And Then There Were Three – Sony ZV-1 vs GoPro Hero 12
You could say I took three compact cameras to San Francisco with me, the Fuji X-E5 is in effect an X-100V which has an X-series lens mount.
Accompanying the Fuji was my GoPro Hero 12, and a Sony ZV-1 also made the trip, a present for my wife to use.
However, more time to get used to the ZV-1 would doubtless have been helpful, so despite the thought being much appreciated, she’s sticking with her iPhone.
Mini-Review/Comparision
Handling
Sony ZV-1
As a couple of the reviews I read before buying the ZV-1 mentioned, having a proper touchscreen interface would definitely be a bonus. Making settings changes on a small camera can be awkward full stop, but having to navigate multiple menus with the small control wheel, takes time and a lot of backwards and forwards.
It is a pretty comprehensive level of control though, aimed at Vloggers who may need it for studio lighting settings etc, but it just feels slow in use. It’s not that intuitive making changes during shooting either, an over zealous finger or thumb can easily leave you missing the shot taking stills and simply losing the plot on video.
The excellent rear 3” LCD screen on the ZV-1 is fully articulated, but the camera lacks the pop-up Electronic Viewfinder (EVF) from later models of its RX series stablemates. In bright sunlight, you definitely miss an EVF, meaning you have to tilt the LCD or change stance to have a chance of framing a shot properly or seeing the exposure readouts.
There’s no clip on EVF available either, unlike some compacts and mirrorless systems, the VF-2 for the Olympus E-P series was an essential purchase for this very reason (and a big bonus if you’re short sighted as it had diopter adjustment as well).
But at least with the zoom switch sat below and around the shutter button, it’s easy to frame your shot for both stills or use while taking a video.
GoPro
The GoPro is aimed at a totally different audience, aside from the actual camera body being smaller, it’s more minimalist menu wise too. Plus, with no rotary controls to prevent the chance of water or dirt ingestion, it’s an all touch interface on what is a much smaller screen, but it is very intuitive.
Once you’re used to swiping through the menus though, what settings it does let you adjust are easy to access, and once set, you rarely have to return, other than swapping from video to stills or timelapse.
The GoPro’s much smaller rear fixed display, plus the even smaller front panel to check you’re in shot if you’re doing any sort of selfie, also suffers in the sun. But you tend not to access it much after you’ve set it to whatever you want to shoot. You just get on with filming.
Image Quality
The ZV-1 has the same 20MP 1” Exmoor sensor as its ridiculously good and hugely popular RX-100 series. As a result, the stills output is excellent , and the Sony’s stills output wins quite easily, compared to the smaller 27MP 1/1.9” sensor of the GoPro,
The ZV-1 is also able to store these as both RAW and JPG, which again gives it a huge advantage over the GoPro when it comes to any sort of post processing.
On the video side though, things are not as clear cut.
Video is undoubtedly the GoPro’s raison d’etre, as countless YouTube videos of energetic folk diving, skiing and throwing themselves off or down hills on bikes and paragliders has demonstrated; the ability to take stills is just an added bonus.
In terms of video resolution, the GoPro is actually a tad more capable than the Sony, allowing you to push it to 5.3K or higher frame rates at 4K, but both will happily kick out 4K/30fps “all day” with a few limitations.
One definite advantage of the ZV-1 though, is the zoom lens. The 24-70mm f1.8-2.8 (full frame) equivalent optic is pretty good, as the images below should show.
Audio
In terms of audio quality, the ZV-1’s built-in mic is probably on a par with the GoPro when fitted with the Media Mod, and comes with a furry windshield that clips into the hot-shoe (and is often described as a dead cat, which is pretty accurate!) as opposed to the clip on foam tube of the Media Mod.
Opting not to bother with any voice over for the video we took, both cameras clearly picked up the sounds of the city, wailing sirens, clanking street cars and for the GoPro, the over exuberant commentator on out vintage fire engine trip, and her fire engine bell!
Stabilisation
When it comes to movement, be that the camera, the person holding it or both depending upon what they’re riding in/on the GoPro truly steps into the limelight.
The Sony ZV-1 may benefit from Sony’s SteadyCam tech, but after a trip on one of San Francisco’s cable cars, stood on the running board and a 1950’s vintage fire engine (I’m convinced suspension must have been an optional extra), the Hypersmooth stabilisation on the GoPro simply bats it out of the park, it’s insanely good.
Limitations
Both cameras suffer somewhat with battery capacity, case size limiting them to relatively small batteries and you need to carry at least a couple of spares with you.
When it comes to recharging, being slightly older in terms of release date, the Sony still has a micro-USB power connection, as opposed to USB C on the GoPro. So unless you purchase a separate charger (recommended!) you’re liable to need to take an extra cable for the ZV-1 to the one you charge your phone with.
There is a dedicated bluetooth control grip / tripod available for the Sony, and used to be part of a full Vlogging kit when the camera was first released. However, used as a more conventional compact camera, I think the ZV-1 would benefit from a slightly bigger grip, luckily there’s plenty of third party options to consider, or even full cage and stabilised steady-cam mounts for that matter.
Endgame
Both the GoPro and the ZV-1 are great cameras in their own right, but as I’ve mentioned, different audiences, there is no “one camera to rule them all”, yet! GoPro have released a new range and one has a Micro Four Thirds mount, so we shall see.
In the meantime, you can use the GoPro to Vlog with, but the viewing angle looks odd and you’ve no zoom ability, yet trying to use the ZV-1 near, let alone in water, you’d soon come unstuck, most probably permanently in the camera’s case!
With both my Fuji XE-5 and X-T5 more than able to take 4K video, though both are lacking the fully articulated LCD of the ZV-1, the Sony has departed.