Sony RX1 Flash

Coverage and Range
Excellent flash range thanks to the fast lens, though with somewhat narrow coverage. Our standard indoor portrait shot required less than average exposure compensation.

Coverage. Flash coverage is a little narrow especially considering the RX1's 35mm lens isn't very wide, leaving dim corners in our flash coverage test image. Note that Shading Correction was enabled by default for this shot, so corner shading from the lens itself is compensated for here.

Exposure. Our Indoor Portrait test scene is well exposed with +0.3 EV flash exposure compensation, which is a little less than the average amount of flash exposure compensation required for this scene (+0.7 EV). The camera's Slow-Sync flash mode produced overly bright results with no flash exposure compensation, along with a strong orange cast from the ambient lighting, particularly in the shadows.

ISO 200 Range. The RX1's flash shots remained bright all the way to 15 feet in our ISO 200 range test. Excellent performance, helped by the fast f/2 lens.

Manufacturer Specified Flash Test. The Sony RX1's built-in flash is rated with a Guide Number of 6 meters or 19.7 feet at ISO 100. That works out to about 9.8 feet at f/2 and ISO 100. In the test shot above, the RX1 performs as Sony says it will, producing a bright flash exposure at the rated distance and ISO sensitivity.

Our standard test method for flash range uses a fixed setting of ISO 100, to provide a fair basis of comparison between cameras. We've now also begun shooting a shot using the manufacturer-specified camera settings, at the range the company claims for the camera, to assess the validity of the specific claims.