The RX1R III is an incredible camera, capable of capturing stunning photos. However, for something Sony waited nearly a decade to update and is charging $5,100 for, it also feels like a missed opportunity. First, the RX1R III is nearly $2,000 more expensive than its predecessor. Plus, it’s missing a handful of features the company really should have included for it to hold its own against other high-end compact cameras, including Fujifilm’s X100VI and GFX100RF, as well as the Leica Q3 family. I love the RX1R III, but I wish it was easier to recommend.
The RX1R III offers stunning visual quality, but other parts of the camera, including the rear screen and viewfinder, leave a lot to be desired.
- Incredible image quality
- Fast, accurate autofocus
- Small, compact design
- Expensive
- No in-camera stablization
- Fixed screen
Image quality and autofocus
New to the RX1R III is a 61-megapixel full-frame sensor Sony first introduced alongside the A7R IV back in 2019. It might be an old component, but having so much resolution in a camera I could carry everywhere felt like cheating.
What hasn’t changed is the glass on the RX1R III. The camera still has the same fixed 35mm f/2.0 Zeiss lens that debuted on the original RX1R in 2012. With past models, autofocus was often an issue, but it turns out the Zeiss lens wasn’t to blame. It was the focusing algorithms on the older cameras.
Like the A7R V, the RX1R III comes with Sony’s flagship Bionz XR image processor and a dedicated chip for AI-assisted subject detection. At first, I was skeptical of the RX1R III’s autofocus capabilities since the camera doesn’t come with a joystick to make it easy to set a focus point manually. As it turns out, it doesn’t need one. The autofocus on the RX1R III feels magical, thanks to its subject tracking. The seven different recognition modes offered by the RX1R III cover most of the things I like to shoot — including people, pets and birds — and getting the camera to lock onto a subject was simple. All I had to do was press and hold the new “AF-ON” button. The camera can be configured to prioritize specific subjects, but I found that wasn’t necessary to do; I could delegate focusing entirely to the camera.
All of that brings me back to the RX1R III’s Zeiss glass. I know some people will be disappointed Sony didn’t add a new lens, but I’m a fan of the decision. For me, the character of that lens has always been part of the appeal of the…