- You're looking for your first camera
or you're somebody who gets often asked,
"What camera should I buy as my first camera?"
Well, Sony might just have the answer for you
because in front of me is the Sony ZV-1F.
It is the little sister to the existing Sony ZV-1.
Awesome camera,
but this camera comes in at a lower price point,
similar feature sets and design.
It might even be that much easier to use for vlogging
or any other social media content.
Packaging is fairly minimal.
I know Sony's trying to go with the whole zero waste.
If you've seen the ZV-1,
the body is basically exactly the same
but they are also using a SORPLAS they call it, or SORPLAS.
I do not know what percentage
of the camera is using this material
but it is a recycled material, so that's always nice to see.
And it does still feel like a camera.
I mean it feels more plasticy
than other Sony cameras that I felt
but that's to be expected since this is a budget camera.
So on the front of the camera
we have the 20 millimeter F two
which is a brand new lens.
The original ZV-1 had a 24 to 70
and the reason for this is you'd have
to kinda hold your arm out fully straight,
even on the widest 24 mil on the ZV-1
because between the 4k, which adds a crop
to this image and the active stabilization
you would crop in so much on the image that even
at 24 mils on a sensor this size, you kind of
have to really be reaching to get the shot that you wanted
whereas now hopefully you'll be likely able to
not worry about that as much.
On the top of the camera, we have the cold shoe,
the microphone, an on/off button, a mode selection button,
a very large record button, a zoom rocker
with a shutter button, and then the focus DM focus button
which you can actually remap it looks it.
This just allows you to, without having to even
know how to use the settings on a camera, allow
you get the shallowest depth of field,
blurriest background in your image.
On the rear of the camera we have the touchscreen LCD,
a function button display.
The standard camera Sony rocker
which just allows you to do I believe your shutter speed
but I think you can remap it.
Menu, play, and delete.
On the right of the camera we have a mic input,
a type C input, and a micro HDMI input.
I understand this is a small, a budget camera
but I hate micro HDMI
and it should never be used on a camera even if it's small.
Finally, on the bottom of the camera
we actually have an interesting change.
So the ZV-1 had the quarter 20 mount here
in the center of the camera like every other camera.
The problem with that was when you would need to
open the battery door because when it was here
when you'd open the battery door, well if
if you had a tripod plate on this thing
you wouldn't be able to open the battery door.
So every time you need to change your SD card
or your battery, you had to take your tripod plate off.
But it's also now off center.
I understand the trade off, but that's something new.
It's just kinda weird
cuz no other camera has the mounting point off center.
And then of course when I open the battery door
we have the 1240 milliampere/hour.
What is this battery?
The NP-bx1.
Okay, let's turn it on.
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I've actually used this a little bit at 10
EP you have some very low bit rate options, 50 megabit
or 25 megabit, which is gonna be great for your card space.
Like, let's see, I have a 64 gig card in here.
It's two hours and 35 minutes at HD. Man!
Now this is an Apix camera, which is fine.
You don't necessarily need 10 bit, especially
if this is your first camera.
This is what the menu looks like standard.
Well you have audio meters here which is really nice.
All your settings on the bottom.
It tells you which mode you're in.
On the top right here, which we're in manual exposure
right now.
We've got the product showcase feature, which was
on the ZV-1.
So the idea is I'm talking to the camera,
product showcase is on, and so now
I'm gonna bring this lens cap into frame
and hey, look, it focuses on that.
I did actually test this feature last night
and it did struggle in a low light situation
when you aren't front lit but um you're actually back lit.
And let's see if it can focus on this.
Oh yeah, okay.
It really depends on the device I, when I had a phone case
on a different iPhone, it was struggling
and you can kind of see it
struggling here as well, actually.
The product showcase feature is gonna be
really useful for a lot of people, especially
if you do like makeup videos or something like that.
There's also a little self timer button here
which is nice to have.
And then you also have your digital clear image zoom
which is Sony's way
of just saying a higher quality digital Zoom.
I believe it is over sampled slightly.
You're gonna have worse auto focus performance in this.
Oh, that's a little bit disappointing
that you actually can't use the clear image zoom 2x
unless you're in HD.
So if you see this, I'm in HD right now.
And then if I go to, you can see now wide 1.0
1.5 and 2x clear image zoom
and I believe you can go in between those.
These are just like the quick presets that are there
for you, but you can just use the Zoom rocker
and actually adjust that.
So this is not zoomed in at all.
And then this is the 2x zoom
in HD.
The wide shot at 4K and then this is the 1.5 zoom.
So it's definitely not as wide.
