- Right now I'm shooting on the Sony ZV-1
and this camera was designed specifically for vloggers,
content creators, and YouTubers.
So, in this video we're gonna dive into
what makes this camera so unique
and if this is the perfect camera for you.
(light music)
So, I've switched over to camera audio.
Right now I have the defocus on,
shooting internal audio,
and everything else is completely automated.
And we're gonna talk about that in a second
because that's one of the really cool things
about this camera is they basically created
a ton of automation to make it so that
it's easier for you to just hit record,
know that you're gonna get the footage
that you wanna get so you have to focus less
on the camera work and focus more on the story
and the content that you are creating.
I've switched over to my rode go
just 'cause I wanna show you two different setups
for recording audio, whether you're right next to camera
or you're pretty far away.
So, I got up super early to chase sunrise,
it's coming right over that hill any minute.
But, I wanted to show you this camera
in a vlog-like setting.
So, we're going to one of my favorite spots
that overlooks all of Santa Monica.
It's about a seven mile hike up this mountain.
This is a great opportunity
to show you all the features packed
into this camera in a setting where you might actually
be using this camera.
Let's dive in with the defocus setting
'cause that's one of the most interesting features
about this camera.
Defocus on this camera is an automation.
Right here on the top you can set your C1 to defocus,
that's what it comes with when you get the camera
and the idea behind this automation
is that you click this button, you get blurry background,
you don't have to think anything beyond that.
One of the limitations with this camera though
is that it is a one-inch sensor.
So, if you're in this setting,
you can get blurry background,
but if you are to move further away,
as soon as you get a little bit distanced
from the camera, you're not gonna be getting
a whole lot a shadows up the field
because of the limitations of the sensor.
So, this setting really is useful
if you are waist up, you're doing the vlog-like setting,
or you're sitting down doing a review
or something else where you have about, you know, this size.
And you also have to have something interesting
in the background.
So, if you're using this setting
and you have a flat wall behind you,
it's really not gonna make a whole lotta sense,
but, in this kinda setting where there's some depth,
there's some things going on,
you can see that the background goes outta focus
and gives you that more cinematic look
that a lot of creators are going for,
especially when you're shooting this content.
Makes it super easy.
You click a button, boom, blurry background.
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One of the mass improvements that you just see right outta
the gate is the flip out screen to the side.
So, instead of having a Sony flip up screen,
you have a Sony to the side swing,
which makes it easier to see yourself.
For me, I've always used a side flip
so it makes it really nice when I'm vlogging
to be in the setting so that if I put anything
on top of the camera, I don't have to worry
about it blocking the screen.
One other thing that Sony has done
that a lot of other camera companies don't even think about
is all the ports are on the other side
so when you flip out your screen
and you put in a microphone or an HDMI
or your power, you can go twist this screen around
and you're never gonna hit any ports.
That for me is a huge upgrade
because it's just one thing that camera companies fail
to think about when they're making cameras.
(light music)
The sun is just about to rise,
I just got up to the ridge line,
you can see it right there, boom, that is bright.
So, with this camera you do get stabilization,
however, it does come at a little bit of a cost.
It does punch in on the footage slightly.
So, now this is with the stabilization turned off.
You can see how much more shaky the footage is.
I just wanna show you a side-by-side comparison.
Here is with the stabilization turned on
and here is with it turned off.
You can see how much of a punch in there is
on your footage and because this lens
is a 24 to 70 equivalent,
you're really losing out on some of that width
when you turn on the steady shot,
however, you really do kind of need that on
if you're shooting in this mode
where you're walking and talking.
If it's off, as you can see, it's pretty shaky.
And I have it on a selfie stick,
I'm not just hand holding this camera.
If I did switch over to handheld,
this is just holding it with the nice grips
that they give you,
then you can see how much shakier it is.
It's a tiny camera, it's gonna shake around
if you don't have some way to stabilize it
so you are gonna need to use the stabilization
that they give you,
which means that you're gonna lose out
a little bit on the width.
Okay, so from here, we're going all the way up here,
over to there, and then you can't really see it,
but there's a peak way out there
which has a view of all a this.
We're gonna see if these clouds clear off
and we actually get an awesome morning
where you can see the entire Santa Monica Bay.
So, we have to talk about this product showcase.
When you put a product in front of your camera,
it snaps to that object and then goes back to your face.
It's another automation just like the defocus.
You can set it to C2, that's what it comes native
on this camera, but anything you put in front
of the camera, boom, it locks in the focus,
and then switches back to your face.
The idea is that a lot of creators end up talking
about products and they end up throwing things
in front of the camera and so instead of doing
the whole hand thing to try and get the focus,
I guess that's like a whole thing in the beauty world,
but instead of doing this,
you can just put a product, and boom, it locks focus.
And it's really cool.
