Which Point And Shoot Digital Camera Has The Best 4k Video Stabilization

The research

• Why you lot should trust us
• Who should buy this
• How we picked
• How nosotros tested
• Our option: Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX10
• Flaws but non dealbreakers
• Runner-upwards: Sony Cyber-shot RX100 VI
• Also great: Sony ZV-1
• Other good betoken-and-shoot cameras
• The competition

Why you should trust us

Ben Keough has been testing and writing about cameras since 2006 and has spent fourth dimension with nearly every DSLR, mirrorless camera, and indicate-and-shoot that has come up out in the past decade-plus. He knows each manufacturer's lineup inside and out—and more important, how to distinguish betwixt marketing gimmicks and features that really matter to everyday shooters. He's too an avid lensman in his own right, and from time to fourth dimension people have even paid him to have pictures.

For this guide, he spent more than 40 hours over the course of three months pushing the cameras he tested to their limit in order to figure out which model offers the best combination of image quality, usability, and features.

Phil Ryan is Wirecutter's editor of camera coverage. Equally technical editor for Popular Photography and senior editor for imaging at CNET, he used the vast bulk of the cameras released for over a decade.

Who should buy this

If you lot own a recent smartphone, you have a pretty good photographic camera in your pocket right now. But if you've used your smartphone'due south camera, you've probably noticed that it has limitations: If you look at your photos on annihilation bigger than a phone screen, you run across blurry, blocky results that are far from the shots you'd get from a DSLR or mirrorless photographic camera. Using your phone'southward digital zoom but makes the image quality worse. Desire to capture action shots? Forget about information technology.

If you're frustrated by these limitations, hither's why an avant-garde compact camera is probably right for you:

• Better paradigm quality: These cameras utilise much larger paradigm sensors than phones do, offer correspondingly improved epitome quality—especially indoors or when the sunday goes down, thanks to amend low-calorie-free performance.
• Smartphone-similar shooting: Most advanced indicate-and-shoots take a touchscreen interface for changing essential settings and choosing your focus point, which makes the step up from smartphone photography even smoother.
• Room to abound: Although you can only option up ane of these cameras, point, and shoot, they as well include all the custom controls you'd get from more-expensive DSLRs and mirrorless cameras. They're a great manner to start if you're just beginning to go serious most photography.
• Fast focusing: Smartphones focus much more speedily today than they used to, merely they're still nowhere near as fast as a proper photographic camera with a proper autofocus system. The difference is night and day when you lot're tracking moving subjects like sports, kids, and pets.
• Even so portable: Although these cameras are bigger than phones, they're still meaty plenty to skid into a jeans or jacket pocket, or a modest handbag, without weighing you down. Their big sensors and wide-aperture zoom lenses capture lots of lite, providing most of the power of a full DSLR or mirrorless system without the majority of a larger body and a set of lenses.
• More flexible than a phone: Near cameras in this category offer versatile 3x zoom lenses that get from wide-angle to portrait focal lengths without degrading the image quality. Many likewise provide neat extras, such as a flip-up screen or an electronic viewfinder, that make shooting easier.
• Amend video: The all-time point-and-shoot cameras are also excellent tools for videography, capable of producing noticeably crisper footage with less noise and more particular than what you get from even a flagship smartphone. YouTubers and Twitch streamers volition especially appreciate the 4K recording capability, uncompressed HDMI output, and flip-upwards screens that the top models provide.

You might be wondering why yous shouldn't just buy a DSLR or mirrorless camera. After all, those models provide even better images and video, more-comfy ergonomics, and more concrete controls. The reply, of course, is size and weight. The cameras we recommend in this guide provide a noticeable crash-land in image quality over a smartphone but can still fit in a pocket or bag. Mirrorless cameras and DSLRs require a bigger bag, and their added weight tin can requite you lot a sore neck or shoulder over a long twenty-four hours of shooting.

How nosotros picked

Photo: Sarah Kobos

To detect the all-time point-and-shoot cameras, nosotros started out by establishing a few key traits that any great camera should possess.

