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Sony DSC-RX100 Mk III
Pos
h Pocket Camera (2014-)
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Sony RX100 Mark III

Sony DSC-RX100 Mark III (20 MP midsize "one inch" sensor, 8.8-25.7mm f/1.8-2.8 lens (24-70mm eq.), 10.2 oz./290 g, about $648). enlarge. I got mine at B&H; I'd also get it at Adorama or at Amazon.

This all-content, junk-free website's biggest source of support is when you use those or any of these links to approved sources when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Sony doesn't seal its boxes, so never buy at retail or any source not on my personally approved list since you'll have no way of knowing if you're missing accessories, getting a defective, store demo, damaged, returned or used product. My approved sources ship from remote automated warehouses where no salespeople or lookie-loos can ever get their greasy fingers on your new Sony or drop it before you do. Buy only from the approved sources I use myself for the best prices, service, return policies and selection. Thanks for helping me help you! Ken.

 

Sony RX100 Mark III

Top, Sony DSC-RX100 Mark III.

 

Sony RX100 Mark III

Back, Sony DSC-RX100 Mark III. The LCD flips. bigger.

 

June 2015    Sony Reviews   Zeiss   Nikon   Canon   Fuji   LEICA   All Reviews

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Noni and Pops at Five Crowns.

Noni and Pops at Five Crowns, 17 June 2015. (Sony RX100 Mk III at 17.7mm at f/2.8 at 1/50 at Auto ISO 10,000, no flash, Perfectly Clear V2.) bigger or full-resolution file.

 

Five Crowns

Five Crowns. (Sony RX100 Mk III at 8.8mm at f/1.8 at 1/2 hand-held at Auto ISO 400, no flash, Perfectly Clear V2.) bigger or camera-original © file.

 

Red Key outside Five Crowns signat night

Five Crowns sign at night. (Sony RX100 Mk III at 19.3mm at f/2.8 at 1/60 hand-held at Auto ISO 3,200, no flash, Perfectly Clear V2.) bigger or camera-original © file.

 

Red Key outside Five Crowns at night

Red Key outside Five Crowns. (Sony RX100 Mk III at 25.6mm at f/2.8 at 1/80 hand-held at Auto ISO 4,000, no flash, Perfectly Clear V2.) bigger or camera-original © file.

 

Fine home interior

Five Crowns VIP room, 20 June 2015. (Sony RX100 Mk III at 8.8mm at f/3.2 at 1/80 at Auto ISO 125, flash ON, Perfectly Clear V2.) bigger or full-resolution © file.

 

Pool with power lines

Pool with power lines, 20 June 2015. (Sony RX100 Mk III at 12.2mm at f/4 at 1/80 at Auto ISO 125, Perfectly Clear V2.) bigger or Camera-original © file.

 

Introduction         top

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Adorama Pays Top Dollar for Used Gear

B&H Photo - Video - Pro Audio

Crutchfield

I buy only from these approved sources. I can't vouch for ads below.

The Sony RX-100 Mk III is a very popular pocket camera with serious photographers because it has a larger sensor than most other point & shoot cameras, so it usually performs better, especially in low light.

Its "one inch sensor" only measures 8.8 x 13.2mm (0.35" x 0.52" or a 3x crop factor), which is much smaller than a DSLR sensor, but bigger than a cell phone camera's sensor. Therefore its technical image quality falls somewhere in between the two.

It's very similar to Canon's PowerShot cameras, with a lens that has to crank out and then back in after every photo. These complex and delicate lenses eventually break or get jammed. The lens has a concave front element.

Once the lens motors into position, it is very quiet.

It is made in China and charges via USB.

 

Specifications         top

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Lens

8.8 ~ 25.7mm (24-70mm equiv.).

f/1.8~2.8.

Only stops down to f/11 because diffraction would make the images very blurry on its tiny sensor.

Close focus: 2" (5 cm) at wide; 12" (30 cm) at tele.

 

Image Sensor

20MP.

8.8 x 13.2mm, deceptively marketed as "one inch," which it is not.

5,472 x 3,648 pixels native.

ISO 125-12,800. (as low as ISO 80 in a trick mode).

 

Audio Sensor

Stereo microphone built in.

 

Formats

Still: JPG and/or raw.

Video: AVCHD, MP4, XAVC S.

Audio: AAC LC, AC3, Dolby Digital 2 channel, Linear Stereo PCM.

 

Shutter

1/2,000 to 30 seconds plus Bulb in Shutter Priority.

Only to 1 second in Program mode.

Only to 4 seconds in Auto mode.

Only to 8 seconds in Aperture priority mode.

 

Storage

SD, SDHC and SDXC.

Various Sony Memory Stick formats.

 

LCD

Sony RX100 Mk III folding screen

Sony RX100 Mk III folding screen. bigger.

3".

Anti-reflection coated.

1,288,800 dots.

 

Connection

Micro USB 2.0.

Micro D HDMI.

 

WiFi

802.11b/g/n.

 

Environment

Operating: 0 ~ 40º C (32 ~ 104º F).

Storage: -20 ~ +60º C (-4 ~ +140º F).

 

Power

NP-BX1 Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery.

3.6 V, 1240 mAh.

Charges via USB. If you have no USB source, Sony includes a model AC-UB10 AC -> USB adapter.

 

Quality

Sony RX100 Mk III folding screen

Bottom, Sony DCS-RX100M3 bigger.

Made in China.

