Sony RX100M3 Review: June 2014

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Additional features of Sony RX100M3 digital camera

Touch connection with Wi-Fi and NFC (Near Field Communication)

The NFC technology is based upon radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology which can transfer small amounts of data between two devices that are touching each other or are being held very close, approximately just a few inches. Basically they are establishing radio communication through a short-range and low power wireless link. This makes communication and transfer of data incredibly easy - nothing to set up and adjust to specific devices. This may be exactly how our future will look like: all device communication will be done through just a simple touch of devices, very fast and very easy. This may include all kinds of transactions, payments during shopping and all kinds of data transfers that are required. What a future!
Currently the NFC for Sony RX100M3 is enabled with compatible Android smartphones and tablets. Also the Smart Remote Control feature is enabled where a shutter release can be controlled by a smartphone.
Besides the NFC technology a Wi-Fi connectivity with smartphone is available.

Clean HDMI output for uncompressed video recordings

The HDMI output for uncompressed video means that you can transfer the movie signal to an external monitor/recorder device connected via HDMI terminal and all this an be done in real time. As things normally function when this feature 'HDMI Info. Display' is set to ON, the camera's back screen blacks out and you would be seeing on the external device what you would normally see on the LCD display. But something that is counterintuitive is that when the functionality 'HDMI Info. Display' is set to OFF - the recording is displayed on the back of the camera while the uncompressed recording is output through the HDMI terminal. When turned off the view on the external device gets cleaner. Frame rates include 24p, 60p and 60i.
Please note: HDMI cable is sold separately.

Manually controlable front lens ring

The front lens ring helps a lot when manually adjusting settings and it does on a very easy, effortless way. A very useful characteristic is that the lens moves clock free and in a quiet way, to allow you undisturbed movie shooting. What it basically does is let you manually do various camera settings on various values and this includes all kinds of controls like zooming or apertures. Another cool thing is that it includes a new step-zoom function which allows you to instantly choose commonly used focal lengths.

Cool PlayMemories Camera Apps

For those who want to customize their new Sony digital camera a lot of interesting camera apps can be downloaded and installed and all of them make this camera even more desirable and very fun to use.

Friday, June 6, 2014

Built-in ND Filter, Zebra Pattern And Focus Peaking

The new Sony cyber shot RX100M iii camera has additionally three great features explained below in separate sections:

Built-in 3 EV steps ND (Neutral Density) filter

What does a neutral density filter do?

First of all it can reduce the amount of light going to the image sensor so the exposure time can be increased, without affecting the color of the image. This is the effect that we see professional photographers achieve on their photos with blurry clouds and misty waterfalls. Basically ND filters just slow down the amount of time needed for the sensor to capture the image. This allows motion to be emphasized. Also ND filters enable larger apertures, which can give a shallower depth of field or a sharper photo. Overall they are very useful filters, often forgotten and overlooked although they can give great photo effects and are also one of the easiest filters to use.
Sony cyber shot RX100M iii camera has a 3 EV steps or 3 stop exposure reduction ND filter built-in for easy and fast usage.

This video explains ND filters very good:

Zebra pattern

Zebra patterns in a camera basically warn for overexposed areas and help achieve much better lightening on a photo. The way they function is that when some area gets overexposed zebra pattern or zebra stripes are drawn over that area and thus given you to knowledge that the camera position needs more adjustment. And it is good to know that zebra lines appear only in the viewfinder and not on the camera output or recording. The new Sony RX100M3 camera gives different zebra settings (75% or 100%). This means that the threshold at which stripes show can be adjusted in 5% increments from 70 to 100, and additional 100+ options which show only completely overexposed areas.

An ultra short look at zebra stripes:

Focus peaking

This is also e very useful feature. What it means is that when manually focusing the camera itself highlights objects which are in focus so you can completely achieve the desired focus on images. It simply helps you determine the perfect focus for an image.

