Sony ZV-1 Review - Sony’s First Vlogging Camera

Is this modified RX100 a YouTuber’s dream pocket camera? The Sony ZV-1 is a 20MP compact camera geared towards vlogging.

It has a new and novel directional microphone next to the flash hotshoe and there’s a fully articulating touchscreen display.

The ZV-1 shoots in 4K up to 30p and Full HD up to 120p and features a 24-70mm equivalent F1.8-2.8 lens.

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If you’re a hybrid shooter who is interested in capturing both video and stills, but doesn’t want to carry around two cameras, the ZV-1 has a lot to offer.

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Sony ZV-1 Compact 4K HD Camera ACCVC1 Vlogger Accessory Kit with Wireless Bluetooth Grip/Tripod (GP-VPT2 BT) and 64GB UHS-II SD Card (SF-E64/T1)

Key specifications:

3.5mm microphone jack
Rated at 260 shots per charge
20 megapixel 1” BSI CMOS sensor
24-70mm equivalent F1.8-2.8 lens
Can be charged via USB while in use
8-bit. Log and ‘HLG’ shooting modes
Excellent autofocus in stills and video
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for image and video transfer
Fully articulating, 921K dot, 3” touchscreen display
Directional 3-capsule microphone with wind-screen
4K/30p, 1080p/120p and high-speed modes up to 960fps

Sony ZV-1 Camera for Content Creators, Vlogging and YouTube with Flip Screen and Microphone

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The ZV-1 can be had for $800 USD. The Sony GP-VPT2BT Bluetooth shooting grip, which doubles as a compact tripod, can be purchased for an additional $98.

What’s It Like To Use Sony ZV-1 Camera?

The ZV-1’s ergonomics might seem a little quirky at first, but are fairly intuitive once you start shooting.

There’s a modest grip on the right hand side and it’s comfortable to use when shooting in selfie mode or a standard shooting position.

When you are shooting with the camera held out at arms-length with the lens facing yourself, you can control the zoom rocker with your thumb and use your index finger to hit record or release the shutter.

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These let you customize banks of settings that include your shooting mode (Auto, PASM, video and so on), exposure settings, image or video quality settings, and quickly swap between them.

The ZV-1’s included fuzzy mic windscreen does an excellent job of cutting down on distracting wind noise when recording video, but unfortunately it also covers up the On/Off button on the camera.

On the back of the camera you’ll find the camera’s single control ring, which is the only way to adjust shutter speed and aperture while shooting.

It’s not that bad if you’re using the ZV-1 to capture stills, but can be cumbersome for vloggers since the only adjustments that can be made using the touchscreen are for focus.

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So if you want to adjust anything other than your AF area, you’ll have to flip the camera back around.

For the most part, the lack of EVF isn’t a dealbreaker here. The one time when it’s frustrating is if you are shooting in very bright sunlight, as it can be difficult to see the image on the rear screen.

Luckily, even on the sunniest days the exposures that the camera captured were pretty accurate when shooting in full auto, shutter priority or aperture priority modes.

Ports for microphone, HDMI cable and charging USB are all stacked on the right side of the camera – opposite of the articulating screen, which means you can operate the camera without any of those cables interfering.

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Sony has omitted a headphone port for audio monitoring. Although it’s rare to see content creators in headphones while they are actually recording, not having the ability to monitor pre-set audio levels will be a deal-breaker for some users.

The C1 and C2 buttons can be easily customized to your liking, although out-of-box they are set to control Background Defocus and Product Showcase.

The Product Showcase mode will be useful by vloggers promoting products; it essentially automatically grabs focus onto a product when it enters the frame and defocuses any faces that it sees.

The Background Defocus setting opens up the aperture to its widest setting, helping to blur the background behind the subject.

How Sony ZV-1 Camera Perform?

The ZV-1 offers impressive image quality. While shooting, I tended to keep it set to ISO Auto with a range of ISO 125-6400. The ZV-1 generally did a good job regardless of if I was shooting in P, A, S or M mode.

