Sony has unveiled the ZV-1F, its third and most inexpensive vlogging digital camera, designed for creators as a “step up” from smartphones. Priced at simply $500, it is slotted under the $700 ZV-1 compact and $750 mirrorless ZV-E10 (with a equipment lens), and has a Type-1 Exmor 20.1-megapixel sensor, 4K video, and options that assist novice customers stand up to hurry rapidly. 

While utilizing an analogous Type-1 sensor to the ZV-1, it trades that fashions 24-70mm zoom for a wide-angle, 20mm equal prime lens. That further discipline of view, plus the fully-articulating show, may truly make it higher for vlogging or selfies than the ZV-1 — permitting people to higher match themselves into the body. 

However, it additionally makes it much less versatile for capturing merchandise, different individuals and so forth, although you are able to do a digital zoom of 2x in 1080p and about 1.5x in 4K. It has no built-in stabilization, as an alternative counting on digital stabilization that imposes a 1.23x crop, making the 20mm lens about 25mm. 

You can shoot 4K at as much as 30 fps, the identical because the ZV-1, and 1080p at as much as a powerful 120fps (with 8-bit video in all modes). That’s carried out by the “slow and quick” setting, which additionally helps 60x hyperlapse seize in HD. However, not like most different Sony fashions, the ZV-1F has contrast-detect solely autofocus, moderately than section detect that is typically sooner and extra correct. 

Like the opposite vlogging fashions, the ZV-1F has a “product showcase” characteristic that permits you to place a product in entrance of the digital camera and rapidly get focus. It additionally has the identical bokeh swap that permits you to defocus the background with the clicking of a button. A nod to TikTok or Snapchat creators is the Shot Mark characteristic that permits you to seize a 15-, 30- or 60-second clip and ship it to a smartphone by way of Sony’s app. 

On the audio aspect, it has a directional microphone that provides good-quality sound, with ahead bias that isolates your voice, even outside. It additionally features a detachable “deadcat” to cut back wind noise. 

Other options embody a single UHS-1 slot, an ISO vary of 125 to 12,800, vertical capturing, and a entrance dealing with tally gentle that reveals while you’re recording. Sony says it weighs simply 256 grams, only a bit greater than the 203 gram iPhone 14. It arrives on October twenty fourth for $500.