Sony ZV-1 Review - Performance

Sony ZV-1 Performance

The performance section is where we look at the image quality performance of the camera. Additional sample photos and product shots are available in the Equipment Database, where you can add your own review, photos and product ratings.

Sony ZV-1 Sample Photos

Sample Photos - Exposure is generally reliable, although there were times when we adjusted exposure compensation. Dynamic range captured is good, and the camera has a number of different options to automatically improve the dynamic range recorded in an image, including DRO and HDR options.

The camera gives warm, pleasing colour reproduction on default settings. Care needs to be taken to monitor what and where the camera is focusing, as it can have a tendency to focus on the closest object in the frame. Images look good when viewed on a computer, but when viewing them at 100% images often look soft. Particularly when using the telephoto end of the lens. The camera offers a 5cm close focusing distance at the wide-angle end of lens, and 30cm at the telephoto end, so macro fans may want to look elsewhere.

Distortion is automatically corrected in-camera and therefore not a concern. Purple fringing is also fairly well-controlled, except in areas of high-contrast such as trees against a bright sky. Lens flare was also fairly minimal.

With a relatively bright f1.8-2.8 lens it is possible to get a pleasing background blur (or bokeh). Optical Image Stabilisation helps keep the sharper when using slower shutter speeds, and helped with our shot of the waterfall.

Sony ZV-1 ISO test images

ISO Noise Performance - The camera gives good noise performance, particularly in the lower ISO range from ISO80 to ISO400/ISO800. Noise levels increase as the ISO speed is increased, but images are still usable, even when using higher ISO speeds up to ISO1600 and ISO3200, however, fine detail drops off, so for images with the most detail, stick to the lower ISO speeds. The maximum ISO speed you'll find acceptable will depend on your own personal preferences, and whether you're resizing the images for use on the web, or processing the images yourself (from raw). ISO25600 is available as a multi-frame NR option (JPEG only).

Sony ZV-1 White-balance test images

White Balance Performance - Auto White Balance (AWB) has a number of different options, including an AWB White and Ambient setting, designed to give a whiter result or a warmer result, however in our shots it made so little difference under our Tungsten lighting, we were left wondering if it actually works, with the camera giving warm results regardless of the setting. For the most accurate results, the Tungsten preset performs well under Tungsten lighting. AWB performs well under fluorescent lighting, with the fluorescent preset giving a slight colour cast.

Video - So, is this camera good for vlogging? Short answer, yes, it's excellent for vlogging! Video features are impressive and work really well. The 4K footage is downsampled from 6K giving extremely sharp, detailed, clear video recording. Audio quality is also very good, and the provided deadcat is an excellent inclusion.

The camera performs relatively well in low-light as well, thanks to the f/1.8 aperture at the wide end. Image stabilisation does a good job as well, and the crop into the frame is much less than the G100, meaning you're still able to get a wide-angle view with the camera.

Defocus / clear background works well, and the background blur is very pleasing, and the Product focus is another clever feature, that works extremely well, and is easy to use.

Sony ZV1 4K Video Crop Factor

There are plenty of options for those that want to expand dynamic range or grade footage later, including 10 picture profiles, with options for Black Level, Gamma (Movie, Still, Cine1-2, ITU709, ITU709 [800%], S-Log2, S-Log3, HLG, HLG1, HLG2, HLG3), Black Gamma, Knee, Color Mode, Saturation, Color Phase, Color Depth, and Detail. Profiles can be copied and reset.

Due to the high-quality output produced by the camera, the niggles, and frustrations (such as the NTSC/PAL switch, and tripod socket position) can be overlooked or rather lived with, as it gets so much of the important stuff right, such as high-quality audio, high image quality, and excellent focus performance.

Additional videos can be found on the ePHOTOzine YouTube Channel, including a vlogging test, and high-speed video.

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