We have developed an x‐ray streak camera system with a temporal response of 2 ps (full width at half maximum). The response of the camera was measured using soft x rays in the 30 eV to 1 keV energy range which were emitted from a plasma created by a high‐intensity, subpicosecond laser pulse. A single shot, resolution‐limited, relative timing precision of 0.2 ps was demonstrated for x‐ray emission events.