The newly announced Sony RX100 VII boasts α9 level speed and AF performance with Real-time Tracking and Real-time Eye AF. Photographers and members of the press had the opportunity to test out the new camera once announced and are posting their first impressions online. Here are some first reactions across the web for this new addition to Sony’s premium compact camera lineup.

Jason Vong

“Sony didn’t just make this the ultimate pocket point-and-shoot vlogging camera, but also the ultimate pocket point-and-shoot sports camera. They took the technology of their flagship model Sony α9 and stuck it onto this tiny little camera. 20 frames per second, no blackout, and 200mm zoom you can get right into the action.” – Jason Vong

The Art Of Photography

“What’s really cool about this is with the new hardware we are able to actually update the autofocus up to 60 times per second. Now what I love about this is, this will impact you even if you don’t do a lot of sports shooting, even if you don’t do a lot of burst shooting. It generally means because it’s autofocusing that fast that when you do click the shutter, you will be in focus.” – Ted Forbes

DPReview

“This is going to a great camera for families, parents with young children that are unpredictable, or even shooting some sports from the sidelines. Just like every RX100 that’s come before, but even more so, Sony has crammed a lot of stuff into this tiny, tiny camera. It’s about the size of a pack of cards, just with a lens on the front.” – Carey Rose, DPReview

Imaging Resource

“Alongside the newly-designed 20-megapixel image sensor in the RX100 VII, which features a stacked design with DRAM for greater performance, there's a frontend LSI paired with an image processor which, for the fifth generation in a row, bears BIONZ X branding. It offers performance sufficient to perform up to 60 autofocus and auto exposure calculations per second, but if you're willing to lock both then this hardware triplet can provide utterly spectacular capture rates. And we don't use a word like spectacular lightly.” – Mike Tomkins, Imaging Resource

See the full preview and first shots.

Kai W

“This really is a pocket rocket of a camera, although I have a sneaking suspicion some people might just end up seeing it for the added audio input and overlook everything else, but with the autofocus and insane burst rate, the tech of the α9, it really does open up the possibilities of what you can shoot and how reliably you can do it.” – Kaiman Wong

Jared Polin

“In my tests using this (Real-Time Eye AF Tracking for video), watching the real-time tracking happening – it is so blistering fast. It is like a mini α9 to have this autofocus system in it.” – Jared Polin