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Very nice write-up. But one advantage of the ZV E1 is Dynamic Active Stabilization (DAS). It turns out that what is going on is that Sony is exploiting Clear Image Zoom technology, now much improved by AI - you can use all the tracking AF features with CIZ - CIZ is better on the E1 than on any fx camera (and the a7s iii) because of the AI (you lose tracking focus with ZIZ on all other cameras). Anyway, the DAS uses the augmented CIZ to zoom out to accomplish the crop. So the loss of resolution you expect from the crop is not there! Moreover you really can walk and shoot with the camera with no gimbal and it looks good - much better than the simple crop you get using gyro stabilization in post, and a smoother result. I will have a 4K 60P real video soon, which shows off the audio (live music), focus pulls, CIZ, DAS, and AF. Shot in 4K 60P HEVC 200 Mbps 10bit 422 Slog3. And I used the kit lens. First time with the camera. As you said, the images look as good as the fx3 (a7s iii), but the capabilities are really enhanced for using in the field. And, in a 2.5 hours shooting with clips ranging from 10 seconds to two minutes exhausting 96 GB's of storage and 76% of the battery the camera never even got warm (65 degree (F) weather and humid).

So I just tried the ZV-E1 among other recent releases and here are some quick thoughts: The build quality is better than I thought, nothing like the previous toy-like ZV cams and much closer to current A7 series, probably closest to A7C. Unit carries a certain weight so balances ok even with bigger (prime) lenses. Very minimal design and button layout. While this may seem like a con its also a pro, kind of reminds me of Leica philosophy. Yes sometimes less is more. Set the shutter speed with the dial, aperture with the thumbwheel. Zoom with the rocker switch. Jump to stills/video/S&Q with the mode switch. Just about everything else is done on the touchscreen like a smartphone. This is where things start to go a little sideways. The tiny 3" display and small fonts of the settings require precision, and the Sony menu and overlays don't help. But it is still more handy than most other A7 cameras with their limited touch capabilities. By default just about everything is automatic, like a smartphone. Basically point & shoot. And it works pretty well as in no major jarring issues. The AF is top notch, I tried several lenses including my F1.8 Zeiss and it didn't skip a beat.. smooth AF, pun intended. No surprise about the IQ, its an A7Siii sensor. Clear image zoom via the rocker switch is killer though, really like that function lifted from FX3. Tried the AI reframing stuff, didn't gel with it. Applies a huge crop. Now about the overheat. After 15mn of shooting 4K60p indoors using lowest bitrate codec, the camera shut off with no warning. I thought the battery had died lol. That was on the normal level heat setting, so I put it into high and didn't run into the issue again but I was shooting short clips, changing lenses every 5 minutes and didn't spend more than an hour with the unit. I didn't have a fast card so wasn't even able to test out the higher bitrate settings or ALL-I. The camera did feel warm after about hour. This pretty much confirmed my suspicions through the reviews that this camera is not fit for pro/extended use but rather casual shooting. I still find the price of 2799€ pretty bonkers for a camera with no EVF, single card slot, zero cooling, no mechanical shutter etc. But the IQ and snappiness is impressive. That being said, it does make the A7SIII feel somewhat sluggish & dated. And all this tech in an A7 body would be nice. I guess its a good preview into what's to expect in upcoming higher end Sony bodies..

That's an important question. Two advantages of an external mic mounted on the camera over internal mics that are now negated by the ZV E1 are that you can choose directionality and conveniently use a deadcat to muffle wind. So that then leaves pure audio fidelity, which might vary by sound source. The ZV E1 videos I posted have recordings of various instruments including voice. So one can judge whether the audio is good enough for these sources (forward direction was used; uncompressed 16bit 48Hz audio was recorded internally).

