Sony RX100 III Review

The most exciting series of pocket-friendly cameras on the market just got even more exciting! Sony has taken the design of its incredibly popular Cyber-shot RX100 and RX100 II, and overhauled them to produce -- you guessed it -- the 20-megapixel Sony RX100 III. And boy, is this ever one cool camera, with major updates throughout.

Changes include a brand-new lens that's bright across the zoom range, plus Sony's latest-generation BIONZ X image processor, improved autofocus, a selfie-friendly 180-degree tilting LCD, and a clever pop-up electronic viewfinder.

And the RX100 III makes a much better movie shooter, too, providing better stabilization, full-sensor video capture, zebra striping, and even a clean HDMI output function.

Announced two years ago, the original RX100 remains one of our very favorite cameras. Between that model and the followup RX100 II, Sony won our Pocket Camera of the Year award twice in a row. That gives the Sony RX100 III some mighty big shoes to fill, but it's more than up to the job.

For our money, the new Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T*-branded lens is clearly the big story. It's bright across the zoom range, starting from f/1.8 at wide angle, and remaining at f/2.8 by the telephoto position. The tradeoff is that it's also a little wider, with a 35mm-equivalent range of 24-70mm, and the overall zoom range is curtailed, down from 3.6x in the earlier cameras to 2.9x in the new one.

Sensor resolution is still a high 20.2 megapixels, from the exact same backside-illuminated chip used in the RX100 II. The RX100 II adds a built-in, 3EV neutral density filter, though, making it more likely you'll be able to take advantage of the wide aperture to blur backgrounds or avoid diffraction, even in bright light.

And the even cooler news is that there's now a built-in, pop-up electronic viewfinder, there when you need it and hidden when you don't. Its inclusion makes the Sony RX100 III seem altogether more grown-up. Sure, you can still frame at arm's length if you want, but if you want to a steadier, tripod-like stance with the camera to your eye, now you can do that too. And given its size, it's a very nice viewfinder, as well. But to make room for the viewfinder, this model must forego a flash hot shoe, as did the original RX100.

Inside, the next-generation Sony BIONZ X image processor replaces the earlier BIONZ chips used by the RX100 and RX100 II. That makes the RX100 III a noticeably swifter camera in most areas, and that performance increase is coupled to an improvement in buffer depths.

Another nice touch is an updated LCD articulation mechanism. This can now tilt upwards 180 degrees, or downwards by 45 degrees. That means it's still great for shooting high above your head or low to the ground, but it also makes the camera well-suited to shooting selfies at arm's length.

As we mentioned, Sony has also upgraded the RX100 III's movie capture capabilities in quite a few areas. Most notably, thanks to the new BIONZ X image processor, the new camera now records video by offloading the entire image sensor contents for every frame, and then downsampling to the output resolution. There's also a new XAVC S compression option, with a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels (Full HD) or below, and a bit rate of 50Mbps. And the RX100 III bests its predecessors in the video stabilization department, too, thanks to new SteadyShot Intelligent Active Mode technology.

Like its direct predecessor, the Sony RX100 III also sports built-in Wi-Fi wireless networking connectivity, as well as Near Field Communications tech for fast pairing with Android cameras. The RX100 III also adds support for Sony's PlayMemories Camera Apps, which add functionality to the camera -- sometimes for free, sometimes as a paid extra. Available apps include such things as time-lapse and star trail, and they're installed via Wi-Fi.

As well as its wireless connectivity, the Sony RX100 III also sports both the aforementioned Micro HDMI port for high-def video output, and a USB 2.0 High Speed data port for connection to your computer. Images and movies are stored on a single slot compatible with either Secure Digital or Memory Stick Duo cards, and this is also compatible with SDHC, SDXC and UHS-I SD cards, not to mention PRO Duo, Pro Duo High Speed or PRO HG MS Duo cards.

Power comes courtesy of a rechargeable NP-BX1 lithium-ion battery pack, the same type used by both earlier RX100 cameras, and the battery is charged in-camera via the Multi Terminal Micro USB port. Sony rates battery life as 320 shots using the LCD monitor, or 230 shots with the electronic viewfinder, to CIPA standards. That's a little less than either the RX100 (330 shots) or RX100 II (350 shots), but still pretty good for the class.