Sony‘s cameras are still the best bet when it comes to clarity. The Sony RX10 stood alone in the market when it was released in late 2013 and it used a 1-inch image sensor, much larger than
you’ll find in a typical compact camera, and while its 24-200mm lens didn’t have the most ambitious zoom range, its fixed f/2.8 aperture and extremely crisp optics wowed us when we reviewed it.
The RX10 has already been updated as the RX10 II, but the upgrades were chiefly geared at videographers, adding 4K and slow-motion video support and no efforts were made to increase the zoom range of the lens. But now Sony is changing that with the RX10 III, and is changing it in a big way.
The new camera features a 25x zoom that covers a 24-600mm (full-frame) equivalent range, the same as the Canon G3 X along with a better f/2.4-4 lens. This lets it capture twice the light as the G3 X when both are zoomed all the way in.
This is a big plus, as it allows photographers to shoot images at a lower ISO under similar conditions, and also allows for greater control of depth of field.At the wide end it can focus to 1.2 inches (3cm), capturing images at 1:2.4 life size.
The working distance is extended to 28.4 inches (72cm) when zoomed all the way in, but the magnification increases to nearly 1:2. The lens stabilization system is rated for 4.5 stops of correction.
However the body design is largely unchanged and the camera still features a built-in EVF, multi-interface hot shoe, dedicated EV dial, and a tilting rear display. The stacked 20-megapixel
image sensor is inherited from the RX10 II, and offers the same 4K and slow-motion HD video capture functionality.
With all these unbelievable features the camera is all set to go on sale in May and is priced at $1,500 in the U.S. and $2,000 in Canada.