Dpreview tested the new Sony RX1rIII and concluded:

• Although camera lenses have some distortion, correction is not necessary. Distortion correction is applied to JPEG files, but not to RAW files.
• However, please note that chromatic aberration correction is applied automatically in Adobe Camera Raw.
• The lenses will be examined in detail in a separate test.
• The RX1R III’s sensor performs as expected: the resolution isn’t as good as the Leica Q3 43 , but it’s better than the RX1R II, which has a 42MP sensor.
• Noise is at the same level as the other two cameras with the same sensor and the previous model when compared at a common output size.
• The JPEG engine does a good job of bringing out fine detail, retaining it at a reasonable level even at high ISOs.
• Colour reproduction is roughly on par with recent Sony cameras, but there is a tendency for there to be slightly less bluish-green and greenish-yellow colours than with the RX1R II.

About the lens:

• The vignetting that was evident at F2.0 has almost completely disappeared at F2.8.
• Sharpness improves slowly and continues to improve up to f/5.6.
• With the correction turned off, there is a certain amount of barrel distortion, but this is only noticeable when shooting a test chart or a wall.
• Even when distortion correction is applied, there is no noticeable loss in sharpness.
• Overall, the high-resolution sensor shows the lens’ limitations at wide open apertures, but stops down the aperture and it performs well enough.
• At full aperture it doesn’t come close to the Leica Q3 43 lens.
• It lacks the critical sharpness required for portrait photography at the distances and apertures used, but for landscape photography the results are as expected.

Sony RX1rIII preorders at BHphoto , Amazon , Adorama , Fotokoch , Fotoerhardt , Calumet , WexUK .

via Asobinet