As we push on with our Leica SL3-P review, we’ve run it through our standard studio tests. To a large extent, we already have a pretty good idea what to expect, given we’ve seen this sensor / processor combination before. But it’s always worth testing these things, just to be certain.

Studio test scene

Our test scene is designed to simulate a variety of textures, colors, and detail types you’ll encounter in the real world. It also has two illumination modes, full even light and low directional light, to see the effect of different lighting conditions.

As you might expect, there’s no meaningful difference between the Leica and the Panasonic in terms of detail capture (the very slight difference shows how good the comparison tool is at highlighting the smallest of differences in focus), or for that matter, the Nikon Z8. However, the 66MP Sony a7R VI clearly captures finer detail than its rivals.

A quick check in JPEG mode shows that the default color rendering of the SL3-P is distinct from that of the Panasonic, though, with differences appearing in the blues and caucasian skintone patch, in particular.

Beyond this, there aren’t any real surprises: noise performance is solid in Raw, very closely matching the performance of its peers. JPEG noise reduction looks similar to that of the Panasonic, with what appears to be more sharpening added, by default, to pull out detail. The Auto white balance also looks to be working harder to neutralize the tungsten light used for our low-light mode.

The Sony FX5 is a compact cinema camera capable of up to 4.5K120 and Raw video capture, aimed at independent videographers and small productions. It builds on the legacy of the FX3, adding a host of features we’ve not previously seen from Sony.

Key features

• 16.6MP Full-Frame stacked CMOS sensor
• 4K/60 from 5K capture
• 4K/120 from 4.5K crop
• 4K/240 capability via firmware due in late 2027
• Open gate shooting
• Combined dual gain mode for increased DR
• Three “base” ISO steps
• Internal Raw capture
• Subject recognition autofocus
• 32-bit float audio compatibility
• Large 16:9 rear LCD
• Waveform display
• Optional EVF

The FX5 will be available, body-only, for $4899, or $5499 with the XLR top-handle, which allows 32-bit float audio capture. Other optional accessories include a removable, tiltable viewfinder and a USB-C-to-BNC timecode cable. It will be available from August.

What’s new

The FX5 is a surprisingly significant upgrade compared to the FX3, suggesting Sony is still working out what this type of camera needs to offer, and iterating. It nominally sits above the FX3 but looks like it’s trying to do what the FX3 did, plus a lot more, making it most directly comparable to the likes of Canon’s C50 cinema camera.

The most visible addition is its ability to capture Raw footage, but that’s just the most dramatic departure from the existing camera. There are also a host of features and UI changes that have come down directly from the company’s pro cinema products, to the degree that it represents not just a major upgrade but will also present an appreciable learning curve for existing FX3 users.

Don’t call it Raw

Interestingly, Sony doesn’t refer to the camera’s Raw mode in those terms, instead settling on the snappy X-OCN, which I’m sure we can agree is clearer. They tell us it’s a 16-bit linear Raw format, which is a lot more detail than we’re typically given about the other Raw video codecs. Linear encoding is a rather inefficient way of doing things but, in theory at least, gives the maximum flexibility in terms of highlight editing and reconstruction.

This “EXtended tonal range Orginal Camera Negative” gives you more flexibility in terms of correcting white balance, applying noise reduction, highlight and tonal adjustment and color grading. It’s a version of the format already used by the Burano and Venice cameras, so should be compatible with DaVinci Resolve, Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid Media Composer and Baselight software.

The FX5 uses the X-OCN LT (Light) version of the codec, used on the Burano cinema camera (and that’s even an option on the company’s flagship Venice 2 model).

New sensor

James Tirado

The FX5 is based around a new stacked CMOS sensor. Sony quotes the pixel count as 16.6MP which, given the FX3 turned out to have a 48MP behind a 12MP color filter array, should make us wonder how similar it is to the 66.8MP sensor in the recent a7R VI.

Sony wouldn’t be specific about any differences, but the significantly higher output speeds make us assume that there’s DRAM or more complex readout circuitry built into the back of the sensor. We know that the a7R VI’s 4K video comes from combining quartets of pixels, so placing that same pixel architecture behind oversized color filters that extend across sets of four pixels would make a lot of sense. Even if you’re not that interested in video, this ability to produce variations of a sensor with different capabilities might still offer an interesting insight into the products we’ll see in the coming years.

In practice, the FX5 is faster at reading out a comparable region of its sensor (around 5.5ms in full-width, 16:9 5K modes, around 24% quicker than the 7.2ms that the a7R VI takes in its ‘5K sampled’ 16:9 modes). Open gate mode read out the full height of the sensor in 8.3ms (1/120 sec).