• Large sensor: Since we're looking for cameras that provide significantly better image quality than a smartphone can produce, it makes sense to look for a significantly larger sensor. A sensor'southward size isn't the but cistron in determining image quality—lens design also plays a major office—simply it is a big one. All else being equal, a larger sensor has larger pixels, which can capture more low-cal. This pattern reduces prototype noise and allows the sensor to tape bright and night areas in the same shot without turning skies white and shadows black. Since virtually smartphone cameras utilise 1/2.3-inch sensors, we targeted cameras with a 1-inch or larger sensor for this guide. (If you want to dig deeper, hither's a detailed explanation of the numbers behind the confusingly named sensor sizes.)
• Wide-discontinuity lens: To make the most of their big sensors, these cameras should have lenses with a broad discontinuity throughout the zoom range—the wider, the meliorate. A wide aperture lets in more than lite, which allows you lot to shoot at a lower ISO setting (reducing image noise) or a higher shutter speed (reducing mistiness). It also allows you to shoot shallow-depth-of-field portrait photos with more pronounced blur (or bokeh) backside your subject. Our acme pick, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX10, has a lens with a maximum aperture of f/one.4 at full wide-angle (24mm) and f/2.8 at total telephoto (72mm). In dissimilarity, most cheap bespeak-and-shoots are limited to apertures of f/3.two or f/four.five at any zoom setting, leading to blurry or noisy pictures. (If aperture and f-numbers are new to yous, hither'south an easy-to-understand primer.)
• Compact design: A good indicate-and-shoot camera is one that you can comfortably comport every 24-hour interval, which ways it should fit in a pants pocket or a small-scale pocketbook. This rules out almost superzooms and and then-called travel zooms, and it generally leaves yous with cameras that have more than small-scale zoom ratios of effectually 3x.
• Ease of utilize: All of the cameras here are piece of cake to use in auto mode, and many owners elect not to go whatever further. Only if you choose to dive into the menus, the master menu should be piece of cake to navigate, and the photographic camera should offering a quick card for convenient access to central shooting settings. Customizable buttons and dials allow y'all to set up upwards the camera for the fashion you lot like to shoot, and then nosotros give bonus points for those.
• Touchscreen, tilt screen, or electronic viewfinder: These features add together a ton of usability to any camera, so having one or more is a large plus. Touchscreens let y'all tap to focus, and they make navigating settings menus and swiping through photos in playback much simpler. Tilt screens allow you to easily shoot beneath (and sometimes to a higher place) your head, and they commonly flip up 180 degrees for selfies. Electronic viewfinders make it easier to compose shots on peculiarly vivid days when glare wipes out the paradigm on the rear brandish.
• Wireless connectivity: It's 2021, so you lot demand a way to get your photos to your telephone without going through the cumbersome process of putting an SD carte du jour in a card reader, transferring the pics to your computer, and so emailing them to yourself or uploading them to Dropbox. Whether information technology's Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, or some combination of the three, these cameras should take a style to connect directly to your phone. Fully tethered shooting—in which newly shot images automatically transfer to the connected device—is a plus but non a requirement. But be aware: Virtually smartphone apps from major photographic camera manufacturers are still disappointingly clunky, so be prepared to spend some fourth dimension tapping around in the camera and app settings to pair your camera with your telephone.
• Solid video specs: With their high-quality sensors and lenses, these cameras can capture fantabulous video, so it's important that they record at 1080p resolution and 60 frames per 2nd at the least. Since 4K displays are now more common, we give bonus points to models capable of recording at 4K resolution at a minimum of thirty frames per 2nd. Other extras, such as uncompressed HDMI output and more-avant-garde video-codec options, are icing on the cake, but they're important for people such as vloggers and Twitch streamers.

In our most recent circular of research, with the above criteria in mind, Ben Keough surveyed the compact cameras available from all of the top brands. Honestly, in that location weren't that many. Canon'south PowerShot K-Serial comprises five models, but nosotros immediately ruled out two of them (the PowerShot G1 X Mark Iii and G3 X) because of their larger bodies and lenses, and we had already dismissed the PowerShot G5 10 and G7 X Mark Ii in a previous version of this guide due to underwhelming specs. Panasonic's LX100 and LX100 2, as well as Fujifilm'southward X100F, were too large to be called pocketable, partly owing to their Four Thirds and APS-C sensors. Nikon and Olympus no longer make compact cameras (as well waterproof models and superzooms). Nosotros also rejected otherwise capable pocketable compacts such every bit the Ricoh GR Iii and Fujifilm XF10 because they didn't have zoom lenses.

