A few thoughts about the newly announced Sony RX1rIII. And other random stuff.

 

KT on the Eiffel Tower in 1978 scanning the horizon for wine merchants.

I bought a bottle of wine to take to a friend's house so I wouldn't arrive for a happy hour/dinner empty handed. The wine was a Sauvignon Blanc. A Chateau Briot labelled as a "Grand Vin De Bordeaux. Not a very expensive bottle at under $20. In the course of a pleasant Spring evening spent around an outdoor table filled with delicious treats we got around to opening that bottle and sharing a few glasses. While everyone's tastes differ I thought it was a remarkably good wine. Especially for the price. 

A couple weeks later I decided to splurge and buy another bottle to share with B. over a quiet dinner at home. Again, I was impressed by everything about the wine. I took a photograph of the label so I could ask for it again if I couldn't find it out on the shelf at my favorite wine merchant. The shop just at the end of the street. The place I've been buying wines since 1996. 

Several weeks ago I went in to pick up another bottle for yet another dinner with friends but couldn't find it on the shelves. I asked Chip (store manager) about it and he took a few moments to wax on about how that was one of the staff's very favorite, affordable bottles of all time before delivering the bad news. They were out of stock and didn't know when they might have more. I pushed a bit since the store is part of a big Texas chain and Chip got onto his computer to check inventory at other stores. There was one store that apparently didn't move much white wine in their area. They had one case in stock. And it was from 2023 which was a good year for Bordeaux. 

I asked if they could transfer the case to our store and Chip said he'd work on it. Sad to think that getting a favorite wine is now getting as hard to do as getting delivery on a Fuji X100VI or a new Leica M. But this afternoon I got a phone call from the store. The case had arrived. It was set aside with my name on it. I dropped by to pick it up and was happy to see that even on my special order I was given a 30% case discount. The unit price came out to $15 a bottle. A nice price at a time of perilous price increases on products from the E.U. 

Tongue firmly in cheek Chip reminded me not to leave the case of wine in the trunk of my car for a couple of days. Good advice since the current temperature outside is a lovely 98°. The wine is already on the bottom shelf, bottles laying flat, on one of the shelves about five feet under the studio's air conditioning vent. Pretty much a constant temp zone.

If you like white wines that aren't too high in alcohol content you might want to try a bottle. It's delicious and comes in at 12.5% alcohol by volume. Low "octane" by today's California standards where even Chardonnay wines are routinely nearly 15%. By comparison it's almost healthy.

The secret to wine is to always drink enough, never drink too much and always consume it with food and friends. That's why it exists. And for those of you with a religious bent --- wine's in the Bible.

On to the today's camera ramble.

One of my friends, who is a very good photographer, has had the previous model of the new Sony RX1r III   (the RX1rII) for a number of years. I've borrowed the camera from time to time and found it to be a good photo tool for a number of reasons, but hampered by a few drawbacks. The new model seems to have answered the few things that kept me from seriously considering ownership. 

What is the RX1r III? It's a compact, fixed lens camera with some style and panache. It's got a full frame, 61 megapixel, state of the art sensor, and a Carl Zeiss 35mm f2.0 lens  which is perfectly matched to the sensor. Really, the lens is made/designed for this camera specifically.  The camera is smaller and lighter than a Leica Q3. It has Sony's current top line AF systems (PD-AF on sensor) as well as A.I. processors for subject recognition stuff. It's a lovely camera, has an EVF, seems custom made for travel photography and I don't know what else to say about it. 

No one has one in-hand and the announcement earlier this week seemed to have surprised everyone; after all, it's been ten years since its predecessor was launched and it seems a bit odd for Sony to have circled back to this form factor after all these years. But it's right in line with the resurgence of popularity for compact, fixed lens cameras. Fuji, and especially Leica, seem to have shown the way with the X100 line and their Q3 line respectively. If you create a smart, especially well built camera consumers will likely find it and love it. And pay a premium for it...

