People seem to have a love-hate
relationship with the idea of the Sony
ZV-E1, and the question is,
why? On one hand, it's got the same
sensor, the same amazing image quality,
and the same if not more features than
the a7S III and the FX
III for way less money.
On the other hand, it is very stripped
down. It's missing some of the
professional features that
some people might consider deal breakers,
and it's still $2,200,
which is not within the typical
budget for a beginner. So how do you know
if the ZV-E1 is the right
camera for you? Well, first,
before you look at what's missing from
this camera, you should look at the
features that it does have.
I would argue that this camera is great
for more than just
vloggers, but since that is the main
intention of it, it does have a bunch of
great vlogging-centric
features. There's something
called cinematic vlog mode, which
automatically puts black bars at the top
and bottom to try and
give you a wider-looking aspect ratio,
and it forces the camera
into 24 frames per second,
since that is the cinematic standard. The
cinematic vlog mode also
has a bunch of built-in
looks so you can get a baked-in look in
camera so you don't have
to do so much color grading.
There's product showcase mode that we've
seen on some other Sony
cameras already, so that if you're
doing a review and you're holding up
products closer to the
camera than your face, it'll grab
focus on that product instead of keeping
with your face like it would in the
normal face tracking
mode. There's a one-button background
defocus mode, so you can
just click that, and it'll
automatically adjust the settings of the
camera to give you that nice blurry
background. So right
now I'm in an auto mode, and you can see
that it's at f/11, so it's
choosing the aperture for me,
but if I hit that background defocus
mode, it's going to change
the settings so that it can get
that aperture down to a lower number or a
wider aperture so that we
can get that blurry background,
and if I hit it again, it'll actually go
into clear background mode,
which means it's going to be a
higher aperture number or a narrower
aperture so that we can see
everything in focus. And it also
has a new multiple face recognition so
that if somebody else
comes into your frame, it'll
automatically adjust the aperture to make
sure that everybody in the
shot is in focus. If you're
someone who has more experience with
cameras and you want more control over
your cameras, you might
think that these are kind of gimmicky or
unnecessary, but I think that's why we
don't see these features
put into Sony's more professional
cameras. However, if you're someone with
less camera experience or
maybe you just want to focus more on the
content that you're making
instead of how you're making it,
then I can totally see how some of these
vlogging features would make
life easier. The other thing
that this camera has that we've only seen
on one other Sony camera
so far is the separate AI
processor, and this opens up a whole host
of features that we don't
have on other Sony cameras.
For example, the autofocus on this camera
is right on par with the Sony
a7R V. It has the ability to
detect the shape of a human body so it
can focus on the body, the
head, or the eyes, and even if
some of that is obscured, it can still
find those parts because it knows the
whole shape. So unlike
previous cameras, you can be turned away
from the camera or you can be wearing
sunglasses or a mask
and it should still be able to find where
your face is, and even if it
can't, it'll try and focus on
your body. We've also got all of the
available autofocus
subject tracking modes for human,
birds and animals, birds or animals
individually, insects, cars and trains,
and airplanes. But on
top of all the autofocus features, we're
also able to use that new subject
recognition with things
like the framing stabilizer. This feature
uses a significant crop to
be able to hold the framing
of whatever subject you want either in
the center of the frame or
wherever you manually choose to
put that subject. For example, in this
shot, I was just using the app to tap on
either the bush behind
me or on myself. It would not only focus
on that area but also move
where the center of the frame
was. Similarly, there's a feature called
auto framing that mimics
having an actual camera person
who zooms in on the subject to the
desired amount and then follows them
around in the frame. I use
this feature a bunch on the video that I
made about the FX3 firmware update
because I was trying to
go for that kind of mockumentary look and
I was really impressed
with how natural it looked,
how much it looked like there was
actually a person holding
the camera. But I assure you,
it was just me out there. I can see this
being immensely helpful
for getting behind the scenes
footage without having to hire an extra
person to come out and
film. You just have to make sure
that you're shooting everything wide
enough because you need a lot of room for
it to move around. And
if you really want, you can use the HDMI
output to get a clean
signal without the crop so you
can have the full wide shot as well. On
top of the framing
stabilizer and auto framing function,
we've also got a new stabilization mode
that's called active dynamic
stabilization. So now we've
got the standard, which is just the
in-body stabilization on the sensor.
We've got the active
and if we go one more level up, we've got
active dynamic, which takes
a significant crop, but it
does such a crazy job. That being said,
again, you have to make sure
that you're filming wide enough
because all of these functions that are
auto framing or
stabilizing, they do have a significant
crop. So you want to make sure you leave
enough room for that. One
of my favorite features that
utilizes the AI functionality of this
camera is the new
microphone. We've got a three capsule
microphone that is able to pick up in
front of the camera, behind
the camera, or all around the
camera, depending on what setting you
have it on. And if you put
it into auto mode, it will
automatically detect what's in the scene
and make that decision for
you. And it comes with a little
fuzzy windscreen that makes it look like
a troll doll as well. Okay,
so I've got the microphone set
in auto mode. It should be picking up
what's happening in front
of the camera because it
sees my face and it knows that I'm
probably talking. But if I
were to flip the camera around,
maybe I wanted to show you these flowers
here and talk about them a little bit.
It should have switched over to from
behind the camera. So the
microphone is picking up
from back here so that I can talk to you.
And if I switch it back around,
once it sees that my face is in frame, it
should also switch
that microphone around.
You can probably hear somebody's doing
their lawn across the way. Physically,
the ZV-E1 is smaller
and lighter than even the FX3. And I will
get to the limitations of
that in a bit, but it does make
it easier to pack. It makes it easier to
carry around and it actually
has great controls as well.