For our 2021 update, considering that not much had inverse in the various camera makers' lineups, nosotros too tested Sony's RX100 Six and ZV-1.

How we tested

Photo: Ben Keough

Nosotros tested these cameras over the course of a month, both in caput-to-head studio tests and on extended outings in the real world. We carried them on day trips effectually Southern California, a longer drive through the forests and rivers of Bend, Oregon, a hike among the majestic sweep of the Colorado Rockies, a breathtaking visit to the rocky canyons of Utah, and the streets and subways of New York City.

Although these cameras have plenty to offer to amateur photographers who may already own more-advanced models but appreciate the power to deport something smaller at times, nosotros recall they're most highly-seasoned to people who are taking their showtime step up from a smartphone photographic camera. With that in listen, we focused on testing for pain points that might frustrate, annoy, or otherwise put off newcomers from using these cameras.

We performed the usual tests for things like sharpness, bokeh, close-focusing power, low-light performance, dynamic range, image stabilization, and autofocus speed. Merely nosotros likewise considered the usability of each photographic camera's card system, the responsiveness of its touchscreen, the reflectiveness of its display, the amount and usefulness of the on-screen information it provided, the tactile feel of its buttons, and—especially for cameras with an electronic viewfinder—how easy or difficult the controls were to find and operate past feel. We likewise connected each photographic camera to our smartphones to run across whether remote shooting and image transfer were a pain or a pleasure.

Our pick: Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX10

Photo: Kyle Fitzgerald

Our choice

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX10 produces cute photos in all but the almost farthermost lighting atmospheric condition. Information technology has an intuitive touchscreen interface, its screen flips up 180 degrees for selfies and 4K video streaming, and it focuses quickly. Many of its rivals have some of these features, simply none offering such a compelling combination at such a reasonable price.

Image quality is the about important reason to augment your smartphone photography with a photographic camera like this, and the LX10 delivers. Direct out of the box, it produces well-baked JPEG images that aren't overly sharpened or cartoonishly saturated, different some rivals. The zoom lens covers a useful (24–72mm equivalent) range that starts wider than that of nearly smartphone cameras, zooms in tight enough for portraits, and allows for smoothly blurred backgrounds when you're shooting shut-upwards. The Leica-branded lens is abrupt at all focal lengths and aperture settings, and it tin can focus downward to three centimeters—closer than the Sony RX100 VI and Canon G9 X Marker II—for impressive macro images. Information technology'south as well optically stabilized, which helps you get clear shots even at tiresome shutter speeds.

The LX10's i-inch sensor and broad-aperture lens let you lot finer separate your subject from the groundwork, fifty-fifty when you're shooting from farther abroad. Photo: Ben Keough

Since the LX10 delivers JPEGs with less contrast and saturation than you become from some other cameras when you lot're using the Standard photo style, you lot have to edit the photos to get them to pop on Instagram or Facebook. We actually prefer it that fashion: The more than editing a camera does, the less latitude yous accept to edit your photos to conform your taste. But if y'all'd prefer more-stylized results correct out of the camera, you can cull from other "photo styles" (Panasonic's term for JPEG presets), including Vivid, Monochrome, and Scenery, that provide more than- or less-punchy results. You can edit these presets, or yous tin create your ain custom photograph manner with specific dissimilarity, sharpness, racket-reduction, and saturation settings. Alternatively, if y'all want to handle all of the processing yourself, you can shoot in raw mode and develop your photos using digital-darkroom software such as Adobe Lightroom; it'southward the best way to get the virtually out of your camera, just information technology adds significant time to the process.

The LX10's dedicated aperture ring is unique amongst the big-sensor compact cameras nosotros tested. Video: Kyle Fitzgerald

Although the LX10 is non the smallest camera nosotros tested, it is quite meaty. When it'south turned off, the lens protrudes about half an inch from the front; at that place's a shorter hand grip off to the side.

The LX10 offers plenty of physical controls, and then you can easily adjust settings without diving into the menu system. The coolest is a defended aperture ring with click-stops that lets yous directly control the f-end when shooting in aperture-priority or manual style. In forepart of that is a smoothly rotating secondary dial, and atop the camera y'all'll find a 3rd command wheel; you lot can customize both of these to control a huge range of camera settings. Effectually dorsum, a iv-way directional pad provides directly access to exposure compensation, white rest, drive fashion/self-timer, and focus mode options. Yous also go dedicated buttons for Panasonic-exclusive features such as 4K Photo mode and Post Focus, which nosotros'll hash out later.

