This is the Sony ZV-1. Yeah, I said "zed". I'm Canadian.
Anyway, I've been playing with this camera
for a couple weeks now, and I have some pretty strong
opinions on it. Let's get undone.
[offbeat music]
♪ Gerald Undone ♪
♪ He's crazy. ♪
What's happening, everybody? I'm Gerald Undone
and this is a tasty burger. So, when I decide
if I'm going to recommend a camera, I like to look
at what else is out there and see if it does something more
for the same price as the current offerings,
does the same for less money,
or fills a specific need at a fair price.
And in some ways, this camera does all three.
Spec wise it's surprisingly similar to the a6600,
which is Sony's flagship APS-C camera.
This would just be the one inch version of that camera.
But as an owner of the a6600, I can say that this camera
operates pretty much identically in terms of
the menus, features, and video capabilities,
including all the benefits the a6600 has over the cheaper
APS-C models, like the eyeAF in video.
But it also has a lot of the same quirks and limitations.
Ergonomically, it's obviously a bit more limited
compared to the bigger APS-C bodies.
It has fewer buttons and less customization,
but I think the layout is pretty smart on the ZV-1
and it only took me a couple hours to get used to it.
The buttons are small, which can be tough for larger thumbs,
but the big record button on top is appreciated.
And for the size of this camera, I'd say
that if they just managed to squeeze in
one more function button it'd be perfect for what it is.
It records in 4K up to 30 frames per second,
and 1080p up to 120 frames. It comes with
a fully articulating screen and a non interchangeable lens
that provides the full frame equivalent
of a 24-70mm field of view. It's a 9.4-25.7mm
that ranges from 1.8 to f/2.8,
but the depth of field is going to be much deeper
than a 24mm 1.8 because of the 9.4mm focal length,
so you're looking at something closer to an f/4.5
depth of field equivalency when wide open.
But this lens doesn't stay at f/1.8 for very long.
Basically, as soon as you touch the zoom rocker,
which is extremely sensitive, by the way,
even on the slow setting, it drops to f/2.0.
And by the time you hit a 27mm equivalent, it's at f/2.2,
then by 28mm, it's at f/2.5,
and then by just 32mm, it hits it's f/2.8 maximum.
So, this lens is predominantly an f/2.8,
save for a few millimeters on the wide end.
One cool thing is that when in photo mode,
it displays the focal length in full frame equivalency
as you zoom, which is great, but unfortunately,
it doesn't do this in video mode,
which is a bit of a bummer.
Speaking of that zoom sensitivity though,
it does get quite a bit smoother when you're actually recording.
And you can get some good results capturing a zoom.
But during shot composition, the zoom is nearly impossible
to be precise with. The lens is fine. It's not the sharpest
or most refined lens I've ever tested,
but it's certainly not among the worst, either.
It has minimal focus breathing and reasonable compensation
for distortion with acceptable aberration.
On the wide end, you get a respectable
1-3.5 reproduction ratio at a focus distance
of about ten centimeters, or four inches,
and the rendering is pleasing enough to produce
some satisfying close-up photos while travelling light.
But the telephoto end is no good for macro,
but it does maintain it's sharpness
pretty well throughout. Just keep in mind
that from about 32mm to 70mm, this lens is an F2.8,
which is closer to an F7.1 full frame equivalent.
It does have a built in ND filter, which is pretty great.
You'll get about three stops of reduction when applying it
and that definitely helps preserve
some background separation when shooting outdoors
by preventing the need to stop down
your aperture even further. The ND filter applies quickly,
can be assigned to a button, and doesn't have
a noticeable negative impact on the quality of the image.
It has a single SD card slot, which defaults to exFAT
when using an SDXC card and does not suffer
from that 4GB file splitting like some other
point and shoot cameras do, which is great
because the camera also has no record time limit.
In fact, you can pretty much record indefinitely
on this camera, or at least until your memory card fills up.
