If true it really looks like Sony engineers could win a Nobel Prize in Miniaturization technology 🙂
A trusted source told me that the RX100m4 with much larger Four Thirds sensor manages to have the same weight of the RX100m3. And the size is just a tiny bit larger. The camera will remain perfectly pocketable.
It’s still unconfirmed if the camera will be announced tomorrow (April 23) or in May (with the new E-mount cam announcement).
I am 100% sure tomorrow at 13.00 London time Sony will announce new cameras! So stay tuned on SAR to get live coverage about the new cameras!
–
To not miss any rumor quickly subscribe our social network:
RSS feed: http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/feed/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sonyalpharumors
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SonyAlphaRumors
GooglePlus: https://plus.google.com/104216500156717934391/posts
If you have some “rumor” to share just send me an anonymous messages here:
at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com or use the contact form you see on the right top of this site.
Reminder (SR = Sonyrumor):
SR1=probably fake rumor
SR2=rumor from unknown sources
SR3=50% chance it is correct
SR4=rumor from known sources
SR5=almost certainly correct!
61 Responses
But I hate 4:3 aspect ratio…
That is great news.
Now the only thing that they should alt least keep ins some fields are the optics
A 24-70mm zoom would be great.
A aperture of F 1.8 a pure dream – but if they manage to stay at 2.0 or even 2.2 it would be astonishing considering the smaller crop factor.
In fact up to 2.4 it would be an improvement considering the larger sensor size.
I am realy looking forward to this new camera:D
Looking forward to hearing more. I’m currently looking to buy an m3 and hope that the new model will either have the same viewfinder along with the larger sensor, or will drive down the price of the m3!
Same here. Was ready to buy today then stumbled upon this. Now have to wait until May.
I love it.
I miss the RX100 II mic input. That sensor combined with broadcast quality video codec and a ECM W1M bluetooth connected lav would make it the perfect discrete documentary / indi blogger camera
I’m wondering if it will be a fixed focal length or some small zoom. For true pocketability with a m43 sensor, it seems like a 17.5mm 2.0 makes a lot of sense.
Would that not be in direct competition to the RX1 and possibly the RX2 if announced?
Full format F2.0 35mm is equivalent nearly to 17.5mm with a crop factor 2.0
17.5/2 with 2x crop factor is 35/4 equivalent. That’s two stops slower in terms of DOF. Not what I’d call direct competition.
and 3x the price not exactly competition either…I’d like a fixed focal length too…poor man’s rx1
I don’t think Sony should be wasting resources on this anyhow, you have tons of competition in this area already, too many half-frame fixed-focal-length compacts…unless it’s priced really competitively, but there’s no real point in that in the current camera market is there.
PLEASE ADD HOT SHOE ON RX100 MK IV
no hot shoe no strobist, waste leaf shutter ability.
i just had a nerdgasm……
me too….
Except most print and frame sizes are closer to 4:3. Only 4×6 prints and few others correspond to 3:2…meaning you chop off the sides anyway…or custom print and frame.
i guess you are right 🙂
Definitely custom frame, or a huge frame with backing paper all around as background. Hard to use is hard to use, those frames are used mostly for family photos, can’t just settle with a hard to use format because of frames.
Panasonic managed a very tiny but fast lens in the LX100 by using slightly less of the 4/3 and going multi aspect and only 12 mp. I’d guess that Sony will go for higher resolution and trade the LX100’s 4K video for a pocketable form factor. I need both a hot shoe and an EVF and hope the m4 delivers.
Sony would be really crazy if they did not include 4K
+1
4k should be mandatory in everything moving forward.
Agree, but it would be much less useful if it overheats after 8 minutes of shooting. Maybe they’ll work some magic to dissipate the heat in a tiny body. That would be quite a feat, even tho they’ve been setting the bar pretty high lately.
Galaxy Note 3 and Note 4 do 4k without overheating. RX series is much larger than any smartphone. The way phones do it is by not using an extreme bitrate, so same can be done for RX100 – limit the bitrate at the level that doesn’t cause overheating.
Or better yet – allow higher bitrates with a warning and have the heatpipe from CPU go down to the tripod mount. This would allow the baseplate as well as a tripod head to act as a heatsink. Considering how little heat mobile CPUs generate, even a baseplate would be plenty.