Despite its big sensor and abundance of physical controls, the LX10 is yet compact plenty to fit easily in even a small bag. Photo: Kyle Fitzgerald

When y'all do have to go bill of fare-diving, the LX10'due south excellent touchscreen interface makes the process pretty easy. Through the customizable Quick Menu, you get admission to eleven of your most oftentimes used settings—such every bit ISO, exposure bounty, and AF mode—with but a couple of finger taps. Within the main menu organisation, y'all can tap and roll through submenus to detect less-often-used options. If you lot've used a smartphone, it's a piece of block.

The LX10 doesn't have an electronic viewfinder, but its big, bright screen tilts up 180 degrees and has a great touch interface. Photo: Kyle Fitzgerald

The touchscreen is near useful for autofocus. With the AF system prepare to single- or multi-betoken mode, yous can merely tap to focus. It'south fast, reliable, and easy. It also offers a huge advantage over the system on the Sony RX100 IV and all other RX100 models upward to the recently released RX100 VI, which lack touchscreens and have a lot more than fiddling to focus. The LX10's tap-to-focus feature is an even bigger deal for videographers, since it lets them "pull focus" to a subject located anywhere in the frame with a single tap. In our testing, the transition to a new focal point was pleasingly slow and cinematic, not jumpy—something Panasonic says its engineers expressly focused on.

The LX10's wink can tilt upward to diffuse calorie-free for more than-natural-looking flash photos. Video: Kyle Fitzgerald

Like other recent Lumix cameras, the LX10 uses Panasonic's DFD (Depth from Defocus) autofocus technology. Nosotros'll skip the geeky details of how it works (here's a practiced overview if you're interested), but when a subject is out of focus, DFD allows the camera to make a good guess as to exactly how far out of focus it is. The issue is very fast focus that (in good light) avoids the wobble you see in traditional contrast-detection AF systems as the lens hunts back and forth while trying to lock focus. DFD tech also helps keep your subject in focus when you're using tracking AF, particularly when your discipline is moving toward or away from the camera.

The LX10 can focus accurately in low calorie-free, and its combination of a wide-discontinuity lens and effective paradigm stabilization allows for long exposures with clear results. Photograph: Amadou Diallo

The LX10 has fifty-fifty more proprietary tech that adds to its appeal. In Panasonic'south 4K Photo mode, the LX10 records a short 4K video when you press the shutter button and presents the prune as a series of individual however images. Essentially, it's a xxx fps burst mode. When y'all find just the correct expression or position for your subject area, you can extract and salve that still equally an eight-megapixel JPEG. The LX10 likewise offers a Pre-Burst option that continuously records video, saving the thirty frames from the seconds before and after yous press the shutter. The cease outcome is that you lot can get the right shot fifty-fifty if you don't hit the shutter in time. Since this style continuously records video, it drains the battery more than speedily than taking traditional stills—in our testing, occasional use didn't drastically reduce the battery life, but we'd hesitate to use it if our battery charge was low to begin with and nosotros didn't have a spare on hand.

Another nifty characteristic is the Postal service Focus style, which uses a short 4K video to capture images at dissimilar focus points and then lets you tap anywhere in the frame to focus on that point later on yous've shot the photo. Since this way takes a fraction of a second to track focus and capture the video, it works best with still subjects, simply it works with moving subjects if it has enough lite to freeze their motility.

The LX10'southward 4K video looks nice and crisp (exist sure to select "2160p 4K" in the YouTube quality menu), just it'southward not quite on the level of the Sony RX100 Six. Video: Ben Keough

The LX10 captures 4K video at 30 frames per 2nd and 1080p at 60 fps (or 120 fps with lens stabilization and autofocus disabled). At either resolution, the wide-angle field of view is cropped from the 24mm equivalent you lot become in stills—downward to 36mm equivalent in 4K and 30mm equivalent in 1080p with all assists (stabilization and auto-level) turned on. Turning these assists off widens the field of view, simply you never get the full 24mm broad-angle expect. This crop not only reduces broad-angle possibilities but also hurts low-light functioning, since it means the camera is using a smaller sensor area to record video and is therefore taking in less light. Only such a crop is fairly normal for these types of cameras.

