New Sony ZV-1 Camera Joins the Team

I have been using my Sony RX100 Mark4 camera now for almost a decade (9 years to be exact) as my main studio camera and it has served me well all of this time. My real main gripe with that camera was how it liked to hunt around a lot to find focus. It has been frustrating at times when I was trying to showcase a product on screen but my Sony RX100 Mark4 just couldn't seem to find it. It also was not really able to record in 4k video or at least for long enough for the types of videos I make which are usually around 10 minutes or so. After about 5 minutes it would overheat and shut down in 4k record mode, and over time as it got a bit older that time shortened down to only a couple of minutes.

So it was time to do some research and figure out what my next camera was going to be. I was pretty sure it would be another Sony, and I liked the size format so I knew it was probably going to be another 1 inch sensor more compact camera. After much YouTube Video watching I settled on the Sony ZV-1 Blogger Camera. Yes there is a newer version 2 of this same camera available, but it was significantly more money and since there where some really good deals on the older version I purchased and I was still able to buy it new rather than second hand. The big upgrades with the newer second generation, where a wider angle lens which is always good and much easier access to the battery compartment when mounted. Those where at least the two main upgrades the new version of the Sony ZV-1 had that I felt where beneficial to me. That said I was able to find work arounds to these two features that I was easily able to add to my first generation Sony ZV-1.

In this quick video I test out the Sony ZV-1 and show my work aroudns that I added to make this already really great camera even better. I have a lot of figuring out to do with this camera to really get the most out of it but that is all part of the fun for me...

The Sony RX100 Mark IV a non-Technical End Users Point of View

This is video review of the the Sony RX100 Mark IV Point and Shoot Camera is by far not coming from a techie based point of view. I am not a complete putts when it comes to technology, back a few years ago I was more of a tech-head but my needs have changed and so has the amount of time that I can spend keeping up with it all. So in other words I just like to buy my tech gear and have it work for me the way I want it to...

I can be a bit cheap at times but when it comes to the equipment I use for my every day work (which in my case is a making YouTube videos and operating my Websites and other social media channels), I will often break down and spend what ever it takes to make sure I will have the equipment I need to get my work done.

So it was time to upgrade my camera, I have been using a Nikon 1 V1 for about 3-4 years now and it has been good to me but when I saw all that the the Sony RX100 Mark IV was capable of and how amazing the video and photo quality was, the gears started tuning in my head and then like a steam roller there was no stopping me from getting one :)

I know for many pro's out there the Sony RX100 Mark IV may have a few too many limitations for you but for me it opens up so many possibilities and is really going to improve the quality of my YouTube channels and related Websites.

So lets get right into some of the features that led to my purchase of the Sony RX100 Mark IV Camera:

• Super compact design yet unsacrificing in features and quality.
• Tilt LCD screen that can be used in a full forward position.
• Great overall camera for the Blogger.
• 1 inch super high resolution CCD video capture chip that produces top rate optical image quality.
• Ability to do 4K video.
• 1080p video recording at 60 frames per second.
• 1.8 lens speed.
• HD slow motion feature, up to 960 frames per second.
• Everything is built in, no need to carry around a bunch of camera accessories.

And with just about every gadget out there, there will always be some shortcomings:

• Lens zoom is only about 3x and has a fixed lens.
• 4k video is limited to 5 minutes in length so that the camera will not overheat.
• Slow motion is limited to 4 second clips.
• Lens speed is not constant while zooming, goes from 1.8 to 2.8.
• No microphone input.
• Needs a fast SDXC Class 10 card to record in 4K mode and high speed modes.

After playing around with the Sony RX100 Mark IV Digital Camera for a couple of days I am very impressed with it, the image quality is fantastic, camera operation is fast and responsive and the compact size has allowed me to bring along a high end camera where in the past it would have been to much of an inconvenience.