- The Sony ZV-1 M II has landed here at my studio.
And after spending a few weeks with it,
there are some exciting new features here
that I think vloggers and content creators
are going to love.
Let's get right into the five things
that I think you need to know
about Sony's latest ZV series camera.
The ZV-1 M II has a new wider lens.
When I shoot my vlog-style videos,
I typically want to get as wide of a shot as possible
so that I'm able to capture myself and my surroundings.
The original ZV-1 had a 24 to 70 millimeter lens
with a variable aperture of f/1.8 to f/2.8.
And while it worked great in most situations,
having an 18-millimeter lens
like the one in the ZV-1 M II
will definitely allow you to capture even more in the frame.
The 18 to 50 millimeter lens
has a variable aperture of f/1.8 on the wide end
to f/4 on the telephoto side.
So, it covers a lot of the focal lengths
that I tend to use the most
when I'm out filming my own content.
Here are a few wide-angle examples
from the original ZV-1 with its 24-millimeter lens
and the ZV-1 M II with its 18-millimeter lens.
As you can probably tell quite easily,
that additional six millimeters on the wide end
is really useful.
But it doesn't end there.
Having that wide-angle lens
allows you to get two or three people
into your frame at the same time
and keep them all sharp and in focus.
Sony really thought a lot about the creator experience here,
and I think that this will be a feature
that will make the difference
between you getting the shot
or leaving an idea on the table.
The ZV-1 M II has taken one of the more exciting features
of its big brother, the ZV-E1,
which is the cinematic vlogging feature.
When you're just starting out,
it could be difficult to get a cinematic-looking video
straight out of your camera
if you don't know what you're doing.
With this new camera,
you could get quick access
to those cinematic settings
by pressing a single button.
You'll notice right away
that your aspect ratio changes,
which gives you a CinemaScope aspect ratio
that lays the foundation
for that high-quality look that we're all chasing after.
You could also quickly change the look of your video
by choosing between classic, clean, chic,
fresh, or mono settings.
You could further customize the look
by choosing the mood,
which can be set automatically.
Or you could choose from gold, ocean, or forest settings.
Lastly, you could change the auto-focus transition speed
from low to mid to high
to give you that precise look
that you're going for.
The ZV-1 M II is smarter than your average camera,
and it's made evident
with its intelligent three-capsule microphone.
Let me show you how this works.
So, the ZV-1 M II has a three-capsule microphone,
but it works a little bit different
than the original ZV-1.
In this case,
you can actually change the directionality
of the pickup pattern of the audio.
So, for example, I'm in front of the camera right now,
so I have it set to front.
And of course, because it's set to front,
you could hear my audio really nice and clear.
However, there are situations,
vlogging situations, content creation situations
where maybe you might be in front of the camera
for one second
and you want the audio to pick that up,
but then you might get behind the camera really quick
and you still want the audio to pick it up
because maybe you're narrating whatever it is
that you want the viewers to look at.
So as an example,
let's say I'm making a vlog right now
and I wanna show you
Sony's first full-frame camera ever made,
which is the Alpha 900.
It would go something like this.
So, I'd be talking about the camera.
And it's here on my shelf,
and I wanna show you the camera.
And now I'm talking about it
and I'm narrating from behind the camera,
but I'm sure you could tell
the audio sounds a little bit different.
So, how do we fix that?
Well, with the ZV-1 M II,
you could actually change the pickup pattern
so that when the audio is coming from behind the camera,
those mics pick up.
So, let's do this whole thing again
putting the mic to audio instead of front,
and we'll see what that sounds like.
So, now our microphones are set to auto,
and let's see how that changes
how the camera is picking up the audio.
So, I wanna introduce you
to Sony's first full-frame camera, the Alpha 900.
And as you can see, it is here on my shelf.
A beautiful camera,
DSLR style type of body.
But this is gonna be amazing.
It's something that I'm doing a complete video about,
and I really cannot wait to show you what it's like.
So as you could tell in this recording situation,
having the microphone pickup pattern to audio,
it automatically knows where you are
and it will change the directionality of that microphone
to pick up the audio.
So, you have front, rear.
You can actually make it pick up from all directions.
If there's a situation
where you wanna capture ambient sound,
you could set it to all directions.
Or you could set it to auto
to basically let the camera figure out
where that audio is coming from
and give you quality audio for your vlogs.
Coming from some of Sony's newer cameras,
the ZV-1 M II has some helpful upgrades
that could help you
navigate your camera settings much faster.
We'll talk about the screen in a moment,
but if you go into your Camera menu,
you'll notice that it has the newer design
that's found in all of the modern cameras,
like the Sony Alpha 7 IV and the Alpha 7R V.
In the first two menu pages,
you have quick access
to the majority of the settings
that you would actually adjust the most
when you're filming content.
And you can navigate everything
using the touchscreen interface.
Speaking of touchscreen,
when you turn on your camera,
you'll see some of your most commonly used features
right on the screen for you to choose from.
And if you need the extra real estate on your screen,
you could swipe those icons away really easily.
Swiping up from the bottom of the screen
brings up the Function menu,
which can also be customized in your camera settings.
Navigating all of the controls on the ZV-1 M II is a breeze,
especially if you're new to the system
or you're coming from the world of smartphones.
The ZV-1 M II has some really exciting new upgrades
over its predecessor,
the first one being that it now has a USB-C port.
You could use that to plug your camera into your computer
and use it as a webcam
without having to install any additional software.
I have a video about that feature
that you could check out afterwards,
but beyond that,
you could also deliver power to your camera
by plugging it in via an AC adapter,
or you could even use a portable power bank
to charge your battery while you're recording.
Another change that was made came from user feedback,
which is the relocation of the tripod thread.
On the original ZV-1,
it was positioned next to the battery door,
which meant that when you were vlogging with a grip
and you needed to change the battery,
you would have to remove it
before you were able to swap it out.
On the ZV-1 M II,
it's on the other side of the camera,
which means that you could have full access
to the battery compartment to swap it out
while leaving the grip intact.
What I really love here
is that even with all of these new features,
the camera is still ultra compact
and weighs in under nine ounces,
and that's with the battery and memory card included.
The ZV-1 M II is a powerhouse camera
for content creators
who wanna have a camera that's easy to travel with
while still giving them easy access
to the features that will make their videos look awesome.
We'll have pricing and availability
in the description of this video,
so be sure to check that out.
And subscribe to Alpha Universe if you haven't already,
as we have lots of new videos coming up very soon.
In the meantime,
check out the video that you see here on the screen
and I'll see you next time.