Sony says the camera has a “Dual Gain” mode that boosts dynamic range by combining the low gain and high-gain signals being read off the sensor. It is available in the camera’s lowest native gain mode (ISO 800) and the modes derived from it (ie up to EI 3200). It can be used at up to 60p in most resolutions or up to 30p in open gate mode.

We’re told it may operate differently from the combined dual gain mode the a7R IV offers in video, though. We were briefed that the image is analysed and the high gain (low noise) data is only utilized in the shadow regions of the image, making the process faster than combining both gain settings for all pixels. Engaging the Dual Gain mode (via the ISO menu) increases the readout time by a factor of 2.1x, which is very similar to the proportion of increase we measured on the a7R VI.

Three “base” ISO settings

Interestingly, Sony also says the FX5 has three “base ISO” settings: 800, 4000, 12,800. To make sense of this, it’s worth noting that there isn’t a fixed or universally shared definition of what ‘base ISO’ means. What it doesn’t directly refer to is conversion gain steps at the sensor level. So, for instance, the FX3 and a7S III had dual conversion gain sensors, but Sony says it does not consider them to be cameras with dual base ISO.*

James Tirado

Instead, Sony tells us its definition of base ISO relates to modes that offer the same dynamic range distribution between highlights and shadows, and have a near-identical noise floor, allowing footage to be intercut between the modes. This makes most sense when working in the camera’s Cinema EI mode, where the camera is locked to one of these “base” states and then delivers ISO settings up to two stops higher or lower by essentially under- or over-exposing the ‘base’ state, then including a metadata tag saying how light or dark the footage is meant to be rendered. This really comes into its own in a Raw workflow, as this is how it’s possible to adjust the “ISO” of footage, after the fact.

The decision of Sony to offer three “base ISO” states shouldn’t lead you to conclude that there are three distinct gain steps at the hardware level, nor should it be confused with the camera’s optional “Dual Gain” mode that combines the output of different hardware states.

*Just to make clear how slippery the concept is, the FX3’s firmware V2 added Cinema EI, including a setting called Base ISO, which has two settings. We are told the higher of these is officially considered a High Sensitivity mode, not a second base ISO.

New UI, wider range of features

Beyond these, the most radical change is to the user interface, with the FX5 gaining an all-in-one settings display borrowed almost directly from the Burano (and closely mimicking the displays that Panasonic borrowed from Arri, etc, etc). Its menus have also been re-worked to make them look more like Sony’s pro cinema models, which will add a bit of a learning curve for existing FX users but brings it closer into line with other production cameras.

The company says it will be adding a vertical version of the UI in firmware 2.0.

James Tirado

Also added are a host of tools that other brands have started offering but that have been absent from previous Sonys at this point in the market. So, in addition to options like the focus map, that highlights blocks of the image that are in and out of focus, the FX5 offers a false color display and waveforms for helping to judge exposure, and a vectorscope display for assessing color distribution. These come on top of tools such as zebras, focus peaking and a histogram, that were already available.

James Tirado

The camera is based around Sony’s latest Bionz XR2 processor, so gains all the subject recognition AF modes that we’ve become used to on the stills side of things, boosting autofocus dependability for run-and-gun shooting.

Body and handling

James Tirado

At first glance, the FX5 looks a lot like the FX3, but the changes reveal themselves, the closer you look. It’s a fraction larger, for a start, having grown a couple of mm in each direction but significantly the body of the camera itself is deeper, within those boundaries, so it feels bulkier. It’s also a fraction heavier, though Sony says it’s a less than 5% increase.

The layout of the camera’s six programmable buttons has been reworked and relabeled to better match what you’d find on the company’s higher-end cinema cameras. It also gains the multi-function dial from the Sony Burano, which can be used to navigate through menus, and make quick changes from the live view screen.

James Tirado

The FX5, like the recent Alpha cameras, gains a second USB-C socket. This can be used for a range of things, from tethering, powering the camera, data transfer or for accepting a timecode signal. As with other recent Sony cameras, the second USB-C socket is actually a USB 2.0 (480Mbps) socket, so can only be used for power and less data-intensive tasks.

The camera’s connectivity is further updated with an upgrade to Wi-Fi 6E, and the addition of an Ethernet port, which will likely find use in many houses of worship.

Display

Sony has upgraded the rear tilting/articulating display to a 3.5″ model with a video-friendly 16:9 aspect ratio. Sony says the latter change makes it a much bigger upgrade to the 3″ display on the FX3 than it appears at first glance, as that screen’s 4:3 aspect ratio meant you were looking at a video that was really only 2.5″. Now, it can fill the entire screen, provided you’re not using an open gate or DCI (“17:9”) recording mode.

James Tirado

The FX5 has two slots, each of which take either CFexpress Type A cards or the slower UHS-II SD cards. The two card types don’t connect to the same connectors: one socket it essentially sited within the other.

