There's obviously an advantage to 200mm vs. 100mm or 70mm when light is abundant, meaning this version can be a much better outdoor camera than the prior versions while being equally pocketable. I have no doubt about it finding a market despite the smaller apertures. And previous RX100 models will remain, of course, for people who prefer those.
But yes, the lens needs to be good wide open and throughout the entire range in order to fulfill users' expectations. If it isn't, it will be rather pointless
the camera stays at its widest aperture up to 100mm. Not too bad.
Where is the information on that? The DPReview graph of aperture and focal length clearly suggests not (but maybe I am reading it wrong).
It's the orange line; aperture clearly rises almost immediately and almost reaches its lowest point at a little over 35mm. At 70mm, the largest reach of the V, the VI is about 4 stops smaller.
Here ya go Mark, directly from the Sony literature on the camera. I didn't even make it up.
Large apertures, great range of expression
Small F-numbers throughout the zoom range make it easy to achieve fast shutter speeds and large amounts of bokeh. Even at a focal length of 100 mm, the maximum aperture stays at F4. This can reduce blurring in shots of fast-moving subjects, and it can also help portrait shots, where the subject will stand out against a high degree of background bokeh."
This is what you said: "... the camera stays at its
widest aperture
up to 100mm." [emphasis is mine]. That is just untrue, as the graph shows. The Sony quote does not contradict me or the graph - the
widest aperture is F2.8 and it ramps up to narrower apertures quite quickly so it is already at (approximately) F3.5+ at 40mm. And F4 at 100mm is not its widest aperture. Am I missing something? the graph is clear, the Sony blurb is consistent with it, and your original statement is not.
That the lens is "only" F4 at 100mm is good, and only F4.5 at 200mm is nice. But the VI lens is far from uni-aperture
