As digital camera makers continue to struggle with ways to turn the public's attention away from all that is happening with smartphones, Sony has apparently figured if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
The camera maker announced Friday that the Cyber-shot RX100 III, a powerful point-and-shoot that offers a flip-up LCD screen is the perfect handsest for selfie picture taking.
We've seen several digital camera manufacturers begin offering this feature, the most recent being Samsung on its new NX mini, as the hard charging smartphone market continues to erode digital camera market share.
Additional features of the RX100 III include a 1-inch CMOS sensor, comparable to the one found in higher end mirrorless, interchangeable lens cameras from Samsung and Nikon, as well as a built-in 3X zoom lens with a large aperture range of 1.8 to 2.8.
With an $800 price tag Sony is clearly positioning the RX100 III to take on the higher end of the camera market, zeroing in on the aforementioned Samsung and Nikon mirrorless models. Evidence of that is the packing in of their latest Bionz X processor and a ZEISS Vario-Sonnar 8.8-25.7mm (24-69mm, full-frame equivalent) lens with a large f/1.8 (wide)-f2.8 (telephoto) max aperture range. Add an ISO range of 125 to 12,800, which opens the door to a great range of lighting situations, and shutter speeds of between 4 and 1/2,000 seconds. The RX 100 III also captures stills in continuous mode at up to 10 pictures per second and the camera can also record 1080p movies at up to 60 fps and 720p movies at up to 120 fps, which allows you to play the latter back in slow motion.
Like all digital camera manufacturers, Sony is hoping features such as these, along with trying to capitalize on the "selfie" craze, will help stem the tide against shrinking market share numbers in the overall tradtional camera space. A recent Market Research Report claims shipment volume of the major digital camera brands (Nikon, Canon, Sony, etc) slipped by over 30 percent in 2013. According to the report, global digital camera shipment volume was estimated at about 66.7 million units in 2013, down 35.5 percent compared to 2012 and over 50 percent from the 2010 numbers.
It's looking more and more like the best camera is one consumers always have with them, and today that's their smartphone.
