VIIth Sony pocket cam unveiled

Sony has unveiled the seventh version of its wildly popular RX100 pocket camera and hot on the heels of Canon’s G7X Mk III, it too now features a microphone socket for vloggers.

That said the press release adds the unhelpfully unqualified caveat that “Attaching a mic without the Shooting Grip Kit requires an optional accessory” – whether this is strictly true or they simply mean you’ll need to fashion some way of sticking a mic to the cam without the “grip kit” is not clear.

The new RX boasts a new one-inch 20 megapixel sensor, super-dooper autofocus for stills and video including phase and contrast detection and – groovy – real time eye detection not just for humans but some animals as well.

The lens is a ZEISS Vario-Sonnar T* 24-200mm (35 mmm equivalent) with an iris going from F2.8 – F4.5

There’s 4K video for up to five minutes shooting at a time before it overheats, Active SteadyShot for those vloggers’ walk-and-talks, and super slowmo up to 1,000 frames per second (the resolution for this is unspecified in the press release)

Plus it has the buzzword of the moment, “gammas”, specifically Hybrid Log-Gamma (HDR) / S-Gamut3.Cine / S-Log3, S-Gamut3/S-Log3

Vloggers will no doubt be curious to test the “Shooting Grip Kit” (DSC-RX100M7G) which includes the camera, a shooting grip (VCT-SGR1) which provides recording and zooming controls on the grip, plus a bracket with accessory shoe for a mic, and two rechargeable batteries. Yes, the camera has a screen that flips up by 180 degrees as well for those crucial selfies.

Cost will be not inconsiderable at 1,300 euros for the camera and 85 for the new little leather case. The shooting grip (not the whole kit, just the grip) is about 120 euros, apparently.

See the presser on Sony’s website here or just skip straight to the product page here: www.sony.co.uk/electronics/cyber-shot-compact-cameras/dsc-rx100m7