The battery will last you about an hour and ten minutes in 4K
with autofocus, but it can be actively powered over USB
using the micro type B connector,
and it's not just that trickle charge technique
on the other Sony cameras where the battery
still goes down, but slower. In this case,
I waited until the camera was completely dead,
then tried using it again right after
with the USB cable connected, and it ran
for another two hours and 45 minutes with zero battery
before it finally stopped because my SD card was full.
The battery still needs to be physically inside the camera.
You can't run it exclusively on USB power,
but it can seemingly survive even long after
the battery is dead as long as the USB is connected.
Thermals also don't seem to be a problem.
But just make sure that you set the temperature setting
to high. If you leave it on standard,
it will shut down to heat quite quickly,
but on high it lasted for hours. I had it running for six hours
doing back to back recordings, only taking a ten second break
to format the card. The temperature warning came up
but it never shut off. This was in room temperature environment
of around 22°C, or 72°F. It took me, on average,
about two hours to charge the battery
from completely dead, and the battery and SD card
are stored in the same compartment,
accessed from the bottom of the camera,
which is actually my first major pain point with the ZV-1.
It has one of those battery doors that can't be opened
if you have anything screwed into the 1/4"-20 on the bottom,
and I mean anything. The hole is only 1mm away
from the base of the battery door, and it actually
opens up over the 1/4" hole. This is incredibly frustrating
if you need to access your SD card,
because you have to unscrew the camera,
or your quick release, every single time.
Which kind of defeats the purpose of a quick release.
You could transfer your files via USB instead,
but that method doesn't work if you're travelling
and like to manage your SD cards in a specific way.
The 1/4"-20 isn't even centered under the lens.
Had it been, there would have been more clearance.
This likely would have caused the body to be a little taller
and thus, they probably avoided it to save space,
but I think this is a major mistake. It's frustrating enough
that I'd almost not buy this camera for that one reason.
Anyway, getting back to that excellent run time performance,
it made me think that the ZV-1 would make
for the ultimate livestreaming camera. It's light,
at only 288g, so just over half a pound,
so it can be mounted anywhere. It has a clean
HDMI out up to 4K30, has terrific autofocus,
including eyeAF for video, and it lasts indefinitely
on USB power. In fact, I did a nearly two-hour livestream
with it and found it performed excellently.
It does have a couple issues though that prevent it
from getting the title of perfect livestreaming camera.
First of all, the background separation isn't great.
It's better than a phone or webcam,
but it's still a 9mm lens, so you're going to be getting
a pretty deep depth of field. Second, because of
the sensor size, the low light capabilities aren't the greatest
and the images can be pretty soft at times
under anything less than high key lighting
or outside in daylight. But I found during my livestream
that I was able to remedy that decently
with a little bit of extra sharpness in OBS.
You can also increase the detail in the camera
to address the softness as well. But the main thing
that really disappointed me about this camera
for livestreaming is the limitations when switching
to 30p. You lose your face detection when switching
to 4K30 while you have the HDMI connected.
Now, this is an old Sony issue that's been fixed
for some newer cameras, including this one
for 4K24p, but it's still an issue across all the cameras,
including the a6600 for 30p. Which means you're forced
into this big zone type autofocus, which works
but has a greater chance of being distracted
by other things in the frame. It's good if you like
to constantly hold things up to the camera.
In fact, Sony even lets you activate this mode
by choice, calling it the "Product Showcase" mode
because it allows you to quickly focus on objects
that you hold up, rather than the focus staying glued
to your eye. But for talking head livestreaming,
I'd rather have face detection. And that's not an option
4K30 over HDMI. Like I said, it is available in 4K24
but sites like YouTube stream in 30 frames per second,
so you're going to introduce a lot of jutter
if you capture in 24p for a 30p stream.
Now, the same work around that I discovered
quite a while ago using the 4K only output select mode
in HDMI settings still works on this camera,
but that only works if you use specific 4K capture cards
or route your camera through an Atomos recorder first,
which really inflates the cost of what could otherwise be
an affordable live streaming option.
