p.10 #2 · Official: Sony RX1R III Digital Camera announced!
architekt wrote:
I decided to purchase the Sony RX1R III as a way of resolving a long-standing sense of missed opportunity. When the RX1R II was released, I was captivated by its design and image quality, but at the time I wasn’t in a position to afford it. Over the years, that camera became emblematic of a personal moment, a combination of aspiration, creative desire, and financial constraint. I’ve often looked back on that decision with some regret, not just because of the gear itself, but because of what it represented: a path not taken in both artistic exploration and personal reward.
Now, with the release of the RX1R III, I see an opportunity to honor that earlier version of myself. Especially I recently got a pretty good new job offer. Buying the RX1R III isn’t just about specs or performance; it’s about reconnecting with that impulse, fulfilling a deferred intention, and reclaiming a bit of lost time. ...Show more →
Well said. I had missed out buying the RX1R and the RX1R2 due to some reason or the other and have yearned for an updated version,
And 3 months ago an alternative was announced - the Fujifilm GFX100RF. I purchased it right away or at least a month after it was released due to the tariff uncertainty. It is everything I imagined the RX1RIII would be.
I had tried to buy the Fujifilm X100VI previously and it was always out of stock.
And now, the RX1RIII has actually been announced. Like everyone I am quite surprised at the price, and my GFX100RF seems like quite a bargain.
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But for those of you comparing the RX1RIII to the A7CR in features have missed the point of this camera completely. It is a very compact, high performance camera that makes traveling with this level of equipment easy. For someone who travels a lot, there is a value to that.
Especially when your mode of transportation can change depending upon what you plan to do. Space and weight becomes a lot more important. I think this is certainly a lot of camera for how compact it is.
The only question I have is about the weather sealing. I hope it is similar to the GFX100RF.
I think you will enjoy this camera.
p.10 #3 · Official: Sony RX1R III Digital Camera announced!
Maybe sony could take a leaf out of panasonic's book and create a variant of the a7c without the protruding handgrip and a few visual changes to ape the rx1, making it like a panasonic S9 and the resulting body would be a halfway house between the a7c and rx1. Then made slightly taller to accomodate a bigger evf. The a7c line is still considerably smaller than thje leica Q.
p.10 #4 · Official: Sony RX1R III Digital Camera announced!
sebboh wrote:
thanks for the comparisons fred!
looks like they couldn't get the new sensor as close to the back of the camera as it used to be (meaning the lens sticks out more). that is probably why they lost the tiltable lcd and is obviously why they couldn't add IBIS - the a7cr has a full inch of camera body behind the sensor while the rx1rii basically just has a ultra thin heat sink taking up a few millimeters between the lcd and the back of the sensor.
By looking the difference, I think it is due to battery size difference. Looks like Sony Engineers are facing quite a bit of challenge to fit the new battery in by comparing the sensor position mark to back of LCD distance of two. (even more striking comparing to a7CR)
I don't suggest this is a bad camera at all, but not even close to GFX100RF resolution and cropping ability. I suspect this is an old-school type lens, when designers not give up distortion control for resolution because of not commonly accepted distortion correction. Those lenses soft compared modern lenses or significant bigger.
So I wouldn't consider it as an exact GFX100RF competitor, different strengths and weaknesses. For resolution, cropping ability RF wins. For speed, action- AF speed, image rendering (bokeh) and compactness RX1RIII wins. Also I admire GFX100RF's tilt screen and EVF it's more like a serious camera, RX1 is more a point-shoot like. Because of maximised portability (low profile camera and lens thickness) I don't expect stabilisation that ads significant bulk at FF and MF sensor size. Leica Qs are disqualified in my eyes for portability because lens weight and bump (I can build similar size setup from A7CR, but I have to add the Q bodies are different league).
p.10 #7 · Official: Sony RX1R III Digital Camera announced!
zhangyue wrote:
By looking the difference, I think it is due to battery size difference. Looks like Sony Engineers are facing quite a bit of challenge to fit the new battery in by comparing the sensor position mark to back of LCD distance of two. (even more striking comparing to a7CR)
if it was just the battery the sensor would still be just as close to the back of the camera, the lens wouldn't stick out any extra, and just the grip would be bigger. maybe the evf is also to blame, but my guess is the sensor needs more cooling.
p.10 #8 · Official: Sony RX1R III Digital Camera announced!
