Sony Rx1R III - a log
that´s not a classical review … i do a log here and share my experiences with the sony rx1r III with you.
all images in higher resolution can be found in my flickr album.
table of content
click on the date to directly jump to the day
06.08.2025
palma, av. jaime III
what i don´t like yet?
as with the other smaller sony bodies there is no automatical switch between mechanical and electronic shutter. the maximum shutter speed with this lense and it´s central shutter is 1/2000s. a shutter speed not enough for palma´s bright sun. and a bit annoying to always have to stop down the lense or rush into the menu to switch. and never leave it on electronical shutter … the rolling shutter is really present and if you have artifical light you might see it later in your image.
palma, av. jaime III
WHAT I DO LIKE!
it´s so small. and super light. compared with my q3 43 it feels like another category of camery. the lense is a bit too massive to put it into a trousers pocket. but a jacket pocket might be really great. and it´s - at least in my - hands much better then the q3 43. although it´s smaller dimensions. sony did a great job here creating such a tiny device with such powerful inside. and still don´t sacrificing ergonomy.
palma, av. jaime III
08.08.2025
palma, calatrava, 2025
calatrava at this hour has a special stillness, as if time itself moves slower here. the cobblestones glow in warm copper, while sudden, razor-sharp beams of light cut through the shadowed facades. these are the moments when the sony rx1r iii’s sensor – the same one found in the leica q3 – truly shines. i deliberately underexposed by two to three stops to keep the golden light from blowing out, then lifted it back in post. the dynamic range handles it effortlessly, without crushing the shadows or making the colors feel unnatural.
palma, calatrava, 2025
the 35mm focal length still feels like a compromise to me. i’m at home in the 20–24mm range for stretching perspective, or at 50 and 75–90mm for compressing the scene. with 35mm you have to get closer, yet you don’t get those dramatic lines of a true wide angle. and yet that’s exactly what forces you to work with the scene, to move, to shift, until the frame feels right.
palma, calatrava, 2025
that evening i found myself sitting down in narrow alleys, sometimes right on the stone pavement. with the little sony, it feels almost like a form of camouflage – less conspicuous than with the big a1 ii, i tell myself. but honestly, a photographer sitting in the middle of the street could be holding a phone and would still be noticed. maybe it’s just the form factor, a sense of lightness that the rx1r iii carries with it. it invites you to shoot more boldly, more directly, closer to people. and even if it’s just a small self-deception – sometimes that’s enough to make you press the shutter at exactly the right moment.
1/250s, f/4, ISO 12.800
a quick note on high iso performance. one of the images here was shot at iso 12,800 (!) and the other at iso 1,000. i know this sensor well from the leica q3, the sl3, and also from my sony a7r v. in color work, i’ve always found its noise handling to be good, but never truly spectacular. this time, though, the iso 12,800 shot is honestly impressive. both files were imported into lightroom, straightened, exposure lifted, and saved as jpg — no noise reduction applied in post. the in-camera “high iso nr” setting was on “standard” (i usually keep it off), and while i haven’t had great experiences with it before, here i think the result is absolutely presentable.
the restaurant that serves the photogenic panna cotta is osteria sant francesc in calatrava, for those who might find themselves in palma. it’s highly recommended, set on a charming square right in front of a beautiful church
1/50, f/2, ISO 1000
both images can be judged and downloaded in original size in my flickr album.
since this camera has become my “always with me” camera — and i also use it for things like family photos — i shoot both raw and jpg, because a lot of images i don’t edit at all. speaking of raw: at the moment, you still need to copy the files and run them through adobe’s dng converter to turn them into dngs. lightroom and capture one can’t import the native raws yet, but i’m sure that will change with one of the next updates.
the new looks (other brands name them film looks or luts) aren’t dramatically different from the old ones. even before, you could fine-tune them with parameters like brightness, light, shadow, clarity, and so on. but there are a few new ones in the mix now that are genuinely beautiful. it would be great if sony continued to push further down this path — a direction that fujifilm is already much further along.
