Sony Vlog camera ZV-1 | Digital Camera (Vari-angle Screen for Vlogging, 4K Video) ZV1BC- Black

I bought this as soon as it was released to replace my Canon M50 which was a camera I loved but I needed something lighter and more compact. I've very impressed with the image quality and the plethora of features the ZV-1 has and on the whole I am very pleased with it. It's not without it's faults however and in my opinion, and depending on your style of use, it does need some customisation and accessories to make the most of it. I have added a Small Rig cage which allows you to mount other items to the camera with ease and also means you can open the battery/SD card door without needing to remove the tripod if you are using one. I also occasionally use an external mic but in all honesty this really isn't necessary as the built in mic really is very very good and of course keeps the footprint low when travelling. It also gives you a better grip with the camera. In early 2021 Sony updated the firmware which allows you to use the camera as a webcam (both image and sound - yey!) however you really should use a dummy battery connected to 5v power source as I've found that if you use the battery and connect to power the battery will still drain. I would also recommend a spare battery or two. The batteries are tiny and really don't last long with heavy use. Finally I've ordered the ULANZI 18mm wide angle lens which attaches via an adhesive mount you screw the lens into. This opens up the field of view a little and very useful. The main negatives on this camera (which can mostly be sorted with accessories) are the narrow field of view, the poor battery life, the placement of the battery/sd door (not an issue if you use the camera handheld) and the image stabilisation whilst 'good' simply cannot compared to say a modern iPhone/GoPRo/DJi Osmo Action. (I have a Zhiyun Crane M2 gimbal for this). Finally the screen isn't a full touch screen, you can only touch to focus or track an object. Overall a great camera that can suit many different needs from point and shoot, to vlogging, to zoom/teams meetings, one camera to rule them all! Despite it's slight niggles worthy of a 5 star rating. Having said all this however, I recommend you watch some guides to make the most of it and to help navigate and understand Sony's ridiculously over complicated menu system. It's well worth spending the time understanding this and also customising the cameras buttons for your most used features.

Edit, my original review is below which is untouched. It still is good. However, I decided the camera is hampered by not having a large enough field of view. This is solved with the addition of the Ulanzi wide angle lens. Using the wide angle lens and a small gimbal like the Crane M2/ M3 is a superb setup with active stabilisation off, but the Ulanzi lens makes it much better even with active stabilisation on. So maybe budget to also buy the lens, which also makes the camera heavier and a bit bigger, although it’s still small. Original review: I have a Panasonic G9 and a thousand pound worth of lenses for that which shoots sublime video and has amazing stabilisation. However, it’s a pain to lug around, particularly when on holiday. So whilst it’s a fantastic pro level camera, I often was not using it as I simply couldn’t be bothered lugging it around. I wanted a smaller, compact and easier to transport camera that was more unobtrusive. There’s no perfect camera on the market. The Canon G7X Mk2 only does 1080. The Mk3 is slated for all sorts of issues. Sony has just brought out a new APC ZV, but you need to buy a lens, it’s larger with the lenses on, and it has rolling shutter issues. Having carefully weighed up all the options, I picked this. I am very pleased. The autofocus is outstanding (something that couldn’t be said of my G9), and in fact is as good as the latest £3000 Sony full frame. That is saying something on a camera of this size. The stabilisation is OK. Could be better, and it crops in on the full strength setting. There is something called Catalyst Browse, which is free to download to the PC/ Mac, and used the camera’s data to stabilise the image in post. This works really well, but only really at high frame rates, and videographers will know you like to set a 180 degree shutter speed, which basically means twice the frame rate- so 50 or 60 on this when filming 4K 24, 25 or 30 fps (unfortunately it doesn’t do 4K 60fps) which isn’t really a fast enough shutter speed for Catalyst Browse to work at its best. So if you want to use catalyst browse, be prepared to shoot at higher shutter speeds, which isn’t the end of the world if you upload to YouTube. Or just use the inbuilt stabilisation carefully or stick on a gimbal. The customisation options on the camera are amazing for something like this- again just as you will find on the high end Sony full frame ( older style menu). This means an amateur could feel quite overwhelmed if delving into the menus, but the more experienced will appreciate this. Fortunately the run and gun shooter is well catered for, by just leaving it on auto, but you won’t quite get the top end results you could get by setting it all up manually and shooting in HLG Log profile for example. Then again, I’ve been doing stuff like this for years, and then it all needs editing correctly in post- I just don’t have the time so will probably just shoot on standard with a 180 shutter speed most of the time. 4K footage looks great. I have noticed that even in cloudy light outside I have to apply the built in ND filter when shooting with the aperture wide open and shutter speed at 60. The ND filter is a welcome addition (this is basically sunglasses for your camera so you can keep the aperture open wider in lighter conditions to get the blurred backgrounds) but not strong enough in bright sunlight to mean I still don’t have to close the aperture a bit. You can buy a unofficial stick on 52mm thread, and add a wide angle lens ( I may not bother as I don’t Vlog, which is where it improves the camera to give more space in shot) or add on a variable, stronger ND filter which I may well get. Make sure you buy extra batteries. It isn’t bad but you need at least 2 spare, and you can pick up an unofficial charger and 3 batteries for around £20 on Amazon. Overall, I’m delighted with this tool, and will lose it a lot. I also got the Sony handgrip free with mine. Maybe it’s not worth £130 but it is an extremely nice tripod and Bluetooth controller, very high quality and I am very pleased with that too.