Andy just pointed out that
we also have a little tally lit when
we're rolling right here.
If you also wanna make it more comfortable
you can use something like Sony's grip.
This is the optional accessory that kind of worked
with a lot of Sony's stuff at this point.
It's kind of a general purpose grip that you can Bluetooth
to the actual camera to get record
and your Zoom and all that.
You can keep your shot more level.
Yeah, so let me know guys in the comments what you think
of the audio quality of the studio test, but now
I'm going to take it outside and see what that's like.
And Tim, go outside.
You wanna make sure you also have your dead cap
so that wind noise is not an issue.
This thing is also actually made out of recycled plastic
but so fluffy.
We're back from outside.
I just finished transferring the ZV-1F video files
to my XBS and then I'm also transferring the iPhone files.
But while we wait for that
let's try the live streaming feature.
So most new Sony cameras have a feature
that allows you to use them as a webcam.
And in this case this should be pretty seamless.
All I should do is plug in the camera through type C.
You get a prompt when the USB is connected so you can
go Live Streaming, Image Transfer, or Remote Control.
I'm gonna select USB Streaming.
I have um a bunch of rubber blocks here to act as
like a stack of books that you could also use
this with instead to get kind of the optimal angle.
And I mean compared to the Dell XBS webcam
this thing is a lot better.
If you live stream
or you want to do some higher quality video
conferencing and you already own this camera for vlogging,
well, this is a great use case, I think.
Something to note, you actually can't
access the menu while you're in the streaming mode.
It is on.
(loud breath exhale)
Okay, as you guys could see there
the skin softening feature was on by default.
There are people
in the world that would have that feature on
but let them turn it on themselves.
Okay, so product showcase is on, skin smoothing is off.
This is what you can expect the ZV-1F to look
like if you use it as a webcam.
And if you use the product showcase feature.
There you go, right there, and then back to me.
Nice.
This is a much better looking shot than this.
In my left hand is the Sony ZV-1F
and in my right hand is the iPhone 14 promax.
And I'm using them both
on the Sony Smart group cuz we just happen to have two.
I'm also using the D, it's the clear focus.
So I'm at a deeper F stop.
So if I actually press the D focus
it's gonna use a much higher F stop.
But then give me a shallower F two probably depth of field.
The shots ISO is really high right now.
It's one over 800.
In theory, the background is much more out of focus
but this is what the audio sounds
like when you're talking directly at this camera.
So now I'm facing this camera.
There's a car passing me by right now
(car engine)
walking through some trees.
It's, it is not having to focus that difficultly
but it also is refocusing pretty quickly
(car engine)
and then it goes right back to me.
Now this is contrast space auto focus.
So it's not as good as the phase detection
(car engine)
in other Sony cameras, but that is one of the cost
saving measures.
This is with my arm kind of fully reaching out.
And then same with the right arm holding the iPhone.
Man, it's really hard to vlog with two cameras
at the same time.
Just walking back to the office right now.
It's like a not super windy day, overcast weather.
And so from this distance, I hope this mic actually
sounds pretty good.
I will note as well for this test, I'm using the front
facing camera on the iPhone just to kind of give it
a comparative use case because if you're going to vlog
on an iPhone, you're gonna hold the selfie camera
facing you, not the rear camera.
This is what the selfie camera looks
like compared to this ZV-1F.
This is just my first impressions guys.
This is not a review, but if you currently vlog it
with an iPhone and you're happy with your setup
especially if you have the new iPhone 14 Pro Max
you might not need to switch to something like this.
The benefit of something like this is
that it's a separate device that you can use
with the express purpose of vlogging
or using it for TikToks or social, anything like that.
And it has things like a shallower depth of field,
a larger sensor, the ability to use it as a webcam.
If any of those things will benefit you
beyond it being your phone and you don't want to
use your phone as your primary working device
then I think this makes a lot of sense.
But if you want to take your $500 and spend it on kitting
out your iPhone or whatever device you have to
be a better vlogging machine, well then I wouldn't blame you
because this is small, very compact, relatively inexpensive
but it's not strictly better in every situation.
And it is better
in low light because the sensor's gonna be larger,
gonna be able to capture more light.
It will really shine
in those darker situations where the iPhone
or any other smartphone will not.
But it really depends on how often you're
in a situation like that on top of all the other features.
So what do you guys think of this camera?
I actually think it's pretty cool.
I think my partner actually wants to pick one up
so I might still end up owning one
but I like what Sony's doing here.
It has a couple issues.
The auto focus being contrast based
kind of hunted as you could see in those clips.
But let me know what you guys think
in the comments down below.
And thank you guys for watching.