Lovely 3 features for producing the best possible photos with this new RX100M3 compact digital camera.

Versatile video shooting with 50Mbps Full HD

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Here are the major points for video recording on Sony DSC-RX100M3:

The recording is done in XAVC S² format which is a new feature implemented
For video compression MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 is used
For audio compression linear PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) is used
The files are stored in MP4 format which is easily sharable across the web
The technology implemented allows minimal compression noise in all kinds of situations, involving scenes with lots of movements
Since there is a big amount of compression done both on video and audio recordings this means that you can record for a quite long time
The maximum recording time is approximately 29 minutes (XAVC and AVCHD formats), 20 minutes (MPEG4 (1440 x 1080))
The full sensor readout and the very fast BIONZ X processor mean considerably higher resolution video compared to other compact cameras, higher quality video due to the bigger amount of data being able to process
The maximum video bit rate is double increased to 50 Mbps compared to 28 Mbps on previous RX100 Sony compact cameras
Full HD (1920x1080) 60p high quality video recording
It can also record in the AVCHD format which is perfect for quality video for HDTV and Blu-ray Disc burning
ND (Neutral Density) filter which can be turned on or off in movie mode
Focus peaking and zebra pattern can also be turned on or off

Important note: for recording in the XAVC S² format an SDXC card is required or the camera will give an error.

I have seen video recordings from this camera and it is almost like you can shoot a descent movie with this camera. Truly AWESOME video quality.

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Multi-angle/tilting 3-inch Xtra Fine LCD display

The LCD screen and its abilities to flip 180 degrees up and 45 degrees on the side is just perfect for catching awesome selfies (and boast with them on Instagram).It is also a pretty slim LCD display - only 3 inches thick which integrates great in the overall compactness of the camera.

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The very flexible rotating screen makes shooting in awkward positions a breeze and with no effort. No more body folding in strange ways to get that perfect shot. You can shoot high for over crowd images while being ale to check on the LCD exactly what you are shooting or you can capture a low height image like your pet and the funny, crazy stuff it does very easily. It truly allows very easy focusing while taking pictures or recording videos.

As LCD displays are well known for poor visibility in bright light conditions, the one thing that makes this LCD stand out from its competition is the WhiteMagic technology that dramatically increases visibility in such conditions. Another thing that this WhiteMagic technology does is reduce power consumption which is something every camera user loves to hear.

No detail has been left out with this Sony cyber shot RX100m3 camera!

Built-in viewfinder with ZEISS T* coating

This is my favorite part of the new Sony rx100m3 digital camera: the built in viewfinder!

Quick explanation of a viewfinder

The viewfinder is an optical view device that helps you see what the camera is seeing when you can't see with the LCD in bright sun. Some of these look through the lens and others don't.

Many of the new cameras come with only an LCD display. Would suggest that you find one that has an optical view finder because the LCD is almost impossible to see in bright sun.

Source: yahoo answers

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In order to get a full understanding of this perfect little tool embedded in this camera just take a look at this video. It's short and a true eye opener:

Now, after checking the BIG, bulky viewfinder in this video, look again at the beautiful, mini pop- out viewfinder on the new Sony camera and you will truly understand how big of an improvement this is. Normally this little block tool is hidden inside of the camera - making it a true pocket camera, but there is a little button to pop it out and you can see it below (the FINDER button):

You can get a better understanding of the electronic viewfinder by watching around 1:28 on the below video:

Basically now you can carry the viewfinder always, without an extra load and bulk to the camera gear. It will make definitely make outdoor shooting in bright light conditions easier on you. It will faithfully display what will appear in your recording so you can adjust everything to get a perfect result. To be equivalent to the T coated lens, the EVF (electronic viewfinder) has Zeiss T* coating which enhances clarity and reduces flare and reflection in the eyepiece optics.

