Sony has been making impressive strides with its mirrorless range of digital cameras in recent years, becoming a sought-after piece of kit among content creators in particular, so much so that the company has now released a full-frame camera aimed squarely at vloggers.
The ZV-E1 is Sony’s smallest full-frame camera to date, and with it, you can shoot video at a breathtaking resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels, or 4k, with a frame rate of 60fps. Then, via a magic-free license you can obtain from Sony online, the ZV-E1’s frame rate can be increased to a whopping 4k/120fps. Oddly, not all countries qualify for this feature so if you buy your camera outside of South Africa, beware.
Now, before you get distracted by the next article on NAG, the reason why the Sony ZV-E1 is such an impressive camera is that it has the same sensor as the much more expensive Sony Alpha A7S III. At R40,000 the Sony ZV-E1 is still a pricey camera, but as content creators grow their business, upgrading to better tools is a very important step, and this camera fills a very important gap. Let me explain. If you are on a quest to create good-looking videos, you will, at some point, face a critical decision: Do you upgrade to a pro-level 4k shooter that may or may not wipe out your funds? Traditionally, that barrier hovered around the R60,000 to R70,000 price range. With this camera, Sony has lowered that barrier completely.
The body design of the Sony ZV-E1 is much more compact than the cameras that come before it. The camera has a flip-out screen, and the box includes a little dead cat so that you can pull a Neistat move and vlog like a pro. There’s not actually a dead cat in the box; that’s just a term used to describe the fluffy cover you put over a microphone to dampen wind noise.
Everything about this camera is aimed at creating video content. Most functions are automated, so you don’t have to worry about exposure or focus. The latter of which is pretty well executed on this camera. While the Sony ZV-E1 can take photos, it certainly is not a photo-first camera, and you don’t have access to as many cool manual features as would you expect from the more expensive cameras in the range, including a viewfinder.
What you do get is a very powerful camera that is excellent at shooting video with a really impressive microphone array that allows you to record audio from all angles or just one. The autofocus blew me away not only with its speed but also accuracy. With every shot, the camera seems to know exactly what the main subject is and even manages multiple subjects in the frame with ease. I was very happy to see that the ZV-E1 even compensates the exposure accordingly.
Image stabilisation is another area where this camera excels. I also found the image stabilisation of the Sony ZV-E1 to be excellent, and doing shots while walking and even running looked pretty smooth. There is also a feature called Creative Zoom that allows you to digitally zoom up to 1.5x at 4k without losing image quality. The same feature let’s you zoom up 4.0x digitally without losing image quality. Impressive!
The lens we received, along with the camera body, is the Sony FE 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G OSS Lens (E Mount), which offers a nice wide angle for shooting yourself on the move and you have a solid zoom range for shooting b-roll for your latest viral hit.
In terms of connectivity, port and memory, there’s a single UHS-II SD slot card slot alongside a USB 3.2 Gen 2 port that can be used to charge and connect this camera to your PC for live streaming. There’s also an HDMI port, a microphone and a headphone port. In terms of wireless connectivity, there is Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support built into the Sony ZV-E1.
Considering the camera’s intended audience and the size of the camera body, I was not surprised to see that the ZV-E1 cannot handle 4K video recording for too long. This camera is really meant to shoot shorter clips than long continuous shots. This is due to the heat dissipation of the camera sensor. After about 30 minutes or so, shooting at its highest resolution the camera will overheat. At lower resolution this problem disappears completely, and you can shoot much longer in 1080p. This could also limit its use as a streaming camera as the same rules apply, unlike the more expensive cameras in the Sony range, the ZV-E1 is just not built for shooting 4k, hours on end.
For my purposes as a content creator, this posed less of an issue to me as it could to someone shooting interviews for example. Shooting 4k video within that 30-minute cap is still achievable, and I was able to keep the camera rolling on longer shots like time-lapsed PC builds with no problem at all.
At R40,000, I was really happy to finally have access to a camera that can get the high-end jobs done without breaking the bank. If you are a passionate content creator who is ready to take your videography to the next level, the Sony ZV-E1 could be the perfect stepping stone to get those beautiful shots done. The sensor creates beautiful shots even in low light conditions without introducing much noise into the picture. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to submit an expense form to get the Sony ZV-E1 into the NAG studio.