Now, I'm told that Sony is planning to release software
to turn the ZV-1 into a webcam for your computer over USB,
which could potentially bypass all these HDMI limitations,
but I don't currently know anything else
about that software, what limitations it will have,
and if it'll play nice with programs like OBS.
All I know is that it's slated for summer 2020.
But getting back to the HDMI, the ZV-1 also has
the recurring issue with Sony cameras where
when you have HDMI connected
and you record internally, the back LCD goes black.
This is something that's been addressed on the flagship models
but it's still present here. And, of course, the HDMI output
is limited to 8-bit 4:2:2 just like on other
Sony mirrorless cameras. Now, 1080p is an option
for 30p livestreaming, and when shooting in 1080p30
over HDMI, you keep face and eye detection.
In fact, it works up to 1080p60.
It only stops working at 1080p120 where it defaults back
to that big zone box again. So, it's definitely a viable option,
but that softness issue I mentioned earlier
will be even worse in 1080p. However, 1080p
also shoots a little wider. 4K, regardless of the frame rate,
has an added crop of about 10%, or 1.1x,
but the 1080p gives you the full width, even at 120 fps.
The crop is also increased if you activate
the digital stabilization.
There's three modes in "SteadyShot."
There's "Off," where no stabilization is applied,
"Standard," which just uses the lens stabilization
but doesn't apply an additional crop,
and then "Active," which combines the lens stabilization
with the electronic IS, and which does add
an additional crop of about 17.5% in 4K
and 24% in 1080p. So, when in 4K with active stabilization,
this equates to a total additional crop of about 1.275x
by my testing, making your 24mm equivalent lens
look more like a 30mm lens, which, of course,
brings up the question of vlogging.
Now, how wide you like your field of view is up to you,
but I know for many vloggers out there,
30mm would be too tight. In fact, I know some vloggers
that think 24mm is too tight. Of course, you could always
turn the active stabilization off to get
a wider field of view, but that kind of defeats the purpose
of calling it a vlogging camera. Being forced to use
a less stabilized image just so you fit
everything into the frame. Kind of disappointing to be honest,
considering that they got everything else right,
with the fully articulating screen, the built in ND,
and this little wind floof that clips into the hotshoe
to protect the new microphone design on this camera.
But hey, maybe the standard lens stabilization is enough.
Let's go for a walk and find out.
OK, so we've got both cameras here.
The one on the left over there is the ZV-1,
and this one over here is the a6600.
I've got a variable ND filter on the a6600
to try and keep it consistent with exposure,
and I've got the ND turned on, obviously, on the ZV-1.
I've got the audio levels each set to 17
and there's some background noise going on.
There's a road over there, and there's some people
playing basketball over there...
even though they probably shouldn't be right now,
and, uh, that will help us see how the sound isolation is
on these two microphone arrays.
Both of these cameras are using autofocus
and they're both set to wide with the eye
and face detection turned on, and it seems to be tracking OK,
and I'm really shaking the a6600 quite a bit more
when I'm holding them at full distance like this.
It's actually quite heavy, where the ZV-1 I can hold it
at full arms length without too many problems, which is good
because it does appear to be quite a bit tighter
than the a6600, which has the Sigma 16mm F1.4 on it
and I have a cage on it 'cause I didn't feel like taking it off
and that adds quite a bit of weight to it.
Over here on the ZV-1, it's just the camera
and it's flip out screen and the attached lens,
and I have the little wind muff on it
that came with the camera, because it's fair,
it comes in the box, to see how that affects the audio.
On the a6600, I have just the in body stabilization
because the Sigma 16mm lens doesn't have
any lens stabilization, and on the ZV-1 right now
I'm doing both. It's on the active mode.
I'll switch that half way through, but this will work
as both an autofocus test, a stabilization test--
I'm walking backwards now for some reason--
and an audio quality test. And I can use this audio test
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[noticeable wind] OK, so, a little bit more
on the stabilization. I'm going to change over to just
[almost no wind] the standard stabilization on the ZV-1,
which is basically just lens stabilization.
And we can see how much of a difference that makes.
