Sony puts one-inch sensor in premium bridge camera

Sony RX10
Sony's new bridge camera features the same sensor as the RX100 II, which is pretty damn good.

A new "premium" bridge camera, the Sony RX10, has been announced, featuring a one-inch, 20.2 million-pixel back illuminated Exmor R CMOS sensor.

The sensor has already proven its mettle in the Sony RX100 II premium compact cameras. It is approximately four times as large as standard compact camera sensors (found in most bridge cameras).

Along with the one-inch sensor, the premium camera includes a Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T 24-200mm (35mm equivalent) lens with an f/2.8 constant aperture. It also features a 3cm close focusing distance, ideal for macro photography.

Speedy

A new processing engine, the Bionz X processor, also found in the top of the range A7 full frame compact system camera joins the sensor. Sony claims that the new processor delivers a 3x improvement in processing speeds compared with previous Bionz processors and helps boost image quality.

Autofocusing is powered by a new Direct Drive SSM mechanism which is designed to work in conjunction with the sensor and processor for speedy focusing speeds. Lock-on AF has been designed to accurately track moving subjects, while newly developed Eye AF is designed with portraits in mind.

Movie recording is available in full HD and can be recorded at selectable 50p (AVCHD) or cinematic 25p frame rates with full control over P/A/S/M exposure modes. Clean HDMI output is also available.

On the back of a camera is a tilting 3 inch, 1.2 million dot LCD screen, which is joined by a 0.39 inch electronic "TruFinder" viewfinder with 1.3 million dots.

Inbuilt Wi-Fi and NFC technology is included for remote controlling and instant sharing.

The Sony RX10 price will be £999 / approx US $1,600 / approx AU $1,680 and will be available from mid-November.

TOPICS
Amy Davies

Amy has been writing about cameras, photography and associated tech since 2009. Amy was once part of the photography testing team for Future Publishing working across TechRadar, Digital Camera, PhotoPlus, N Photo and Photography Week. For her photography, she has won awards and has been exhibited. She often partakes in unusual projects - including one intense year where she used a different camera every single day. Amy is currently the Features Editor at Amateur Photographer magazine, and in her increasingly little spare time works across a number of high-profile publications including Wired, Stuff, Digital Camera World, Expert Reviews, and just a little off-tangent, PetsRadar. 

Latest in Bridge Cameras
Nikon Coolpix P1100 superzoom camera in the hand
Should you buy Nikon’s new Coolpix P1100? Here are 5 things you need to know about the updated 125x superzoom
Panasonic Lumix FZ80D/FZ82D
Panasonic Lumix FZ80D / FZ82D review: the bridge camera is back, but should it be?
Sony RX10 IV
'Very disappointing': Sony fans react to rumors that Cyber-shot RX10 IV bridge camera is ceasing production – and no successor is coming
Panasonic Lumix FZ80D bridge camera reflected on a gray background
Bridge cameras are back – Panasonic revives travel-friendly superzooms with surprise successor to our favorite cheap Lumix
Nikon P950
Nikon P950 review
Nikon P950
Nikon P950 is a 4K upgrade to its 83x zoom bridge camera
Latest in News
The Google Gemini logo against a black background.
I tried Gemini's new AI image generation tool - here are 5 ways to get the best art from Google's upcoming Flash 2.0 built-in image upgrade
An image of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra from a hands-on event
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra could resurrect an intriguing camera feature
Eurocom Raptor X18
At $15,000, this massive 256GB RAM laptop makes Apple's MacBook Pro look affordable, tiny and very, very slow
Cristin Milioti in Black Mirror season 7
Netflix launches trailer for Black Mirror season 7, giving us a look at its first-ever sequel episode and an unexpected returning character
A graphic of the PC Gaming Show
Get ready for a bounty of PC games on June 8, as the PC Gaming show is back
A close up of The Daily podcast from Pocket Casts' web page
‘Podcasting shouldn’t be locked behind walled gardens’: Pocket Casts slams Spotify and makes its web player free to all