I slept on it, I still cannot justify the price given that they are resuing old/existing tech throughout the camera. I guess the main advantage of this camera is that it will be available while Fujifilm X100VI, Leica Q3, etc are often sold out and command waiting lists...
My little a7Cii with a small prime or the 24-50/2.8 will just have to be good enough for me. At less than half the price...
p.10 #9 · Official: Sony RX1R III Digital Camera announced!
Tariffs have been mentioned obliquely a few times, but specifics are obviously difficult.
-dpreview wrote on July 1: "Of the [Sony] items we looked at, the increases ranged from 7% to 34%, though the average fell right at 13%." (and would people here feel differently about the rx1riii if it were 13% cheaper?)
-sonyalpharumors published a sony price increase schedule here: https://www.sonyalpharumors.com/sony-us-price-increases-on-all-chinese-manufactured-gear-are-now-official/
I don't know if all of these increases have stuck, but I think many have.
I think most Sony cameras/lenses are made in Thailand and the current tariff schedule is set to be 36%. It seems like the market is pricing in that this will not be where tariffs end up. The unanswerable questions are- what % of the $5098 is due to tariffs? and if the tariffs are reduced dramatically which is not unrealistic, will Sony lower the price of this camera?
A Leica example: the D-Lux-8 went from $1595 to $2790 in May. It was then lowered to $1915 when stated tariffs on China were reduced from 145% to 30%. The D-Lux is made in China whereas most Leica cameras are EU and price increases were "only" 7% to 12%. (The Q3 went from $5995 to $6735.)
p.10 #10 · Official: Sony RX1R III Digital Camera announced!
Totally off topic, but can we please get the text automatically switching when the camera is in vertical orientation via firmware updates for our other Sony bodies?
p.10 #11 · Official: Sony RX1R III Digital Camera announced!
It feels like this camera was put aside during covid and was delayed like three years but still somehow made it to production. Three years ago most here wouldn't have as much to complain about - except for price-complaints
This could've been the ultimate dad-camera if it would've had a tilt screen like the A7RV. The EVF-meh, I rarely use the EVF when shooting my kids and I rarely do any other photography these days. I guess 2.36M dot EVF is good enough but it looks like a very small hole to peek trough - that would be a bigger concern for me. Anyway, personally I'm kind of curious and want to see it in the store and handle it. I'm sure the AF is going to blow the Fuji RF100 and the Leica Q3/43 out of the water. Everything else is up for debate and depends on ones preferences.
p.10 #12 · Official: Sony RX1R III Digital Camera announced!
I had the original RX1 and RX1RII. Always loved the rendering of the lens. The smoothness of the bokeh is unlike any other 35mm lens on the market IMHO.
With this even more expensive new version I just don't get that they ditched the tiltscreen. Version II showed that it was perfectly possible without adding too much to the size.
p.10 #13 · Official: Sony RX1R III Digital Camera announced!
jj1804 wrote:
It feels like this camera was put aside during covid and was delayed like three years but still somehow made it to production. Three years ago most here wouldn't have as much to complain about - except for price-complaints
That's exactly the issue here I think. This should have been released alongside the A7RV for 2022 prices. Now it's late to the party and it has the ugly 2025 pricing on it. The value proposition is gone and all this camera has left is the AI autofocus as the selling feature. Most people looking for a 'boutique' compact camera might as well spend $1000 more and get a Leica Q3 now.
Heck, even the Fuji X100VI at €1799 looks good now in comparison.
p.10 #14 · Official: Sony RX1R III Digital Camera announced!
Lifeinpictures wrote:
But for those of you comparing the RX1RIII to the A7CR in features have missed the point of this camera completely. It is a very compact, high performance camera that makes traveling with this level of equipment easy. For someone who travels a lot, there is a value to that.
