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Sony RX100 II Performance

Timing and Performance

Generally excellent performance, but some slow areas.

Startup/Shutdown/Play to Record/Buffer Clearing

Power on
to first shot
~2.8 seconds

Time it takes for LCD to turn on and lens to deploy and capture a picture.

Shutdown
~2.0 seconds

How long it takes to retract lens.

Play to Record,
first shot
~1.2 seconds

Time until first shot is captured.

Buffer clearing time
11 seconds
after 12 L/F JPEGs*
14 seconds
after 12 RAW files*
17 seconds
after 8 RAW+JPEG files*

Worst case buffer clearing time. -- This is the delay after a set of shots before you can remove the card. Some cameras won't retract their lenses and shut down until the buffer is cleared.
*Note: Buffer clearing times measured with a SanDisk Extreme Pro 95MB/s UHS-I SDHC memory card. Slower cards may produce correspondingly slower clearing times.

The Sony RX100 II is a bit slower than average for its class at powering up and taking a shot, as well as shutting down. Worst-case buffer clearing times are fair.

 

Shutter Response (Lag Time)

Full Autofocus Wide
0.149 second

Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, zoom lens at wide angle position.

Full Autofocus Tele
0.195 second

Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, zoom lens at telephoto position.

Full Autofocus
Flash enabled
0.326 second

Time to capture while forcing flash to fire, zoom lens at wide angle position.

Manual Focus
0.029 second

For most cameras, shutter lag is less in manual focus than autofocus, but usually not as fast as when the camera is "prefocused".

Prefocused
0.011 second

Time to capture, after half-pressing and holding shutter button.

Full autofocus shutter lag is very fast at 0.149 second at wide angle, and 0.195 second at telephoto. Enabling the flash raises full autofocus shutter lag to 0.326 second, which is still pretty fast. Manual focus lag is a very fast 0.029 second, and prefocused shutter lag is only 0.011 second, which is very quick indeed.

 

Cycle Time (shot to shot)

Single Shot mode
Large Fine JPEG
0.53 second

Time per shot, averaged over 9 shots.

Single Shot mode
RAW
0.62 second

Time per shot, averaged over 4 shots.

Single Shot mode
RAW + L/F JPEG
0.64 second

Time per shot, averaged over 4 shots.

Early shutter
penalty?
YES

Some cameras don't snap another shot if you release and press the shutter too quickly in Single Shot mode, making "No" the preferred answer.

Speed Priority Continuous mode
Large Fine JPEG
0.10 second (9.60 frames per second);
13 frames total;
8 seconds to clear*

Time per shot, averaged over 13 shots, then slows to an average of 0.71 second or 1.40 fps.

Speed Priority Continuous mode
RAW
0.20 second (4.90 frames per second);
13 frames total;
5 seconds to clear*

Time per shot, averaged over 13 shots, then slows to an average of 1.33 second or 0.75 fps.

Speed Priority Continuous mode
RAW + L/F JPEG
0.22 second (4.50 frames per second);
10 frames total;
13 seconds to clear*

Time per shot, averaged over 10 shots, then slows to an average of 2.00 second or 0.50 fps.

Continuous mode
Large Fine JPEG
0.35 second (2.86 frames per second);
12 frames total;
11 seconds to clear*

Time per shot, averaged over 12 shots, then slows to an average of 1.08 second or 0.92 fps.

Continuous mode
RAW
0.41 second (2.44 frames per second);
12 frames total;
14 seconds to clear*

Time per shot, averaged over 12 shots, then slows to an average of 1.31 second or 0.76 fps.

Continuous mode
RAW + L/F JPEG
0.41 second (2.41 frames per second);
8 frames total;
17 seconds to clear*

Time per shot, averaged over 8 shots, then slows to an average of 2.01 second or 0.50 fps.

Flash recycling
4.4 seconds

Flash at maximum output.

*Note: Buffer clearing times measured with a SanDisk Extreme Pro 95MB/s UHS-I SDHC memory card. Slower cards will produce correspondingly slower clearing times. Slow cards may also limit length of bursts in continuous mode. ISO sensitivity also affects cycle times and burst mode performance, with higher ISOs generally increasing cycle times and reducing burst performance.

Single-shot cycle times are very good, capturing a large/fine JPEG every 0.53 second, a RAW file every 0.62 second, or a RAW+large/fine JPEG every 0.64 second.

Speed Priority Continuous mode captures Large/Fine JPEGs at 9.6 fps for 13 frames, taking 8 seconds to clear with a fast 95MB/s UHS-1 SDHC card. In RAW mode, the frame rate drops to 4.9 fps for 13 frames, with 5 seconds to clear. In RAW+JPEG mode (JPEG quality is fixed to Fine), the frame rate drops a bit more to 4.5 fps for 10 frames with 13 seconds to clear. Note that AF and exposure are locked at the first frame of a burst in this mode. We found it odd that frame rate when shooting RAW wasn't as good as the RX100's 10 fps, so we retested multiple times. Each time we got slightly different results with frame rates as high as 5.8 fps, but no where near 10 fps. Still, continuous mode performance is good when shooting RAW, and excellent for JPEGs.

In standard continuous mode, large/fine JPEGs are captured at 2.9 fps for 12 frames with 11 seconds to clear, 12 RAW frames at 2.4 fps with 14 seconds to clear, and 8 RAW+JPEG frames at 2.4 fps with 17 seconds to clear.

The Sony RX100 II's flash recycles in about 4.4 seconds after a full-power discharge, which is fair.

 

Download Speed

Windows Computer, USB 2.0
9,402 KBytes/sec*

Typical Values:
Less than 600=USB 1.1;
600-769=USB 2.0 Low;
Above 770=USB 2.0 High

Connected to a computer with USB 2.0, the Sony RX100 II's download speeds are decent, though not particularly fast. Note that we used fast 95MB/s UHS-I SDHC card, so slower cards may result in slower download speeds.

Bottom line, the Sony RX100 II is very fast at autofocus, shutter lag, single-shot cycle times and JPEG continuous mode, however powering up and shutting down is sluggish, and burst speed drops when shooting RAW (though still not bad).

Battery Life

Above average battery life.

Operating Mode
Number of Shots
Lithium-ion Rechargeable Battery,
(CIPA standard)
350

The Sony RX100 II's battery life has a CIPA rating of 350 shots per charge, which is above average for its class.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on a fully-charged rechargeable battery as appropriate), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))

 

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