So, this is the a6600 with the Sigma 16mm F1.4
just in body image stabilization,
nothing else going on.
See how stable this looks. This camera also has
pretty bad rolling shutter, where the ZV-1 does not.
Now, this is the Sony ZV-1 with the active stabilization,
so both the lens and the digital IS. And it seems pretty smooth
in the screen, and also this camera has much better
rolling shutter performance, so I think overall
it should make for a smoother look. OK, now we're using
the ZV-1 again, but this time with just the standard
stabilization, so the digital is turned off,
but the lens stabilization is still on.
Now, we're getting a much wider field of view,
which is nicer, and at full arms length I think that this is...
sufficient for vlogging. One thing, though, is that
you have to stop the recording. You can't change
from active to standard while recording.
So, something to consider anyway.
My observations are that just the lens stabilization
does produce a pretty good result by itself.
The active stabilization mode is definitely better,
but when field of view is an issue, I think you can get away
with just the standard stabilization,
and just the standard on the ZV-1 is much better
than the IBIS on the a6600. Autofocus wise,
both performed identically and perfectly adequate
for any vlogging scenario. They'll hold your face
and eye well. And sound wise, I'd say the ZV-1
was definitely clearer, but it also seemed a lot more
dynamically limited. The a6600 retained a lot more
of the spectrum of my voice and richer tone,
but it was also much more vulnerable to background noise
and wind. Sony says the ZV-1 comes with their latest
three capsule mic designed to allow clear capture
of the subject's voice from the front
while minimizing background noise, and the noise control
is definitely noticeable when compared to the 6600,
including the camera's self-noise. I measured
about a 10dB lower background noise
with the ZV-1 over the a6600. But I also think
the ZV-1 lacks clarity when noise isn't a problem.
I recorded a vocal sample here in my sound treated studio
on both the ZV-1 and the a6600, and I think the 6600
sounded much better and way less boxy
even if it was a bit noisier.
It seems the ZV-1's over compressed
and isolated sound is better suited for a noisier
or outdoor environment, but not as good for quiet indoors.
Again though, the ZV-1's noise performance is excellent,
with a floor in here of -68 dB vs the -58 dB on the a6600
with both cameras set to 20
for the audio record level in camera.
[slightly muddy] In 2005 it's revealed that the Nightmare
has manipulated the Hulk for years, and it's implied
[slightly richer] that some or all of the Hulk's adventures
written by Bruce Jones may have been just an illusion.
In 2006 the Illuminati decide the Hulk is too dangerous
to remain on earth and send him away by rocket ship.
[slight room noise]
[louder room noise]
Also, as I mentioned in the vlog test
one thing that's been drastically improved
on this camera over something like the a6600
is the rolling shutter. The ZV-1 has almost no jello
even during ridiculously fast pans,
which is highly appreciated as it's a huge weakness
on the larger sensored Sony cameras,
and it also really compliments the vlogging use case
for the ZV-1. Now, I'm not going to go too deep
into autofocus because I've covered Sony AF
so many times. It's using the latest stuff Sony has
so you're getting the real time tracking,
which is incredibly sticky and can be activated
with the touch screen. It has class leading face
and eye detection for both photo and video,
it's very responsive and very consistent.
And speaking of the touchscreen, it's fine.
Nothing to write home about. It gets the job done.
But like other Sony cameras, the touch controls
are pretty lackluster, other than for selecting
the focus point, and there's no viewfinder on this camera.
One interesting thing about the touchscreen though
is that when you open it up, it turns on the camera.
Finally, when it comes to image quality,
it's better than I expected. The only criticism I can make
is that it's a bit soft. When you use a profile like PP7,
which is S-Log2, it has the detail all the way down
to -7 by default, which is a bit insufficient for this camera,
since we're not getting that 6K APS-C oversampled image.
So, like I said before, you'll either have to increase
that detail or add some sharpness back in post.
I prefer the latter. Also, when shooting outdoors,
as you could see in the vlog test, the softness is not
as big of an issue as it is indoors, likely because
the noise reduction isn't as aggressive,
since your signal is sitting much higher than the noise floor
when outside in the sun, and so the noise reduction
isn't softening the images much. And in that scenario
you can get away with a -7 detail.
