Sony Cyber-shot RX100 IV

The RX100 IV is a compact camera from 2015. It measures 102 x 58 x 41 mm and weighs 298 g, so it slips into a jacket pocket and is easy to carry every day or on trips.

Its lens is fixed to the body, so you never buy or swap lenses. That makes it a complete, ready-to-go package for travellers and everyday photographers who value portability over a lens system.

Owning it involves some planning. The battery is rated for 280 shots and USB charging is not available, so a spare battery and the dedicated charger belong in your bag.

A 20 megapixel one-inch CMOS sensor sits at the heart of the RX100 IV. That resolution leaves room for cropping and prints.

The lens is fixed, so there is no mount and no system of lenses to expand into later. You work with the lens the camera gives you, which keeps the package light and simple but removes the option of speciality glass.

The shutter fires at up to 16 frames per second, enough to break a fast-moving moment into a short sequence. That figure is a maximum rather than a sustained rate, so treat long action bursts with realistic expectations. Autofocus uses 25 points to acquire your subject.

In-body stabilisation reduces camera shake on handheld shots, which helps in dim rooms. The electronic viewfinder packs about 2.36 million dots for clear framing when sunlight washes out the rear screen. ISO spans 125 to 12800, and the top shutter speed of 1/2000 s may push you toward smaller apertures in strong daylight.

The RX100 IV records 4K video. Frame rates reach up to 60 fps, but the supplied data does not confirm a combined 4K 60 mode, so treat the resolution and the frame rate as separate figures.

In-body stabilisation smooths camera shake in handheld footage, though it will not steady a moving subject. The flipping screen lets you compose from low or high positions while recording, useful when the camera sits at arm's length.

Footage records in MPEG-4 or MOV, both widely used video formats. 4K clips fill a card faster than lower resolutions, so plan your storage before a long shoot.

There is no built-in timelapse function, so anyone wanting that look needs an external trigger or a different technique.

Composition happens on a 3 inch LCD with about 1.23 million dots and touch control. It flips out for waist-level or overhead framing, and live view keeps the on-screen image available while you set up the shot.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are both built in, giving this compact camera two options for wireless connectivity with other devices.

A built-in flash helps in dim interiors, but there is no way to mount an external flash unit. GPS is absent, so the camera cannot record location data itself, and the body carries no weather sealing, which makes a rain cover or other protection sensible in bad conditions.

Images go to a single card slot that accepts SD, SDHC and SDXC media with UHS-I support, along with Memory Stick Pro Duo and Pro-HG Duo cards. UHS-I support lets faster cards be used, but with one slot there is no second card for overflow or copies.

The NP-BX1 battery is rated at 280 shots. That figure is stated without specified test conditions, and real sessions with the screen and viewfinder in use may run shorter, so a charged spare is worth packing.

USB charging is not supported, so the battery must come out and go into its dedicated charger between sessions. Photographers used to topping up from a power bank will need to build a different routine.