SINGAPORE — While smartphones might be eating away at the compact camera market, a niche still holds strong: Premium compact cameras with large sensors that work as a backup camera for seasoned photographers or as a lightweight replacement for a DSLR. Sony’s RX100 series has been lauded for good image quality and the new Cyber-shot RX100 III promises to be even better.

Images shot by the RX100 III are sharp and detailed with lifelike colours, low-light performance is great, the autofocus is fast and the lens provides creamy bokeh (background blur) that helps the foreground stand out. All this is powered by Sony’s Bionz X processor, which allows for faster and better image processing, coupled with the 20.1MP CMOS sensor.

The RX100 III might be slightly bigger than the previous iterations, and have less zoom (24-70mm, compared with 28-100mm), but it is still an improvement. On top of even better images, Sony improved the lens quality, allowing more light in at the end of the zoom range. There’s also a pop-up electronic view finder that Sony somehow tucked into its small body. It’s unobstrusive if you don’t need it, and triggering it and keeping it switches the camera on and off respectively — but with this and the inbuilt flash, Sony has removed the hotshoe.

There’s also a screen that now flips 180° for taking photos at odd angles, but its a pity that Sony could not fit in a touchscreen to help with focusing. The multi-purpose ring around the lens also feels better, with focusing or zooming more responsive with it, and video recording has seen various improvements.

The main problem with the RX100 III is its price: At S$1,199 it’s definitely not for someone who just wants to dip their toes into photography. Its small size also means that adjusting all the controls isn’t very convenient, and it lacks a finger grip to just make it that bit more ergonomic — there’s only a tiny nub for your thumb next to the video recording button.

But if you’re in the market for a compact camera that produces great images — and the S$1,199 price tag is no issue — then the RX100 III is perhaps the best camera out there.

The Sony Cyber-shot RX100 III is now available at S$1,199.