With the rise and rise of podcasting, a new breed of camera has come to the fore, commonly called the vlog camera.
Which I guess we used to call a compact.
One such model that has come my way is the Sony ZV1-M2 and Sony claims you can get up and running quickly with no complicated setup necessary.
So, what do you get for your $900?
Quite a bit as it turns out.
You get a decent 20 megapixels still image for starters from the 13.2mm x 8.8mm EXMOR sensor. RAW and JPEG is supported for the stills, and for video, MP4, but only in H.264 not H.265 for both 4K and HD shooting.
Slow motion is available via increased frame rate as are proxy recordings A single 1/8 ND filter is built in, but there is no lens thread to mount your own or say, a polarising filter.
In a blast from the past, for storage of course cards are supported, but also is Sony’s Memory Stick Duo!
Physical controls are located on the back and top of the ZV1-M2 and are minimal. The top mounted ones are on / off, shutter release / record, to choose between still image or video, tele-wide control and what Sony calls a “Background Defocus” button, otherwise known as depth of field. Pressed once and the background, as the name suggests, is defocussed and a second press puts it back in focus. This button is programmable, so if this operation is of no use to you, you can assign one of your choices.
All other functions are based around a central rotary dial and perform depending on what part of the dial you press (as against rotate). For example, press “10 o’clock” sets the self-timer, 12 o’clock the display options and so on.
There is also a full menu system and once accessed, the wheel is used to scroll through the various settings.
Speaking of the LCD screen, its nice and bright and does rotate 270° so you can view yourself when recording.
Now let’s get into the guts of this camera.
Techie Stuff
The biggest single improvement over its predecessor is the widening of the lens to 18mm with a built-in zoom to 50mm. Combined with an excellent auto focus system, this makes the ZV1-M2 a great camera for not just VLOGGING – its primary purpose – but also for travel videos (with lots of selfies of course) among other things.
The auto focus itself features face detection, eye auto focus and a decent continuous tracking system, although not on a par with say the DJI Pocket 4 or Insta360 Flow 2 Pro gimbal I would suggest.
Shutter speeds up to 1/32000 for stills and 1/12800 for video can be chosen.
Available settings for shooting include a Cinematic VLOGGING setting, My Image Style, Creative Look, Product Showcase Soft Skin and the aforementioned Background Defocus among others.
There is no built-in flash unit, but there is a multi-function shoe to add a Sony System Flash.
Audio
Any decent VLOGGING camera of course needs decent audio. The top mounted mic on the ZV1-M2 is a three capsule unit which provides excellent audio for a compact camera offering LPCM 2 channel 48KHz 16 bit.
A windsock (dead wombat) is provided for when conditions dictate it.
Connectivity
As is expected these days, there is USB-C which is also used for charging, HDMI out, Wireless LAN, and Bluetooth ports in the ZV1-M2 as well as a mic terminal, but no headphone connectivity without using Bluetooth.
USB streaming is supported.
Battery Life
Sony says that the battery should be good for approximately 290 still shots and up to 75 minutes of video depending on the format being shot.
Compared to a Smartphone
If you currently VLOG with a smartphone, there are a number of very good reasons to move up to the Sony ZV1-M2, not the least being an improved dynamic range. But you also get better low light performance, better background blur and a cleaner 4K video signal.
It is noted the video is only 8bit as against other cameras with 10bit video which allows better colour grading, but this camera is not really aimed at the part of the market needing this level of functionality.
What you do not get though is any optical stabilization which was in earlier models. My recommendation therefore would be to combine the Sony ZV1-M2 with a decent gimbal such as the DJI RS4 Mini which does support the ZV1-M2 directly and will give the stability you need if VLOGGING on the go with lots of walking shots for example.
Granted, it’s not cheap, if you are serious about your VLOGGING, this addition will make a world of difference.
Summary
The major winning points of the Sony ZV1-M2 are the wider lens, a very good touch screen interface and decent audio. The lack of optical stabilization is a bit of a disappointment but shouldn’t be a deal breaker as there are options available.
The pricing at around $900 is in the right ballpark, and the ZV1-M2 also doubles up as a lightweight but competent travel camera.
From other cameras I have reviewed (at this stage) that compete in this area, the DJI Pocket 4 is the main obvious contender, and this has the advantage of the built-in gimbal system if you need that sort of stabilisation. But the Sony ZV1-M2 gives a better image system and lower light performance in my opinion, as well as better audio.