Sony introduced a new series this year in its compact camera lineup with Sony ZV-1 (review). The camera is specially designed with the concern to put an ease on hardship  for vloggers, as it is equipped with features and that can help in vlogging activities for novice users. For the perfection of background defocus, it consists of compact body, dedicated buttons, and an articulating LCD. It is priced at Rs. 67,990, and brand has claimed it to be an important creation. Let’s find out in Sony ZV-1 camera review that it is worth the money or not.

ZV-1 Design: Sony ZV-1 Camera Review

The vloggers first choice is to utilize DSLR camera or mirrorless, but Sony has introduced a gadget with loaded advanced features and in a compact form factor. The dimensions are pretty similar to RX100 Vll digital camera of ZV-1. It weighs about 294g with memory card and battery, which is considered light. It is also designed in a way that could easily fit in your pocket. On the front, a small rubber is inserted, which plays a role of a mini hand grip, and there is also one at the back. With the help of the textured surface, it provides a good grip, and the outer body is built with plastics, but the quality felt solid. The upper part of the camera is designed with a three-capsule microphone, a series of buttons, and a hot shoe connector. The back of the camera also has series of buttons, but in a smaller size, which is a bit uncomfortable while using them.
The brand has shifted the movie record button from the back to the top, which makes it a friendly move for vlogging. It is also larger in the size, which makes it comfortable while recording. It consists of diffused, large red LED indicator at the front, next to the lens, and it helps in informing if the video is being recorded or not. On the right side of the camera, it features a micro USB port, micro HDMI port, and a 3.5 mm microphone input. And the ports are covered with the plastic flaps, but they are not weather sealed. In camera feature, you cannot find any electronic viewfinder; just a 3 inch LCD screen. In comparison to other Sony cameras, It is pretty clear in order to flip out the sideways and rotate up to 180 degrees.
The SD card and battery compartment is given on the bottom area with tripod mount. The battery tray is basically enlarged over tripod mount, which creates a problem in case you need to swap battery or SD cards in between the shoot because you have to dismount the camera from tripod. The ZV-1 is designed with Zeiss optics and fixed lens with a 2.7x optical zoom, focal range of 24 to 70mm (35 mm equivalent), and an aperture range of f/1.8- f/2.8. It has in-built neutral density filter to cut the exposure by few stops.
It works as a vlogging kit, which includes 64 GB SD card, GP-VPT2BT Bluetooth handgrip, and an extra battery. This kit was utilized for this Sony ZV-1 camera review.

Specifications and features: Sony ZV-1 Camera Review

It has 1-inch sensor with a resolution of 20.1 megapixel. There is hybrid stabilization for video, optical stabilization for stills, 425 contrast detection autofocus point, 315 phase detection autofocus point, and a burst capture of approx 24 frames per second while utilizing ‘Hi’ setting. For shooting of stills, it aleo has eye autofocus for animals and humans, but for video, it only works for humans. It has native ISO range of 100-12, 800, and only lower end can be expandable.
It is designed to support RAW image capture in its ARW format. It can shoot the video up to 4K at 30fps and also up to 1080p at  120fps. It also records ready to use slow motion videos up 1000fps. Given the price, it is quite appreciable that how the brand has not removed standard video modes. It has the system to support advanced profiles like S-Log 3, S-Log 2, and HLG.
It can be connected to your smartphone, and can take benefit from imaging edge mobile app. You can use the camera as a viewfinder, as it can be handled remotely. You can transfer the videos and images to your smartphone wirelessly. It is not equipped with NFC, but is designed with in-built Bluetooth and Wi Fi. There are some of thee new features of vlogging included in the gadget such as product showcase.
Performance: Sony ZV-1 Camera Review
This gadget is a quite fun one, and you can master it in really less time. It has mode button designed in it instead of dial, which makes cycling easy via various shoots. As a camera user, most of these modes must be familiar to you. It includes sweep panaroma, which  take multiple pictures in continuation mode, scene selection to adjust the parameters automatically, and some usual features like program and manual mode, aperture and shutter. The expectation was much bigger for rear buttons, but shutter and video recording buttons responded well.
In the context of vlogging camera, it was exciting to experience the features, and the output was amazing. The camera is light and east to handle with hand, which is appreciable due to its compact size. The Bluetooth handgrip can be used to connect the camera, and provides easy button options for shutter release, zoom, C1 shortcut, and video recording. You can lock the handgrip, so that accidentally you can not press any button.
The quality of the image was good under daylight. The ZV-1 maintained every little detail up to ISO 1,600, and after this it losts the sharpness. At the point of ISO 12,800, the details got weaker and texts also lost the sharpness. However, it was better that it does not created any chroma noise, and despite of losing the sharpness, the pictures came out useful.
The colors of the pictures took in daylight provided natural and punchy output with adequate dynamic range. The zoom range also provided decent shots in landscape, but the textures and objects were not much sharp. The close up shots were good, and the depth it captured with large aperture was impressive. The autofocus responded well in good light. The camera focus was quick and the object was promptly detectable with the help of viewfinder. Faces were easily tracked and eye AF also responded well.
It did not provide good output in low light, and it does not have focus illuminator, which struggled to find focus. The same goes with the faces also, but autofocus worked well with stills. The autofocus struggled while shooting the video, which was quite a problem.
Video shooting was quite a fun, as the colors came out natural and striking, and the background defocus was useful as well. It separated the object from the background, which was quite impressive. The gadget comes with a windbreaker, which helps in reducing wind noise by attaching to the hot shoe. This was helpful, as one does not have to go through the whole process of cutting the noise out. Videos in low light was a little odd, but not disappointing. The ultra slow motion was fun to shoot with HFR mode, but the quality was average.
Battery life was a bit disappointment while Sony ZV-1 camera review. It is equipped with a tiny battery and did not provide great output, but is acceptable. But thankfully it can be charged with power bank, and can  continue if required. The company claims that it can shoot at 1080p continuously up to 75 minutes in a single charge.

Conclusion:

It was fun to experience the ZV-1, as the output was remarkable. With the given price, it is worth the money even if it is not for vlogging. If you require standalone version of the camera, then it is available at Rs. 60,000, and the additional vlogging kit will cost approx Rs. 10,000, which seems like a decent offer, as you get to have an extra battery, Bluetooth handgrip, and a 64 GB memory card. Before you get your hands on any camera, i would recommend you to take a look at ZV-1, as it consists of attractive features, which is described in Sony ZV-1 camera review.