Battery

James Tirado

The FX5 becomes the second camera to adopt Sony’s new 20.9 Wh NP-SA100 battery, following the a7R VI. This not only provides higher voltage and capacity than the NP-FZ100 batteries the FX3 used, but should allow for slightly longer record times. Sony says it can shoot for 130 minutes at 4K/60, while the FX3 caped out at 113. Of course, this change means that those with a large collection of batteries will need to spend quite a bit to rebuild it (provided they were running off an internal unit, rather than powering their cameras via an external V or Gold mount battery).

Despite the increased battery capacity, and smaller tweaks to the body like the addition of a second 1/4-20″ socket on the bottom plate to reduce the risk of rotating, Sony says the new camera is close to the FX3’s weight, coming in at 734g (25.9oz), versus 715g (25.2oz)

Accessories

While the camera doesn’t have an integrated EVF – likely a concession to keeping its body as protrusion-free, and therefore gimbal-friendly as possible – Sony is making a removable one as an optional accessory. It features a 3.68M-dot panel that can reach up to 2500 nits peak brightness, and supports a wide color gamut to provide a more accurate preview. It’ll plug into a new port right above the multi-interface shoe, meaning you can’t have it attached if you’re also using the shoe. However, Sony says it’s working with a third-party to create an extension cable for it that will let you place it in more ergonomic position. The EVF, named the DVF-EL1, costs $698.

Another accessory is the XLR handle which, like the ones released for Sony Alpha-series cameras, will enable both the use of professional microphones as well as 32-bit float audio recording. The latter feature will an exciting addition for documentary and event shooters, as its different method for storing data essentially eliminates the risk of clipping, no matter what your gain levels are set to (though your microphone can still be overwhelmed). The handle can be purchased in a bundle with the FX5, or separately for $798

Video modes

Like most of Sony’s previous cameras, the FX5 delivers all its compressed footage in output-ready 4K resolutions: with in the 16:9 UHD or ~17:9 DCI formats. However, in a detail borrowed from cameras like the Venice and Burano they are named in terms of the pixel region used to capture them. So, although the camera has “Imager Mode” options called 5K 16:9, the output is still the standard 3840 x 2160 UHD footage.

James Tirado

The Raw footage, by contrast, arrives in your editor in the resolution in which it was captured. So 5K means 5K.

One of these Raw modes is a 3:2 open gate mode, capturing the full area of the sensor to make it easier to output both landscape and vertical cuts from the same clip (if you can find a composition that’s sensible for both, that is). The camera can also apply a real-time desqueeze correction for anyone using anamorphic lenses, with 1.3x, 1.5x, 1.6x, 1.8x and 2.0x squeeze factors being supported.

Raw recording

When recording to its internal Raw X-OCN codec, the FX5 can shoot at roughly 5K in 3:2, ∼17:9 and 16:9, at up to 60p. There are three levels of compression for the codec, with the standard being “LT,” and C1 and C2 recording at increasingly lower bitrates to reduce file sizes. Sony says C1 will be around 25% smaller than LT.

The company says it plans to release a firmware update sometime in 2027 that will allow for recording 4K/240 footage in Raw, though it hasn’t provided any details on whether the mode will have a crop.

The camera needs to reboot in order to switch into or out of Raw mode. As we’ve seen on other cameras, it also needs to reboot to switch between 24p, PAL and NTSC modes, as the system clock needs to reset to work in multiples of 24, 25 and 29.97 frames per second. Because there’s no separation of Raw/Compressed or 24p/PAL/NTSC, it’s very easy to accidentally prompt the camera to reboot if you select the wrong shooting mode.

Likewise, the camera will only playback footage if it’s in the right system clock mode, and will only show you the Raw clips if you’re in Raw mode and only your compressed clips when in compressed mode.

Compressed footage modes

The FX5 names its video modes by the areas that are sampled, rather than their output resolution. The camera’s “17:9” modes (5K and 4.5K) are output as DCI 4K (4096 x 2160), while the 16:9 modes (5K, 4.5K and 3.2K) are output as 3840 x 2160 UHD.

The DCI modes can only be shot in XAVC S-I (All-I H.264), whereas moving to 16:9 adds the option to shoot XAVC H (H.265) or XAVC S (H.264) with a choice of 4:2:2 or 4:2:0 chroma sub-sampling.

Sony says the FX5 will gain support for shooting 3:2 open gate in XAVC S-I will come as part of firmware 2.0, due in around October 2027.

Super35

The FX5 also provides an option of cropping in to an APS-C-sized region of the sensor, providing compatibility with lenses designed for Super35 cameras. While the FX3’s APS-C mode was sampled from an 1080p region of the sensor, the FX5’s higher-resolution sensor means it can capture a 3.2K (3264 x 1836) region in 16:9. However, this is still output as 1080p when shooting in compressed modes.

