Sony ZV-1 –How Far Does One Inch Reach?

0:00 Intro
0:31 Disclaimer
0:45 Travel camera
1:23 Handling
1:59 Exposure modes
2:57 Size
3:37 Lens
4:26 Autofocus
4:57 Image quality
5:56 Battery life
6:33 No lens memory
7:55 No step zoom
8:53 No viewfinder
9:13 Power up
9:50 Weather sealing
10:41 Is it any good
11:19 conclusion

My camera gear, these are affiliate links to Amazon:

👕Get something to wear and support my channel at the same time👕

My name is Matti Sulanto, I'm a photographer based in Helsinki Finland.

[walkingmanvideo]

Phew, I was hoping someone on the planet was using a ZV-1 for photography. Thanks for making this Matti!

[xan-ellis]

I bought the ZV-1 when it first came out for video and HATED it. I sent it back within a week. The colors looked awful to me then two years went by and I saw some old photos I'd taken with it and realized it wasn't the camera that sucked it was my use of it. I bought my 2nd ZV-1 last year and it now goes with me daily alongside my GH5M2 and I've taken some of my favorite photos on it.

[gruntaxeman]

Had to add list of amazing things what this camera can do:

1. You can shoot short 5.5k 24fps without sound using continous shoot when you got fast memory card. Full sensor without cropping, all frames separately so there is very little of compression.
2. Camera has feature to shoot 5 frames fast with small delay. Stacking and blending those manually, in static scene with optical image stabilization it is possible to make superresolution photo. Even without tripod.
3. 8-bit recording does not prevent this camera for making shots to post process color grade, with high dynamic range. Trick is to shoot using HLG with Rec709 matrix. 4K video can actually soften a bit and possible downscale and making color calculations 16-bit/per channel, that footage can be graded very nicely.
4. ZV-1 can be used on VFX. If I recall it can shoot video 24, 25, 30, 50, 60, 100, 120, 200, 240, 400, 480, 800, 960 frames per second. There is plenty of choice for miniatures. And when making slowmo, frame interpolation in postprocess but having shutter angle to match higher framerate works well to opimize slow motion shot fidelity. Also 1" sensor noise level and 8-bit colors does not matter in CGI as path tracing is more noisy anyways in low light/indoor shots and also ready CGI assets are anyways sRGB, and noise level from CGI can match noise level from camera. So less contrast between CGI/camera footage.
5. When shooting stills, 1" sensor bokeh can be enhanced using post process. There is enough shallow depth of field that this is possible. Just shooting keeping target sharp, and increase bokeh later if required.
6. When shooting movie, 4K and active stabilization crops image. That can be used to get bokeh by shooting lower focal length to get equal FOV.
7. 35mm equivalent focal length can be used in macro photography.
8. Autofocus is so good that this is first camera ever that can be used without focus ring. Also using touch screen to change focus point can used to make perfect focus pulls.
9. 4K footage is enough to make digital zooms in post process.
10. Light weight makes it easy to stabilize with one hand gimbal. With optical stabilization and active stabilization it is possible to make smooth push and pulls with gimbal.

So shortly, I've never seen before camera that is more versatile. It can handle almost everything while not having best fidelity, so little sacrificing from fidelity ZV-1 + small gimbal + post processing software makes this to very good value, content creation gear. Sadly ZV-1 II seems to be downgrade for this and Sony doesn't realize that it is the versatility what is the value of this camera.

[JohannesDalen]

Just bought this used for what feels like nothing, especially after buying a few FF lenses for other cameras!

The size of this thing is why I got it. It's not one or the other, but I would rather have a "bad"/lesser quality photo than no photo at all. Carrying a big camera around gets boring fast, that's my experience.

[notunderlabel]

Melaka is my place 🥰 thanks coming here 😊

[punchmonc]

The only thing I dislike on the ZV-1 that made me go with the RX100 models was the autofocus and control dial on the lens ring. RX100 has better autofocus and being able to swap quickly between settings using the lens ring makes it much better for street photography for me. To achieve the same swapping between settings like aperture or EVF on the ZV-1, you’ll need to go into the menus which wastes time. If photos are your concern and you can afford an RX100, definitely go with that.

