Sony ZV-1 (799.99 USD) is the first compact camera made specifically for video bloggers. The ZV-1 shares many of the same tech as the RX100, such as the RX100 VI's imaging engine and lens. These models were stills-first. However, the ZV-1 has a video-friendly design with an LCD flip-forward and an excellent internal microphone. It's a good camera for vloggers, but not a home run—the lens is a little tight for walk-and-talk footage, and the battery life is underwhelming.
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You Have Plenty of Space for Your Pockets
It is small at 2.4x4.2x1.7inches (HWD), and 10.4oz. Its lens doesn't completely retract into the body—it juts out a little bit—but it's compact enough for most pockets.
Sony chose a composite body material, which is a change from the RX100's metal exterior. It's a fine change if you ask me—the body feels solid and the finish is likely to hold up better over time. The lens still has a small amount of metal surrounding it, which provides some protection.
The ZV-1 also includes a small handgrip, something missing from the RX100 family. Unfortunately, it's not a great grip. If anything, it makes the camera less comfortable to handhold in most situations, though I did appreciate it for selfie shots and vlogs.
The GP-VPT2BT Wireless Shooting Grip is a great addition. This $150 accessory attaches to the ZV-1's camera tripod socket via Bluetooth. The accessory doubles up as both a pistol grip for handheld use and a tripod on a tabletop.
With the attached grip, ZV-1 becomes more user-friendly. It includes basic controls, too—buttons to snap photos and start and stop video recording, the customizable C1, and a zoom rocker. You can also disable certain controls by turning the lock switch. You can adjust the tilt and rotation of your head.
Adding the grip certainly keeps the ZV-1 out of pockets, but the package is still small enough to stow in a small bag. It's worth it, though, if you plan on doing a lot of handheld video recording.
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Controls and Screen
You will find more options and buttons on the ZV-1 than what you would find on your grip. You will find the Mode, Record and On/Off buttons on the top plate, along with the shutter release button and zoom rocker. The hot shoe and built-in mic are also up top—if you use the included windscreen to protect the mic, the On/Off button is visually obscured, but still accessible.
The rear is dominated by the swing-out LCD. It doubles as a power control, hepful if you're using the windscreen and having trouble finding the On/Off button by feel. When the LCD is closed the screen is protected and the camera is powered off—swivel it around so it's showing, or swing it out to the side, and the camera turns on automatically.
The thumb rest is located below the rear buttons. The flat command dial has a central button as well as four buttons for directional presses, Fn, Menu and Play.
Fn opens an on-screen menu. Although it provides quick access to many useful features such as focus settings or skin smoothing options Sony severely limits its touch capabilities. This camera is designed to be facing the viewer while you record. You should then be able tap on the screen to navigate to the Fn menu.
It's a shame, because the only thing you can really do via touch when making images is to tap and select an object of interest for focus. The 3-inch screen is certainly large enough to allow for a tappable icon to launch Fn. It's reasonably crisp (921k dots) and has a Sunny Weather setting that makes it bright enough for use on the brightest days.
There is one big downer for vloggers—the screen has issues with polarized sunglasses. The screen looks completely black when I wear my prescription Ray-Bans. This can lead to very blurry vlogs on bright days.
Connectivity and power
Although the ZV-1 camera is small, it does come with a hotshoe. The ZV-1 is primarily used to mount microphones, but it can also be used as an external flash, or radio transmitter, for off-camera lighting. This makes the ZV-1 a great option for those photographers with interchangeable lenses Sony equipment and who are considering adding the ZV-1 into their creative arsenal.
There's also a 3.5mm input for an external microphone, a micro HDMI output port, and a micro USB port for charging. We'd have definitely preferred to see USB-C here—it's the current standard and supports headphone adapters.
It is impossible to connect a pair of headphones to the ZV-1. You can not monitor audio in the field using the ZV-1's in-camera speakers. However, it cannot replace a good set of headphones.
Battery life isn't great. The ZV-1 uses the slim NP-BX1 battery. It's rated for about 260 shots or 45 minutes of video recording time per charge. I netted less than that in the field, nearly draining the battery in a few hours of normal use, mixing video, photography, and playback. A liberal use of the Sunny Weather LCD setting, as well as using the Bluetooth grip, take a decided toll on the battery.
It's possible to top it up on the move via the USB port. However, we would like to see Sony develop a better solution for compact cameras.
The memory card slot supports SDXC cards at UHS-I speeds, as well as Sony's obscure Memory Stick Duo format.
In-camera Bluetooth is also available. You can use the ZV-1 with an Android or iOS smartphone app called Sony Imaging Edge.
Autofocus and Speed
Built on the same sensor platform that the RX100 VII, the ZV-1 uses the RX100 VII's RX100 VII to focus. The ZV-1 locks with no noticeable display and supports burst capture in Raw or JPG at 24fps without loss of view. It also offers advanced subject tracking options, just like professional full-frame cameras.
The shooting buffer is big, but still easy to fill if you hold the shutter button down with the burst mode set to 20fps. I netted about 75 Raw or Raw+JPG shots, and about 165 JPGs in a full burst.
You will have to wait a bit for files to write to the card if you fill up the buffer, though—a full minute with the Sony Tough 300MBps card I used for testing. You'll still be able capture additional shots during that period, however, many other functions such as video recording will not work. It's not a bad idea to use a slower burst rate—the middle setting is 10fps and the low is 3fps. It's still useful to use the 10fps setting for action photos, but it won't take up as much buffer.
