lock On Flexible Spot. The latter is only available in Continuous focus mode; it identifies the subject under the spot you select and tracks it as it moves through the frame. In any focus mode, small green dots dance in the viewfinder to let you know what the camera is focusing on.
I tend to use the Wide focus area when shooting with the RX10 IV, in combination with EyeAF when photographing people. The camera does a good job picking the focus point, but of course there are times when you want to control it completely. Using the Touch Pad AF function to move the focus area around works, but I don’t think it’s as responsive as it should be. It can take a few swipes to move the point from the right to left side of the frame. You can opt to set it Absolute positioning, which means that tapping to the left of the touch area (configurable via the menu) moves the point to the left immediately, but I found that even more frustrating to use than the default Relative mode.
I’d love to see Sony add a dedicated focus joystick control to the body, as it has with its latest full-frame mirrorless cameras. It would go a long way to improving this one aspect of operation. Perhaps we’ll see it in the inevitable RX10 V.
There’s also a bit of a drawback for dedicated sports shooters, depending on which sport you cover. Basketball photographers, for example, will likely find the power zoom lens to be a bit of a downer. Even when set to its faster operation mode, it takes much longer to adjust than you would with a mechanical zoom SLR lens. If you’re sitting under the net and a player is driving toward you for a layup or dunk, it’s harder to keep them tightly framed than it would be with an SLR lens—you’re better off shooting a bit wide and cropping later if you want the whole sequence. Keep this in mind if you need to change the focal length quickly and regularly when capturing sports or similar action.
Image Quality
The 20MP 1-inch image sensor is about four times the physical size of the sensors used by most superzoom cameras. It measures 13.2 by 8.8mm, for a surface area of 116mm2. To put it in more perspective, that’s about a third of the size of the APS-C sensor you find in consumer SLRs.
I used Imatest(Opens in a new window) to analyze its performance when capturing images at various ISO settings. The RX10 IV has a native range of ISO 100 through 12800, with low extended settings available at ISO 64 and 80. ISO 25600 is supported, but only when using Multi-Frame capture and blending.
When shooting JPGs at default settings the camera keeps noise under 1.5 percent through ISO 3200, about what we expect from this sensor type—the 20MP 1-inch design is used in many premium compact models, including competing options from Canon and Panasonic. But only Sony has this stacked design with on-sensor phase detection.
There is certainly some noise reduction going on to net these results. To my eye, images shot through ISO 800 are perfectly crisp, with no evidence of noise reduction or grain. At ISO 1600 the very tiniest details of our test image lose some crispness, but are still distinct. There’s some visible smudging at ISO 3200, so these lines start to run together a bit. The smudge effect is more pronounced at ISO 6400, but still fine for web resolution and smaller prints. It gives way to a more blurred look at the top standard setting, ISO 12800.
If you opt to shoot in Raw format you can get squeeze more clarity out of photos at higher ISOs. There’s more grain in shots captured at ISO 1600 than with a JPG, but details are clearer. That holds true as speed ramps up; details are notably crisper in the ISO 3200 Raw image. Noise cuts into image quality at ISO 6400, so you get a grainier image with a little bit more detail than the JPG, as is the case at ISO 12800.
The RX10 IV has a brighter lens than many other supezooms. It captures more light at every equivalent angle of view when compared with the Canon G3 X (f/2.8-5.6) and small sensor SX60 HS (f/3.4-6.5) ($479.00 at eBay)(Opens in a new window) . But the lens isn’t just bright, it’s also really sharp.
At 24mm f/2.4 it scores 2,362 lines per picture height on a center-weighted sharpness test. Most of the frame meets or exceeds the average score, although edges (1,809 lines) fall behind. They still match the 1,800 lines we want to see at a minimum from a 20MP camera, however. Narrowing the aperture improves edge quality—they show 1,986 lines at f/2.8 and 2,345 lines at f/4. The average also improves—2,601 lines at f/2.8, 2,925 lines at f/4, and 2,856 lines at f/5.6. After that diffraction sets in and limits image quality; you should avoid shooting at f/11 (1,852 lines) and f/16 (1,215 lines) when possible.
At 50mm the maximum aperture has narrowed to f/3.2. Sharpness is strong, 2,803 lines, with edges that aren’t far behind (2,559 lines). You get a bit more resolution at f/4 (2,912 lines) and f/5.6 (2,836 lines). Image quality drops at f/8 (2,502 lines), f/11, (1,809 lines), and f/16 (1,206 lines).
By 100mm the lens has narrowed to f/4, but image quality doesn’t take a step back. We see 2,839 lines on average, with excellent performance from center to edge (2,632 lines). There’s not much change at f/5.6 (2,843 lines) or f/8 (2,573 lines), but we see a big drop at f/11 (1,768 lines) and f/16 (1,203 lines).
We see very similar performance at 200mm and 300mm. At f/4 and f/5.6 the lens resolves about 2,800 lines on average with strong quality from edge to edge. Narrowing to f/8 drops the resolution to about 2,500 lines, and we see just 1,750 at f/11 and 1,200 at f/16.
There’s a dip in edge performance at 400mm f/4 (1,618 lines), but the average remains very good (2,390 lines). Stopping down to f/5.6 improves the overall score to 2,589 lines, and you still get good results at f/8 (2,334 lines). Skip f/11 (1,682 lines) and f/16 (1,174 lines).
Results aren’t that far off at 500mm. At f/4 the average score is 2,433 lines, with better edge quality (1,828 lines) than at 400mm. The story is about the same at f/5.6. At f/8 we get better edges (2,037 lines) and a strong average (2,356 lines), before diffraction kills clarity at f/11 (1,710 lines) and f/16 (1,145 lines).
