Sony RX10 V, just what difference does a decade make?
It’s been nine years since the RX10 IV was launched. What does the RX10 V bring, other than some AF improvements?
Richard ButlerThe Sony DSC-RX10 V appears just as prices of the remaining RX10 IV started to get silly. Nearly nine years have elapsed since the launch of the Mark IV but despite first appearances, almost everything has changed in the new camera.
Basic hardware
Both cameras are based around the same fundamental specs: a 24-600mm equivalent F2.4-4.0 zoom and 20MP Type 1 (116mm2) stacked CMOS sensors.
Sony says the lens is the same, despite reporting the focal lengths differently on the side of the barrel. Our understanding is the RX10 IV reports the effective focal length with corrections applied, whereas the RX10 V lists the literal focal lengths.
We were briefed that the sensor has been “updated” but without any specifics about what those changes are. The new camera has significantly more powerful processors and updated AF algorithms, so it’s hard to be sure which, if any, of the spec changes can be ascribed to sensor differences. It seems notable, though, that Sony no longer mentions DRAM, which it did in its description of the previous version.
Ergonomics

The RX10 V’s ergonomics have been reworked, mostly for the best. It has a more comfortable grip, more prominent command dials on its shoulder and one of the large, easy-to-position AF joysticks we’ve seen on the last few generations of Alpha cameras. It loses its top-plate LCD and its focus drive mode switch on the front of the camera, instead getting an AF/MF switch on the side of the lens.
The net effect is a definite positive: the RX10 V feels a lot more like one of the more recent Alpha models, rather than a box full of goodies that you constantly feel you need a tin-opener to get at. It’s disappointing that all three of the camera’s dials (if you include the awkward little dial on the rear face) need to be controlled with the thumb: a front dial would have been a further boost, but overall it feels much nicer to control. And that’s before you get to the menus which, if nothing else, are much more sensibly arranged, with related options much more logically grouped and labeled.
AF and performance
The new camera has Sony’s latest AF system, which is a surprisingly large step forward. The RX10 IV was the first in the series to gain phase detection AF: delivering a big leap forward over previous models, and early instances of Eye detection and animal eye detection autofocus. In video it fell back on the older, clunkier ‘Center Lock-On AF’ system that required a degree of button-pressing and missed focus that seems unthinkable by modern standards.
The RX10 V illustrates just how far things have come in the meantime. The clutter of AF area modes persists, but it’s now backed up by a subject recognition system that can cope with a wider range of subjects, works more effectively and is available in video. The near decade-long lull in enthusiast compact cameras happens to have coincided with one of the most sustained periods of improvement in AF performance and ease-of-use,
Viewfinder and screen
Richard ButlerBoth the viewfinder and rear screen have been upgraded, compared with the RX10 IV. We wouldn’t be at all surprised to find some of this is down to old components no longer being available, but if it results in a better viewfinder, we’ll take it.
The RX10 V has a 3.69M dot EVF, meaning 1280 x 960px resolution, rather than the 1024 x 768px view of its predecessor. It’s a physically larger panel, too, with updated finder optics boosting the magnification from 0.7x to 0.78x.
The rear screen gets a more modest boost: 1.62M dots (900 x 600px) in a 3:2 aspect ratio that matches the camera’s sensor, rather than the 4:3 screen on the RX10 IV, which had 800 x 600px resolution, of which 800 x 533px would be devoted to previewing images. In both instances, the screens tilt up or down, but don’t hinge or tilt sideways.
Movies
For the most-part, the RX10 V’s movie capabilities are greatly enhanced: it can shoot 4K at up to 60p from the full width of its sensor (vs 30p on the old model), or 120p with a crop. The AF tracking is vastly improved, it gains Sony’s Auto Framing system that crops in and follows a subject around, to give movement to otherwise static shots, and it adds the ‘Active’ Steadshot stabilization mode. Above all, though, it gains the ability to capture 10-bit footage, making its Log files much more flexibile than before, particularly S-Log3. It also lets you shoot in S-Cinetone, and attractive, ready-to-go profile we’ve liked on other cameras.
Somewhat contraversially, the RX10 V doesn’t offer the 1000fps (960fps in NTSC mode) 1080 video capture of its predecessor. Whether this is a consequence of a lack of DRAM to buffer all that information, or because Sony has just refocused its attention on more mainstream video needs is unclear. The footage was never particularly good (not least because each frame of a 1000fps burst is made up from very little light), but it was a feature that wasn’t really available elsewhere.
Storage / communication

As you might hope, the RX10 V now accepts UHS-II SD memory cards, letting it write and read data much faster than the older model, which had a UHS-I interface. UHS-II had started to appear in cameras nearly three years prior to the Mark IV, so this isn’t really a case of bringing the new camera up-to-date, and more of reaching the point the IV could have been at, nine years ago. The industry looks unlikely to ever use the newer UHS-III format and may even skip SDExpress, which is based on the same technology as the CF express cards Sony uses elsewhere in its range.
The Mark V does at least gain a modern USB connector, though. It can communicate at up to 10Gbps and can be used for charging the camera. It retains the Micro-B USB socket that the IV had, so that it’s compatible with the same accessories, but this port can no longer be used for charging.
Battery
Richard ButlerFinally, there’s the battery. The RX10 V makes room for the much larger NP-FZ100 battery, which has over twice the capacity of the NP-FW50 used in the Mark IV. This doesn’t result in double the battery life, perhaps because of the additional processing power and higher resolution viewinder, but still sees the battery life rating jump by more than 50%. Ratings of 570 shots per charge via the viewfinder and 630 shots per charge using the rear screen are well into the territory that it’s unlikely you’ll ever have to worry about battery life, as a stills shooter. As usual, we’d expect most people to get around double this number of shots, and still more if you shoot bursts.
Overall
It’s easy to look at the RX10 V, see that the lens and pixel count is the same and conclude it’s a minor update. In practice, just about every aspect of the camera has been improved. The RX10 V looks much more expensive, but a lot of that is because inflation – or, to put it another way, the devaluing of the money in your pocket – in the intervening nine years exaggerates the difference.
As always, it’s up to each individual to decide whether they think a product is worth the cost, but in terms of usability, performance and capability, the RX10 V is a big step forward.
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