F1.8-2.8 Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* lens (24-70mm)

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The lens that is used in the new Sony RX100M3 digital camera has an equivalent of 24mm at the wide end which is also a lot faster (f/1.8-2.8) but this improvement does come with a price: the long end has been decreased from 100mm (as in previous RX100 series) to 70mm.

Here is an excellent explanation from the experts about the Zeiss T* technology:

The numbers in the video are quite amazing: these type of lenses transfer 95-96% of the light that hits the lens surface thanks to the T coding technology. This means that these kind of lenses give maximum amount of contrast and maximum amount of color saturation. The main goal is to get a picture as close as to what the eye sees, and this technology is doing an awesome job at it. The multi-layered T* coating helps in great reduction of ghost and flare caused by light reflection. So you can see why this technology is vital to good image shooting how it contributes to the stunning image quality that this camera gives you.

Another point is that the optical zoom has been decreased to 24mm-70mm but on the other hand the aperture is faster and goes from 1.8-2.8 (for comparison on previous models these numbers were 28mm-100mm and the aperture was 1.8-4.9).

Quick explanation of aperture in camera

Aperture is the opening of the lens's diaphragm which allows light to pass. This opening has effect on the amount of light that passes through. It is measured if f numbers or so called f stops. And it is inverted: lower f numbers mean more exposure and bigger f numbers mean less exposure. This has effect on the depth of field in images: how sharp or blurry the background is. It is like this: lower f numbers mean blurrier background while higher f numbers mean sharper background. How does aperture affect speed? Low f numbers mean more exposure or more light which further means the shutter can close more quickly since enough light would have passed. And the reverse is true. From here it is clear that greater shutter speed has been gained by lowering the aperture numbers on the new dsc rx100m3 camera.

What does the mm mean on a lens?

The mm stands for focal length, and lenses that have a range of focal lengths can sometimes be referred to as zoom lenses, as you can easily change the zoom by changing the focal length on your camera. Focal length is the distance between the lens and the point of the camera where the image is formed, it can be measured and it is one of the major characteristics on any camera. The focal length defines the wideangle and the telephoto end on cameras. The most simple definition of a wideangle lens is that it has lower focal length while telephoto lens has bigger focal length. Wideangle is mostly used for capturing the entire scene or landscape photos and the telephoto allows to zoom in on a far away object.

Conclusion

The new lens on Sony DSC-RX100M III is faster and wider than the previous RX100 digital cameras but this comes with a cost on the telephoto power. It has super fast aperture when zoomed all the way out. In combination with the larger than usual image sensor this camera provides better low light performance (since the fast lens allows more light to hit the sensor) and shallower depth-of-field at the telephoto end. To defend the 24-70mm reach it is suffice to say that this zoom range has been standard for many years in full frame camera, so it is not much of a surprise or something unusual. Overall it's an impressive lens that will give you many high quality images and videos.

Have you ever wondered what makes a wideangle a wideangle and a telephoto a telephoto? The answer is focal length. - See more at: http://www.digital-photo-secrets.com/tip/215/what-does-the-mm-mean-on-a-lens/#sthash.DzgE685O.dpuf

Sony RX100M3 BIONZ X processor

The processor that is used in this Sony digital camera is the BIONZ X processor which is ultra fast and adds to speed and accuracy of HD videos. You can see very clearly in this transparent picture the way that the images are being processed on their way in, first passing through the image sensor, then passing to the processor.

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What this processor is particularly good at is faithfully reproducing textures and details in real time, just as they are seen by the naked eye. These are the most important characteristics of this processor:

Great detail reproduction. Images appear amazingly realistic and this technology allows more natural sense of dimension.
Diffraction is greatly reduced. What the diffraction does is cause light points to appear blurred which is particularly true for small aperture settings or large F numbers. This diffraction reducing technology allows clarity of points of light in such cases and allows fine details to be faithfully captured. This in turn allows you to capture landscapes with deep focus and a much greater image clarity.
Area noise is also very much reduced. It internally processes specific areas and applies the most appropriate area noise reduction which results in exceptionally clear images and etremely fine details.