In our testing, the LX10'southward 4K video looked nearly as skilful every bit what nosotros got from the Sony RX100 VI (our runner-up pick). And in dissimilarity to the RX100 VI, which limits y'all to five minutes of continuous 4K shooting (due to estrus buildup), the LX10 can capture up to 15 minutes at a time. Unfortunately, the LX10 doesn't provide uncompressed (or "clean") live HDMI video output—you can use HDMI only to replay videos you've already recorded—which means that it's not equally good for Twitch and YouTube live streamers as the RX100 VI, which can output video as you're recording it. (Neither camera has a 3.5 mm jack for an external microphone, though.)

The LX10 is capable of connecting to a phone or tablet via built-in Wi-Fi and the Panasonic Image App (available for iOS or Android), and the setup process is relatively straightforward (Panasonic has quick video walk-throughs for iOS and Android). In one case the connection is established, you can use the app for remote shooting, which lets you use your device to arrange shooting settings, tap to focus, and shoot. Image transfer is also available, so you can rapidly send both raw and JPEG files to your mobile device. However, the LX10 can't transfer AVCHD video to smartphones and tablets, so stick to MP4 if you want to easily share clips on social media.

Flaws just not dealbreakers

If there's one thing the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX10 is missing, it's an electronic viewfinder. Every Sony RX100 model since the Mark 3 has had i, and it's a serious advantage—especially when you lot're shooting in bright sunlight, where it can be tough to see the screen, or in peculiarly dark environments, where you lot don't want your camera screen to be a distraction for other people. Additionally, although the LX10's touchscreen tilts up 180 degrees, information technology doesn't tilt down similar the one on our runner-up option, the RX100 VI, does, so you tin't hands shoot above your eye line (over the crowd at a concert, for instance). As a last resort, yous tin flip the photographic camera upside down and apply your left pollex for the shutter push, but photos you shoot this way come up out upside down and need manual rotating later. Regardless, even though we wish the LX10 had a viewfinder and a tilt-down screen, its actress concrete controls and touchscreen interface all the same make it more enjoyable to shoot with overall, and unless y'all actually need the RX100 6'south better video performance, the Sony camera is non worth its essentially higher price.

Bombardment life is a concern for all of these large-sensor compact cameras. The Panasonic LX10 is rated for 260 shots in mixed utilize, 50 fewer shots than the Sony RX100 VI is rated for (though the Sony camera really has shorter stated battery life if y'all apply its electronic viewfinder). In real-world utilize, this number tin vary wildly depending on how much video you shoot, how many special shooting modes you employ, and how often you plough the photographic camera on and off. In general, you don't have to worry if you're shooting an upshot that lasts a few hours, but for a full twenty-four hours of sightseeing where you want to take a lot of snapshots, you're probably better off buying and carrying a second bombardment (or charging via a USB bombardment pack between shots).

The LX10's clicky aperture band is convenient and feels great, but it tin also be misleading. Since the maximum aperture becomes smaller when you zoom in, what you see on the punch isn't always what you get. When you zoom to 72mm, for example, you're shooting at f/2.eight fifty-fifty if the band says f/1.4. This is a concern only at the widest aperture settings, though—after f/2.8, the setting is always accurate. Information technology'south also slightly annoying that the discontinuity band can't serve another purpose when you lot're using a shooting manner without aperture control; if y'all're in Program or Auto mode, for example, it's totally useless.

Unfortunately, the LX10 lacks a congenital-in neutral-density filter (as does the Sony RX100 Vi), which would enable wide-discontinuity shooting in bright sunlight and super-long exposures (call back star trails or wispy white waterfalls). Panasonic addresses the starting time scenario past providing the pick to apply an electronic shutter with speeds up to ane/sixteen,000—fast enough to shoot at f/i.4 in bright low-cal. Merely be aware that shooting fast-moving objects using the electronic shutter manner can produce rolling-shutter effects, making moving objects look slanted. As for super-long exposures, well, y'all'd need to buy a physical neutral-density filter for that, but at that place's no elegant style to mount 1 on the LX10'south lens.