White balance worked well, colors were pleasant and when shooting at lower ISO the noise was minimal. Moving up to 6400 noise becomes a lot more noticeable, and at ISO 12800 it’s very noticeable.

The lack of pop-up flash on the ZV-1 makes it difficult to use the camera late at night or in dark settings.

The camera’s scene selection modes are hit or miss. The ‘gourmet’ mode for shooting food works well, as does the ‘macro’ mode.

‘Pet’ mode, which is supposed to help reduce blur when shooting subjects in motion, is inconsistent and appears to add a softening effect to your furry subject.

Sony ZV-1 Compact 4K HD Camera ACCVC1 Vlogger Accessory Kit with Wireless Bluetooth Grip/Tripod (GP-VPT2 BT) and 64GB UHS-II SD Card (SF-E64/T1)

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Here you are better off shooting in S mode with the animal eye tracking activated. The same is true for the other scene selection modes– especially ones like ‘Night Scene’ or ‘Night Portrait’.

Images shot in aperture priority mode with the ZV-1 looked slightly underexposed to me, but the Raw files are quite malleable when it comes to making adjustments to exposure, contrast and shadows.

Sadly, you can’t reprocess the Raw files in camera, but if your image includes a single face you can add ‘Beauty Effects’ after the image has been shot.

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The ZV-1 has settings for zebra and focus peaking, as well as wind-noise reduction and image stabilization (Sony calls this ‘SteadyShot’).

The detail in 4K, Full HD and high-speed modes is impressive and the footage is smooth. Rolling shutter effects are minimal – especially important if you are doing a walk and talk-style shoot.

The high-speed footage can be incredibly cinematic, but the need to enable buffering before shooting makes it a little hard to anticipate the footage that you are capturing. An iPhone, on the other hand, doesn’t require this extra step.

How Sony ZV-1 Compares To Other Vlogging Cameras

Compared to its peers the Sony ZV-1 is more expensive. But it’s also the only camera of its kind that features the directional 3-capsule microphone – for most people. This will eliminate the need for an additional mic when vlogging. It also has the most reliable autofocus system.

The Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III offers additional zoom with its built-in lens, and has the same size sensor as the Sony.

It also has similar dimensions and a similarly-sized screen, but uses contrast detection autofocus that is prone to distracting hunting.

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On the other hand, its touch interface is responsive and refined, and it offers live streaming to YouTube directly from the camera (and using your phone as a hot spot).

Panasonic’s G100 also has a novel microphone set up, using three small microphones and software for ‘audio tracking’ of talking subjects.

In our testing, we found the Sony to sound a little better, though. The Panasonic’s contrast-detect autofocus may ‘wobble’ too much for your taste, and it has a substantial crop in 4K that makes vlogging at arm’s length nigh impossible.

The Apple iPhone 11 will give you the widest field of view and the largest screen – not to mention it’s also the lightest and you’re likely to just have it with you. Its smaller sensor though will limit how much you can blur your background.

Check Comparison

Sony ZV-1	Canon G7 X Mark III	Panasonic Lumix G100	Apple iPhone 11
Type	Compact camera	Compact camera	Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera	Mobile phone
MSRP	$800	$750	$749 (w/ 12-32mm lens)	$700 (64GB)
Sensor size	1″-type (116mm²)	1″-type (116mm²)	Four Thirds (225mm²)	1/3.6″-type (12mm²)
Zoom range	24-70mm equiv	24-100mm equiv	24-64mm equiv	23mm equiv
Autofocus type	Phase detection	Contrast detection	DFD (contrast-detection)	Contrast detection (on front-facing camera)
Video spec	Up to 4K 30p	4K 30p	to 4K 30p (1.26x crop)	– Up to 4K 60p
Screen	Size3.0″ 0.92M-dot	3.0″ 1.04M-dot	3.0″ 1.04M-dot	6.1″ 4.45M-dot
Media format	SD	type SD	SD	Internal / Cloud storage
Connectivity	Wi-Fi Bluetooth (for transfer of GPS data)	Wi-Fi Bluetooth	Wi-Fi Bluetooth	4G cellular internet connection Wi-Fi Bluetooth
Dimensions	105 x 60 x 44 mm	105 x 61 x 41 mm	116 x 83 x 54 mm (exc lens)	151 x 76 x 8 mm
Weight	294g	304g	352g (exc lens)	194g

