New features include the world’s first variable zoom telephoto lens on a phone, upgraded focus-tracking, and more.
Over the past few years, Sony phones have landed in the U.S. like lead balloons. Its handsets don’t get much support from carriers or room on retail shelves. But with the new Xperia 1 Mark III, Sony could be poised for a big time comeback. The Xperia 1 III has Sony’s signature minimalist styling, but comes with the world’s first variable telephoto camera on a phone and also the first 4K HDR OLED mobile display with a 120Hz refresh rate. The Xperia 1 III’s new variable telephoto camera marks a huge step forward for smartphone photography, because instead of using multiple cameras to deliver different focal lengths, Sony is able to provide a 2.9x zoom (70mm) and a 4x zoom (105mm) using a single camera sensor, which relies on moving optical elements to switch between the two zoom ranges at will. Unfortunately, the Xperia 1 III still can’t pick a zoom in between those two focal lengths like you would on a traditional camera with a typical zoom lens, but for people concerned about the increasing size of today’s smartphone camera modules, Sony’s implementation presents a much more elegant and sophisticated way of supporting a wide range of zooms. On top of that, by borrowing tech from the industry-leading focus- tracking it uses on its Alpha mirrorless cams, Sony now supports real-time Eye AF across all of the Xperia 1 III’s rear cams (12-MP main lens,12-MP telephoto,12-MP ultra-wide, and a bonus time-of-flight depth sensor), with burst shooting rates of up to 20 fps.
