Sony patent hints at RX compact with even greater pocket power

If they could add all the things that have been rumored, the lens improvement, the EVF, a touch screen, etc. AND make it even smaller (slimmer), they could charge hundreds more and I'll upgrade.

The MkII is already an amazing camera for the size. All those extras in a MkIII would make it just too tempting.

Interesting list, hjulenissen. It just goes to show how people differ in their requirements and preferences.

- I wouldn't have a big requirement for an EVF, but it would be nice if it didn't add to the size when not in use.
- The flash works fine, I think, for all I use it. Nice idea to have it stay back though.
- The tiltable LCD screen is an absolute MUST for me. I use it all the time for getting angles for stills and video.
- NFC isn't of much value to me. WiFi should be on EVERY camera
- Not with you on the continuous zoom. It's one reason people buy the thing. 24mm at the wide end would be a big improvement.
- Touch screen, yes! I tried out the Canon S120 and instantly took to the touch screen.
- Gorilla or small monkey glass on the LCD... either works for me :-)) I don't abuse the camera.
- Your enthusiast firmware features are a great idea. Bracketing is limited as it is.
- Anything that improves the control ring is OK with me.

A patent is not really a product under development. It's simply a patent. That does not mean at all that we will ever see that product.
Furthermore I don't consider this "news". It's simply rather useless, distracting "information"

@ Oli4D - without wanting to sound facetious, you are of course free not to read it...

Owning several digital cameras (DSLR and EVIL), while increasingly shooting MF film for artistic purposes, I find I dislike carrying the digital cameras more and more, for their heft. A good, 'large' sensor compact is appealing to me more and more. Joe Cornish used to complement his Linhof Technika with a compact (maybe he still does). The Sony RX100 series are not much bigger than my trusty Gossen light meter, and for the work I do (mostly reflected light) they might even replace it at some point.

I agree, premiun compacts have their place in my world
(Ricoh GR) Or go Full Frame LIGHT like me, Konica Big Mini, Samsung Slim and Panasonic Super Mini... Can't imagine shooting with FF DSLR and heavy lenses...Having some compact ALWAYS with me!

I've had a smartphone for years now. I upgrade it ever year to two years. But, I also have a Sony RX100ii. Same with friends (various brands of compact), who are in any way interested in photography.

It seems that on paper your logic seems reasonable, but in the real world the high end compact is as popular as ever.

The fact that they kept innovating up to this point, comparing with the competition, I say they did pretty darn well.

I hardly see competitor's newer innovation up to this point. (compact wise, even premium compact one)

Why do we even have to have a clear roadmap nor vision while at the moment their real roadmap and vision is to keep innovating and deliver them?

I don't see anything in these designs that 'kicks ass', the Canon G1X Mk II and rumored Coolpix P8000 have lenses with slightly better spec (24-120mm equiv focal length, f/1.8-3.0 for the Nikon while the equivalent apertures of the Canon for 1 inch sensor would be f/1.3-f/2.6 ).

What may be new is the dual focus design, but it remains to be seen how good the IQ is for those close focus shots. Close focus IQ isn't the strongest point of RX100.

@Just a Photographer. Strange comment. If it wasn't for the fact that Sony are innovating and doing well, they would be out of business? Here's your Business Degree, now be off with ya! lol

(Yep, we see your anti-Sony mouthing after ever Sony article).

There is a long, possibly infinite, gap between a product and a patent. Do not forget companies can also patent designs to make sure it is never produced. The current patent system probably stifles innovation as much as it creates it. If you can beat your competitor to a patent on new technology you can lock it out and keep producing your old design.

@Greynerd, there is a lot of truth in that. Ideally, the patent system should protect the smaller innovator from the larger one pinching their ideas and making big bucks from them. In practice, it seems to have the disadvantages you mentioned.

@DaveE1

As for your information Sony stock is rated JUNK at Wallstreet. Their Imaging division is loosing hundreds of millions of dollars every year, for years already.

The innovation does NOT come from Sony imaging, but from their components division. Thats a very diffrent Sony then Sony Imaging.

Sony Components is an OEM manufacturer delivering those patents to all companies that want to use their technology. They sell it out and receive money for letting them use their technology. Hence the reason why so many camera manufacturers are using Sony sensors.

For so far your knowledge of large companies is NULL.

A company is run by investors, wanting to make money out of their investment, not by camera enthousiasts like you!

If Sony Imaging keeps performing like they do today, there will be no more Sony camera's in 5 years time. Mark my words! Still there will be many companies using Sony sensors and technology developed by their component division.

@Just a Photographer, copying and pasting what you find online that suits your bias is hardly an informed opinion.

When I said "strange comment" after your first input, it wasn't a request ;-)

@just another photographer

If Canon and Nikon keep sleeping like the 5 years ago there is no Canon and Nikon anymore in 5 years.

