Sony launched recently its cyber-shot RX100, featuring a host of powerful features packaged into sleek, compact aluminum body. Sleekly crafted in aluminum for strength, lightness and luxurious looks, the RX100 inherits many advanced imaging features from Sony's Alpha '?' range of A-mount and E-mount camera families. An accomplished partner for travel, portrait or street photography, with impressive picture quality and intuitive, comfortable control options, the RX100 is ideal as a step-up from point-and-shoot cameras. This camera features the world's first 1.0-type Exmor CMOS sensor with a resolution of 20.2 effective megapixels and a bright F1.8 lens making it the perfect fit for a compact, pocket-sized second camera for enthusiasts who want to capture pristine stills with refined defocus effect and Full HD video while they are on the move. Specially developed by Sony, the sensor has an area that is around four times larger than the 1/2.3-type imager in regular point-and-shoot cameras. Capturing far more light than small-sensor cameras, it is the key to beautiful, detail packed images and Full HD movie clips with very low noise. Similar to high-performance D-SLR optics, the lens features seven-bladed circular apertures. This makes it easy to produce pro-style 'defocus' effects, with subjects in sharp focus against a smoothly-blurred background. The lens is also equipped with an advanced aspherical (AA) glass element that contributes to the camera's extremely compact dimensions without sacrificing optical performance or resolution. Complementing the 1.0-type sensor and lens, the Bionz image processor maximizes shooting responses while assuring exceptionally clean, natural images. It also extends image sensitivity, allowing clear handheld images in dim light. Speedy burst shooting at up to 10 frames per second (full-resolution) makes grabbing split-second photo opportunities easy, while the high-speed autofocus locks onto the target in as little as 0.13 seconds. Experienced photo enthusiasts will appreciate the unique Control Ring that surrounds the lens body. Allowing smooth, fingertip adjustment of exposure, zoom, Picture Effect and other functions, it makes versatile D-SLR-style creative control over the image easily accessible. It's easy to fine-tune images with a wide range of manual adjustments, whether shooting stills or Full HD video. Just like a D-SLR camera, there is a choice of auto and manual focus modes for even greater control over the image. The camera offers artistic options to expand shooting possibilities for enthusiasts and novice photographers alike. Fine tuning the look of the image is made easy with a choice of six Creative Styles to suit the scene or the user's personal preference. Picture Effect offers an inspiring choice of 'in camera' effects that can be previewed on the LCD screen, including Toy Camera, Partial Color, Pop Color, HDR Painting, Miniature, Illustration, Watercolor and Other (Note: real-time preview is not available with all Picture Effect settings). Shared with the latest Alpha '?' range of A-mount and E-mount cameras, Auto Portrait Framing makes it simple to capture personality-packed photos of family and friends. The Cyber-shot RX100 does all the hard work, automatically detecting faces and cropping the scene to create tighter, pro-style compositions without sacrificing pixel count. – SG
