You could say I took three compact cameras on holiday with me, the Fuji X-E5 being basically an X-100V with an X-series lens mount. Accompanying the Fuji was my GoPro, and a Sony ZV-1 also made the trip, a present for my wife to use. However, more time to get used to the ZV-1 would doubtless have been helpful, and despite the thought being much appreciated, my wife’s sticking with her iPhone.
My problem now is, do I keep the new interloper, or despatch it whence it came; at the moment, I’m not sure!
As a couple of the reviews I read before buying the ZV-1 mentioned, having a proper touchscreen interface would definitely be a bonus. Making settings changes on a small camera can be awkward full stop, but having to navigate multiple menus with the small control wheel, takes time and a lot of backwards and forwards. Yes, it’s a pretty comprehensive level of control, aimed at Vloggers who may need it for studio lighting etc, it just feels slow in use. It’s not that intuitive making changes during shooting either, an over zealous finger or thumb can easily leave you missing the shot taking stills and simply losing the plot on video. With the GoPro being aimed at a totally different audience, it’s more minimalist menu wise shall we say. Plus, with no rotary controls to prevent the chance of water or sand ingestion for starters, it has to have a touch interface on what is a much smaller screen. Once you’re used to swiping through the menus though, what settings it does let you adjust are easy to access, and once set, you rarely have to return, other than swapping from video to stills or timelapse.
What taking both the Sony and GoPro has given me, is a chance to compare the two in terms of output, both for stills and video, which given the former has the same 20MP 1” Exmoor sensor as its ridiculously good and hugely popular RX-100 siblings, you’d expect it to be no contest. In truth, it’s not that simple. For stills, yes, the Sony wins quite easily, compared to the smaller 27MP 1/1.9” sensor of the GoPro, the larger sensor is capable of taking stunning photos and the ability to store these as both RAW and JPG also gives it a huge advantage over the GoPro when it comes to any sort of post processing.
On the video side though, things are not as clear cut. Video is undoubtedly the GoPro’s raison d’etre, as countless YouTube videos of energetic folk diving, skiing and throwing themselves off or down hills on bikes and paragliders has demonstrated; but the ability to take stills is just an added bonus. In terms of video resolution, the GoPro is actually a tad more capable than the Sony, allowing you to push it to 5.3K or higher frame rates at 4K, but both will happily kick out 4K/30fps “all day” with a few limitations. One of these is battery capacity, both the Hero12 and the ZV-1 use relatively small batteries and you need to carry at least a couple of spares with you. Being slightly older in terms of release date, the Sony still has a micro-USB power connection, as opposed to USB C on the GoPro, which led to a swift root through my drawers for a spare cable, should I want to charge a battery whilst still in the camera.
The excellent rear 3” LCD screen on the ZV-1 is fully articulated, as opposed to the GoPro’s much smaller fixed display, plus the even smaller front panel to check you’re in shot, but the camera lacks the pop-up EVF from it’s RX series stablemates. In the bright California sun, you definitely miss an EVF, meaning you have to tilt the LCD or change stance to have a chance of framing a shot properly or seeing the exposure readouts. There’s no clip on option available either, unlike some compacts and mirrorless systems, the VF-2 I had for my original E-P2 was an essential purchase for this very reason (and a big bonus if you’re short sighted as it had diopter adjustment as well). Shooting with both cameras also highlighted that the Hero12 is more susceptible to lens flare than the Sony seems to be. Neither were fitted with any sort of lens hood, but the coatings on the Vario-Sonnar glass of the Sony appear to work really well.
When it comes to movement, be that the camera, the person holding it or both depending upon what they’re riding in/on the GoPro truly steps into the limelight. The Sony ZV-1 may benefit from Sony’s SteadyCam tech, but after riding San Francisco’s street cars stood on the running board and a 1950’s vintage fire engine (I’m convinced suspension must have been an optional extra), the Hypersmooth stabilisation on the GoPro simply bats it out of the park, it’s insanely good.
In terms of audio quality, the ZV-1’s built-in mic is probably on a par with the GoPro when fitted with the Media Mod, and comes with a furry windshield that clips into the hot-shoe (and is often described as a dead cat, which is pretty accurate!) as opposed to the clip on foam tube of the Media Mod. Opting not to bother with any voice over for the video we took (so much for buying the Godox Alink wireless mic….), both clearly picked up the sounds of the city, wailing sirens, clanking street cars and for the GoPro, the over exuberant commentator and her fire engine bell. (I’ve since used the ZV-1 with the Alink mic and it’s vastly better than the built in mic.)
One definite advantage of the ZV-1 though, is the zoom lens, the 24-70mm f1.8-2.8 (full frame) equivalent optic is pretty good, as the images below should show. With the zoom switch sat below and around the shutter button, it’s easy to frame your shot for both stills or use while taking a video. There’s also a bluetooth control grip / tripod available (that we didn’t have, but one is coming, errr for further trials…). However, used as a more conventional compact camera, I think the ZV-1 would benefit from a slightly bigger grip and there’s plenty of third party options to consider, or even full cage things and stabilised steady-cam mounts for that matter, but I’ll give those a miss.
Both the GoPro and the ZV-1 are great cameras in their own right, but as I’ve mentioned, different audiences, there is no “one camera to rule them all”, yet! GoPro are to release a new range and one has a Micro Four Thirds mount, so we shall see. In the meantime, you can use the GoPro to Vlog with, but the viewing angle looks odd and you’ve no zoom ability, yet trying to use the ZV-1 near, let alone in water or as a dog cam (I must have another go!), you’d soon come unstuck, most probably permanently in the camera’s case!
With the Fuji (both of them!) more than able to take 4K video, though lacking the fully articulated LCD of the ZV-1, I’m at a bit of a crossroads re the Sony and the GoPro. The latter is what it is and it’s good at it. For me, the Sony is more of a luxury I suppose, so it might go, but it’s very, very good at what it does, hence the belated ordering of a used dedicated grip, so I can get the full Vlogging effect and also because the seem to sell easier with one 🙂
As an aside, since its release, Sony have followed up on the ZV-1, with a Mark II, natural, and in-between managed a ZV-1F. The Mk II addresses some of the complaints raised by reviewers and no doubt users against the original version I bought. The lens is now an 18-50mm equivalent, wider at the bottom end to aid those who shoot video at arms length, but you lose 25mm at the top end and hence short-telephoto like reach, so much more the Vlogging camera. A faster processor aids focussing performance and improves the electronic stabilisation for video as well. The micro USB connector has finally given way to USB C, while the touch screen is more functional too. Other than , the rest of the spec remains, which is no bad thing.
The ZV-1F is a different cookie altogether. It has a fixed 20mm equivalent wide angle prime lens, so no zoom function. It’s also lost the hybrid phase/contrast detect on the sensor (multiple phase detect points generally being preferable) and so is contrast detect only, while on the stills side, has there’s no ability to save RAW files and despite no built in flash, its a cold shoe, so no chance to fit a camera controlled flash unit (much like the GoPro). Its the same size, though a smidge lighter, but again uses the same size sensor as the other ZV-1s, and it doubtless works well as a video camera, but from a stills point of view, I’d stick with the ZV-1 and the Mk 1 at that.
Sunset from Alcatraz.