Now I know that might seem
counterintuitive because we've got less
buttons and dials than
we have on some of the higher end Sony
cameras, but they've given
us a brand new user friendly
touchscreen experience on this camera
that we've never seen on
any Sony camera before.
Now we've got functions that we can
access on either side of
the monitor by swiping them in
or out if we want to get rid of them. And
you can choose whether they
both come in at the same time
or whether they're individual. Let's say
you use one side of the
functions more than the other.
And if we swipe up from the bottom, we
can easily get to our function menu now.
And finally, we can control our exposure
and white balance
settings using the touch screen.
And this is something that I've been
wanting forever. So when
you add all of this new
touchscreen functionality up, it makes it
much more reasonable to
have a few less custom buttons
or dials or what have you. And even
though we have a smaller body on this
camera, we're still using
the FZ100 batteries that we see on all
the other Sony full frame
cameras. So we still have great
battery life. One thing that I've seen
some other reviews claim is that the
ZV-E1 doesn't have any
kind of weather sealing, but on the Sony
website itself, it
definitely says that this camera has
dust and moisture resistance, which is
the same thing that Sony
says about all their other
weather sealed cameras. So it definitely
has something, nothing
to worry about there.
And the Sony ZV-E1 is the first camera in
the Sony lineup that's able to do 4K
streaming over USB-C.
I've been using this a lot with my Sony
A7 IV, but you can only do
it in 1080. So now we've got
an even higher quality for live streams
and for your zoom
meetings, if you want to look
super high definition. Now, of course, if
your main concern is image quality,
you've got nothing to
worry about here. We've got the same full
frame 12.1 megapixel low
light beast sensor that we see
on the FX3 and the A7S3. It's got the
same dual base ISOs. It
shoots the same frame rates,
the same codecs, it's full 10 bit. And
we've got the ability to
load LUTs on the camera,
just like the recent firmware updates on
the FX3. So you can expect
the exact same image quality
that we get out of those other cameras,
except the catch here is
that the FX3 and A7S3 are
3900 and 3500 US dollars respectively,
whereas this camera is
only 2200 dollars. So you save
so much money for that same image
quality. So obviously
that seems like a great deal
comparatively, but before you go running
out to the store to buy
it, there are some downsides
that might change your mind. I love how
small and light the ZV-E1
is for running around with,
but you definitely notice right off the
bat that it doesn't feel
like it's made with that same
robust quality that other Sony cameras
are. It's definitely a
little bit more plasticy feeling,
and I feel like I have to be a little bit
more careful with it
when I'm handling it.
If you pair this camera with a smaller
lens, something like
the 16-35 f4 from Sony,
it feels pretty good. But if you're like
me and you like to use the
big G Master lenses from Sony,
the balance definitely feels like it's
tipping forward. And
because the grip isn't as hefty on
this camera, it doesn't feel as
comfortable to hold. One of the big deal
breakers that I've heard
from some more professional users is the
fact that the ZV-E1 only has
one SD card slot. So there's
no option for simultaneous recording so
that you have a backup in
case you have a card failure.
We're also missing the full-size HDMI
port that we've been seeing on more
recent Sony cameras,
and they've gone back to the micro HDMI
that we saw previously, which still
technically transmits
the same signal, but it's more flimsy and
more breakable. You have to
be a little bit more careful
with it. And as I'm sure you've noticed,
we've got no electronic
viewfinder on this camera,
just like the FX3, which keeps the size
down and that's great, but
it's really hard to see when
you're out in bright daylight. And
speaking of being outside in bright
sunlight, this camera has
no cooling mechanisms like we see on the
a7S III or FX3. That being
said, I'd like to say that my
experience has been that there's no
problem with overheating. And
from what I've seen in other
reviews, it's mostly when you're shooting
for long periods of time at
high frame rates in high heat
situations. So if you're shooting style
or whatever it is that
you're shooting doesn't meet that
specific criteria, you should be fine. So
why is there this love-hate
relationship with the Sony
ZV-E1? I think it's honestly because it's
kind of a confusing
camera. Technically, this camera
is made for content creators, vloggers,
people who previously we would have
thought of as beginners,
not the kind of camera nerds and
professionals who want the
fully manual control of the FX3.
But because it has the same sensor as the
FX3, same image quality,
and it has that AI processor
from the a7R V, it kind of outpaces a lot
of the other Sony cameras
in their lineup. So all of a
sudden someone who's been interested in
the image quality of the
Sony a7S III or FX3 has a way
cheaper option to get that same quality.
But they've been staring at
the B&H page for the FX3 for a
month now and they're hooked on those
professional features that
it has. And they're kind of
disappointed that this one doesn't have
them. This is now the
least expensive Sony option for
content creators and vloggers to be able
to get full frame 10-bit
video and to try and match the
quality that we see from other creators
who are maybe a little bit
nerdy about their cameras.
That being said, that kind of creator
might not know what 10-bit is
or how to color grade or how
to really leverage all of the power that
this camera actually gives.
And $2,200 is not a typical
beginner budget for a camera. So really,
while I personally think
this is a fantastic camera,
it's kind of hard to say who it's exactly
for, but I'm going to try
anyway. If you already own
another Sony camera with 10-bit video and
you're looking for a really
good B cam at a lower price,
this may be a good option. If you're a
content creator or
vlogger that liked some of the
functions or ease of use features that I
mentioned in this video, this
camera may be a good option.
If you're a more hybrid video and photo
shooter and you want a camera that's
better at doing both,
maybe take a look at the a7 IV instead.
And if any of the things
that I listed as drawbacks would
drive you crazy while trying to use this
camera, maybe just keep
saving up for the a7S III or FX3.
Leave a comment down below and let me
know what you think of the Sony ZV-E1.
I'll just be out here
trying to enjoy the little bit of
sunshine I've got left.