Support tools

The FX5 gains a whole host of video-specific tools meant to make it easier to get proper exposure and focus. It has a waveform monitor for clearer and more accurate exposure monitoring, a false color overlay that makes it easy to see at a glance whether your subject is properly exposed and whether any of your highlights and shadows are clipping, a vector scope for more information about your colors and a focus map overlay to assist with focus.

The company has also added more options for desqueezing the preview when shooting with anamorphic lenses, providing several options between a 1.3 and 2.0x ratio.

Initial impressions

James Tirado

The FX5 is an evolution of the FX3 concept that tries to accommodate a wider range of users, and we doubt any one user will want or need the full range of its capabilities. Where the FX3 was essentially an a7S III in a more video-friendly format (or, perhaps, the camera the a7S III should have been, in the first place), the FX5 is a much more capable machine that tries to address multiple different workflows.

Small scale cinematographers can adopt its Raw workflow, while others might choose to shoot open gate and some users will output H.265 UHD files in S-Cinetone. Some people will build it into a rig, others will mount it on a gimble, while others will leave it on ‘sticks.’ The fact that the XLR handle and EVF module are optional suggests that these are option that some people will find essential while others would resent the bulk and cost of something they don’t want. Then there’s the Ethernet port, which allows the camera to be mounted and operated remotely, for applications such as churches, we’re told.

In doing so, though, Sony has made the camera a fraction larger, but probably not to the point that it would alienate many of the run-and-gun shooters who came to love the FX3.

However, the major changes to the user interface, including its frequent decision to reboot, if you accidentally select the wrong frame rate, while changing settings, are likely to make the camera seem surprisingly daunting to existing FX3 users.

James Tirado

Sony talked about adding features and capabilities that have been requested by users, but it also feels like the FX5 is much more a product of the cinema department, like the FX6, rather than having evolved from an Alpha model, as the FX3 appeared to. A lot of the features (not least Raw) might have trickled down from the Burano, but an awful lot of the interface and operational logic has done, too, which is likely to be something of a shock to anyone primarily familiar with the FX3 or 2.

James Tirado

It its favor, it’s stayed in the relatively compact body that has made the FX3 a success, but this means there isn’t room for the variable ND filter system that slides in filters from below the sensor on the bigger camera, that a lot of users were hoping for. Additional options like a USB timecode sync cable aren’t necessarily going to excite a lot of independent FX3 users, but they broaden the camera’s appeal.

It’ll be interesting to see whether Sony decides that the FX5 (or, rather, the existence of both the FX5 and FX2) means that it doesn’t need to create a direct replacement for the FX3.

The Godox iT32 is a pocketable, $80 flash. And it essentially sweeps away all the hurdles that stood in the way of me using flash.

I suspect I’m not alone in having found the cost of flash systems off-putting, when I first started photography. I’d scrabbled together enough money for a camera body with a nice kit zoom and immediately turned my attention to additional lenses. Flash was always the next thing on my list. And, two decades later, it still is.

You learn early on that flashes are most effective, creatively when they’re positioned away from the camera, but this invokes all the costs of remote triggers and off-board flashes, or being limited by the length of cables, because I’d bought an entry-level DSLR that couldn’t act as a flash commander, and I didn’t feel confident enough to start with manual, rather than TTL-controlled flash.

Mitchell Clark

The iT32 solves that off-camera problem because it connects to your camera via a small, hotshoe-mounted radio-frequency controller. The cost of this controller? between $20 and $34, depending on which brand of camera you use.

The X5 controller slots into your camera’s hotshoe and the iT32 attaches magnetically to the controller. Or you can disconnect the flash and fire it remotely. The flash itself communicates using Godox’s own communication protocol and can pair with any X5 controller, providing TTL compatibility whatever brand camera you own. It also means that you can buy a single iT32 and make it work even if you have cameras from more than one brand.

Richard Butler

*Godox says Canon cameras with multi-interface hotshoes should use an adapter to mount the X5 C. It makes a “X5 Cm” version for these newer cameras but has limited its sales to China.

The X5 can only control flashes operating in a single group, so you can’t use it as the basis of a complex multi-group setup, but the iT32 itself can operate in different groups, so will still be usable, if you decide to expand your setup, later.

So far, I’ve just been using the X5 and iT32 combination and have found it to be a really low-risk place to start experimenting with flash. It’s a genuinely small unit, that makes it easy to keep with me. It has a guide number of 18m, so it’s not especially powerful, but it’s enough of a step up from any camera’s built-in flash that, especially combined with the ability to use off-camera, is enough to make it worth carrying around.

In-use

Mitchel Clark

For such a small unit, the iT32 has a surprising number of control points. There’s a power/flash test button, a Set button and a Menu button, along with a dial on the side, used for quick control. But the iT32’s small rear screen is also touch-sensitive, so it’s really quick to operate, rather than requiring odd combinations of button pressing and dial turns.