The prior version of the Sony had the same lens as the new camera and that was always reviewed as being one of the finest implementations of a prime lens, permanently mated to a high resolution camera, in the whole camera market. So, nothing has changed there. 

The EVF is no longer a pop-up and somewhat gimmicky module; it's now a permanent and integrated feature on the new body. One caveat though is that the finder diameter is smaller as is the magnification of the new finder. Also, in a time when Leica Q cameras routinely come with 3.68 MP OLED EVFs the Sony makes do with a 2.36 MP version finder. I think they were trying as hard as they could to keep the total package small which is probably why they also abandoned the tilting rear screen in favor of going back to the fixed screen of the original version of the camera. The rear screen is also 2.36 MP.

In addition to faster and more complex focusing chops and a higher resolution sensor they did vastly improve on what was the biggest bitching item from most users on the previous camera. Those older cameras had horrible, terrible, crappy battery life. The new one is bigger and has about 50% more power. But if you are going to splash out for this camera ( and you probably should if you like the product concept ) you'll want to buy a couple extra batteries as the CIPA rating gets you about 300 shots. And none of those are with flash because there is no flash. Three batteries, with those specs, would just about get me through a day of artsy street shooting. 

Taking a cue from Leica you can also drop more cash at Sony by buying a (not included???) lens hood for around $165 as well as a thumb grip ( I'd want one ) for around $200. 

I'm not going to write about the video specs because you'd have to have some very odd and very specific video use cases for this camera to make any sort of sense as a preferred video camera. And Sony kind of lets you know that by equipping it with a micro-HDMI socket and no mic or headphone jacks. You also only get one card slot. It's an UHS II slot but it's still only one card slot. Not an issue for me but I can already hear the howls of "DEAL-KILLER!!!!!"

Who is this new camera really for? I'd venture to say it will poach some of the market for the Leica Q3 cameras ---- especially for those who have a grudge against the idea of Leica or those who just really hate good, clear menus and user interfaces and want more friction in their camera operations. If the Leica Q cameras didn't exist I'd probably be in the market for one. The price is a bit sobering at a little over $5,000 but you probably won't hear a lot of grief from Leica users who are currently paying something like $6700 for a stock Q3 and $7400 for the (cherished) Q3-43. Hard to play the whiny budget card if you've already shown your cards --- German style. 

It's fun to see the relaunch of this camera line. Sony will probably make good bank from it. And it really does offer more choices at the higher end of the market. A "bargain price" Veblen good? We'll have to ask the "expert" about that. 

Why am I sitting here writing about yet another camera? A camera I probably won't buy. Mostly because it's too damn hot to walk around with a camera in the heat of the day here. The humidity still has a lock on us and now we're getting hit with a cloud of Saharan Dust. No lie!!! Dust all the way from the Sahara. Got asthma? Maybe don't do any long walks outside today or tomorrow. At least this blogging thing keeps my fingers busy. 

Whaddya think? Are you going to rush out and buy one of the new Sony RX1r-iii's? I notice that B&H indicates shipping in July.   Of this year.   (sad we have to be that specific...).

Camera review over. Now going OT again....

Everyone seems to be giving sleep tips this week so I thought I'd jump in and share my closely held secret for getting almost exactly seven serially attached/contiguous hours of sleep every night. First, you should be at your optimum weight. Your preferred BMI. Most breathing issues in sleep are caused by obesity or just plain overweight. More fat = more snoring. Oh....and sleep apnea. If you are 5 foot 8 inches tall and athletic you might want to aim for something between 155-160 pounds. Next, you should get an hour or two a day of vigorous, getting your heart rate up, getting out of breath, exercise every single day. More if you have the time. Swim a couple miles, walk five or six miles. Sure...if you want play vigorous tennis for three hours a day that might work as well. Don't eat stuff in the three hours before your bed time. Put your head down on a nice pillow and don't worry about stuff. Whatever you like to worry about will be there tomorrow. 

Or you can build wild spread sheets, make complex plans, consult voodoo priests and generally worry the process even more. Your choice. Always your choice. 

Just remember......the keyboards......