I see a lot of these types of posts and really think only you can answer those questions, each of us has our own shooting style, also each of our responses will come from a position of bias; either conscious (deliberately trying to sway you to adopt their chosen ecosystem) or subconscious (their shooting style matches their gear so well that they really want you to see just how great your experience will be with their setup). So with that long winded caveat out of the way, I personally am now a 100% Canon shooter so that you will know that everything that comes after that statement will probably have a bit of Canon bias in it because yes, my current Canon setup (C70, R5, R7) fixes every problem I had with every previous setup and happens to fit my particular requirements perfectly. Option 1 - Based on my limited knowledge of Nikon, I would take the same route I took when I was shooting with the Panasonic S5....there's simply no way I would invest in more glass, with the S5 I went with an EF adapter which let me switch to Canon far cheaper than if I had gone all in on L mount glass. Option 2 - If you only have a single lens right now, now is the perfect time to decide once and for all what ecosystem you are moving to, if you truly believe you will change ecosystems in the near future that will determine what adapter and lens ecosystem you move to. If you are going Canon then obviously EF or Sony then E mount. The one problem with the EF route is that you will be buying older EF glass and if you move to Canon then you will be stuck with all of that EF glass; not a bad situation to be in since EF glass is way cheaper than RF and with EF glass and an RF mount camera you have access to the excellent Viltrox vND filter, but its just something to keep in mind. I personally went with this option and all I had to do was buy the RF to EF adapter to start using my EF glass on my R bodies. Option 3 - Once again only you know your financial situation, how badly you want a new ecosystem, etc. As a Canon shooter though, there is no way I could recommend the R6 due to its continued overheating problems. The R7 or R6II is the far better choice right now. The S5 II would be a hard one since it has literally everything but the kitchen sink; but you would either be buying into what I consider the dead L mount "alliance" or once again need to stick with non native EF adapters and EF glass you also wouldn't have access to the vND EF to RF adapter which is somewhat game changing for event shooters like myself. Sony I know nothing about but if you are into photography at all then the A7IV is probably a better choice than the FX30.

YES...you can freely use my music and sounds in commercial projects...(I've been getting that question a lot lately on social media.) So no worries...just be sure to properly attribute me as indicated on the attribution page on my site: https://soundimage.org/attribution-info/ Enjoy and make money with your projects! That said, this week's new free music tracks are: On my Fantasy 12 page: "ENCHANTED ENDING " https://soundimage.org/fantasy-12/ And on my Sci-Fi 12 page: "STRANDED IN THE OUTER RIM" https://soundimage.org/sci-fi-12/ Stay safe and keep creating! 🙂

Just adding to the discussion: in May 24th there will be a Fujji X Summit, and, according to rumour sites, the X-S20 will be announced. As a X-S10 user, really waiting for it (my dream Fuji camera would be a X-E5 with some controls back and IBIS, but Fuji will never put IBIS in their X-E ou X-Pro lines...)

Awesome, would be cool, if some Sigma FP shooters like yourself @OleB would show its power on some kewl nature stuff or footage of people with your findings. @mercer posted some awesome screenshots with the cam in the lens section.

Indeed. My own approach that I have settled on is an 'indoor set up' and and 'outdoor set up' that requires just one single lens change on one of my 3 bodies. Body 01 = longer form, static video using a 28-75mm zoom = 28-40mm indoors and 50-75mm out. Doubles as a gimbal camera but I'll typically use the 'indoor' focal length for this purpose and it never crosses over with the static use. The only difference is how far zoomed out or in the lens is (that never comes off) and whether it's on the gimbal or the tripod using the same Swiss Arca mount. Body 02 = hybrid with 28-70 welded on and is shot at either 28 or 70 but nothing in between, ie, like a twin prime set up. Body 03 = hybrid with 16-28 indoors (shot 16 or 28 only, ie, as above, like a 'twin prime' set up) and 90 out. This. And why I have an indoor and an outdoor set up of focal lengths because it's about the distance to subject which using different focal lengths (but never anything extreme) is 'equalised' based on where I can position myself, ie, closer indoors (usually because of walls) and further away outdoors, because it's possible to do so. For consistency and a 'look' it works and from the video side is basically 2 focal lengths; 42mm indoors (occasional 28) and 75 out with occasional 105 or even 135 out at very specific, but limited times. There's a fella I know who is most definitely not 'world famous' and nor will he ever be who does just this and restricts everything he does to just 28mm. I don't think he's an artist, but taking the piss. Or at least, restricting his coverage for the sake of his 'art'. But then again, if his clients like his work/results and are happy to pay for it, then fair enough, but I couldn't do it...though have in the past using just 35mm for an entire year professionally. I came to the conclusion I was being a pretentious artiste and taking the piss. So stopped doing it 😜