To turn the unit on you hold the power/test button for two seconds then scroll the control dial upwards to confirm that it’s not just pressed against something in your bag.

You can access the menu by pressing the Menu button or swiping down on the screen. In the menu you’ll find options for controlling the modelling lamp on the front of the flash, a control for switching between TTL, Manual and multi-flash (strobe) modes, as well as deciding whether the flash is in on-camera mode, sender or receiver.

Mitchel Clark

The iT32 automatically switches to receiver mode when you detach it from the on-camera X5, so you don’t need to give most of this much thought.

In use you can set exposure compensation by turning the dial on the side of the flash, by swiping left or right on the touchscreen or, when the iT32 is working remotely away from the base, by pressing the small + and – buttons on the back of the X5 controller.

If you have a pair of iT32s you can your their controls to set them to different manual flash values (or flash exposure comp values if in TTL mode). You can still use the X5 to increase and decrease these values remotely, but any increase or decrease will be applied to both flashes, so you can’t remotely adjust them independently, as you would in a proper system of grouped flashes.

Mitchel Clark

When working handheld, I found the touchscreen to be very sensitive and the control dial very easy to jog, so tended to make use of the ‘Lock’ function in the menu, to stop myself accidentally changing the flash settings. Once lock is engaged, you need to hold ‘Set’ for two seconds to re-activate the controls.

The iT32 has its own, built-in battery, so you don’t need to hunt around for a fresh set of AAs all the time. It recharges over its USB-C socket, which is also used for updating firmware for both the flash and the X5. The X5 unit has its own battery, which charges up when connected to the iT32. You can check the battery level on the menu of the flash, when it’s connected, or long-press the – button, where it will communicate its charge level with between zero and four flashes of its tiny red LED.

Richard Butler

Generally, getting started with the iT32 is simplicity itself. The two units pair with one another when physically connected, switching the flash to the correct camera brand’s protocol, and then auto switches between on- and off-camera operation. It’s only two swipes on the touchscreen to manually engage receiver mode, if you power the flash on again later and don’t want to have to physically re-connect them each time.

As you use the setup more, it’s worth scanning through the manual, as there are some differences between camera brands about how to access modes such as high-speed sync and rear curtain flash sync, but there’s nothing that a complete novice should find off-putting at all.

Overall, though, I found the X5 / iT32 pairing to be a remarkably cost-effective way to access the world of flash photography. And, significantly, the realm of off-board flash. This simple, sub-$100 set overcame pretty much all of my previous concerns about cost, about compatibility and around batteries, leaving me with no excuse.

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The Sony RX10 V is an update to the company’s long-zoom large-sensor compact. It’s built around a 20MP stacked Type 1 (116mm²) sensor and a 24-600mm equiv, F2.4-4.0 stabilized zoom.

It’s a long-zoom ‘compact’ whose newfound processing power means it can shoot a range of subjects from landscapes to wildlife and maybe even a little sport. We’d be tempted to make the comparison to a Swiss Army knife, only the RX10 is far from pocketable.

Key specifications

• 20MP Type-1 (116mm²) stacked CMOS sensor
• 24-600mm equiv. F2.4-4.0 lens
• Up to 30fps shooting
• 4K up to 120p with crop (60p full width) in 10-bit
• 3.68M dot EVF
• 1.62M dot tilting rear LCD
• UHS-II SD card slot
• 630 shot/charge battery life rating

The RX10 V will be available in early August with a recommended price of $2,300. This is exactly in line with the US consumer price index inflation rate applied to the $1700 launch price of the RX10 IV, nine years ago. To use a different benchmark, it’s cheaper, relative to the a7 V and that camera’s peers, than the Mark IV was, relative to its contemporary a7 model.

Index

• What’s new
• Body and handling
• In use
• Initial impressions
• Autofocus
• Image quality
• Video
• Conclusion
• Sample gallery
• Specifications
• Press release

What’s new

It’s been eight years since the RX10 IV and Sony has made big steps forward in both technology and ergonomics in the meantime: the RX10 V benefits from both.

On the technology side, the RX10 V gains the Bionz XR processor and “AI processing unit” from the previous generation of Alpha cameras. This brings the full range of subject recognition modes, including birds, animals, cars, planes and the “human pose estimation” system that is designed to recognise people-shaped things in the scene, even when the face or eyes aren’t visible, to help the camera continue to track the same subject.

The added processing power allows the RX10 V to shoot at up to 30 frames per second with a blackout free viewfinder. You also gain the Speed boost function that lets you temporarily engage a faster (or slower) shooting mode, when you hold a customized button down, but you don’t gain the pre-capture function.

