The first Cyber-shot RX100 was a big hit when it was released in 2012 and paved the way towards the creation of the high-end point-and-shoot camera. While the RX100 II was a minor upgrade, the third in Sony's line of RX100 comes packed with even better features, most notable of which is a pop-up OLED EVF that can be tucked inside when not in use.
The RX100 III shares the same sleek and compact design of its predecessors, but unlike the other two, Sony's latest point-and-shoot camera has a retractable OLED viewfinder with ZEISS T coating and a 24-70mm focal length with a wider aperture of F1.8-F2.8. It also runs on Sony's powerful BIONZ X processor and has the same high-resolution 20.1-megapixel image sensor found on the RX100 I model.
"With the new RX100 III model, we've added a brighter, wider aperture lens and an impressive retractable OLED EVF, while also utilizing the latest Sony imaging technologies to boost the camera's processing speed and efficiency," says Patrick Huang, director of Sony's Cyber-shot division. "And we've done this without sacrificing any of the true pocketability of our RX100 line, creating an especially unique compact camera unlike anything else in the market today."
The retractable EVF, which doesn't fail to impress with its 1.44 million dot resolution, is the most requested feature by RX100 fans and users, Sony says. The viewfinder can easily pop in and out of the camera's body and comes with a ZEISS T-coated eyepiece lens to help reduce reflections and provide clearer viewing. The downside, however, is you won't find the hot shoe introduced in the RX100 II and leaves no room for mounting an external flash or microphone.
The lens also saw an improvement, though the lenses on the previous models were already great. This time, the new RX100 has 24-70mm lens with an aperture range of F1.8-F2.8, allowing you to let in more light for sharper subjects with a smooth background blur. The wide aperture also gives you faster shutter speeds, which means you can more easily take crisper pictures of objects in motion.
The camera is also equipped with video-recording capabilities, with the powerful BIONZ X processor allowing it to record two videos at once - one is a high-definition XAVC-S video at 50 Mb/s with support for frame rates of up to 120fp so you can edit the video later and another an MP4 video for sharing over Wi-Fi.
Other notable features of the RX100 III include a selfie-friendly 180-degree tilting LCD display, an image stabilization system that uses 5-axis compensation to reduce the effects of camera shake, Wi-Fi, NFC and compatibility with Sony's PlayMemories range of camera apps.
The Cyber-shot RX100 III will be available in June for a whopping $800. The RX100 II will still continue to retail at $750 while the first RX100 sells for $550.
