[Review] Sony DSC-RX100M6 Compact Digital Camera

The latest model “DSC-RX100M6” of Cyber-shot, Sony’s popular compact digital camera series, was released on June 22, 2018.
It has been a year and a half since the launch of the conventional DSC-RX100M5, but we will review the new DSC-RX100M6, including how its performance has improved with the latest model, and what new features it cares about.

Features from the manufacturer

High zoom and faster focus

Extraordinary performance in an elegantly engineered package.

All the features you need to capture the moment are here—wide 24–200 mm2 zoom range, lightning-fast autofocus, rapid continuous shooting, improved video capabilities, and pro-level operability—all in a remarkably compact body

Autofocus on fast subjects

When your subject is moving quickly the High-density Tracking AF Technology keeps up with the action, with AF points locked on the subject’s location.

Advanced Eye AF for portraits

The sophisticated Eye AF system has superior tracking performance as it accurately focuses on your subject’s eyes to facilitate better portrait shots.

Shifting focus is intuitive

Touch Focus allows you to focus by touching the monitor & Touch Pad AF lets you drag your finger to position the focus when using the viewfinder

Fast Hybrid AF

Rapid autofocus is achieved by merging focal-plane phase-detection AF, with its speed and tracking, and contrast-detection AF, with its high accuracy.

Basic features and functions

• 24-200mm F2.8-F4.5 ZEISS Vario-Sonnar T lens
• World’s fastest (0.03 sec) hybrid AF system (contrast + phase)
• Battery life:Up to 330 shots / 165 minutes
• In-the-box: Rechargeable Battery Pack NP-BX1, AC Adaptor, Micro USB cable, Wrist Strap, Strap Adapter

Review from the Customers’ viewpoints

So far, the Cyber-shot series has been divided into various series, and series development has been carried out according to the user’s level and performance requirements.

The DSC-RX100M6 falls into the category of large sensor models in Cyber-shot. And among them, it will be further divided into the sixth generation of the RX100 series.

“High-quality compact digital camera” close to a single-lens camera focused on image quality

Recently, the advantage of buying the camera with reasonable price is declining because of the increase in the share of the smartphone and its improvement to take pictures.
However, among them, “Luxury Compact Digital Camera” achieves image quality as close as possible to a single-lens camera, but does not require lens replacement; therefore, it is still a popular genre.
The RX100 series belongs to this high-end compact digital cameras and is a camera that achieves a blur like the single-lens camera and fine resolution in a compact body.

Appearance review

As a compact digital camera genre, the DSC-RX100M6 firmly realizes the compact, lightweight, highly portable body that has been traditionally inherited from successive generations

Design inherited by operability

The DSC-RX100M6 has inherited the compactness from successive generations.
And the button layout and model design are almost the same, and it is the impression that has been inherited from the successive series.
These traditional designs are constructed to easily operate and use for successive model users.

Significantly expanded the focal length

In the previous RX100 series, the maximum focal length was limited to 100 mm, and the third and subsequent generations were limited to models that adopted a focal length of 24 mm to 70 mm.

The DSC-RX100M6 has a significant extension of the previous focal length and uses a focal length of 24 mm to 200 mm. By expanding the telephoto side, it has become possible to move closer subjects with a distance of up to 200 mm.

Fast AF

Equipped with “Fast Hybrid AF”, this model achieved the world’s fastest high-speed AF of 0.03 seconds as a compact digital camera.
In addition, by placing 315 AF sensors to the corners, a wide range of high-precision AF is achieved. The AF tracking performance is also excellent, and AF works at high speed and accurately even when you want to make a complex motion or to suddenly focus.

Adopt touch panel in liquid crystal display

The touch panel was not adopted as a liquid crystal display in the conventional machine, but in DSC-RX100M6, the touch panel which can be operated intuitively with a finger.
It is also possible to adjust the focus by touching the liquid crystal display and to quickly focus on the desired position.

AF · AE tracking “maximum 24 frames/second” high-speed continuous shooting that does not miss the decisive moment

DSC-RX100M6 has high-speed continuous shooting functions.
Although it is a continuous shooting function to cut out the scene here, in RX100M6, the performance from M5 is succeeded, and high-speed continuous shooting of up to 24 fps is achieved even in AF · AE tracking.

In addition, the buffer memory required for the continuous shooting has also been increased in capacity, achieving up to 233 continuous shots.
Even in the continuous shooting that places a heavy burden on the camera, I made it possible to take about 100 shots at a time, and I felt that it was better than a single-lens camera.

Actual Feeling of DSC-RX100M6

We have introduced the major features of the DSC-RX100M6, but from here on we will use the actual machine to get closer to the appeal of the RX100M6.
First, the greatly expanded focal length widens the shooting range can be felt because of the expansion of the focal length achieved with the RX100M6.
The difference between 70mm and 200mm is very large, and the range that used to be the standard zoom range now achieves an angle of view similar to that of a medium telephoto lens.

Significantly evolved AF performance

The AF performance was one of the features of the previous model, RX100M5, but the AF performance has evolved further with the RX100M6.
This model introduced the world’s fastest high-speed AF as a compact digital camera equipped with a 1.0-type image sensor, but it means that it is the fastest in the world to focus as a 1.0-type image sensor.

Full communication function

The previous model RX100M5 also enabled connection with smartphones and other devices via Wi-Fi or NFC, but with the RX100M6, Bluetooth is also newly installed as a function, and it has become possible to record location information of the shooting location.
By recording location information in the image, you can immediately check where you took the picture when you look back on the picture.

We tried using the new Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100M6 this time.
While maintaining the performance of the conventional machine, we found out the points to be extended and felt that it was a solid product with improved performance.

However, in addition to simply improving the performance little by little, there were also challenges as a new model, such as a large focal length.
These challenges are exciting and interesting points for users.

We feel that Sony has made a well-balanced model change
Sony is promoting product development steadily in the field of mirrorless and is gaining popularity, but the historic Cyber-shot series will be also a series that can be expected further in the future.