Few compact cameras have garnered as much attention as the and . Sony had managed to squeeze a much bigger sensor into some cameras only a little larger than the enthusiast compacts. And, in common with the S-series and they struck a pragmatic balance between zoom range and lens speed. They could boast an F1.8 lens at the wide end of things, but were down to a less impressive F4.9 at the full extent of their zooms.
The RX100 III strikes a balance much more like that of - a more consistently fast lens and wider angle starting point, with the trade-off of less reach at the telephoto end. On the RX100 III, Sony is using a new 24-70mm equivalent F1.8-2.8 lens, which is both faster and wider than what was on its predecessors, though at the expense of telephoto power. When you combine its fast lens and larger-than-average sensor size, the RX100 III promises stronger low light performance and shallower depth-of-field at the telephoto end than most other enthusiast compacts.
While the lens is no doubt impressive, the feature that will probably get the most attention is the RX100 III's pop-up electronic viewfinder which, as far as we know, has never been done before. Not only is it 'cool,' but it gives you the flexibility of having an EVF available at all times, without adding significant bulk to the camera. The inclusion of a viewfinder puts the RX100 III in very select company, even amongst enthusiast compacts.
Key Features:
- 20.1 megapixel 1"-type Exmor R BSI-CMOS sensor
- 24-70mm equiv. F1.8-2.8 Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* lens
- Pop-up SVGA OLED electronic viewfinder with 1.44M dots
- 3-inch tilting WhiteMagic LCD with 1.23M dots
- 1080/60p video with full sensor readout and 50Mbps XAVC S support
- Clean HDMI output
- Zebra pattern and focus peaking
- Customizable front lens ring
- 3-stop neutral density filter
- Wi-Fi with NFC and downloadable apps
- 320 shots per charge (CIPA standard)