The new Sony ZV-1 Vlog camera specifically targets the growing market segment of content creators and vloggers on the Internet. It has become increasingly easier to create all sort of interesting content using your smartphone, and Sony is creating the ZV-1 as a dedicated Vlog camera to cash in on this popular trend.

Sony has taken the popular RX100 V and repurposed it with a few important design changes as the Sony ZV-1. The ZV-1 features 20.1MP resolution on a 1-inch sensor. Like the RX100 V, it is not a mirrorless camera (since the lens is not interchangeable) but a compact camera with a fixed zoom lens. The lens has a 2.7x optical zoom with a 24-70mm (equiv.) wide-angle to portrait range, and a fast F1.8-2.8 aperture. At the back, the 3-inch 921K-dot Touchscreen LCD is Vari-angle (i.e. fully-articulating) and can, of course, face forward for selfies.

Sony ZV-1

If you wonder why Sony cameras have become so popular, the reason can be traced back to this one technology feature: Eye AF tracking that works admirably well, period. This single feature means that you just have to lock onto your subject’s eye once and forget about ever having blurred images again. Though other camera brands also tout their Eye AF, none can claim Sony’s level of precision and persistent “glue factor.” The ZV-1 features that Eye AF tracking.

But what happens when you want to show your audience something, say a product? You do want the camera to smoothly and automatically switch focus from your eye to that product. The ZV-1 has a “Product Showcase Setting” that does just that by prioritizing nearby object, and performing a fast and precise focus transition from you to your featured product, and then back again to focusing on your face/eye when you remove the product from before the camera.

Sony ZV-1 Back View

Want to isolate your subject from the background for great bokeh effect? Press the conveniently-placed “Background Defocus” button on top of the camera and the camera will open the aperture to its maximum setting (from F1.8 to F2.8, depending on the focal length you are filming with) — no filter or digital effect here, but real optical defocusing. Opening up the aperture means more light comes in and might cause over exposure. No worry, because the camera will automatically adjust the ISO and even kick in the built-in 3 steps ND (neutral-density) filter to obtain correct exposure.

Video is recorded in 4K/30p, and slow-mo effects can be done in 1080/120p. Higher frame rates up to 960 fps can be shot at much lower (and upscaled) resolution. The video can be both optically and digitally image stabilized.

Sony ZV-1 Top View

The ergonomics of the ZV-1 has been tooled specifically for holding with your left hand outstretched before you, allowing you to easily start filming with a press of a large video button with the index finger and control the zooming with your thumb.

That fuzzy thing on top of the camera is not a microphone, but a “deadcat” windscreen placed on top of the directional three-capsule mic (by attaching onto the MI shoe) to cut out noise caused by windy conditions when shooting outdoors. If you need more professional sound recording, you can also attach an external microphone onto the MI shoe.

Sony ZV-1 with the optional Bluetooth wireless shooting grip GV-VPT2BT

Sony ZV-1 Technical Specs
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