You’ve gotten your facts mixed up, smartphone 4k is no real 4k, it does line skipping and loses tons of detail, not to mention hard to manipulate colors and curves. You’re pretty much comparing JPG to RAW.
A 13mp sensor in Note 3 has no extra pixels available to be skipped… It’s essentially the same resolution as A7s.
As far as hard to manipulate and overall quality – I did talk about bitrates. Read the entire thing next time….
What i’m talking about is amount of heat generated as a direct dependence on bitrate. What you’re talking about is strictly image quality in small vs large sensor, which isn’t exactly the topic here…
No even 4000×3000 is 12mp, 4k is usually 3840×2160, something’s gotta be removed…anyhow I don’t think it possible that current phones do pixel-for-pixel readout, I mean before writing, where the bit rate you’re talking about comes in. During readout you either fiddle with the bit depth or with how much of the sensor you’re reading to reduce bit rate, there’s no other way for that, and after that through the buffer and processor you choose what bit rate, what codec, what format you want it stored in, that’s another thing, so.
You’ve gotta be aware blackmagic models really do provide much better video compared to other models with the same sensor size, don’t you? It’s in how much data it extracts from the sensor.
3840×2160 is 8.3mp, which is extremely close to a 16:9 ratio on a 4000×3000(12mp) 4:3 sensor and very close to a 3:2 sensor.
Sure, amount of data extracted from the sensor matters alot. Can’t disagree with you there. You also have to keep in mind the available ISO values. A smartphone also begins to turn image into a mush at anything above base ISO, so it’s 4k video capabilities are limited in all conditions. Variable frame rate doesn’t help either. Smartphones are horrible at 4k video(or anything for that matter), but the fact remains that the full sensor readout happens and the CPU does the processing. Neither has a proper heatsink, due to the depth of a device.
Given all that I think it’s possible to design RX100 with a 4k readout. And if heat is truly an issue, route the heatpipe to the tripod mount, so that a baseplate may act as a heatsink as well.
and you have to remember the sensor sizes…larger sensor = more heat produced I’m thinking
Yes, completely agree, but you also have to take a look at RX10, GH4 and A7s at the same time. Neither one of these cameras get warm during high bitrate 4k recording. So in my opinion it is safe to assume that amount of heat generated by a larger sensor is negligible in contrast to the body size.
Makes me wonder why my NEX-7 still overheats outputting mediocre 1080P…
Well, A55 used to overheat in 9 mins when IBIS was turned on, and also overheated after 29 mins without IBIS. It’s down to the heat sink design. Which brings me back to the point of my original reply to route the additional heat sink down to the tripod foot, so that a tripod baseplate may act as a heat sink as well.
hmm ic.. I guess it depends on how they handle the dissipation then. I’m assuming the small size might complicate things tho
Please, stop right there. You can’t compare it like that and no, it’s not the bitrate that makes ir overheat or not, it’s not so simple like that.
Compare like what? To Note 3? To A55? To GH4 and A7s?
Well, why dont you enlighten us. How does it compare?
Its always about design of the cooling system, no matter how you spin it. Be it a mobile CPU or a desktop CPU.
RX100 and RX10 allready do full sensor readout for video and downsample it to 1080p – Maybe I’m wrong , but how will downsampling to 4K put out (that much) more taxing on the processor and produce more heat?
sony would be crazy, but they’re totally capable of shenanigans like that
This could be VERY interesting, if it has a reasonable zoom range (24-70 equivalent is just fine). The original RX100 was groundbreaking. But the subsequent versions were mostly minor changes. The faster and wider lens in the iii being the biggest upgrade. Meanwhile, you finally have competitors catching up with the FZ1000 and the GX7.
If they could do an even larger sensor, still keep practical zoom lens, and keep it compact… it would take the enthusiast compact to a new level.
If it simply has a prime lens, then it might still be a very good camera, but not meaningfully different from various other models out there.
If true it’ll have even less zoom than current model. I still maintain we at least need a variant with intermediate sensor size and usable zoom (5-10x). As it stands the two extremes in sony pocket cameras are too far apart (HX with pointless 30x and RX with nearly useless 2.9x)
That is my fear as well. I’ve been holding out hoping for a 1″ sensor with a 24-100mm equiv. lens (f/3.4 at the long end would be ok for me) for hiking and cycling.
