Sony Alpha ZV-1 Mark II Hands-On - The successor of the vlogging wonder

Today we'll show you the new Sony ZV-1 Mark II, i.e. the successor of the popular compact vlogging camera. What exactly has been improved on the camera and which innovations we consider to be particularly important, you can find out in this video.

Overview

From the outside, you don't see much of a change at first glance. The form factor has remained largely the same. What's new here, though, is the lens, because one of the biggest criticisms of the ZV-1 was the focal length. While we had a relatively large zoom range there of equivalent 24-70mm, this was severely curtailed when using the digital image stabilizer. With the new version II , we have a focal length range of 18-50mm, so a good bit wider angle. In this example, you can see the difference in focal length quite well. Even with digital image stabilizer, we still have quite a wide-angle look here, which is ideal for vlogging, of course. When it comes to the aperture, there was unfortunately a downgrade. Where we had an aperture range of f/1.8 to 2.8 with the predecessor, we only get up to a maximum of f/4 in the telephoto range with the new ZV-1 Mark II.

Microphone of the Sony ZV-1 II

The second change to the body is the new microphone arrangement, as Sony has already incorporated into the new ZV-E1. Here we have not only more, but also better aligned microphones, which paired with the new, intelligent software should give a much better sound image. We can also select directly in the camera from which direction the sound should be recorded, i.e. whether the sound is only important for our content from the front, the back or from all directions. The camera can also determine this direction automatically. We'll show you how the whole thing sounds compared to the old ZV-1 in the hands-on video.

The last external innovation is the USB-C port on the side of the camera. Where there was only a slow micro-USB port before, there is now a faster USB-C port. This is of course ideal for live streaming directly via USB.

Software features of the ZV-1 II

Sony has also added quite a bit on the software side. The ZV-1 Mark II is operated by the new software, which we also know from other new Sony cameras. In addition to the new Quick menu, the new picture profiles and especially the new touch control have been added. Also new is the pet autofocus, which now lets you include your pets in your content even better. Still included for vlogging is the Foucs/Defocus button on the top of the camera, which allows us to quickly switch between a blurred and a sharp background.

Conclusion

All in all, the ZV-1 Mark II is a good update to a very popular camera and even though Sony hasn't brought any groundbreaking new features here now, it's nice to see that they are listening to user feedback and improving the camera to that end. If you want to learn more about the Sony ZV series, check out our Sony Choice of Creators.

Choice of Creators

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