Sony WX500 is the world’s smallest compact digital camera with 30x zoom lens

 

 

Alongside the launch of the enthusiast-oriented HX90V, Sony has today unveiled a second long-zoom compact camera that's almost as feature-rich, yet significantly more affordable. The Sony WX500 shares much with its higher-end sibling, but forgoes its popup viewfinder, GPS receiver and some other features the average consumer likely wouldn't get much use from. For that, you get a pricetag that's around a quarter below that of the viewfinder-equipped version.

Just like the HX90V, the Sony WX500 sports both an 18-megapixel, backside-illuminated CMOS image sensor and a far-reaching, optically-stabilized 30x zoom lens. It also offers a selfie-friendly tilting LCD monitor, popup flash strobe, and the combination of Wi-Fi and NFC wireless networking connectivity. All of that in a camera that's almost exactly the same size as the popular RX100 enthusiast compact -- yet the WX500 has more than eight times the zoom range of that camera.

 

 

Of course, its sensor is much smaller, but that's par for the course for a pocket long-zoom -- and Sony claims this to be the world's smallest compact camera with a 30x or greater zoom range.

Available from June 2015 in black or white body colors, the Sony WX500 is priced at US$330 or thereabouts. Want the full story? You can find out much more in our just-published Sony WX500 preview!