Autofocus has come a long way in the nine years since the previous RX10 was released, and the new model feels like a thoroughly modern camera. The other area of significant improvement over the same period is video, and the RX10 V is a bit step forward in that regard, too, with a host of Sony’s latest options including, significantly, the ability to capture 10-bit and H.265 footage, both of which make it more pleasant to work with.

Sony says it’s the same lens as on the RX10 IV but CIPA standards for reporting focal length have apparently changed in the meantime, meaning it’s quoted as a 9.1-210mm zoom, rather than the 8.8-220mm figures printed on the side of the previous two models. We suspect the figures now quoted are the literal focal lengths, rather than the effective focal lengths after corrections has been applied. The end result is the same, though: a 24-600mm equiv range with an F2.4-4.0 maximum aperture and in-lens stabilization.

It’s hard to get your head round just how much flexibility a 24-600mm lens gives you until you use it. There are cameras that offer even more range, but all of them are based on much smaller sensors, so you pay a price in terms of image quality, if any survives the heat haze.

The lens has a built-in shutter which can go as fast as 1/1000th of a second at wide apertures, and 1/2000 sec at F8 and slower. This is great for flash, as you can sync up to those maximum speeds but quickly becomes limiting in bright light. You can switch the camera to e-shutter mode which, with a rolling shutter rate of 15.7ms (1/64sec) is still pretty fast, but this requires you to switch to the lossy compressed Raw format. There’s no auto mode to let you use mechanical shutter up to its limit, then e-shutter beyond that.

Body and handling

Richard Butler

The RX10 V is a substantial camera but that’s to be expected for something trying to deliver a 24-600mm equivalent zoom range. It’s been a long time since we handled an RX10 IV but the grip shape seems improved, offering a sturdy grip on the dense, polycarbonate body.

There’s no front dial, the logic presumably being that you’ll use your index finger for operating the zoom rocker. This means the two command dials on the rear shoulder are both operated with your thumb. There’s also a rather fiddly dial on the rear plate of the camera but thankfully, with the provision of two customizable command dials and an aperture ring, there’s rarely need to use it (it’s not used in photo mode, by default).

Richard Butler

Unlike recent Sony cameras, the RX10 V has a 10Gbps USB-C socket for fast data transfer but then retains the USB Micro B ‘Multi’ socket for attaching external accessories. This can no longer be used for charging the camera, reducing its usefulness to being an accessory port.

The RX10 V still uses a single SD card but the interface now uses the slightly newer UHS-II standard, rather than the UHS-I slot on the previous model. This is quick enough to accommodate the 600Mbps (75MB/s) data rate required for 4K/60 video capture with All-I compression.

Viewfinder

Richard Butler

The viewfinder gets an upgrade to 3.68M dots (1280 x 960px), which is a decent step up from its predecessor. The resolution drops a little if you engage the high refresh rate mode, and battery life drops, too, but whichever mode you choose, the resolution is maintained, even when using C-AF, so you don’t get the potentially distracting drop in detail when you half-press the shutter.

Screen

The screen is also refreshed, with the Mark V using a 1.62M dot (900 x 600px) screen that matches the sensor’s aspect ratio, rather than the 4:3, 800 x 600px panel on the previous model. The screen is still mounted on a tilt up/down cradle, which gives a decent level of flexibility but isn’t well suited to portrait orientation shooting.

Battery

Richard Butler

Other than the improved autofocus, perhaps the biggest change on the Mark V is the move to the much larger NP-FZ100 battery. This is the 16.4Wh battery that has powered the various a7 models for the past nine years. It has a capacity more than twice that of the FW50 battery used in previous RX10 cameras, giving much better battery life in a way that seems appropriate for a camera so likely to be used for travel and long shoots outdoors.

In use

When you first start up the camera, you’re confronted with a very simple, compact-camera display, with five large touchscreen buttons arrayed down both sides of the screen. This ends up feeling somewhat nostalgic, having not encountered a mainstream point-and-shoot for some time, and rather at odds with the more Alpha-styled controls and main menu.

Anyone not wanting to use touchscreen buttons, or wanting a less cluttered display can remove them (the option to do so is under Touch Operation / Touch Panel Settings, rather than with the display options in Operation Customize).

With this done, the RX10 V feels a lot like an Alpha-series camera, with the new menus representing a big improvement over the ones in the previous models. It’s not without its foibles but for the most part it’s well grouped and organized, and with a little customization of the Fn menu and custom buttons, you can minimize your need to visit it.

The RX10 V has the same issue as other Sony cameras in terms of a couple of incompatible settings: you’ll need to disengage Raw and switch to HEIF format before you can engage the camera’s HLG Stills mode to shoot true HDR images, and you’ll have to switch your Raw format if you want to engage the electronic shutter mode. All of which leaves the risk that you forget to switch back.

