Sony RX100 Flash

Coverage and Range
Very good flash range at wide-angle due to the bright lens, but with somewhat narrow coverage. Range at telephoto is poor, as expected for a tiny flash.

Coverage. Flash coverage was quite uneven at wide-angle, leaving very dark corners in our flash coverage test image. Narrow coverage at wide-angle isn't unusual, though, and some of the corner darkening is likely from the lens itself. Coverage was more uniform at telephoto, but quite dim here.

Exposure. Our Indoor Portrait test scene was a little dim in our normal flash test at f/4 and ISO 200, even with +1.0 EV flash compensation. Slow-sync mode was brighter as you'd expect, with its slow shutter speed of 1/6s capturing more of the warm, ambient light. Results with auto flash mode were bright, though the Sony RX100 raised ISO to 320 to achieve that. The RX100 tends to use a slightly slow shutter speed of 1/30s with the flash in dim situations, which could lead to some subject motion blur.

ISO 200 Range. With the lens at maximum aperture, flash exposures started out quite bright at 6 feet at wide-angle, and actually increased in brightness to about 13 feet. Brightness remained good all the way to the 16 foot limit of our test, thanks to the really fast f/1.8 aperture. At full telephoto, flash exposure started out slightly dim at 6 feet, and decreased in brightness from then on.

Manufacturer Specified Flash Test. The Sony RX100's flash range is rated 24.2m at wide-angle, and 8.9m at telephoto, with ISO sensitivity set to 6,400. That works out to about 14 feet and 5.2 feet respectively, at ISO 200. In the test shots above at those distances, the Sony RX100 performed to specification, producing properly exposed images. Our standard test method for flash range uses a fixed setting of ISO 200, to provide a fair basis of comparison between cameras. We've now also begun shooting two shots using the manufacturer-specified camera settings, at the range the company claims for the camera, to assess the validity of the specific claims.