01.09.2025
today we left leogang, wrapping up a family vacation that took us through hanover, munich, and finally, austria. i used the rx1r iii extensively during the trip, but since the photos are mostly personal family moments, i can't share them here.
papa at terminal c (portrait captured at palma airport), 1/250s, f/2, ISO 250
all that shooting got me thinking about this camera's ideal use case. would i grab it for a day of street photography? honestly, probably not if i was heading out on a dedicated photowalk. when i'm serious about capturing truly stunning images, i still prefer my a1 ii. the ergonomics are a much better fit for me, and i trust its reliability in any situation—it's never the camera that holds me back.
so, its main use case for me was family photos, or for those moments during casual outings, like a trip to the supermarket, when a scene suddenly presents itself. for that, the rx1r iii is perfect. it powers on quickly, and while the autofocus isn't quite on par with sony's pro cameras, it's definitely good enough. plus, that sensor is just awesome.
portrait of a friend, 1/1000s, f/2, ISO 100, unedited
part of it is also my preference in focal length. i'm not a huge fan of 35mm and usually lean towards the 16-28mm range or anything over 50mm. i’ve even started experimenting with the 70-200mm f/4 g lens recently in munich. it feels a bit conspicuous on the street—it's hard to be subtle with that "white beast"—but the results are undeniably awesome.
Sony RX1R3, 1/250s, f/8, ISO 200
i captured this shot on my way down to breakfast at our hotel. i saw the beautiful light in this staircase and just had to get a photo. i haven't done much post-processing because i wanted you to see how finely this sensor renders images. of course, any camera with this sensor would deliver similar results, but for such a tiny, compact camera, it's just awesome.
Sony RX1R3, 1/250s, f/7.1, ISO 800
finally, after arriving at palma's airport, i took a quick pause to capture some of my beloved airport photos. this is where the less obtrusive equipment really paid off. no one gave me a second look as i sat on the floor, waiting for a scene to unfold.
when i compare this photo in lightroom to one from my fuji gfx100rf, it's easy to see that the 102mp sensor with its incredible dynamic range is superior. but for its class, the sony really delivers.
AT HOME
back home, i grabbed my q3 43 because i wanted to do a more controlled comparison. i think leica's stunning marketing makes us believe the camera itself will make us more creative. honestly, it feels like it's more about waiting. and yes, that can be helpful for evaluating and composing a scene more profoundly. but it can also be a bad thing when you miss a great shot because the autofocus is still poor.
even turning it on takes longer than the sony. funny enough, the biggest difference in speed is when you turn them both off. the rx1r iii is just instantly off. the leica starts its little red wheel turning, sometimes for a few seconds. it's not a huge deal, but it feels representative of the difference between the two cameras.
LENSE QUALITY
i always thought the q3 43 had the better glass, maybe because i've watched so many youtube reviews where everyone praises this lens to the skies.
after finally getting home from our long trip, i did a few comparison shots. sorry that it's just a pack of cigarettes—i know it's unhealthy and wish i'd never started. but they were just lying there, and i've been using the customs paper for close-up comparisons for the past year or so
Sony RX1R3, 1/125s, f/2, ISO 100
SONY RX1R3, 1/250s, f/2, ISO 160
Leica Q3 43, 1/60s, f/2.8, ISO 100
Leica Q3 43, 1/250s/ f/2.8, ISO 200
i tried to make the shots as comparable as possible, which wasn't easy. both cameras were in their "macro" mode, which for the q3 43 means it stops down to f/2.8, while the rx1r iii stays at f/2. in lightroom, i only adjusted the brightness; that's it. if you want to pixel-peep, you can find the images in my flickr gallery for this post.
honestly, i don't see a truly relevant difference in quality. yes, both lenses have a distinctive style, but i can't say that one is clearly sharper or better. but also clearly said, that´s far away from a scientific comparison … i just think in the real world both cameras perform excellently. and the difference in the looks of the lenses is more a matter of taste than anything else. by the way, i was impressed given how much brighter the background light was compared to the subject.
MINIMUM FOCUS DISTANCE
compared to its 28mm sibling, the q3 43 has a relatively poor minimum focus distance of 60cm. in macro mode, it gets down to 27cm, while the 28mm model can focus as close as 17cm. the rx1r iii has a much better minimum focus distance in its normal mode at 35cm, and gets down to 20cm in its close-up mode. ultimately, their maximum magnification is very similar—0.25x for the leica and 0.26x for the sony—which doesn't make a real difference in practice.
AUTOFOCUS
i also took some snapshots of the family. with the q3 43, i had a recurring problem where its autofocus would reliably miss the eyes. the sony, on the other hand, very rarely failed to work perfectly.