Zooming all the way in to 600mm does take its toll. At f/4 the lens scores 2,121 lines on average, but edges are weak (1,480 lines). Stopping down to f/5.6 improves the periphery (1,861 lines) and average (2,405 lines). Edges are better at f/8 (1,931 lines), but there’s a hit on the average score (2,241 lines) as center resolution drops a bit. Again, f/11 (1,549 lines) and f/16 (1,082 lines) are best forgotten about.
You don’t have to worry about distortion or darkened corners. The RX10 IV applies corrections to both Raw and JPG images to remove both. Most Raw converters will recognize the corrections, although you may be forced to make them yourself if you stray too far from Lightroom or Capture One.
Overall the lens is an excellent performer, better than one with a bright design and 25x zoom power has any right to be. But that’s what you expect from a camera that costs this much. You can get the Canon G3 X for a lot less money, but its lens doesn’t hold up as well when zoomed all the way in, nor does it capture as much light. (And the G3 X is plagued by slower autofocus, making action shots difficult.)
Video
The RX10 series has always been capable for video, even with the first model that was released in the 1080p era. Every iteration since then has supported 4K capture. The IV captures 4K footage at 24 or 30fps, with your choice of 60 or 100Mbps XAVC S compression. If you’re happy with 1080p you can capture video at 24, 30, 60, or 120fps at bit rates ranging from 16Mbps (to save space on the card) through 100Mbps (for best quality), also in XAVC S. There are also AVCHD options available, even though the format isn’t widely used in 2018.
It’s not just about resolution. The RX10 IV adds SLog3 to its laundry list of picture profiles (the RX10 III supports SLog2). Shooting in a log format reduces contrast, so more dynamic range is preserved in your video. But it requires you to apply a color grade using software to make the footage look good—if you’re a pro who knows how to color correct, you’re familiar with the process.
In addition to pro-level video profiles, the RX10 IV supports an external microphone. Vloggers and travel videographers will be happy with an on-camera shotgun microphone connected via 3.5mm. But for more serious work you can buy Sony’s $499 XLR add-on and connect a balanced microphone.
The camera can also go beyond 120fps if you need slower slow-motion. It has an HFR setting on the Mode dial—High Frame Rate. You can set it to record footage at 240, 480, or 960fps and to play back at 24, 30, or 60fps, giving you a varying range of slow down. I’m a big fan of 240fps at 24fps, a 10x effect. There are a bevy of options for HFR, including when to start the clip and the quality of the capture—the high quality mode captures four seconds of real life, and the lower quality option extends that to seven seconds.
All HFR is output at 1080p quality, but not all 1080p is created equal. The 240fps looks the sharpest, and the 960fps is a bit soft and also cropped. You also need a ton of light to shoot at 960fps—the camera needs to use at least a 1/960-second exposure for each frame in order to reach that speed.
There are a couple of caveats for using HFR. One, the camera needs to buffer footage before it can start recording. You can start the buffering process well in advance of starting the video, but focus and zoom are locked once the buffering starts. Second, and most annoying, is the amount of time that it takes to render the video. If you are shooting at 240fps and playing back at 24fps, a full clip is about 45 seconds—which is how long it takes to save the movie file to the card.
The biggest downside to HFR is the amount of time it takes to render out a video. After you’ve captured your slow seconds of video you need to wait a full 45 seconds while the camera renders the footage. If you’re shooting at 960fps you can wait for more than two and a half minutes for the video to be ready when shooting in high quality mode. When it’s processing you can’t use the camera for anything else, although you can cancel at any time.
But, for the right scene, the effect is worth the wait. And you can always shoot at 120fps 1080p in standard mode for a more modest slow-motion effect without the stringent requirements of HFR capture.
Conclusions
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 IV is the most feature-filled, and most expensive, variation of the camera yet. It keeps the same 24-600mm f/2.4-4 lens as the RX10 III (now priced around $1,400), but adds on-sensor phase detection for quicker focus and a staggering 24fps burst capture rate, even in Raw mode. It goes beyond what other bridge cameras can do, delivering a zoom range that covers all but extreme telephoto shooting, 20MP of resolution, and the image quality of a 1-inch sensor, which is beyond what smaller sensor cameras can deliver.
It wraps it all up in a tough, weather-sealed body, with a crisp EVF and tilting touch LCD. Video features are also strong, with both crisp 4K capture and extreme slow-motion at 1080p available. The RX10 IV is the finest bridge camera money can buy.
But it takes a lot of money to buy it. There’s no doubt it is more fully featured than the RX10 III, but it doesn’t replace it in Sony’s lineup. We continue to recommend the RX10 III to most photographers searching for a high-end bridge model. It is more than enough camera for most purposes, and costs $300 less. But if you’re not as sensitive to price, or shoot subjects where an improved burst rate and focus system will come in handy—typically sports and wildlife—spend the extra money on the RX10 IV.
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 IV
4.0
(Opens in a new window)
See It
$1,698.00
at Amazon
(Opens in a new window)
MSRP $1,699.99
Pros
View More
Cons
View More
The Bottom Line
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 IV camera delivers an incredible zoom range and uses a stacked sensor design and phase detection focus for 24fps image capture.
Like What You’re Reading?
Sign up for Lab Report to get the latest reviews and top product advice delivered right to your inbox.
This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.
Thanks for signing up!
Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep an eye on your inbox!
Sign up for other newsletters