But for something like livestreaming,
you'll definitely want to sharpen it up.
But it's pretty great that it does have picture profiles
and S-Log2, and it's able to impressively retain
highlight detail for a one inch sensor. It's obviously
a little limited in the dynamic range, and you can see this
the most in the shadows due to the higher noise floor.
You definitely have to push the exposure up
to pull your shadows out of the mud, where the a6600
is more flexible and cleaner here. But overall,
it's not too bad and should perform quite well
in adequate lighting. The colours are good too.
We're seeing the latest and greatest version
of Sony colors, so we're getting really good results
on the vectorscope and better skin tones
than earlier models. And it matches really well
with the more modern Sony releases.
It's just not as detailed or as lowlight capable
as the larger cameras, which brings me back
to my opening statement. Does it do something more
for the same price as the current offerings?
Yes. It's going to be selling for $750 until the end of June,
then going to it's regular price of $800.
Which puts it cost wise somewhere between
the a6100 and the 6400. And when compared to those,
it comes with a lens, eyeAF for video, a built-in ND,
stabilization, fewer quirks, and over the a6100 specifically,
it has picture profiles, where the 6100 does not.
It also has similar battery life to those cameras
and built-in interval shooting for creating time lapses.
Number two: Does it do the same as another camera
for less money? Yes. When compared to the a6600,
it has pretty much all the same functionality,
save for fewer buttons and dials, and the 6600
does have a headphone jack where the ZV-1 does not.
The a6600 also has the big battery, so it's going to last
2.5x longer than the ZV-1, but the ZV-1 strikes back
with built-in ND, continuous USB power,
and a significantly lower price tag compared to
the $1400 of the a6600. And, of course, those prices
for the a6000 line all increase when you add a lens
into the equation. And if you want
even remotely comparable stabilization,
that'll have to be a stabilized lens.
Lastly, does it fill a specific need at a fair price?
I'd say yes. It struggles here a bit because it doesn't
completely nail those specific needs. Like I said,
the lack of face detection in 30p for livestreaming hurts it,
and the tighter than ideal field of view for vlogging
hurts it for that need as well. But the fact that
it's essentially ready to go out of the box
for both of those functions for $800 is pretty compelling.
And we didn't talk about photography much,
but it would also serve as a great pocketable
hybrid camera for travelling, giving you pretty comparable
photographic features to those APS-C bodies as well
with the convenience of having it in a pinch
if you don't want to lug around your big gear
or if you just want to step up your quality
from your phone photos and videos.
But despite it satisfying those needs reasonably well,
I still think it's worth considering the APS-C options.
The a6400 is only $200 more with a kit lens
and you'll get a much sharper, more detailed image
with better shadows. You'll just have to slap on
your own ND filter and stabilize the camera yourself.
But the a6400 route will also give you
much more flexibility with lens selection,
so you can break free of the 24-70mm restriction
and the not so shallow depth of field.
Putting something like the Sigma 16mm f/1.4 on your a6400
will give you a true 24mm equivalent
at a constant f/1.4. Which will give you
a much sharper image with much better
background separation for about $1300 total.
And if you're willing to give up picture profiles,
you can do the same thing with the a6100
for $150 - $300 less than the a6400
depending on the sales at the time.
Now, that's quite a bit more money than the $800 for the ZV-1
but I do think it's worth it if you have the cash.
But considering the size difference between this
and the APS-C cameras, I am impressed by what Sony
was able to cram into this tiny body.
And if you're on a tighter budget,
and you need to get up and running right away,
the Sony ZV-1 is a very viable choice and easily one of
the best cameras available in this form factor.
But that's gonna be it for me. I hope you found this video
entertaining or at least helpful. And if you did,
make sure you leave it the old thumbs up
and consider subscribing if you haven't already.
But if you did not find this video helpful or entertaining,
try setting the playback speed to 75%.
Alright... I'm done.