Our other complaints are relatively minor. We would take preferred a more substantial grip, perhaps with a chip of rubber for the photographic camera to feel more secure in the hand. We also wish information technology were possible to start the photographic camera direct in playback fashion without extending the lens, something that both the Sony and Canon cameras we tested tin do; this feature saves battery life and reduces vesture and tear on mechanical components over time.

Runner-up: Sony Cyber-shot RX100 VI

Photo: Sarah Kobos

Runner-up

If you'd prefer an electronic viewfinder, or if you lot identify heavier emphasis on video quality and video file types than most people do, the Sony Cyber-shot RX100 VI is a not bad selection. It's likely more than camera than the boilerplate person needs, but we recall its perks—faster burst shooting, the power to get more shots per outburst, fast and sure autofocus, and a longer lens—are worth the substantial price increase for serious photographers.

The RX100 Half dozen delivers excellent photos, almost duplicate in quality from what you lot'd go from our acme pick. The two cameras use well-nigh-identical 1-inch sensors, and although the RX100 Half-dozen'due south lens doesn't let in quite equally much light as the LX10's, it even so allows more than cheap compacts exercise, and its long zoom range makes this model one of the best travel cameras you tin can get. On its default settings, our JPEGs from the RX100 Half-dozen had a niggling more dissimilarity and saturation than those from the LX10, simply you tin tweak the upshot to your preference. If you shoot raw, you'd be probable to see every bit much variation in sharpness between multiple units of a unmarried photographic camera model due to manufacturing tolerances in lens construction as you would between, say, a Sony model and a Panasonic model sharing the aforementioned sensor design.

As the lite waned on New York City's Mott Street, the far end of the RX100 Half dozen's zoom lens produced a flatter-looking view of the scene. Sony's motorcar metering underexposed a bit, then be sure to use exposure bounty if you're shooting a scene similar this. Photograph: Phil Ryan

The biggest design difference between the Sony RX100 VI and the Panasonic LX10 is Sony's popular-upwards electronic viewfinder (EVF)—an splendid add-on for people who prefer eye-level composition over framing shots on the rear display. Considering the overall size of the photographic camera, the EVF is remarkably large and clear, and the clever retracting design is unique in this form. The EVF makes shooting in bright daylight less of a guessing game, and it also provides a way to shoot more than discreetly in dark environments since the camera'due south rear display doesn't light up when it's in apply. In addition, the RX100 Vi's rear display is more flexible than our tiptop choice'south, letting you tilt it down forty degrees so that you can easily shoot above your caput.

The RX100 VI's articulating screen tilts upwards 180 degrees and down forty degrees, offering more adaptability than that of our top choice. Video: Sarah Kobos

Similar the LX10, the RX100 VI shoots 4K video at up to 30 frames per 2nd and a 100 mbps bit rate. Only Sony offers more formats and codecs, including its proprietary XAVC S. This Sony camera'due south video footage is sharper across the board—not a huge deviation, but noticeable—in both 4K and 1080p recording modes. XAVC S footage looks best just requires a specific type of memory menu, an SDXC UHS-II card with at least 64 GB of storage. Nosotros used a SanDisk Farthermost Pro SDXC UHS-II card; it worked flawlessly, but the kind of performance it offers doesn't come cheap.

The pop-upward viewfinder (left) and pop-upwardly flash (center) help brand the RX100 VI ameliorate suited for capturing still images. Photo: Sarah Kobos

The RX100 VI crops 4K video much less aggressively than the LX10, which ways you can shoot wider-bending footage. And whereas the LX10 can record 1080p 120 fps footage for 2x deadening-motion, the RX100 VI can go up to 960 fps to dull things downward by a factor of 32x (albeit for only two seconds at a time and at reduced resolution). As the icing on the cake, the RX100 VI tin can output alive, uncompressed 4K video via its HDMI port—perfect for YouTube and Twitch streamers.

Like Panasonic, Sony provides a smartphone app (called Imaging Border Mobile, bachelor for iOS and Android) that allows you lot to wirelessly pair your RX100 VI with your phone. The pairing is adequately elementary: A QR code appears on the camera's screen, and you browse it using the app on your phone. Once the 2 devices are connected, you tin can control the camera remotely, as well equally transfer photos and video to your phone. Like the LX10, the RX100 Half dozen is somewhat limited in what it tin transfer—specifically, information technology can't send raw photos, AVCHD videos, or very-high-bit-charge per unit XAVC S videos to your phone—but for nigh people, JPEGs and lower-chip-rate video will suffice for Instagram and Facebook.

