Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 VA

The RX100 VA is a compact Sony camera from 2018 with a fixed lens and a one-inch sensor. It measures 102 x 58 x 41 mm and weighs 299 g, so it slips into a coat pocket rather than demanding a camera bag.

That size is the point. It suits travellers, family photographers and anyone who wants a camera that is always with them, with an electronic viewfinder in a body that costs little effort to carry.

Owning it means working within the built-in lens and planning around the rated battery life. In return, stills and video capability sit together in a body you will actually bring along.

Stills start with a 20 megapixel one-inch CMOS sensor paired with the Bionz X processor, and the ISO range runs from 125 to 12800. An Optics score of 64, described as good, places this camera around the middle of cameras in our database for Optics.

Burst shooting reaches 24 frames per second at its maximum, a rate that helps you catch a fleeting expression or the peak of a moment. Autofocus draws on 315 points, giving the system many positions to work with when you compose.

In-body stabilisation reduces camera shake, which helps with handheld shooting at slower shutter speeds on static subjects. It will not stop subject motion. An electronic viewfinder with about 2.4 million dots gives an alternative to composing on the screen.

The lens is fixed, so you work within its built-in framing rather than changing lenses for a different look. A top shutter speed of 1/2000 second is also on the modest side, which can limit wide apertures in strong sunlight.

Video recording tops out at 4K resolution, which suits playback on high-resolution screens and leaves room for cropping in the edit.

The maximum frame rate on offer is 120 fps, which is fast enough for smooth slow-motion playback. Treat the resolution and frame rate maximums as separate figures, since no combined mode is listed.

Recording is saved as MPEG-4, AVCHD or XAVC S, so you have a choice of formats for different kinds of projects.

There is no built-in timelapse function, so sequence work means assembling stills in editing afterwards. Even so, a video score of 77, rated good, reflects full frame-rate points and near-full resolution marks, with timelapse the only miss.

The 3-inch TFT LCD carries 1.23 million dots. Because it is a touchscreen, you can work with menus and settings directly on the display, and its flipping design helps when framing from high or low angles.

Wi-Fi is built in, giving the camera a wireless connection. Bluetooth is absent, so there is no low-energy link of that kind to maintain a connection in the background.

A built-in flash covers occasional low-light shots, and the camera offers no support for an external flash unit. Anyone who works with flash regularly will find that a real constraint.

There is no weather sealing and no GPS, so the camera needs care in rain or dust and cannot tag photos with location data on its own. A features score of 57, rated modest, reflects full marks for the touchscreen and live view, with points lost to weather sealing, Bluetooth and screen dots.

A single card slot takes SD, SDHC and SDXC cards or Sony's Memory Stick Duo types. With one card at a time, capacity planning happens before the shoot rather than through swapping between slots.

The NP-BX1 battery is rated at 220 shots per charge. Real endurance varies with the screen, video and wireless use, so a spare battery makes sense for anything longer than a casual outing.

The camera does not charge over USB, so you cannot top the battery up from a computer while you are out and about. Charging needs to be planned around that. A storage and battery score of 13, rated limited, reflects these combined constraints.