Autofocus performance is generally good. The tracking system of Sony turns on automatically when focus is set at AF-C. It does a great job tracking subjects. The camera's eye and face detection systems are especially useful for vloggers. They work together with the camera’s metering system, to make sure your face is correctly exposed even under changing lighting.
It faltered a bit, though, when it came to identifying my face under a protective mask. With a mask on, the camera focused on me without issue in video and stills mode alike, but it didn't detect my face as a face. You can see that the camera handles a tricky backlit exposure correctly when it finds a face, but slightly underexposes when it can't.
Lens and Sensor
It is known that the ZV-1 has a lens. Since the RX100 III in 2014, Sony's 24-70mm F/1.8-2.8 zoom lens has been an integral part of 1 inch sensor format cameras. The zoom is very sharp and delivers excellent resolution throughout its entire range. It also blurs out background easily thanks to its bright aperture of f/1.8. This allows for photos and videos with shallow bokeh effects without using any software tricks like smartphones.
The zoom range is a bit short; Sony has opted for a 24-200mm f/2.8-4 zoom in recent entries in its RX100 series, and Canon puts a slightly longer 24-100mm f/1.8-2.8 zoom in its livestream-capable GX 7 Mark III.
The quality of this zoom is hard to beat. The integrated neutral density filter is also included in the design. This feature makes it a great tool for photographers and videographers looking to capture long exposures outdoors. You can toggle the filter, which makes low-light photography possible.
It's also useful in low light, where the aperture of f/1.8 is very helpful. It uses the 1 inch sensor format. This is a larger size than what you'd find on basic smartphones and point-and-shoots. The ZV-1, along with the RX100 VA, makes low-light photography possible.
Image quality is excellent through ISO 800, and very good through ISO 3200 when shooting in JPG format. Detail is blurred a bit at the highest settings, ISO 6400 and 12800. Out of the box the camera is limited to ranging to ISO 6400 in automatic mode—you can set the threshold higher or lower if desired.
Raw capture is a good option for work done in dim lighting. Adobe Lightroom isn't currently updated to accommodate the ZV-1 files. However, I was able work with Raws that were converted to DNG format. The files are just as good as you get from the RX100 VII—there's plenty of room to adjust highlights, shadows, and color. Working at ISO 3200 or 6400 will give you a little more detail but more grain. At ISO 12800, the output is quite grainy and lacks fine details.
Vlogging Features
Video is just as easy with the ZV-1 as stills. The ZV-1 can record 4K video at 24, 30 or 60 frames per second, as well as 1080p footage at 120p. This allows for some slow motion playback, which is useful when you are working with HD projects. You also get High Frame Rate (HFR) capture at 240, 480, or 960fps for extreme slow-motion effects—it works well, but requires a bit of time for the in-camera processing to render out clips.
You can skip the external microphone if you have an in-camera mic. It was able to pick up ambient noise indoors as well as outdoors, but it still captured my voice without distortion. If you'd prefer to use a lapel or shotgun mic, the mic input jack is available.
The video can be adjusted to suit your preferences. The default profile (Standard), was what I used, however, there are many options, such as Portrait, Black-and White, Vivid and Sepia. Advanced editors may enable Flat Log profiles to allow for greater flexibility in fine-tuning color and tone.
Sony added digital stabilization to the video, which does an excellent job of keeping handheld footage stable. The ZV-1 and the added grip did an excellent job of keeping my walk-and talk footage stable.
It crops footage a bit to get there, though, netting a tighter angle of view at 4K, similar to a 30mm lens. It's a downer for travel vloggers, as you really can't get a view of the environment around you when recording at arm's length.
You might use a selfie stick in your video vlogging. A GoPro Hero8 Black Black would be a great tool for multi-camera photographers. The stabilization feature is amazing.
However, a GoPro will not give you blurred backgrounds. When the ZV-1 is set at f/1.8, its lens can achieve blurred backgrounds. Sony's Background Defocus function is available for those vloggers that don't know their fstops. With a simple tap, you can switch the background between blurry (f/1.8), or clear (f/5.6). The button works great and can also be changed to another function. You can also use the Soft Skin function to remove your wrinkles or blemishes.
Product Showcase Mode is a brand new setting that allows you to showcase products on YouTube. It turns on when the object is placed in the middle of the frame. This allows you to be certain that the camera is focused on your hand when you present to the audience.
Want a wider view?
Sony ZV-1 was the first camera designed specifically for video bloggers. It gets some things very right—the in-camera mic is better than any other small camera I've used, the 4K video is the best you'll find in a camera this small, and the autofocus is absolutely top-tier.
Although the Product Showcase mode works well and is thought-provoking, it does work well. While Face Priority's metering system did struggle with masks, I believe that this can be fixed by a firmware upgrade.
Battery life is another matter—for all-day use, carry a spare or a power bank. The touch screen functions of a camera aren't as robust for those who will be using them a lot.
The real drawback is the lens. The 24-70mm zoom is a fine choice for photography and many types of video, but it's tight for vlogs where you want to point the camera in your direction and show your surroundings. If I have a wish list for a ZV-2, it starts with an 18 or 20mm wide-angle lens.
Although the idea of creating a camera that caters to YouTubers' needs is still in its infancy, Sony has not abandoned it. Panasonic has recently launched the Lumix G100 interchangeable lens model, which is targeted at that market. Although I haven't had the chance to try it yet, it does come with a high-quality microphone inside. You can zoom in as far as you like with swappable lenses. However, the cost of the lens that gets there may be higher than the actual camera.
For those who aren't interested in extra lenses and prefer the view that the Sony ZV-1 offers, the Sony ZV-1 remains a great option. Make sure you have your selfie stick.