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

20.1 megapixel 1-inch Exmor R BSI-CMOS sensor

The new Sony 1 inch censor is one of the most exciting new features for this camera: a significantly bigger sensor has been integrated within only a slightly increased camera size. So this camera remains very compact while still having a much bigger sensor than its predecessors for capturing images.

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I have found a great video that explains the Exmor-R CMOS sensor:

Here are the main highlights from the video:

CMOS sensor, unlike the CCD sensor allows data to be read very quickly off the sensor, which further allows features like: high resolution movie recording and very quick capture of images
Because the CMOS sensor is very quick a feature called "Sweep Panorama" can be used. This is when the camera takes images in one sweep of the camera with automatic position adjustment, and then digitally stitches the images in one big continuous image. This is perfect for capturing big landscape scenes. You can check the wide stadium image in the video using this technique.
The traditional way of building image sensors is putting the wiring for passing light in front of the sensor, so with small sensors this wiring gets in the way of capturing light. Sony has invented a new way of putting the wiring on the back of the sensor so the transmission of light is no longer blocked. There is a great drawing on the video for you to visually understand this.
Because of the back-end wiring on the sensor, it becomes more sensitive and this means that in low light conditions images can be captured without flash light or the picture noise is very much reduced resulting in very high quality images (very good explanation of picture noise at around 4:35 of the video).

By increasing the size of the sensor all these features only gain in quality so you can see what an improvement has been done here from previous RX100 series of Sony digital cameras.

Monday, June 2, 2014

New Release June 2014: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100M3 Digital Camera!

Introduction

Sony DSC-RX100M III Cyber-shot Digital Still Camera

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Sony has announced their latest camera product: an improved version of the RX100 series and it will be very, very soon at everybody's reach! Although it will be quite a queue to get it. For all those people who love photography and camera this is such exciting news and I can imagine just how much they want to put their hands on this new *toy*. Since this is not possible just yet, here you will find sort of a virtual putting hand on this Sony cyber-shot dsc-rx100 iii digital camera.

How did this start?

Just casually surfing online and looking at various interesting things I came across the new Sony RX100M III camera and it caught my eye instantly. So I decided to explore more about this little technology miracle and here you will find the results of my investigation. I believe that all the important features and specifications have been gathered here and I hope they will seem to you just as exciting as they seem to me. It's not like everyday a new camera type is being released - although that would be pretty cool :).

So, they say one picture is worth a thousand words and in an analogy a video should be worth a thousand pictures. As I know by myself, when researching stuff lately I always check if there is a video available to watch. Nothing can replace a quick video presentation, as for most things you will get immediate understanding - at least for the design and the outer look if searching for a particular product. And that is the most fastest way to do it - we all tend to miss more time for things. So, here is the best descriptive video I have found for Sony dsc-rx100m3, and from this video you can get a really good look at this awesome digital camera:

Sony DSC-RX100M3 Review

For this review I have listed all the major important characteristics which are new or differ from previous DSC-RX100M I or DSC-RX100M II digital cameras. Each specification is explained in more details separately and if you want to see it just click on the line.

The comparison table for Sony dsc rx100m3 Specs

I personally love comparison tables for products, they give a really valuable insight of the product cons and pros without me putting too much effort in finding them. So, here is the inevitable comparison table for Sony Cyber-Shot dsc-rx100m3:

And to save the best for last - there is always the question of price. You certainly wonder how much will this technical gadget cost, is it going to be a little fortune or not? Well, you can see for yourself but I am convinced that every penny will be worth it - if you have the sufficient amount of course :)

Overall this is a stunning digital camera, small enough to fit in the pocket and amazingly good in capturing realistic, very detailed and eye-like images as much as possible. And let me emphasize how small this camera is: definitely smaller than an iPhone. Truly an irresistible professional pocket digital camera.