Sony has been very aggressive with it’s compact camera line ever since they released the very first RX100 a couple years back.
Now on it’s 3rd iteration, the Sony Cybershot RX100 Mark 3 has become a close-to-perfect product after many years of refinement. Check out our full review of the RX100 Mark III below.
For all my product shots before December 2014, I was using a Nikon D3200, and while it’s decent at best, it was also bulky, lacking video auto-focus, and it needed some photo editing to get the best out of one shot. It was also our family’s camera, so I decided I needed my own — one that should be my all around pocketable camera, even for selfies and Instagram photos on the go. So last Christmas, I finally got the Sony RX100 M3.
Design & Construction
The Sony RX100 M3 is small and compact – and it’s one of the main reasons why I bought one. You can barely fit a DSLR inside a bag with your other things, and you can’t even fit the smallest of mirrorless systems into your pocket – but the RX100 M3 fits perfectly. It will bulge on tight jeans but it’s still pocketable, nonetheless.
Sony’s RX100 design crawls all the way to the 3rd iteration, only bringing minor changes.
Metal and glass makes the most out of the construction of this camera, which makes it considerably heavy, even when compared to its predecessor, the RX100 M2. However, you can still operate it with one hand, something you can barely do with other bigger cameras. Be careful of dropping it or sliding it across sharp material though, as it is quite prone to scratches at some parts.
Also, aside from the metal bringing a premium feel, we think that the color black adds a lot more seriousness into the RX100 M3’s design.
In terms of design & construction, the RX100 M3 brings a couple of changes compared to previous iterations: the LCD screen now goes all the way for selfies, there’s an EVF that can pop up on the top left side and the flash has moved to the center. The hotshoe from the RX100 M2 however, is no longer here. Since that’s gone and there is still no audio jack, say goodbye to microphone support.
The rest remains the same, from NFC & WiFi support, the modes, the zoom, the buttons on the back and the control ring around the new lens.
Usage
A lot of things about the RX100 M3 are easy to learn really, since the “C” button will explain anything you wish to know by a press when you’re going through menus or settings. It’ll take you 2-3 days to master the camera if you’re really into photography, and from there, you can configure the functions and settings of the modes you’re going to use eventually.
Shooting Modes:
- Superior Auto – just like auto, but takes more shots and tries to reduce noise & blur
- Intelligent Auto – the auto mode we all know
- Scene Selection – a guide mode for beginners
- Panorama
- Movie – found this almost useless as you can start shooting video even from automatic with the movie button at back
- Memory Recall
- Manual Exposure
- Shutter Priority
- Aperture Priority
- Program Auto
There’s a control ring around the lens, and there’s another one on the back for scrolling, acting as arrow keys, and as another ring for control. By default in Manual mode, as you’d expect, they’re for aperture and shutter speed respectively. For other modes, you can change them according to your own preference. As for mine, I switch between exposure, zoom and focus from time to time.
The controls take some time getting used to, since the camera is really hard to handle because of its size (there’s no grip for the rest of your fingers, only your thumb). Because of how difficult it is to handle the RX100 M3, we think the added control ring and the other positionings of buttons do really well.
The EVF also works great if you need it. Pull down the button on the left side and the EVF pops out (powering on the camera if it’s off). You will have to pull it out after, and it’s astonishing in terms of quality. However, I don’t really use it that much since the LCD works well even in sunlight. Also, if you’ve read older reviews of the Sony RX100 M3, you may have also heard about the minor issue of some people including myself that the camera shuts down if you close the EVF. I wish Sony would solve this in a firmware update, or at least allow us to configure it – because as of today, there’s still no way around it.
Apart from the EVF, another thing that amazes people is that the Sony RX100 M3 supports WiFi & instant pairing through NFC. You will be able to send your photos immediately to your phone, or use your phone as a remote through the PlayMemories app. With this, a monopad and the tilting LCD, I already have the perfect selfie weapon.
Photo & Video Quality
I’m not so sure about everyone else, but people usually underestimate this camera the moment they see it – probably because point-and-shoot cameras aren’t a thing anymore compared to DSLRs and mirrorless systems.
But.
The Sony RX100 M3 goes into DSLR territory in terms of photo quality with it’s 1-inch 20.1 Exmor R megapixel sensor, the new 24-70mm F1.8-2.8 Zeiss lens and its Bionz X processor.