Especially when your mode of transportation can change depending upon what you plan to do. Space and weight becomes a lot more important. I think this is certainly a lot of camera for how compact it is.
The only question I have is about the weather sealing. I hope it is similar to the GFX100RF.
I think you will enjoy this camera. ...Show more →
The A7CR and A7CII with a small lens attached are actually very similar in size to the RX1RIII. For most purposes, their size would be equivalent.
p.10 #16 · Official: Sony RX1R III Digital Camera announced!
I’ve had the original RX1, the very first model, with the popup flash and antialiasing filter, since new, and used it a lot. Here’s my list of what needed improving in that original model, from most to least important:
• Battery life. Improved slightly, but the new camera is slightly deeper and 20g heavier than my RX1.
• Weather sealing. Not claimed at sony.com.au.
• Very noisy AF motor. Unknown yet, even Gordon Laing didn’t get to handle one at the briefing there.
• AF performance. Addressed.
• Brightness of the rear screen. Not listed in the specifications at sony.com.au.
• Sensor noise performance. Addressed.
• Filter thread is baulky. Relevant because I have an ND filter for it. Probably not fixed, as the lens appears to be the same.
• Lossy raw compression only. Presumably fixed.
I don’t want a viewfinder for this kind of camera, and never bought the accessory one. I also like the GN 6 pop-up flash on my RX1, which is where the viewfinder is on the later cameras—the leaf shutter syncs at 1/2000 wide open and 1/4000 from f/4 and the tiny flash is useful for fill. The ergonomics are fine for holding out in front of you. An articulated screen would be nice but might be fragile on such a small camera. In short, I think starting with the II Sony strayed from the original concept of this camera.
Compared to my RX1, this new camera adds 4K but deletes 24p, 50i and 50p. I live in a PAL region and don’t need the grief of 23.98p and 29.97p. 25p is the only rea usable frame rate from this camera that is usable on a PAL-native timeline. (Yes, I checked the video specs at sony.com.au.) Just as well I’d only use it for stills, but one expects better for the money being asked.
Another step backwards in my book is the removal of the antialiasing (low pass) filter.
The screw-in cable release on the original won’t take the cable release I’ve had forever and used on at least 3 different film systems. If I ever actually used it I’d want to see an electronic release or at least the screw-in one made standard. Of course it’s a marketing feature, there for looks and soft touch shutter release accessories.
The 24Mpx of the original RX1 is fine for my purposes, and the lack of IBIS reasonable in such a small camera.
It’s subjective, but I think they ruined the appearance by making the top controls and shoe flush. The copper-coloured band around the rear of the lens is also gone. We live in grey times.
On balance, I prefer my original RX1 and if I had to replace it would consider this new model, but not at that price with no weather sealing. (So far, I haven’t encountered the problems with dust or focussing mechanism people describe.)
In case anyone’s interested, I paid A$149 for the genuine Sony lens hood in 2014, bought directly from Sony. The accessories have always been outrageously expensive.
p.10 #17 · Official: Sony RX1R III Digital Camera announced!
DarthMTS47 wrote:
Did anyone notice that the dimensions are a bit deeper? It went from 72mm to 87.5mm. Some of that may be the viewfinder sticking out the back, but it also appears the lens sticks out a bit further from the body than in the RX1R II.
It looks to me that the viewfinder (eye cup) adds, at most, 5mm.
So there's an extra 10.5mm somewhere.
Thanks. It seems more dimension details are provided for the III.
So that's 11mm extra.
Checking BnH, they have 14 photos.
Only one of them shows a rubber eyecup fitted which adds significant depth.
I doubt 11mm, 5mm or more maybe. Plus a bit for the actual viewfinder.
tsdevine wrote:
Maybe to accommodate the larger battery?
They are using different ways to measure.
As melcat posted, RX1-RIII has 2 depth dimensions specified.
The body is a bit thicker but looks like half of that thickness does not make it deeper, ie some of the extra body thickness is on the front where the lens makes the depth. So bigger battery appears to extend the rear of the body only to the same depth as the viewfinder (without the rubber) eye cup.
