Is This Worth $5000?

/ Richard R. Barron
The Lumix 14mm f/2.5 stand in front of my other pancake lens, the Fujifilm 18mm f/2.0. Because of different sensor sizes between Fuji's APS-C and Lumix' Micro 4/3 means the lenses provide a very similar angle of view.

Reading through the photography news of the month, I came across several reviews and recommendations for a new camera, the Sony RX1R III.

As my readers know, I am all about cameras and lenses, so sure, I thought, I’d love to learn about this new Sony.

The RX1 III is a fixed-lens, 60 megapixel, 36x24mm-sized sensor, “rangefinder style”, “premium compact” camera. It shoots at five frames per second, and sports a 35mm f/2.0 Zeiss Sonnar lens.

The lens on the Fujifilm X100V is a fixed (non-interchangeable) 23mm f/2.0.
The lens on the Fujifilm X100V is a fixed (non-interchangeable) 23mm f/2.0.

I assume the image quality you can get from a camera like this is excellent, but I assume that about most of the cameras I see and use, because it’s true. But the lingering question about this particular camera is the price: $5000.

Wait, Richard, don’t you mean… $500?

No, read it again. Look it up. $5000.

So in my mind, I circle back to image quality, and wonder if the amazing images I make all the time with cranky, well-warn, cameras from a decade ago would be made better, and in what way, by a $5000 camera.

I try not to be stubborn, but I was originally from Missouri, so show me. If you buy this camera and make an amazing image with it, bring it to me in some valuable form, like in a book or a very large print, and let me be amazed.

I spotted these two spoons sitting on a table at an unrelated event I was covering this week, and thought the light had an interesting quality to it. Is this the kind of fine art that owners of the new Sony RX1R III might make? If so, I feel obligated to say I made this image with a $75 lens on a $300 camera.
I spotted these two spoons sitting on a table at an unrelated event I was covering this week, and thought the light had an interesting quality to it. Is this the kind of fine art that owners of the new Sony RX1R III might make? If so, I feel obligated to say I made this image with a $75 lens on a $300 camera.