Sony ZV1 Camera Price And Review: The Perfect Compact Camera For Vloggers

Aadhya Khatri

Sony ZV1 camera price and its launch is evidence of Sony’s decision that vlogging is big enough to need a camera dedicated to it

Sony ZV1 camera price and its launch is evidence of Sony’s decision that vlogging is big enough to need a camera dedicated to it. It can take photos but bear in mind that the camera is for those who mostly shoot videos of themselves.

Body And Handling

Sony ZV1 vlog camera is built on the RX100 V and overall, it’s quite a strange mix when it comes to technology.

The camera features a 1-inch 20.1MP sensor and a 24-70mm f/1.8-2.8mm lens. This translates to ease of use for vloggers but the camera doesn’t have the versatility of a mirrorless camera.

The camera features a 1-inch 20.1MP sensor and a 24-70mm f/1.8-2.8mm lens

However, the Sony ZV1 camera price affords you functions that are missing on more expensive cameras, including a built-in microphone with high quality, a muffler to reduce wind noise, and a microphone port. But the lack of a headphone port means that you will unable to hear anything while shooting.

There is no electronic viewfinder so you will have to rely on the display which, fortunately, is off to one side so that users can use a tripod and an external microphone simultaneously.

Sony ZV1 camera price affords you functions that are missing on more expensive cameras, including a built-in microphone with high quality, a muffler to reduce wind noise, and a microphone port

There is one problem here though. It’s impossible to see it if you are wearing a pair of polarized sunglasses lenses.

Paying for the Sony ZV1 camera price and an extra $150 and you will have the camera, a 64GB SD card, and a shooting grip. So what you can do is keeping the camera stable with the retractable legs as well as recording and zooming. Sony ZV1 accessories can become really handy in various situations.

Sony ZV1 accessories can become really handy in various situations

Much like other Sony cameras, the touch display is for setting a focus tracking point only so if you want to change something while shooting, you will have to reach for the wheel around the back. With Sony ZV1 camera price, it’s odd not to have a touch display with more functions.

Sony ZV1 isn’t waterproof so might want to think twice before bringing it outside when the weather is less than favorable.

Another odd feature is the absence of a USB-C port, making charging directly from the camera challenging.

Performance

Now it’s time to see with Sony ZV1 camera price, what you can expect from the camera.

The camera is fast enough for most vloggers’ needs but if you have short arms or a big head, its wideness will become a problem.

The camera is fast enough for most vloggers’ needs but if you have short arms or a big head, its wideness will become a problem

You will have both optical stabilization and electronic SteadyShot stabilization. The former is unable to smooth out jolts but the good thing is it doesn’t add crop while the latter is the exact opposite – it crops by 25% but it makes videos look super smooth.

The most exciting feature Sony ZV1 camera price can afford you is the autofocus which can track moving subjects as long as they remain distinctive from the background.

The camera offers almost perfect eye and face detection. It also has animal eye AF for wildlife and pets but the feature doesn’t work for videos.

Since many vloggers like to show products like makeup or phones, the Sony ZV1 has a function named “product showcase” just for the job. Basically, what it does is to switch focus to whatever you place in front of the camera, saving you the trouble of tapping on the screen.

Sony ZV1 camera price affords you another cool feature called background defocus. What it does is to make the video background looks like it has a soft bokeh.

Vloggers often shun the auto-exposure mode but it isn’t the case for this camera as it has a very competent face priority exposure setting which keeps the focus on your face stable.

Image Quality

The camera’s video quality is excellent with no jagged line or color fringing problem. The colors, especially skin tones, are more realistic.

The camera’s video quality is excellent with no jagged line or color fringing problem

For a camera with a small sensor and Sony ZV1 camera price, videos recorded in low light is usable to up to ISO 3200 and 6400, which is pretty respectable.

It’s worth pointing out in this Sony ZV1 review that the camera can take pictures too but no one should buy it for that ability due to the lack of an electronic viewfinder. So if you are considering Sony ZV1 vs Canon M50, keep this in mind as the latter can take better pictures.