We were all caught off guard today when Sony announced the third generation RX10 III and two new FE lenses, the 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 and the 50mm f/1.8.
The Sony RX10 III is the latest addition to the RX Cyber-shot line-up. Much of the specifications remain unchanged from the previous RX10 II model with one very large exception: the newly designed Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 24-600mm f/2.4-4 zoom with 25x optical magnification.
The new zoom covers a wide range of shooting conditions, from wide angle scenery to ultra-telephoto images of sports or wildlife. Thanks to its relatively fast aperture range of 2.4-4, not only can you achieve a nice bokeh even at the longer focal lengths but you can also work more easily in challenging light conditions. It features Zeiss T* Coating that minimises flare and ghosting and a nine blade aperture unit that produces near-perfect circles in the out-of-focus areas between f/2.4 and f/11. What’s more, it employs Optical SteadyShot that delivers up to 4.5 stops of image stabilization even at 600mm.
Some smaller upgrades worth mentioning are the triple lens rings for focus, zoom and aperture found on the side of the lens, the updated handgrip for better grip security at the longer focal lengths, and a new Focus Hold button that allows focus distance to be locked. There is also an additional Custom button on top.
Everything else remains the same as the RX10 II, from the 1-inch 20MP sensor with DRAM chip and Bionz X processor, 4K recording with full pixel readout and no pixel binning, S-Gamut/S-Log2, and super slow motion at up to 1000fps.
The camera will be available in Europe from April 2016 for approximately €1600 and May in the US for around $1,500. You can pre-order the camera at B&H Photo.
To find out more about the two new Sony FE lenses, click here!