Basically it tracks your face
and then any object that comes in front of your face,
it's gonna lock focus to it
and if you are a creator who does a lot of these products
and you're always putting stuff in front of camera,
it's great 'cause you really just don't even have
to think about your focus, it just works.
One thing you have to remember,
if you're using product showcase,
it turns off your steady shot.
I just turned it off, you can see it punches in
a little bit, steady shots back on.
Let's talk about auto focus.
So, this camera has advanced auto focus,
real-time tracking, eye AF.
So, when you're shooting, you really just don't have
to think about your focus.
I never really played around with manual focus
at all on this camera,
I don't even know if it's a thing to be honest,
but the auto focus just works so well,
everything you point at you're gonna have in focus
and whenever you put a face, when your face tracking is on,
boom, it's gonna lock to your face.
They've really optimized this camera for creators
so you just don't have to think about things.
(light music)
We need to talk about the battery on this camera.
So, I found that you basically only get
about an hour worth of recording time
so you're gonna need to have three to four batteries
if you're not charging your camera throughout the day.
All right, so while we're waiting for the battery charge
because I only have one,
let's talk about the slow motion on this camera.
So, you can do 120 frames per second,
but what's really cool is you can do 240, 480, and 960.
So, you can really slow down your footage
to get that dreamy quality.
Now, keep in mind, when you're shooting
in these super high frame rates,
you can only do it in burst mode.
So, you only get a few seconds and then it stops
and it has to process that footage.
However, if you're using it wisely,
you can get some really cool looking shots
by just doing a burst of slow motion here and there.
Now, I wanted to try this camera out
in a non-vlog style setting.
So, I put it on my Gimbal and I went out
with my buddy, Travis Elliot, and we shot
a couple yoga flows.
So, we were able to get two, 25-minute takes
on one battery and I was able
to shoot the entire time without the camera overheating.
So, if you wanna see the full takes
that I did with Travis,
I'll put links down in the description
to his channel and you can see how this camera performs
and how the auto focus works over a long period of time
when it's on a Gimbal.
We are back in action.
I brought along a battery pack.
Cool thing about this camera is that you can record
and use it while you're plugged in and it will charge.
So, if you are someone
who does something like live streaming,
you have three ports on the side.
You have your power port, a multi-port,
you have an HDMI port, and then you have an audio in.
So, you could really use this camera
in a ton of different settings whether you are
just run and gun shooting
and you carry some batteries around
or you want this in your studio.
I have tested this camera out in my studio
and it works great.
You can plug in audio, can plug in power,
can also plug in an HDMI and see yourself
on a bigger screen.
Okay, so we got to the top,
but now we have to traverse all the way over
to where that kinda puff is out in the distance.
One thing with this camera is you do have internal ND.
So, when you flip it on, you get sunglasses
on the camera to a degree.
Right now my ND is on and I have the defocus turned on.
Can't really tell that shallowed up the field
because of my distance, however, it's gonna shoot up
the shutter speed because the ND isn't super strong
in this camera.
So, if you really wanna get that double
that your frame rate look where you get proper motion blur,
then you're gonna have to use external NDs
to be able to bring down your shutter speed.
However, there's no way to screw on ND filters
on this camera.
So, I actually found a solution.
You get these little magnets and it adds
a little magnetic ring around your lens
and then you can pop on these little tiny ND filters.
This is the look when you have high shutter speed,
you get some jitter in your frame.
It's not the end of the world.
It still will work great.
I know a lot of creators aren't gonna care about that,
but, hopefully, on version two of this camera
they put in a screw in filter
or add more ND so when you are shooting
in bright sunlight, you can have proper motion blur.
Just one request from me at least.
Sony's put a few things in this camera
that really is geared towards shooting yourself,
so, this kind of setup.
One of them is an auto exposure setting
that focuses more on your face.
So, it takes your face into account versus the background
and it's gonna expose for your face,
versus if this is a super bright background,
cameras typically will wanna expose for that,
but this camera caters more towards focusing on your face.
Also, there is a smooth skin effect
that they've put in here.
Now, I have it on throughout this entire video
and it's not crazy softening,
but it's enough to make your face look a little bit better.
Sony's goal with this camera is to make you look better
versus just exposing for the entire scene.
There's a lot of emphasis in making sure
that your face looks good on camera.
(light music)
So, overall this hike was pretty anticlimactic
because, you know, not the best view in the world,
but hey, it's a great hike if you're ever
in the Santa Monica Mountains.
I highly suggest just coming up here
and coming to this hike.
So, but let's talk about this camera.
It's a good camera.
I think there's a lot of creators
that are really gonna find the automation features
in this camera super useful
in your content creation process.
Is it perfect?
No.
But, I think if you work within the limitations
this camera has, then, you can get a good looking image
and it's super easy to create content
and that's the most important part.
With enhanced auto focus and the ability
to create your own custom looks
for the color profiles, it's great.
I think if you are a content creator
and you want a small, point and shoot style camera,
this would be a good option for you.
(light music)