And who cares for a vision and a roadmap on a compact non interchangeable lens camera? You buy it once if it's good and it will deliver the same quality of pictures until it's dead.

Don't mix your anti Sony bias up so much with Canikon marketing tralala...

You don't need to work for someone to sign a NDA. If they got presented preproduction samples or have gotten review samples they might have signed a NDA.

Its called product placement.

Therefore Sony fully invests on marketing.
Sometimes news is bought with money.

@Just a Photographer... Product Placement? Really? It's a report on a patent application!

Those who are more into cameras and photography than yourself find details on upcoming technology quite interesting.

Your "name" sounds a tad desperate to be taken seriously when you spout your anti-Sony comments after each and every Sony related article.

@Just a Photographer (yeah right),

I have recently begun to carry a Sony camera with me when shooting other gear or on trips. You'll also have to call me a Phase One fanatic, and Nikon fanatic, and a Canon, Fuji and Hasselblad fanatic. Oh, and I will be getting my hands on the new Pentax 645Z when it comes out. Add that one too.

What I don't do... and this makes most of us different to you... is stalk forums for articles related to one brand and scream "junk" whenever anyone comments favorably about the technology.

There is lots more to life than an APS-C sensor, a decent product, far short of a holy grail. If you can only say BIG, APS-C does not qualify. The point is, there is a relation between ISO and aperture. Many small sensor cameras take decent pictures when you have sufficient light to stay away from ISO settings beyond 400. The situation is generously improved when you have a bright lens. If you have a sensor with a two-stop disadvantage and an aperture with a two-stop advantage, it is a zero sum game. At the moment virtually all of the mid-size sensors (4/3 and APS-C) do as well at 3200 ISO as most 1:1.7 sensors do at ISO 400. That is a three stop advantage. Most mid-level DSLR's have a mediocre zoom with an aperture of f3.5 which is a two-stop disadvantage compared to f1.8, a bad combination that yields a paltry one-stop advantage, so heck yeah, an f1.8 aperture lens in front of a precisely manufactured 1" sensor that holds back a bit on the megapixels would make a very close game.

Better ask yourself the question.
How relevant are compact camera's?

This market is as good as dead and has been taken over by smart phones.

Dead - you have to be kidding. Having both a smartphone and a quality compact, I can assure you this market is far from dead. It may well be dead at the bottom end, but images from the Sony RX100 when used in 'normal' parameters easily compare with most dslr's.

For a dead format, there are a lot of premium compact cameras being sold. The premium compact market is actually growing.

A market segment that is still larger than the interchangeable lens camera market can hardly be called 'dead'. Smartphones have killed the simple low-end P&S models with short zooms, but the other compact categories are doing fine so far.

forpetessake, you're simply ignorant.

In terms of light gathering, f-stops do NOT change. They are ratios. f1.8 is f1.8. f2.8 is f2.8. Period.

Equivalence only rears its head in terms of DOF and FL.

I had no idea that a certain f-stop is not certain…...

To Forpetessake. Do not be so warrior. You are wrong completely. Try to learn first, then post, try not look funny.

Sony should be very happy that there are so many dimwitted people even among those reading this site.

hi forpetessake,

They are correct about your comments. But you are correct about yourself.

@Tapper123

In terms of total amount of light on the sensor for equivalent pictures, you need to scale the aperture.

My primary interest as a photographer is the images, not some parameter crusade. The truth is that my RX100M2@ 10mm f/1.8 compares most sensibly to my Canon 7D@18mm f/2.8.

-h

I would not. It appears we are at an impasse..

Fisticuffs at dawn, then?

Surely, Lee Jay, 18-200 would be better, no? You are just too easily pleased for your own good. :-)

"24-85mm @ 1.8-2.4f would be great!"

Exactly. I'd even accept a slower zoom at the long end. Just give us 24mm, Sony!

And preferably:

- full sensor readout in video as with the RX10
- (probably even 4K video)
- built-in GPS

xavc-s and timelapse, just a remembrance for the M4 next year.

Nah, 21-465 @ 1.8-2.7 and we can start to talk :)

Slacks, huh. I don't think I've owned a pair of slacks in at least 25 years.

If it doesn't fit in a jeans pocket, it's not pocketable.

Whose jeans? Let's narrow down this definition. My wife can't fit an iphone in her jeans pocket.

That is a travesty of epic proportions.

Having any phone and a camera in the same pants pocket sounds like a bad idea to me. That being said, the RX100 II fits my regular fit 32/32 jeans pockets fine.

Slacks! Would you also like to wear a skivvy, sip lattes, wear a beret, use an iPhone and grow a scruffy beard too?

tkbslc, those are aging hipsters... Microsoft hasn't been cool for many decades. lol

Something to consider: the RX100/RX100II uncorrected RAW files have a diagonal field of view similar to 25mm on full-frame, but after correcting for distortion diagonal field of view is roughly equivalent to 28mm.