Video quality and operation
The RX100's video is very impressive, especially when you remember you're working with such a small camera. As with stills, it doesn't offer much control over depth-of-field, but the lens range is pretty flexible and there's plenty of manual control. The footage itself is clear and detailed, especially in 1080p mode. The interlaced video is also very good but could prove a little trickier to work with. Because it's captured as true interlaced footage (each field is captured 1/60th of a second apart, rather than both being captured together, 30 times a second, as most cameras do), it gives a smoother impression of motion it's a little harder to de-interlace if you want to play it back on a computer.
The RX100 will attempt to use digital zoom, when you reach the full extent of the lens' reach, but we'd strongly advise against it. Not only does the image quality suffer dramatically, but the rate of zooming also changes. As a result, you risk having a video that zooms in slowly, stops as the optical zoom is exhausted, then starts zooming much faster, with the picture suddenly becoming blurry. it's hard to imagine a scenario in which this won't look terrible and it's a shame that the option can't be switched off.
In operation, the RX100 offers a good degree of control. It can autofocus but the best results are achieved by manual focusing. If you're willing to do this, the RX100 provides two key tools for doing so: focus peaking (which highlights high-contrast/in-focus regions, to guide your focusing) and the large, smooth control ring for manual focusing. While the lack of click positions is to the camera's detriment in stills shooting, it's a definite bonus for video shooting.
Sadly, the RX100 inherits the rather frustrating playback quirks from other Sony models - movie playback is separated from stills playback (and MP4s from AVCHD clips), and it insists on playing one clip after another. This makes reviewing your movie clips or trying to delete unwanted ones much more confusing and time-consuming than it should be. And, while one of these irritations stems from the need to file MP4 and AVCHD footage in separate folders on the memory card, the continuous playback is purely Sony's choice.
Conclusion - Pros
- Excellent image quality and solid ISO performance
- Class-leading movie features and quality
- A good degree of customization puts your favorite settings at your fingertips
- Fast operation, including focus and Raw capture
- Flexible lens range (though a brighter zoom would have been nice)
- Excellent range of additional features (sweep panorama and auto HDR in particular)
- Good battery life for this class of camera
- USB-charging (with fast charger) makes it easy to travel light
Conclusion - Cons
- Clickless control dial contributes to vague and unengaging shooting experience
- Flash metering is unpredictable
- Lack of ND filter can limit the ability to use wide apertures
- Screen hard to see in direct sunshine, despite WhiteMagic technology
- No official option to fit filters onto the lens (third-party glue-on adapters are available)
- In-camera raw conversion would add flexibility
- Playback confusingly separated into stills, MP4 and AVCHD sections
- Lag when trying to zoom in playback mode is irksome
- USB-only charging makes it awkward to use a spare battery
Movie Mode
The NEX-F3 records Full HD video (that's 1920 x 1080) at your choice of 24p or 60i (note that the higher-end NEX models also do 60p). Sound is recorded in stereo, and the AVCHD codec lets you keep recording for up to 29 minutes. For both the 24p and 60i resolutions, there are two qualities to choose from (FX and FH), which have bit rates of 24 and 17 Mbps, respectively.
While AVCHD movies look great on your HDTV, editing and sharing them isn't so easy. Heck, just finding them on your memory card is a pain. Thankfully, Sony also supports the MPEG-4 codec, which is much easier to work with. The bad news is that there are two resolutions available with MP4: 1440 x 1080 and 640 x 480 (both at 30 fps), and recording ends when the file size reaches 2GB.
The NEX-F3 gives you access to the same bells and whistles that are available for still shooting. Want to use the Picture Effects (like toy camera or selective color) in movie mode? No problem. The camera can focus continuously, keeping subjects in focus as they move around or if you adjust the zoom. If your lens has image stabilization, that'll be active as well.
If you want to adjust the shutter speed, aperture, or ISO, that's also available - even while you're in the midst of recording. What you can adjust depends on the shooting mode. If you want the most manual exposure control, set the virtual mode dial to the 'M' position. The NEX-F3 also offers a wind filter, which is handy when you're recording videos outdoors. One thing you cannot do on the NEX-F3 is take a still image while simultaneously recording video.
I have three sample movies for you. The first two are two train videos, and were recorded at the high quality (24 Mbps) 1080/60i setting. The third video was taken at the normal quality setting at the same resolution. Note that I had to deinterlace these for web viewing, and since I'm no expert at that, you may want to download the original MTS files too.
Conclusion - Pros:
- Very good photo quality; low noise through ISO 1600 in low light, ISO 12800 (!) in good light
- Good value for the money
- Sharp 3-inch LCD display can flip upward 180 degrees, allowing for easy self-portraits
- Snappy performance in most respects
- Full manual controls, including RAW support; focus peaking feature comes in very handy when manually focusing
- Intelligent and Superior Auto modes make point-and-shoot photography a snap
- D-Range Optimizer and HDR features improve contrast at the push of the button
- Fun sweep panorama feature
- Very fast burst mode shoots at 3.3 fps with continuous AF or 10 fps without it (but not for long)
- Helpful Shooting Tips and descriptions of each menu option
- Records Full HD video at 60i or 24p, with stereo sound, continuous AF, image stabilization (if available), and manual controls
- Optional super high resolution electronic viewfinder, stereo mic, external flash
- Above average battery life
Conclusion - Cons:
- Consistently seems to underexpose by 1/3 or 2/3 stop
- Menu-driven user interface still frustrating to use, even with addition of custom button
- Design annoyances: camera's size advantage lost when a lens is attached; LCD's 16:9 aspect ratio not suited for still shooting; LCD doesn't tilt downward very much
- Buffer fills quickly in burst mode
- Bare bones playback mode; can't view stills and movies at the same time
- Internal battery charging is slow, can't be used for a spare
- Full manual on CD-ROM; quality of manuals is not great