After comparing the ZV-1 to the G7X MKiii, We brought this to supplement the main camera on our YouTube channel. The video quality is so high that we now use it as our main camera. It is a tiny pocket rocket of a camera. The autofocus is amazing, the colours are good and 4k image is great and the audio means we no longer use an external mic. Cons stabilisation is only OK, plastic build quality - although glad the money has gone on the insides, unlike the G7x MKiii that looks and feels good, but performs badly. If you are looking for a compact VLOG camera, this is the one to buy.

Been using this camera for just shy of a year now, originally intended to be a 'b cam' to my main Canon dslr but it has instead become my main workhorse given the extra features it offers (particularly the slow motion mode). Despite the 20mp sensor being smaller than many other camera in the same price bracket, the quality it outputs at is fantastic, and ideal for social media being viewed on phones (it's only when you start blowing it up that the picture quality difference is noticeable). The zoom lens from Zeiss is fantastic too and perfect for most situations. It can shoot raw and slog2/3 modes too so can be suitable for more professional creators and is so small, it fits in jacket pockets easily. A few frustrating downsides however that lead me to the 4/5 rather than 5/5: 1) the socket for attaching a wrist strap is too small for third party (e.g. peak design) wrist straps and needs to be something very thin to fit through the gap 2) the battery life is quite disappointing. I primarily use it for video so it's to be expected but I'll be lucky if it lasts more than 1.5 hours from a full charge. It also seems to lose battery quite quickly even when not in use as there will be occasions where I've charged it after a shoot, left it for a week and then it'll need charged again within 10 minutes of use. On the whole however, I thoroughly recommend this camera, and would argue its superior to the later version as the video functionality is the same and I feel the zoom lens offers more versatility.

So first off, you should 100% check the plethora of reviews on YouTube to find out about image quality and see sample videos etc. I'll just give my opinion on a few key things that you might want to know before buying this camera, that maybe aren't covered on YouTube. - The screen folds onto the back of the camera, either with the screen facing in or the screen facing out. That means you can keep it protected while it's in your pocket or bag, which is a massive plus point for me - As of mid-July, Sony is releasing software so you can use this camera as a webcam via micro USB, which I hadn't seen mentioned in most reviews, but sounds really useful, looking forward to using that - The 3/4" tripod connector under the camera is super close to the battery cover, so if you use a tripod or selfie stick, or even just have a quick-release attached, you'll need to remove this to take the battery out, which is super annoying, and one of the very few negatives with this camera - There's a mode where you can take photos while recording videos - it only saves these as JPG files but it's really useful to be able to quickly snap a shot while filming - The camera can be charged at a faster rate than it uses power - this means that you can plug a USB power bank in and completely power the camera even when the battery has gone down to 0%. Super handy if you run out of power and need to immediately use it again Hopefully that covers some of the less known features, but I'll add to this review later if anything else comes up through using the camera. Very pleased with it so far though, and I'd recommend it. 👇🏻 If you find this review helpful, please click the helpful button below!

Absolutely love my video camera, using it to make YouTube videos and it’s super easy to use for a YouTube novice like me. The best bit is the rotating flip out screen so I can film vertically or horizontally for reels and videos. It’s super compact and portable, high quality video, image and sound, and I wouldn’t be without it! 100% recommend.

Bought this to start video logging family holidays and the picture quality is amazing for video and picture . Would highly recommend recommend even if the videos are for personal use only.