ZONE FOCUSSING
some reviewers say they prefer the leica lens because of its better manual focus experience, and i agree with them. but to me, mentioning zone focusing as a relevant feature for a 43mm lens just reveals a certain desperation with the unreliable autofocus. with the sony, you wouldn't even need to think about zone focusing. still, if you love to focus manually, the leica definitely offers the better experience.but as the following image shows, of course it´s possible to focus complicated scenes like in this reflection, manually.
coffee in heaven - 1/2500s, f/5, ISO 100
LEICA LOOKS
i've also started liking the new picture profiles sony added, which i'd never used before. the great thing about them is that sony embeds the profile data into the raw files. in contrast, while the leica looks can be really nice, you only benefit from them if you shoot in jpg, which i personally don't like to do. i don't understand why leica doesn't do the same as sony and fuji. it makes using the leica looks feel very limited, both for me and, i imagine, for a lot of other users.
WHITE BALANCE
long story short, neither camera is perfect at finding the correct white balance. on my test shots, the leica had a tendency to be very cold indoors and too warm outdoors. the sony was closer to the right white balance but still not perfect; it was a bit too cold outside but pretty good inside.
THE APPS
another point is the apps. the "leica fotos" app is quite reliable and i normally enjoy using it, but it has a major flaw. after you select your images for download, a pop-up asks you to choose the format (even if you only shoot raw). then you have to wait, sometimes for a really long time, before you can actually make your choice. even in this test with just a few shots, i waited more than 30 seconds and had no clue what the app was doing in the background.
the sony app used to be terrible, but they've improved it a lot. one really great feature is that you can resume an import that has been interrupted—which, to be fair, happens less often with the leica app. fuji is the worst offender in this regard. but the idea of providing a workaround is brilliant. so even if your mother-in-law calls, you can continue your import later without having to select all the photos from the beginning, which is the case with both the fuji and leica apps.
EVF AND VIEWFINDER
no doubt, the leica wins this one by a long shot. its screen has better resolution and more contrast, but the biggest advantage for me is the tilting screen, which makes shooting near the ground so much more comfortable. it's basically the difference between having to lie on the floor versus just sitting down.
my only personal issue with the oled viewfinder is that the images often look better through it than they do later in lightroom. sometimes i'll be really impressed and happy with my captures on the camera, only to be a little disappointed when i get them home. but that’s not a big concern, just a personal note.
IBIS
well, of course, i'd love an ibis. but thinking about it, i suddenly realized i have no idea what the minimum reliable shutter speed is for the q3 43. that's because it's a feature i very rarely need. the sony is easily reliable down to 1/30s, but most of my shooting situations involve movement, which demands a higher shutter speed anyway as in the following image that i have not denoised.
SONY RX1R3, 1/320s, f/2, ISO 3200
it might be nice for creating intentional motion blur, but that's something i've always used my a1 ii for. so while i think the leica might be better for this, it's not something i've really tested or valued
CONCLUSION
both cameras are incredibly powerful tools that deliver fantastic image quality in small bodies (with the sony being significantly smaller and lighter), making you assume any error is always behind the camera—the leica's autofocus aside, of course. and either could be used as an "only" camera, if you can or must accept that limitation.
for me as a portrait photographer, however, neither 43mm nor 35mm are ideal focal lengths. i also value being able to work with faster lenses and the artistic freedom that a variety of lenses provides, which obviously isn't possible with a fixed lens. this is why neither could be my "one and only" camera, which brings it all down to a specific use case: the perfect "always with me" companion.
and in that role, the rx1r iii is the clear winner. it's more compact, much quicker, and far more reliable than the leica. the battery life seems to be about the same for both—not great for a full day of dedicated shooting, but good enough for a day where you're just taking photos occasionally.
i'll share some more test shots from both cameras in the next few days (hopefully...). i'll also show some comparison images with the fuji gfx100rf. it's a bit of a silly comparison, as they have completely different use cases in my opinion. but since the price is so similar, i think we need to look at it more in-depth... and it's going to be really tough for the little sony because i absolutely love the fuji.
and again: you can judge the test shots yourself in my flickr album in full resolution!
and just a recommendation: if you like to watch a youtube video that provides some really interesting experiences, head over to gaston shutters review.
to be continued …
stay tuned, sign up for the newsletter or just drop by again — i’ll definitely keep this one going. if you’ve got questions, feel free to leave a comment below. cheers!