Also great: Sony ZV-1

Photo: Sarah Kobos

Also groovy

If yous mainly want to shoot great video and take stills only occasionally, you'll likely prefer Sony's ZV-1 over the RX100 Vi. The ii Sony models apply the same large, 1-inch sensor, though the ZV-1's optically stabilized lens has nigh the same specs as that of the Panasonic LX10. This means the ZV-i'southward lens lets in more light than the RX100 VI's, producing better autofocus operation in low-light scenarios, but it doesn't have the longer zoom range of the RX100 6. The ZV-1 also has diverse features that make it improve for recording higher-level video compared with our ii other picks.

Chief amongst these differences are the ZV-ane'southward audio capabilities. The top of the camera houses a directional stereo microphone designed to emphasize recording sounds coming from in front of the camera while also minimizing groundwork dissonance without losing a solid sense of place. In do, this microphone provides a sense of direction still is also wonderful for vlogging selfie-style since information technology'll mainly pick up your talking while not losing the background sounds of whatever m locale you may be talking near.

The accessory hot shoe (left) and stereo microphone (center) help make the ZV-1 better suited to capturing video than the RX100 Six. Photograph: Sarah Kobos

Just in case the fancy microphone atop the ZV-1 eventually becomes insufficient for your videos, Sony includes a standard mini microphone input so you can plug in an accessory microphone, something defective in Panasonic's LX10. Unlike the Sony RX100 Vi, which uses the space on acme of the photographic camera for its pop-upwards finder and built-in flash, the ZV-i likewise includes one of Sony'due south Multi-Interface hot shoes for adding, or just mounting, other accessories. One such accompaniment, a fuzzy windscreen to cut downwardly on wind noise when y'all're using the built-in microphone, is included with the ZV-1.

Some other feature that video shooters will love is the fishing touchscreen. Coupled with the large video-record button on the summit of the camera, this touchscreen lets you tuck the ZV-1 into unusually small spots while hands starting or stopping video recording. Like the touchscreen on the RX100 Half dozen, the touchscreen here isn't quite equally versatile as the LX10's in that it doesn't allow you to utilise it to change camera settings. Instead y'all have to apply the carte push button or the Fn button to admission the quick carte du jour and then utilize the directional pad on the dorsum of the photographic camera to select what you'd similar to change about how the camera operates.

The range of motion of the ZV-1's touchscreen should entreatment to videographers. Video: Sarah Kobos

In our tests, both video and images we captured with the ZV-1 were simply as high quality equally what we shot with the RX100 6—which is to say, swell. Images showed more saturation than those from the LX10 when nosotros shot in Standard mode, but without beingness anywhere near garish. In fact, when we shot at the aforementioned settings using the RX100 VI and ZV-1, the stills from the two Sony cameras looked almost identical, as you can encounter if yous compare the photos hither in this section with those in the RX100 VI's section above. We'd have a tough time distinguishing the photos from 1 another if not for their metadata or proper file naming.

The ZV-1 might make sense for you lot even if you lot plan to shoot lots of still images, as the similarity between the sensors and image processing in this camera and the RX100 VI mean that y'all wouldn't sacrifice too much by opting for the ZV-1. The RX100 VI's sensitivity can aggrandize one footstep beyond that in the ZV-1, though a lot of shooters wouln't miss that too much considering that the ZV-1 has a larger maximum aperture to brand upwardly for the difference. The biggest thing still-photo shooters would miss is the RX100 VI's viewfinder, which nosotros think is worth the investment for serious photographers, simply if you lot've never used a camera with a viewfinder, you might not miss information technology all that much and might prefer to salve the cash instead. Although the ZV-ane's battery life is impressive when it'due south shooting only stills, if y'all'll exist shooting a lot of video, as is likely with this photographic camera, we suggest spending some of the savings on at least ane extra battery.

This image is near duplicate from the 1 we captured with the RX100 Half dozen. Nosotros kept all the settings the same. Photo: Phil Ryan

The ZV-one'south wireless functionality works simply like the RX100 VI'southward: You pair the Imaging Border Mobile app (iOS and Android) with your photographic camera using a QR code, and then yous tin can use the app for remote shooting and for transferring images and video. The app works well enough for casual use, though you may find information technology frustratingly laggy and clunky (video), peculiarly in the alive view shooting functionality, if you demand to use it mean solar day in, day out.

