I got a new pocket camera—a Sony ZV-1 to replace an RX100 that’s been missing for five months. This timeframe lines up with a bunch of upheaval, so that tracks. It was a good camera that served me well for many years.
The ZV-1 shares many of the core components that I appreciated of the RX100—fast focus, a good sized sensor, articulating screen, and zoom lens. It leaves off the electronic viewfinder and replaces the metal body with plastic.
It’s geared more for content creators so it adds a few features like a better microphone (with detachable dead cat) and “Product Showcase” that will quickly shift focus between a face and a product so you don’t have to hold up your hand to defeat face detection, like so:
I’ve had many generations of RX100s and they consistently hit the sweet spot of size and image quality.
But after 29 days with this ZV-1, I realized a few things:
- I’m not a content creator that needs vlogging tools. This camera isn’t for me.
- When breaking out a cooler for the first time this year, low and behold my missing camera was in the pocket.
- I had one day left to return it.
Something just didn’t sit right with the ZV-1. The articulating screen favors selfies where I prefer different articulation points that help with low shots or holding the camera overhead.
Everything just added up to “this isn’t for me” and thank goodness I found my old camera.
Returned.