Richard Butler

Also, somewhat disappointingly for such a travel-friendly camera, Sony remains the only major brand not to offer some kind of in-camera Raw conversion. So if you take a nice shot but want to tweak the white balance, color mode or DRO level before sharing it, tough luck, you’ll just have to messily hack the JPEG around on your phone.

There’s a lot to like, though. The dials and joystick give a good sense of direct control, letting you feel you have direct command over the camera’s really rather impressive capabilities. It has its limits, though: it will try to keep focusing if you zoom with the ring around the lens (you can’t use the zoom rocker), but it definitely struggles, which can limit some sports or action shooting. But the ability to quicky zoom with the rocker under your index finger and fine-tune the framing with the lens ring helps keep the power zoom feeling pretty engaging.

While the RX10 V’s interface is borrowed directly from the Alpha series, its wide range of features and capabilities means it somehow manages to be even more cluttered than on those cameras. So, in addition to the settings and icons that surround all four edges of the screen, there’s a Stabilization indicator that shows up in the main preview, along with warnings about the AF illuminator and a huge “FULL” icon, towards the middle of the display. This has nothing to do with you running out of card space, though; it’s just reporting the essential information that the focus range limiter isn’t engaged.

Initial impressions

Richard Butler

It’s been nine years since the last RX10 model was released and, although things have been pretty quiet on the compact front, the rest of camera technology and performance have continued to make advances. Much like watching a young relative you rarely get to see grow up through a series of infrequent visits, the prolonged gap really makes you notice how much has changed in the meantime.

The RX10 V is a dramatically more advanced camera than its predecessor: faster to focus and much more dependable at subject tracking. The menus and ergonomics have come a long way, too, and its video capabilities are leagues ahead of where the RX10 IV had brought us to.

I’m not generally a fan of long-zoom cameras, as I’d usually prioritize compactness over that additional reach that I rarely find myself wanting to use. But the enhanced AF performance and speed capture add a lot to what was already a camera with a strong following. They vastly expand what the RX10 V can do, and the changes to the controls and battery are significant benefits, too.

Unlike the recent L10, that doubling of battery capacity hasn’t led to much of a change in body size, and it wouldn’t have made much difference anyway, on a body so dominated by that vast lens.

There can be a few delays, here and there, waiting for the lens to initialize, and it was disappointing to have to swap shutter modes (and Raw filetype) or stop down when hitting the 1/1000 sec limit of the mechanical shutter. But overall I’ve found the RX10 V to be a pleasant travel companion whose lens constantly challenged me to think of photos that I couldn’t otherwise take.

Whether that makes it worth $2300 is for each individual to decide, but it’s striking to get to see what nearly a decade’s worth of improvements, delivered all in one go, look like.

Autofocus

The RX10’s autofocus interface resembles that of Sony’s Alpha series ILCs, meaning you get a choice of 11 different AF area modes, which are supplemented with tracking version of each area mode, when you switch to AF-C mode. There’s no longer a switch to select AF-C on the front of the camera (just an AF/MF switch on the lens), but for the vast majority of subjects, you can comfortably leave the camera in AF-C all the time.

In addition to the area modes the camera has its subject recognition system, trained to recognize six different subject types. There’s also an Auto subject mode that will hunt through all its subject recognition modes to see if it can identify your subject. On top of this, there’s the option to select which subject types are included in this Auto mode, to boost both speed and accuracy.

The RX10 V’s autofocus is a big step forward from its predecessor. Faster processing and subject recognition algorithms mean the RX10 V can recognize and track subjects very reliably, and these capabilities extend across to video, in a way they didn’t, before.

However the system isn’t completely flawless: when asked to react quickly with a distant subject, aircraft detection mode didn’t find the planes in the following picture, instead focusing on the Space Needle. Overall, it’s beyond what we’ve previously seen from a compact camera, though.

The fact that it’s awkward to zoom while you’re shooting bursts (the lens ring continues to work but the zoom rocker doesn’t) and the camera isn’t able to maintain focus while zooming puts an upper limit on what you can expect the RX10 V to achieve, in fast-moving situations, but it’s still one of the most sports-capable fixed-lens cameras we’ve ever used.

Image quality

Studio test scene

Our test scene is designed to simulate a variety of textures, colors, and detail types you’ll encounter in the real world. It also has two illumination modes, full even light and low directional light, to see the effect of different lighting conditions.

Unsurprisingly, the RX10 V performs very similarly to the RX10 IV when looking at its Raw images at base ISO, which is a good thing. It captures a good amount of detail, and at 88mm equiv., its lens actually holds up quite well compared to other cameras with Type 1 sensors and lenses with much less ambitious focal lengths. It also provides more detail with less noise than the Nikon P1000, which offers much more reach but uses a lower-res and much smaller 16MP 1/2.3″ (28mm²) sensor.