The easiest way to describe the Sony ZV-1 is to compare it to the Sony RX100. Sony essentially stripped away some of the more expensive parts of an RX100 VII. Mixed in the lens from an RX100 V, and then added in a few vlogger-specific features.

Unless you’re familiar with Sony’s RX100, that description likely isn’t super useful. So let’s briefly talk about the RX100.

For eight years now, it’s been (with apologies to Canon) the canonical example of a camera that crams all of the advanced features of a DSLR into a tiny point-and-shoot body.

It may look like the low-rent pocket camera you can pick up anywhere, but, in fact, it can cost well over $1,000 and do things that are normally only available on pro cameras.

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I am, if you haven’t guessed, fond of the RX100 and have used one for many years now. What I love about it is that in trading off a smaller sensor and non-interchangeable lenses for pocketability. You don’t also have to give up versatility or features.

It can do nearly anything: I’ve shot long 4K videos on it, I’ve tethered it to my Mac and live-blogged Apple keynotes with it.

The full auto modes are competent, but you’re free to mess with ISO, shutter, white balance, aperture, color profiles, focus modes, and more. It’s powerful.

But as anybody who’s ever tried to navigate Sony’s obtuse menu system can attest, it’s also complicated. Once you get the hang of it, though, it often fulfills the “DLSR in your pocket” promise.

That brings us to the ZV-1, which takes all of the features and functionality of the RX100 and tweaks the camera’s hardware to optimize it for vlogging.

Sony actually grabbed the parts from two different RX100 models: you get the sensor and smarts of the latest RX100 VII but the brighter lens and ND filter (for outdoor shooting) from the RX100 V.

You want the VII’s smarts for autofocusing, but you want the V’s lens because it provides better background blur.

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The ZV-1 is a kind of in-between camera. In full auto mode, the reasons to use it instead of just using your phone for photos and video aren’t necessarily clear.

An iPhone is more adept at making aggressive corrections for shake and brightness when necessary.

There’s a limit to what a phone can do, though, and that’s where the ZV-1 lives. With its many controls and features, it can pull off video a phone can’t.

But the ZV-1 has a ceiling: you can’t change lenses, and eventually, that may become frustrating. If that happens, though, the ZV-1 makes a solid secondary or B-camera.

Were the learning curve on Sony’s menu system just a little less steep, I’d say it’s even ideal as an entry-level camera to teach you some more advanced video terms and skills. (It can be that for you, but it will take some effort.)

Vlogging is a professional job, and lots of those pros are well beyond what the ZV-1 is and can do. Many aren’t, though — and others might just want something that’s pocketable.

I hope there are enough people to convince Sony to keep investing in the category. The ZV-1 is an admirable retrofit, but I’d love to see what a ground-up rebuild would look like.

Conclusion – Sony ZV-1 Review

The ZV-1 is a unique camera with a very specific style of user in mind – and its settings speak to that.

The guts of the camera are similar to the RX100 VA and if you can live without a viewfinder and a pop-up flash, the ZV-1 is very capable when it comes to shooting stills.

The ergonomics of the camera actually make it easy to swap between video and still settings, especially if you take advantage of the memory recall functions within the camera.

It’s comfortable in hand, but still compact enough that it won’t feel like a burden to bring along. The directional 3-capsule microphone with dedicated wind-screen makes it fast and easy to record video clips with quality audio.