This. Over the last decade+ especially, transitioning from being a photographer to a ‘hybrid shooter’, I have gone through periods of ‘gear creep’. Each time I reach a peak I say enough is enough and downscale it all…only to find the volume of kit creeping back up. I have just been through such a peak and had another ‘enough is enough’ moment but this time it really is enough. There is of course a fine line between being able to cover every single possibility and having just enough tools to do a job. My own experience is providing you do have sufficient tools for the task, then less is usually more. I don’t specifically shoot concerts, but events. There is nothing better than having one ‘do it all’ camera and lens combo in your hands, that you are familiar with, at all times. 24-105 for most brands or even better, Tamron 35-150 for Sony (or adapted for Nikon) would also be my pick on a single body, in this case the A7iv because it is a hybrid and the FX6 is not.

The A7Sii was quite seminal being the first FF 4K mirrorless with IBIS that could literally see in the dark. Noise was never an issue with that camera since it had such great low-light performance across the ISO field. The real problem with these earlier A7 cams was the horrible AWB in mixed lighting combined with so-so CS. Andrew had a classic hilarious YT video about the A7Sii zombie skin tones. Sure you could somewhat correct it in Davinci but 8-bit really isn't the best for heavy color correction not to mention the waste of time. Daylight shooting not so much an issue but the camera had a few other cons brought up in that video such as slow AF, harsh highlight roll-off, poor battery life, build quality issues etc. Still for the current used price its a great little budget camera if you find one in not too battered state (they honestly haven't held up well) and don't shoot much mixed lighting. The A7iii fixes most of the A7Sii issues both in build, battery life but also AWB/CS. Also uses oversampled 4K for more detailed current IQ. But they still go for +$1.5K used. Not bad but not phenomenal considering you can now get a 10-bit cam for not a lot more from other manufacturers..

Thank you! I was using a 1/8 ProMist filter as well. Did turn out quite pleasing. Actually I have all my findings consolidated in my white paper which I wrote to accompany the LUT. Will film something better lit soon, probably a small series about how to expose and use the fp, to go online at YouTube. My expectation is now met, powerful camera with a solid workflow. If the image looks badly, I can now tell with certainty that it is my fault... 😄

Yeah I had similar experience with the R6, learned how to get around overheat but it was a constant stress and I vouched never again but for casual shooting, travel etc was never really a concern. The ZV-E1 during my one hour test did shut off while in the menus with no warning which is what made me think initially the battery had died, but it was still on default normal temp setting. When set to high I didn't get an overheat warning but I didn't stress the camera much. I've done some gigs in China with an FS7 + A7iii. Needless to say the A7 was the only camera used in public. Looks like you'll be able to put the ZV-E1 through its paces on your tip. Don't forget to grab a VPN beforehand so you can access google and such and hopefully give us some feedback! Safe travels.

