Sony’s RX100 compact camera has plenty of expectation riding on it. With the New York Times claiming it as the best compact camera ever made, Sony’s aluminium bodied snapper is now available in Australia.

Boasting a full 1-inch Exmor CMOS sensor with 20.2 effective megapixels that’s roughly four times the size of most compact sensors, the camera also incorporates a Carl Zeiss lens with 3.6x optical zoom and a f1.8 maximum aperture. A new processong engine helps take advantage of the massive sensor and takes the sensitivity up to an amazing ISO 25600.

The three-inch LCD boosts brightness with additional white pixels when needed to see images in the brightest sunlight. A control ring around the lens lets users adjust exposure, zoom, creative picture effects, as well as customisable functions. 1080p video recording at 50fps, optical image stabilisation and 10fps continuous drive mode also keep the spec sheet interesting.

The RX100 is available now for $799.