[nicoletiana]

I had this camera a year ago and i loved it. I ended up returning it bc at that time i got too caught up with my day job that i didn't have time to film. I repurchased this camera along with the Joby tripod and i can't wait to film content using it again!!!

[TommyMartin]

My ZV1 is my most used camera. I have numerous other cameras. It is so nice to have that much flexibility in such a convenient size. The photo quality is really good but thevideo quality is great on it as well.

[kevinsim]

Hi Matti, I've been a fan of your Youtube channel for some time.

The "zoom lens memory" is embedded in the Memory Recall function. There are 3 memory slots onboard the camera, and 4 memory slots on SD card.

My personal settings are:

M1 - for low light scenarios. Use Highlight Metering and set shutter speeds between s1/8 to s1/15. Set Auto ISO between 80-1600. Set Auto Exposure between -0.3 to -1.0

M2 - this is my 35mm setting in Manual Mode at s1/200 for sharp images and f/5. Choose an aperture somewhere in the middle so it's easy to adjust exposure. Note that the crop factor on the ZV-1 is 2.7

M3 is my 50mm setting in Manual Mode at s1/200 and f/5.

Given that the ZV-1 opens up the zoom lens at 24mm equivalent, and max at 70 mm equivalent, I only need to save focal lengths in Memory Recall at 35mm and 50mm.

Pro-tip: if you are using AF-C focus mode, marry with Focus Area - Tracking Expand Flexible-Spot

[petergrumann]

I use it with the dedicated smallrig cage with a nice wooden grip. This adds much better stabilisation and handling. Very nice pictures! Thank you.

[jensz]

I know the video is a year old, but you really went over the specs on this camera in depth and highlighted strengths and weaknesses without any bias.

Your video was really helpful in me deciding whether to get the camera or not. Thanks

[SuchanBajracharya]

I have a Sony RX100 V and RX0 II, both 1 inch little monster. 90% of the time, when I share and compare the footage coming out of it and my fullframe setup, the viewers pick the look of these 1-inch cameras. I think these pocket cameras have serious potential in hassle free run and gun style videography. The dynamic range is surprisingly good, too!

[Mraz]

Had this camera but never took my time to understand it due to its menu system. Now i bought ZV-1 M2. This time i am going to take my time to learn the camera’s potentials. I love sony’s new touch menu feature and has made it easy to dwell deeper into the camera capability.😊

[feklee]

I have the same cam, shooting it in raw, and editing with ACR. I'm very happy with the IQ. Lately I have been using it for photogrammetry (3D scans). For that, I set it to f = 9.4mm, f/5.6, 1/125 s, manual focus. I got some excellent results.

[gruntaxeman]

Best feature of the camera is the design: It is swiss army knife. It can be used almost every situation but in compact form and moving the work to post process.

[marcomarcon]

I own it, and the ratio is unparalleled. It's a superb, possibly the best, second camera on the market, especially as it excels at both stills and video. If I have it with me, I much prefer it to my flagship smartphone, although the latter has an ultrawide angle lens and is better when absolute stealth is required. But being so tiny is never a problem to carry it in my bag.

[nikko]

This is my very first camera and this vlog convinced me to buy zv 1 vs. Rx100 mark V. I love it. Til I am polluted suddenly by fuji x100vi. I wanna buy, watched tons of review, but everytime I watch this vlog, this reminds me to be faithful to what I bought and hone my photography skills instead. Thank you.❤ watched this tons of times.

[leomannisto]

ZV-1 on kyllä aivan uskomaton videokamerana. Näköjään myös valokuviin. Laajakulmalisäkkeen ja pienen dronen kanssa on kyllä mahtava paketti tehdä videoita ja kuvia joka ei riko selkää eikä lompakkoa.

Ainoa mitä kaipaan, olisi yksi kustomoitava nappi lisää.

[sarah_eduron]

Thank you for this video! I'm having a lot of doubts with my purchase but I honestly love the photos I have taken with it!

[furbage]

Nice breakdown, thanks! Regarding your frustrations with the zoom (both power-on default and stepless issues), I found that when you save a memory recall (MR) mode, it does also save the currently-set focal length setting. So you can get quick-ish, reliable switching to a specific focal length that way.