The RX10 V’s JPEGs are where the decade of progress becomes apparent. The colors are much more pleasing than those of the IV, with more natural skin tones, and the vibrancy of colors turned up where they were lacking, and turned down where they were overbearing. We also found this to be the case in the sample photos we shot with the V. Sony’s progress on this front has been slow and steady, but with so much time between the two models, it’s much more noticeable.

This class of cameras has never been the best pick for low light photography, the RX10 V’s Raws again look as we’d expect. Switch over to JPEG and it’s clear that Sony has upgraded the camera’s noise reduction to some extent, but in higher-contrast, more detailed areas, we’d be hard-pressed to tell its performance apart from its predecessor’s. However, it does outperform Panasonic’s similarly-specced (and now discontinued) FZ-1000 II from 2020 in this regard, and is significantly better at low light than the P1000.

The camera’s reasonably fast F2.4-4.0 maximum aperture means it can maintain good image quality when there’s plenty of light, but it doesn’t take much for the light levels to start chipping into the image quality, as you can see here, where the

Video

The previous RX10 V’s video topped-out at 4K/30, despite the use of a fast, stacked CMOS sensor. The Mark V pushes way beyond this, with the option to shoot 4K/120 with a significant 1.38x crop or oversampled 4K/60 from the full width of the sensor. As you’d expect from a modern camera, this can all be done in 10-bit, making Log, and in particular, the more ambitious S-Log3 curve, much more usable.

Richard Butler

But video improvements over the past nearly decade go further than speed. The RX10 V lets you shoot in the attractive, S-Cinetone color mode and it lets you upload LUTs for previewing your preferred color grade, or to burn directly into the footage. It has Sony’s Auto Framing mode that identifies a subject, punches in and follows them around, upscaling the footage and giving a camera operator dynamism to what are actually locked-off shots. There’s also the Active Mode IS that corrects a wider range of movement, available at up to 4K/60.

Then, on the audio side of things, the RX10 V can capture up to four-channel audio, if you attach an accessory to its multi-interface connectors in the hotshoe. A 72mm filter thread allows you to attach ND filters as needed.

Above all of this, though, the RX10 V’s video also benefits from its improved autofocus system, which is much more tenacious and dependable in terms of subject tracking, especially if your subject is of a type the camera has been trained to recognize.

Conclusion

The RX10 V is an extremely capable all-in-one camera whose extreme flexibility, paradoxically, risks limiting its appeal to a relatively small audience.

It’s a huge step forward from its predecessor, with its updated autofocus in both stills and video, and the addition of an Alpha-style joystick makes it more engaging and usable.

Richard Butler

The AF improvements widen the range of circumstances in which the camera will confidently deliver, expanding its wildlife capabilities and also making sports shooting much more plausible than its predecessor. And this is a case of broadening the horizons of a camera that, with its huge lens range, could already do a lot.

There are some odd quirks, though: it feels strange that Sony didn’t bring its pre-capture mode that would boost its action-capturing abilities. And the lack of a mode that auto-switches shutter mode when the camera hits the upper limit of its mechanical shutter is frustrating (even if it’d mean being stuck in or switching to the lossy Raw mode used for E-shutter).

Some existing RX10 users are likely to miss the top-plate settings display, whereas our bigger concern was that all its command dials are positioned to be controlled with your thumb, rather than thumb and forefinger. But the addition of the joystick and larger battery make for a net improvement, we felt.

The RX10 V’s self-contained nature is very much part of its appeal. You never have to think about which lens to buy or bring with you: you already have a combination that extends from wide-angle to super telephoto. However, to achieve this range means the camera has a moderately sized sensor which, combined with its modest aperture range, puts an upper limit on image quality.

If you need the full breadth of the RX10 V’s features in a single package, it’s genuinely excellent, and it’s hard to think of a more responsive, engaging ‘compact.’ However, if you only need a subset of what the RX10 can do, you may well be able to find a different combination that offers better image quality or an even greater aptitude for sports at a comparable price.

What you won’t find is a camera that offers the RX10 V’s combination of range, capability and size, for the same price. If your shooting needs everything that the RX10 V offers, it’s the only game in town, so for those users, it’s a Gold.

Scoring

Scoring is relative only to the other cameras in the same category. Click here to learn about what these numbers mean.

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Overall Score

85%

Scores reflect competition at the time of release; cross-year comparisons may be misleading

Expert Summary

The RX10 V is a hugely capable self-contained package that can lend itself to a remarkable range of photography. You probably have to need everything it offers to make its price make sense, but it's perhaps the most flexible 'compact' camera we've ever seen.

Good For:

A bit of (almost) everything

Not So Good For:

Sports, Maximal image quality

Reviewed on August 24, 2026

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Sony DSC-RX10 V specifications