 

Size

4.0 x 2.3 x 1.6 inches WHD.

101.6 x 58.1 x 41.0 millimeters WHD.

 

Weight

10.2 oz. (290g) with battery and card.

 

Price

$648, June 2018.

$800, June 2014.

Sony RX100 Mk III box

Sony RX100 Mk III box. bigger.

 

Performance         top

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Image Quality

Color and Tone

Colors and exposure look great, best I've seen so far from Sony.

Auto White Balance also works great in every condition I tried it.

 

High ISOs

Its programming opts for extremely high ISOs in dim light.

At ISO 8,000 and above the images start looking like paint-by-number paintings because noise reduction does that to try to fight the noise from its small sensor. As a plus to this, this also removes wrinkles from peoples' faces whether you want it to or not.

 

Lens

The lens is super-sharp; no news here. Actually, it's sharper than most of Sony's DSLR lenses, which are pretty bad!

It has few sunstars, unless stopped all the way down to f/11:

Sony RX100 Mk III Sunstars

Sunstars at f/11, Sony RX100 Mk III. bigger.

 

Autofocus

Autofocus is fast and sure, even with the annoying AF illuminator turned off.

Face recognition works while shooting; it will find faces and focus on them.

 

Finder

The finder pops-up from the body.

It works very well, but unfortunately a design flaw ensures that the finder will usually require refocusing after you've carried it. It usually gets pushed-in a little and demands you fiddle with its focus lever, unless you go through a two-stage process to pop it back in after shooting, and then go through another two-stage process to unfold it every time you want to take a picture.

You can set the menus through the finder, but you have to set other things like ISO and color settings by looking only at the rear LCD.

 

LCD

The screen can tilt up or down, but cannot swing left or right.

The LCD is anti-reflection coated.

 

Ergonomics

The lens only motors to fixed zoom settings; you cannot adjust it to every possible focal length, only the several provided by Sony.

There are no real strap lugs, just little holes for a tiny threaded wrist strap.

You cannot wear it around your neck unless you rig up something on your own. I carry mine in a big pocket.

It has the same graphics and general operation for the menus and settings as in Sony's larger still cameras.

 

Flash

Ryan draws at HOTG

Ryan Draws, 20 June 2015. (Sony RX100 Mk III at 12.2mm at f/4 at 1/80 at Auto ISO 125, flash ON, Perfectly Clear V2.) bigger or Camera-original © file.

There is a tiny pop-up flash. Slide a lever on the top and it pops right up, and push it back in to turn it off. Good.

It works at up to 1/800 sync speed to try to give the little flash a fighting chance in daylight.

Recycling is slow outdoors where it has to fire at full power each time; you'll have to wait and plan your shots carefully.

It does balance very well for fill-flash, presuming you're close enough for it to have enough power as shown above.

 

Power

The battery arrived mostly charged.

The power button has a tiny, dim amber LED to indicate charging, which turns off when done. It's green when turned on.

There is a battery icon, but I never found a percentage indicator.

 

Data

Cards are not formatted properly. They are titled as "NO NAME" when formatted, not as SONY_RX or similar.

New cards require you to let the camera diddle around creating a "picture registry" in the card.

Formatting cards takes a long time.

Vertical shots are not really rotated; they are merely flagged hoping that your software will recognize the flag and rotate it.

The automatically-selected ISO in Auto ISO reads perfectly in Phase One Media Pro.

 

Usage         top

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Lens Ring

Turn the ring at the base of the lens to change the exposure settings in Program mode.

It does other things in other modes; don't forget it's there.

 

Displays

Press the rear DISP button while either the rear LCD or the finder are active to select among their various display options.

The LCD and finder may be set to different kinds of displays, and each rememebers your setting as you use the other.

 

Playback

Just hold the PLAY button for a few seconds and it will wake directly in play mode without needing to erect the lens.

 

Recommendations         top

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The Sony RX100 Mk III is a great pocket camera, especially if your iPhone won't do.

Personally, I haven't used a dedicated pocket camera like this ever since I got an iPod Touch with a camera back around 2010. With my iPhone 6 Plus today, I either carry a real camera, or use my always-ready iPhone, and have no need for something in-between like this RX100.

The RX 100 Mk III lens is sharp, but has only a very limited zoom range. It never seems to be able to zoom long enough, as other pocket cameras can. This is a big negative.

For family travel and people pictures, I prefer my Fuji X100T, which has a much larger (true DSLR) sensor for much higher image quality and works even better in low light, as well as being able to sling around my neck with a regular strap, and without any need to motor a lens in and out for every shot.

My personal biases aside, the RX100 Mk III is a fantastic point-and-shoot camera quickly and easily making great photos in any light, and its larger-than-most point-and-shoots sensor giving sharper, cleaner images than cell phones or most other pocket cameras.

If you think you want one, get one. This is a very popular camera for good reasons.

If you find my work and samples here helpful, my biggest source of support for this free website is when you use these links to get yours at B&H as I did, or at Adorama or at Amazon.

When you use those or any of these links to approved sources when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live, it helps me keep adding to this free website — but I receive nothing for these efforts if you take the chance of buying elsewhere. Sony doesn't seal its boxes so you have no idea if you're actually getting a used product if you risk buying at retail. Never buy at retail.

 

More Information         top

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Sony RX100 Mk III User Manual.

 

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Mr. & Mrs. Ken Rockwell, Ryan and Katie.

 

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June 2018, June 2014