I agree that ambient temperature really matters - even the Sony manual reports shot durations by ambient temperature, which shows a real gradient. I would have wanted to shoot in a hotter setting, but I cannot control the weather! I will be disappearing into China for 4 weeks tomorrow and I was seeking the smallest rig possible, which got me interested in the ZV E1. I had two days to try it out (delivered yesterday) - I will be facing some days in China in the 80's (F). I was very pleasantly surprised by the camera. It is actually hard to go back to the "old" technology! It is the fx30 + Sony 18-70 f4 lens versus the ZV E1 + Sony 28-60 lens. I prefer the 18-70 lens because it is faster and has a larger range, but that combo with the fx30 is just much larger. And an equivalent range and aperture lens on a full-frame is a monster. The compact 28-60 has good quality, though. I will take one faster prime for night, likely the small Sony FE 24 f2.8. That is fast enough for the ZV E1 sensor for any light. A key advantage of the ZV E1 too is the built-in mic and deadcat - no need for an eternal mic mounted on the camera with a deadcat, which basically makes one look like a professional, but adds no real extra quality in audio. There were some folks at the park with cameras and mounted mics and they attracted attention. But no one cared about my tiny camera. I was also considering using the white version, so no one could possibly take me seriously. I do have experience with overheating cameras - I shot 8K RAW video with the Canon R5 in summer before the firmware update that extended durations. In those days, the limit was 5 minutes! I could take similar videos as above. The most important trick was to turn off the camera after each shot (I did not do that with the ZV E1). Cameras now turn on instantly so this is not a real constraint, and one just gets used to shoot, turn off, see something, turn on and shoot, turn off. Shade is a friend, and so is a breeze, so when I walked with the camera from place to place I would swing my arm with the camera so air rushed by it like a fan. It all worked and became second nature. So I think I am prepared for the worst. Btw, setting up the camera using the menus to suit my preferences (button/dial assignments etc.) took 10 minutes and the camera got hot - this really scared me. Others have reported this phenomenon (one person experienced the camera turning off). But it appears this says nothing about actually shooting with the camera. It is odd though.

And her it is, with the Dynamic Active stabilization demo at the end:

This guy managed to get 4K60p recording from 40min to over 1hr 40min with this fan kit

No EVF is a key feature according to Sony Wonder how long the the camera last with 4K120P in july/aug temperature.. The processor on those new camera felt much more refined vs 2-3 year old release, the R8 makes my R5 felt a bit old for sure lol.

The number of stops in IBIS is irrelevant - except for marketing purposes. The difference between a great IBIS and meh IBIS systems isn't the number of stops, it's things like the travel of the system (how large the movement can be before it runs out of travel to compensate), how fast it can react (high-frequency performance), motor strength, etc. When you see an IBIS system failing to compensate for camera movement it will be limitations of these aspects. The GH5 has similar number of stops as many other cameras at the time with inferior overall performance, it was some combination of other factors that made the difference between them.

I would recommend not changing lenses at a concert. Firstly you'll lose time finding enough space to change them, or balance the lenses in your arms and risk dropping everything. But most importantly, concerts get hot and you will 100% get condensation on the sensor, meaning you'll be unable to shoot anything for a minute or so each time. Better to have two bodies with a nice combination of primes (say the 21 and the 50) But I would personally stick to the zoom on cam A with a super wide prime for cam B.

Nice. Production design is cool, and the skulls as the drums made me lol.

Adding an example which shows the benefit of using the ISO related LUTs and adding a customised contrast 🙂

Very welcome! 🙂 I do not have a Video Assist available, so I cannot tell with certainty. But from my understanding only the Ninja V converts to V-Log on the fly, so the monitoring LUTs are tailored for that. To understand how Braw works, I need to know to which format the VideoAssist is debayering the footage to for preview. Possibly, once we know that, I can compile that workflow to a monitoring LUT for that device afterwards. First question, can the VideoAssist show the full highlight range at ISO 800? Cheers

Thanks for the work and effort! I'm looking forward to testing it out! Do you know if it also works with Braw? Happy to send some test shots if you want. Just let me know what kind of footage will help.

Imaging Resource is gone (really), without announcement. https://petapixel.com/2023/05/08/imaging-resource-is-now-offline-as-the-camera-website-shuts-its-doors/ Was my preferred, above DPReview.