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Sony announces another RX100 with faster focusing

Sony’s high-end compact camera gets even more powerful

Sony

Sony is expanding its popular RX100 compact camera line yet again with the new RX100 Mark V, announced today. The Mark V sits at the top of the range, and boasts an even faster autofocus system than its predecessors. It has a 1-inch, stacked Exmor RS CMOS image sensor with 20.1 megapixels of resolution, 24-70mm equivalent f/1.8-2.8 aperture zoom lens, and Sony’s latest Fast Hybrid AF autofocus system. It will be available this month for $1,000.

The new RX100 doesn’t look much different than the ones that preceded it, and it still has a compact size that can fit in a jacket pocket. It has the same pop-up viewfinder and LCD display, as well as the control ring around the lens found on prior cameras.

But what is new is the camera’s performance, and Sony touts its new focus system as being improved over last year’s RX100 Mark IV. The new sensor features on-sensor phase detection, which provides autofocus performance on par with a DSLR, according to Sony. There are 315 phase detection points that cover 65 percent of the image sensor. In addition, the RX100 Mark V can shoot 24 frames per second at full resolution for up to 150 frames thanks to its new processor. Sony says the camera can do this with both JPEG and RAW files. (That’s the same frame rate that most films are shot at.)

In addition to stills, the RX100 Mark V can shoot 4K video with autofocus tracking and full pixel readout. The 4K video is captured at 100Mbps and videographers will have access to pro features such as Picture Profile and S-Log2 / S-Gamut.

The RX100 Mark V certainly isn’t cheap, but if you’re looking for the most powerful camera you can fit in your pocket, it’s hard to beat. We’ll be getting some time with the camera in the very near future and will have more impressions at that time.