Excellent

fotoğraf ve video kalitesi harika. otomatikte kullanılırsa görüntüsü benim zevkime göre fazla kontrastlı, creative style seçeneklerinden ya standart ya da portreyi seçerek kontrastı -2 ya da -3 seçiyorum ya da videoyu HLG3 ile çekiyorum sonra final cut’da SDR’a çeviriyorum color correction yapmak için. 4k video 1080p’ye göre çok daha detaylı, 1080p video nedense biraz normalden kalitesiz ancak youtube gibi platformlara yüklemeyi düşünüyorsanız hiç anlaşılmaz zaten video yüklenirken kalite her türlü düşüyor. en yüksek 4k 30 kare yapabiliyor, 1080p ile 120 kare’ye kadar çıkabiliyosunuz HFR modu kullanmadan. HFR ile 960/1000 kareye kadar çıkılıyor farklı çözünürlüklerde. elinizde kesinlikle en az 2 batarya olması lazım çünkü şarjı sadece bir saat aralıksız video kaydına dayanabiliyor. yeni çıkan ZV-1F ile bunu karşılaştırmanıza çok gerek yok o kamera bunun çok altında (tek artısı daha geniş açı lensi, ama optik zoom yok). autofocus zaten akıl almaz derecede iyi (canon g7x yerine bunu seçmemin sebebi bu)

Stabilizacja ? Brak - bez gimbala za 2k nie ma co podchodzić do zakupu zv-1 dla celów innych niż na statywie. Szkoda

Ho comprato questa sony perché avevo bisogno di una buona camera per registrare le mie recensioni su Youtube. Avevo sopratutto l'esigenza di una camera che registrasse con un ottima qualità, che fosse compatta, e sopratutto che avesse un ottimo autofocus. Ho trovato tutto questo nella Sony Zv-1, e infatti ho preordinato l'articolo, testandolo e provandolo per più di un mese. Devo dire il prezzo di 800€ è per me giustissimo, questa fotocamera da la possibilità di fare tutto e in modo egregio. Le foto sono belle, i video hanno tantissime tarature (4k 25 30; Full hd 30 60 100 120 fps). Le funzionalità sono anch'esse tantissime, basta citare le principali; Eyes Tracking, Product Showcase, Effetto Boke. Tutte funzionanti alla perfezione e sopeatutto Eyes tracking lavora con una precisione impressionante. Consiglierei questa Fotocamera a tutti coloro che hanno bisogno di qualcosa adatta un pó per tutto, che vi permetta di divertirvi e di non svuotare più di tanto il portafoglio. La consiglierei a coloro che la usano prevalentemente per i video che sono il suo punto forte, ma anche pee coloro che si divertono e si perdono tra la marea di modalità di scatto e di ripresa.

Such an amazing camera!

Als passionierter Reiseblogger, der seit Jahren auf YouTube aktiv ist, habe ich mit der Sony Vlog-Kamera ZV-1 einen wahren Schatz entdeckt. Diese Kamera ist mehr als nur ein Werkzeug – sie ist ein treuer Begleiter auf all meinen Abenteuern. Bildqualität: Selbst bei schwierigen Lichtverhältnissen liefert die ZV-1 beeindruckende Ergebnisse. Die Fähigkeit der Kamera, auch in dunklen Umgebungen klare und lebendige Bilder zu erfassen, ist bemerkenswert und ein entscheidender Vorteil für Aufnahmen bei Sonnenuntergängen oder in schattigen Landschaften. Stabilisierung: Hier zeigt die ZV-1 ihre wahre Stärke. Die integrierte Stabilisierung sorgt dafür, dass meine Videos auch bei Bewegung glatt und professionell aussehen. Dies ist besonders auf Reisen, wo man oft aus der Hand filmt, unverzichtbar. Dreh- und klappbares Display: Das seitlich klappbare und drehbare Display ist ein Game-Changer. Es ermöglicht mir, die Kameraeinstellungen im Blick zu behalten und gleichzeitig zu sehen, was ich filme – ideal für meine Zwecke. Videoqualität: Einfach top. Die ZV-1 macht sehr gute Videoaufnahmen. Die Farbwiedergabe und Schärfe sind beeindruckend und geben meinen Videos einen professionellen Touch. Nachdem meine erste ZV-1 leider kaputtging (meine Schuld), habe ich ohne Zögern die gleiche Kamera erneut gekauft. Auf meinen Reisen hat sie schon Wüsten, Meere, Höhlen und sogar einige Stürze miterlebt und alles klaglos überstanden. Preis-Leistung: Unschlagbar. Ich habe viele Kameras ausprobiert, aber für diesen Preis bietet keine andere Kamera eine vergleichbare Kombination aus Qualität, Funktionalität und Robustheit. Die Kompaktheit der ZV-1 ist dabei ein riesiger Vorteil – sie ist leicht und einfach zu handhaben, ideal für unterwegs. Natürlich macht meine Sony a7 IV technisch bessere Aufnahmen, aber sie ist für viele meiner Reiseaktivitäten einfach zu sperrig und wertvoll. In solchen Fällen ist die ZV-1 die perfekte Wahl – kompakt, robust und leistungsfähig.