Other good point-and-shoot cameras

If you like the RX100 Six's viewfinder and overall design, and don't mind sacrificing 4K video and zoom range in commutation for a lower price, the Sony Cyber-shot RX100 3 is still a good buy. Its shorter zoom fifty-fifty offers some benefits: Although its lens covers only 24–70mm in contrast to the RX100 VI'south 24–200mm, information technology has a wider f/one.8–ii.8 maximum discontinuity versus the RX100 Half dozen'south f/2.viii–4.5, so it can produce a petty more background mistiness and may deliver better low-light shots in some situations. However, it typically costs more than our top pick from Panasonic, which not only has a lens with a similar focal range and an even wider aperture but tin can also shoot 4K video.

If you're not chiefly concerned nearly portability, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX100 and DC-LX100 II each utilise a Four Thirds sensor, far larger than those establish in our picks. These two models can shoot 4K video, accept nice EVFs, and are decked out with lots of manual controls. But the larger sensor results in a larger lens and a significantly bulkier camera that can't fit in a pocket. If that doesn't bother y'all, either model is a very capable photographic camera, and the older model is even more than affordable than the LX10 now that the LX100 2 is out.

The competition

The Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark III, with its DSLR-class APS-C sensor, produces paradigm quality superior to that of our tiptop picks, just it's heavy, expensive, and saddled with a lens that has a restrictively narrow aperture range. Although its silhouette is like to that of our top choice and runner-up, information technology's much thicker, which makes it far less pocketable.

Equipped with the same kind of sensor as our top option, the Canon PowerShot G5 X features a zoom with more telephoto reach, plus a fully articulated rear screen and an OLED viewfinder. Just it'southward significantly bigger than the Panasonic LX10 and Sony RX100 VI due to its DSLR-mode viewfinder, its battery life is abysmal at merely 210 shots per charge, and it shoots less than ane frame per second in raw way—inexcusable for a photographic camera in this class.

The Canon PowerShot G5 X Mark Ii improves on its predecessor in several ways. It's smaller since it has an RX100-style pop-up EVF, information technology has a 20mm longer zoom, and it's faster—able to shoot raw photos at up to twenty frames per second. However, its bombardment life (though improved to 230 shots per accuse) still lags behind that of our picks. It as well has iffy autofocus, and its video was disappointingly soft in our tests, fifty-fifty when we shot 4K.

Although the Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II shares the original G5 10's longer zoom lens, it tin can't shoot 4K video (like our acme selection) and doesn't have an EVF (like our runner-upward).

The Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III is faster and lighter than its predecessor, and it adds 4K video recording at xxx frames per second. Information technology also has an external mic port, which makes it much better for vlogging and serious video shooting. But information technology yet doesn't have an EVF. Ultimately, the Sony cameras we recommend would give y'all a ameliorate video feel, while the Panasonic LX10 offers a more tactile control scheme and greater flexibility when information technology comes to aperture, ISO, and shutter speed for still photos.

We tested the Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS200 and found that although information technology produced excellent images, nosotros didn't love the bulk that its 15x zoom lens added or how narrow its discontinuity range was. The ZS200's EVF is also of much lower quality than the one in our runner-up pick, and the rear touchscreen doesn't articulate. If yous prioritize zoom college than pocketability and don't plan to shoot in dim environments often, the ZS200 could be a good friction match, merely for most people we like our picks better.

The Ricoh GR II and GR 3 both feature a big APS-C sensor and a wide-angle (28mm-equivalent) lens in a compact body. Although these cameras are capable of producing beautiful photos, they're in a unlike grade than our picks, and they offer far less flexibility. In improver to their fixed-focal-length lenses, they lack articulating screens and EVFs. And while the newer GR III adds some modern civilities such as a touchscreen and 4K video capability, it'southward very much an old-school, however-prototype-focused camera. (The video looks terrible.)

The Fujifilm X100V has a stock-still-focal-length lens (35mm versus Ricoh'south 28mm) and an APS-C sensor. It'south also bigger, heavier, and more than expensive than the Ricoh models and our picks. Like the Ricoh models, it's fantastic for a certain mode of shooting, only it'southward very much a niche camera.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-point-and-shoot-camera/

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