Surprise! After seeming to all but abandon the compact camera market (well, the non-vlogging one), Sony managed to outfox the rumour mills and unexpectedly drop a new camera very few people saw coming. Yes, it’s only the damn RX1R III.
This new camera is a full-frame premium compact, a sequel to the RX1R II that came out a full decade ago. It pairs a beefy 61MP sensor with a razor-sharp Zeiss 35mm f2 Sonnar T* lens — and all that resolution allows you to use the Step Crop Modes to effectively also shoot at 50mm and 70mm with enough pixels to spare. Autofocus has been upgraded to a thoroughly modern-feeling 693-point phase detection system.
At £4,199, the RX1R III is certainly few people’s idea of a casual purchase. But Sony isn’t going for the casual market — this is a serious camera for serious shooters, for the kinds of people who wish their A7R V could fit in their pocket and go everywhere with them. It’s a premium compact through and through, and it slots right into that premium compact market, which is becoming increasingly competitive and interesting thanks to recent releases like the Leica Q3 43 and Fujifilm GFX100RF.
That’s why I think Sony has pitched this just right for the RX1R III to become another cult classic. After all, the previous RX1R II was arguably one — it’s been enduringly popular on the second-hand market for years, and the new version retains the spirit of that camera while upgrading lots of the features that had simply become outdated, the most pressing of which was the RX1R II’s severely outclassed autofocus system.
I don’t agree with every change on the RX1R III, though I can understand the thinking. Those pop-up viewfinders on the old Cyber-Shot compacts were an arguably unnecessary moving part, and a key tenet of product design is that you should not have unnecessary moving parts, as they become another thing that can wear down or stop working. So, the RX1R III’s viewfinder is built-in, rangefinder-style. Fair enough. But I really did like those pop-up viewfinders; they’re just so cool, and the cyberpunk-like feeling of activating one never gets old.
Ultimately though, I think Sony has pitched this one right. Ian, resident photography nerd on our YouTube channel who is far more knowledgeable than I am, agrees in his RX1R III review, where he explains that Sony has tried to ‘compromise as little as possible’ with this camera. Rather than stripping back features to get the price down and try to compete with the likes of the Fujifilm X100VI or the forthcoming Ricoh GR IV, Sony is keeping the RX1R III firmly in that premium compact space, making sure it delivers full-frame, professional-level image quality, and pitching it firmly towards people who want that kind of performance from a take-everywhere compact camera.
This possibly won’t be a popular decision. However, that’s the thing about cult classics. They are, by definition, not popular with everyone… but the people who love them, really love them.
About the Author
Jon Stapley is a London-based freelance writer and journalist who covers photography, art and technology. When not writing about cameras, Jon is a keen photographer who captures the world using his Olympus XA2. His creativity extends to works of fiction and other creative writing, all of which can be found on his website www.jonstapley.com