We’ll see tomorrow what the final specs for the mark IV will be, but if it is going to be just a smaller version of the LX100 but without the dedicated buttons and filter thread then I’m afraid it won’t sway me towards Sony.
3x zoom is very very useful, 35-85 already covers 90% of situations IMO, the only better range I could hope for is 21-85 with macro, that’s still not 5x.
Yep, that’s my thought too. The SAL1650, with Equiv of 24-75, stays on my A65 most of the time, and I rarely need longer focal lengths. When I do, it’s usually 150mm+. A 16-50 Equiv would be a bit large i think.
really depends on your use. I’d love the bright 24-70 f2.8, though I’d prefer a 16-50. more of a landscape kind-of guy
Hmmm… my new LX100 might be going back to Amazon…
I hope they manage to make the lens just a tiny bit faster. It’d also be great if they could get the lens to go to 85mm instead of stopping at 70mm. But I’d rather have faster than longer if there’s a choice. Excited to see the video capabilities of this- Slog, 4k, mic and headphone jack?
Hope they put S-Log, HDMI 10bit out, and a stabilised f1.2/f1.4/f1.8 lens on this…
Oh god, it cannot get any slower, or any shorter on the long end.
but is that possible? to have a bigger sensor and keep the same size? it doens’t seem likely.
I think so, there’s still room for better optics, though it would cost much more for both Sony and us users.
Sounds too good to be true..
But I would rather have a fast 28/35-90 mm (35 eq) with a 1 inch sensor compared to a FT sensor and a smaller zoom range / slower lens.
Hmmm, the MK3 is already not really pocketable (baring mom jeans, of course.)
I guess there is always the Canon version with the same sensor and a faster, longer lens…
Don’t get me wrong, if this is true, and the thing fits into my pocket and the lens is as fast as the Canon, I’m buying this thing right away.
It is not physically possible for m3/4 lens to be both fast and pocketable. Also there is nothing revolutionary about fitting m3/4 sensor into RX100 size housing. Just look Panasonic’s GM5, which is about the same size as current RX100 except lens part. Sony maybe able to shave a few mm due to absent of a mount mechanism. But you will end up with a very slow f3.5-5.6 system. Honestly, I think it would be a terrible move for Sony “upgrade” RX100 to m3/4 sensor at this moment. They sample can’t compete with compact camera anymore if RX100 gets any larger than its current size. Also, they will now compete with GM1 and GM5, which are samilar in speed and size but both have interchangeable lens. M3/4’s current sensor is not much better than RX’s in term of CD and DR, so I don’t see why Sony is going to go this route, at least for now.
Concern about lens type and pincushion…. unless this is the curved sensor in action? can’t wait! All it needs now is weather sealing lol!
Distortion is terrible on the older RX100s too, but gets corrected in the camera.
I have no problem if they need to fix the distortion in camera to keep the lens and camera pocketable.
correct me i’m wrong.. but aren’t most sensors 4:3 a-ratio?
I was under impression that only 4/3 and MFT sensors had 4:3 aspect ratio. Always thought that all APSC, FF and compact sensors were 3:2 and video dedicated sensors were 16:9.
AH. 3:2. my bad
I’m on the other end. I’d rather have a 3x 1.8-2.8 lens, than a 4x that is slower
If that’s true, I wonder about the lens specs, is it really possible to match the LX100’s lens with that size?
How can they make the lens longer and faster with a bigger sensor? I would say that the opposite is highly more likely to happen.
1.it could use a new sensor
2.microlens adjustment allows for simplified optics
3.just use more aspherics and stuff
What I want is 1080p60@50mbps and UHD24@100mbps in a simple affordable light camera, I haven’t found anything in a compact design that currently offers that (GH4 is the closest); LX100 & FZ1000 both offer UHD24@100mbps but HD60@28mbps, RX100 & RX10 have HD60@50mbps thanks to XAVC-S but no UHD. Actually the Hero4 black has it but that doesn’t count. I’ve come very close to buying one these cameras many times but held off waiting for those features, hopefully my wait is over.