'Our innovations justify the price point,' says Masaaki Hori on the Sony RX100 IV, RX10 II launch

Sony launched its latest cameras at an event in Mumbai, namely the Alpha 7R II, the RX100 IV and RX10 II priced at Rs 2,39,990, Rs 69,990 and Rs 94,990 respectively. Post the launch event we had a chance to speak to Masaaki Hori, the head of digital imaging business, Sony India. The Sony RX100 IV is priced at Rs 69,990, which is significant jump from the RX100 III which was launched at Rs 54,990 last year. Sure, the RX100 IV comes with interesting features such as a 1-inch stacked ExmorRS CMOS sensor. The stacked sensor comprises a pixel capture area followed by a high speed signal processing unit and a DRAM chip for caching, before the light data is sent to the BIONZ X image processor. [caption id=“attachment_277773” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  The compact Sony RX100 IV will be priced at Rs 69,990[/caption] “The presence of the DRAM chip, helps improve the read out speed which enables you to store large volumes of image data, before it is passed onto the image processor. This helps you get a higher burst rate, lets you shoot high-frame rate (HFR) videos as well as super slow motion videos. We feel all these innovations justify the Rs 69,990 price point,” said Hori. The immediate question that bothered us then was whether the older models from the RX series would be discontinued. But Hori assured us that it wouldn’t be the case. “We will not discontinue the older RX series models. The RX100 III and RX10 will continue to sell, so that if anyone wants a lower priced RX series camera, they can go for it. If anyone wants great image quality along with full HD video recording he or she can still buy the RX100 III,” he said. When it comes to the RX100 series cameras, we have seen in the past with the RX100 II as well as with the RX100 III, the image quality has been excellent and the amount of manual controls on offer in a compact body is well appreciated. But battery life has always been a concern. One of the biggest disadvantage with the compact advanced cameras as well as with mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras has been the limited number of shots you can get as compared to a similarly priced DSLR. [caption id=“attachment_277772” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  Sony RX10 II will be priced at Rs 94,990[/caption] For instance, the battery for the RX100 IV is rated for around 300 still images.  If you are shooting within your city, where you have access to a charging port, that is not an issue. But if you are outdoors, then it may not always be feasible to use the cameras for longer periods without looking for a charger. Masaaki Hori acknowledged the fact. He said, “We get this concern. But you need to understand that this is an issue that is bothering the industry as a whole. We will definitely be trying to innovate on the battery-life front. But we are also giving you a lot of features in cameras such as the RX100 IV such as the EVF, 4K video shooting, slow motion, HFR and so on, so battery life will also depend on your use case.” The RX100 IV lets you use your portable power banks to charge the battery in case you are running low on battery. When asked about Sony’s DSLT line of cameras Hori said that Sony would be continuing that line, but its product refresh cycle is much longer as compared to the Alpha or the RX series cameras. “The RX100 IV can be used by professional photographers as a secondary camera or it could also be used as a primary camera for someone who wants excellent image quality and professional video camera features in a compact body,” said Hori. We will be doing a full review of the RX100 IV as well as the RX10 II as soon as we get them in our labs. Stay tuned!