Suffering from Compact Camera Deprivation Syndrome I recently bought a used Sony RX100 Mk 7 and have been re-acquainting myself with the delights and tribulations of this intriguing little device.
Although it was introduced in 2019 the RX100.7 remains one of the most accomplished compact cameras ever made, with a level of capability still outpacing many newer mirrorless interchangeable lens models.
The lens is a wonder to behold. It has 15 elements in 10 groups, with 8 aspheric elements and 13 aspheric surfaces. The 8x zoom range covers a full frame equivalent focal length of 24-200mm. Remarkably it only protrudes 16mm from the front of the body when powered down. Optical capability is very good at the wide and long ends of the zoom range and excellent in the middle of the zoom range.
This reminds us that if we have an excellent lens in front of a top quality 20Mpx sensor, a remarkable amount of fine detail can be rendered clearly in the resulting photos.
Everything else about this camera’s capability and performance is excellent. Overall image quality, autofocus, exposure and speed of operation all function at a very high level.
Every conceivable function is adjustable to the extreme. For instance I count 46 selectable options In the Drive menu alone.
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| Sydney (Australia) dwellers have to tolerate weather like this three seasons a year Sony RX100-7 |
So how come we do not find a Sony RX100.7 in the hands of every enthusiast photographer ?
The reason is that setting up the camera, handling, viewing and operating , in other words the whole ergonomic package and the user experience is….not so appealing.
On 2 April 2026, Chris Niccolls and Jordan Drake of Petapixel, presented a light hearted summary of their candidates for worst cameras ever and, yes, the Sony RX100 series is on their list. Well, it made Jordan’s list anyway. Chris is a fan of tiny cameras, having recently put forward the Pana-Lumix GM5 of 2014 as the best camera ever made. I hope he was kidding. I had one for a while and found it has many of the same problems as the Sony RX100 series; too small, fiddly controls, cramped, awkward ergonomics and operation. It does however show us that although only 2mm higher than the RX100.7 the GM5 is able to incorporate an always-ready EVF which does not have to be popped up and which is able to include a small but useful eyecup.
The problem, I think, is that the engineers at Sony have been so successful at cramming every possible capability into an incredibly tiny package that the resulting product is a victim of their own technological achievement.
The whole thing is too small for adult hands, it is presented without even the semblance of a handle, the thumb support is only 1mm high, the buttons are tiny and pretty much impossible to find and operate by feel, the pop-up viewfinder is essential in bright light but even then is problematic without any form of eyecup to block stray light. The old-style Sony menus are a challenge to navigate and decipher.
The irony of all this is that although this thing has every kind of high tech performance capability and everything is adjustable to a mind -boggling extent, I end up switching most of it off and using the camera like a point-and-shoot because the process of actually making those adjustments is so fussy and fiddly.
I use P Capture Mode, Tracking: Center Focus Area, AFC Focus Mode, Single (usually) Drive Mode and I disable the touch screen because my fingers otherwise keep inadvertently sending the AF area to some wrong place, often the top right corner.
I use focus-in-the-center just like a mid 20th Century SLR because I find that is the quickest and most reliable way to ensure proper focus with most subjects when using the RX100.7 in real world situations.
In summary, I think the whole Sony RX100 line including the Mark 7 are a brilliant technological achievement but sacrifice usability on the altar of smallness.
These cameras achieve their objective but for many camera users it is the wrong objective.
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| Using the RX100-7 EVF in bright backlit conditions. Trying to exclude stray light so I can see the preview image clearly. |
Notwithstanding these caveats I believe the RX100-7 has a place in the camera world, mainly because its diminutive size makes it unobtrusive. This can be useful for candid, street and social documentary style photography when we don’t want to attract too much attention to ourselves.
In use cases like this I treat the RX100-7 as a point-and-shoot-er. I just point the camera in the general direction of a potential subject, frame up quick and loose on the monitor screen and either press the shutter button several times in single shot mode or hold the shutter down for a second or two in Continuous Low.
The resulting set of images are like a lucky dip when I come to editing.
Can the RX100-7 be further evolved ?
The lens, sensor, processor, image quality and performance are all good, even now, seven years after it was released.
They need to remove about 80% of the mind-numbing and superfluous options for every conceivable little nuance of camera function currently cluttering up the menu system, which also needs to be updated to at least the latest Sony template.
I think the appeal of the thing could be greatly enhanced if Sony used a slightly larger and more ergonomically coherent body for any successor or even for a new line of models.
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