There has been a lot of hype around the Sony ZV-1. For video content creators in particular, there has been a lot of anticipation in the lead up to the release date. The ZV-1 was being marketed more towards video creators rather than photographers, due to the plethora of new video features it includes. We’ll get to the nitty gritty a little later in the blog, but for now, I’m going to run through my experience with it.

Sony was kind enough to send us the model to have a play around with, and if you’re a bit of a photography nerd like myself, you’ll know how exciting it is when you get to test out a new product. Taking it out of the box, the first thing I noticed was how compact it is. But despite the small body, it looks and feels super sturdy. It’s not heavy, but it’s got enough weight to it that it doesn’t feel flimsy, which can sometimes be a downfall of compact cameras. Just by holding it, it feels as though it would be a great accompaniment on an outdoor adventure, or to take travelling.

I decided to take the camera out into the sunshine to give it a quick test run, and one of the features I noticed straight away was its macro capabilities. Considering this isn’t a dedicated macro lens, it produced some really high-quality images, which really surprised me.

The second thing I noticed was the smoothness of the video footage. There is nothing worse than watching a video where the footage jerks and jolts around and gives you a bit of motion sickness. Even when I took this on a bushwalk and filmed, the video the camera produced was incredibly smooth and stable. Additionally, the colors that this model produce are stunning, with the camera really capturing the vibrancy of your surroundings. There was no time wasted on fussing around setting up the camera or figuring out how to use it. It was so straight forward and was a lot of fun to shoot with.

I was amazed with how clear the video came out. I’ve only ever recorded footage on my DSLR, so have never recorded 4k before. It doesn’t even look like a video, it looks as though you are actually there walking through the bush. You can watch all the footage I recorded from the day here.

So, onto a bit more detail about the camera. One of the main features Sony have been focusing on is the 4K full HD video capabilities. To put it simply, 4K video is high-definition video that has four times the resolution of 1080 HD video. This means the footage you record will be crystal clear, which is extremely beneficial if you are a serious vlogger or content creator, or just want to get the most out of your efforts.

The camera boasts a f/1.8 24-70mm lens, which gives you the ability to capture wide angle and close shots. The high aperture is ideal for recording in low light situations, and still allows for high-quality results.

The vari-angle LCD flipping screen is another feature that vloggers will love. It allows you to record yourself in selfie-mode and see every detail of the shot. The screen is also surprisingly big, considering how small the camera is, so you can very easily see what you are recording and it’s no fuss to get the right angle.

This one is possibly the most enticing features; the limitless recording time. Previously, some models had a 29:59-minute recording limit, but that has been scrapped with this model. As long as the battery lasts is how long you can shoot for, so it gives you quite a bit of freedom. When I was out shooting, I had the movie mode going on and off for a couple of hours, and there was still a lot of battery left, so there is room for quite a bit of content.

Even though this camera is so small, is certainly packs a punch. It is light enough to be super easy to take out shooting for a full day, but the robustness and sturdiness of it give you the confidence that it can handle an adventure. Sony has really upped the compact camera game with the ZV-1, and I think that vloggers and videographers will really love this one.