In summary
The original ZV-E10 was the top selling model in the Japanese mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera sales ranking for June 2024, indicating the general popularity of vlogging there. The second-generation Sony ZV-E10 is likely to equal its popularity as it includes some more sophisticated functions that could appeal to more professionally-orientated ‘content creators’ while retaining the main functions provided in the earlier model.
Features like Creative Looks, the Product Showcase setting, Background Defocus and the vari-angle flip screen have considerable appeal to the target users. The new model also has a small increase in sensor resolution and a faster image processor.
Full review
12 August 2024
Announced on 10 July, the ZV-E10 II is the second-generation model in Sony’s line of cropped-sensor (APS-C) interchangeable-lens cameras designed primarily for vlogging. The new camera features an updated image sensor with back-side illumination (BSI) and slightly higher resolution, which supports more professional video recording; specifically with the ability to record 10-bit video and Log footage. Its battery has also been updated to a larger unit with higher capacity for recording both stills and video.
Angled view of the ZV-E10 II camera (black version) with the E PZ 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS II kit lens. (Source: Sony.)
Sony is offering the ZV-E10 II camera with an updated E PZ 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS II retractable power zoom kit lens (reviewed separately), which gains improved focusing and communications with the camera. The ZV-E10 II will be offered in black or white, with the white version available with a silver lens. The new lens is available on its own – although only in black.
Front view of the white version of the ZV-E10 II camera kit with the adjustable monitor extended. (Source: Sony.)
The APS-C format back-illuminated Exmor R CMOS sensor in the ZV-E10 II is probably the same as the sensor in the more sophisticated (and slightly more expensive) α6700 camera, which was released in mid-2023 – but which we haven’t reviewed. Both cameras also use the BIONZ XR processor, which accounts for their very similar capabilities with respect to focusing and video capture.
The α6700 has the advantage of an integrated XGA OLED EVF with a resolution of 2,360,000 dots, a 50 fps frame rate, a 22 mm eyepoint and -4.0 to +3.0 dioptre adjustment. In contrast, the ZV-E10 II has no viewfinder at all and no way to fit an add-on one. Even so, its RRP is only $411 less than the α6700.
Who’s it For?
The lack of an EVF will deter more serious users, stills photographers in particular – although it won’t be such a problem for vloggers. However, those who work mainly outdoors in bright conditions will often find the screen difficult to view in bright conditions, even with the brightness wound up.
Serious photographers will also find the user interface in the ZV-E10 II is too pared-back and mostly touchscreen-based – although the menu is packed with selectable adjustments. Such a simple user interface is convenient for vloggers when they’re recording direct to camera and the camera automatically reorientates the display when it’s rotated for vertical recording.
However, vlogging directly to the camera isn’t easy when the camera is hand-held as it’s difficult to keep such a small camera steady. There’s no stabilisation in the camera and digital stabilisation crops the frame by 1.33x reducing the effective focal length to an equivalent of 32mm at the widest setting. To assist users, Sony sells a couple of ‘shooting grips’ which double as mini tripods (GPVPT1 and GPVPT2BT) with prices starting at about AU$150.
Some people who may be attracted by the small size and light weight of this camera will also be put off by having to dive into the menu to make so many adjustments. While the ZV-E10 II provides a quick menu, it only shows the main adjustments and the small size of the LCD screen can make them hard to read.
With the α6700, the extra $411 buys you a moderately high-resolution EVF, integrated IBIS that is rated at up to 5 stops of shake correction, a mechanical shutter and two handy control dials on the top panel – none of which is provided in the ZV-E10 II. The α6700 also has a faster USB interface, supports 4K 100p slow-motion shooting, albeit with a 1.58x frame crop and it’s roughly 120 grams heavier.
What’s New?
The new BSI-CMOS sensor provides a small upgrade in resolution but the BIONZ XR processor, which has also been used in the flagship Alpha 1 and full-frame ZV-E1 cameras, delivers faster processing speeds. This enables the ZV-E10 II to record 10-bit 4K video and provide true HDR playback on the latest viewing screens (TV sets, tablets and smartphones).
It also enables an extended ISO range from to ISO 50 and ISO 102,400, with a native Auto range between ISO 100 and 102,400. Users can also choose from three file formats: JPEG, HEIF and Sony’s proprietary ARW.RAW. However, no uncompressed option is provided for raw files, leaving a choice between compressed and losslessly compressed settings.
Autofocusing has been improved through Real-time Recognition AF with 759 phase detection points for stills, up from 495 points in the previous model (but only 495 points are used for movies). Face/eye detection for people, animals and birds is supported for both stills and video – an extension on the basic human detection in the previous model.
Focus peaking displays are available when shooting stills with manual focus and for recording movies and a choice of three levels (high, mid and low) and four colours (red, yellow, blue and white). Focus breathing compensation is now applied in-camera.
The ZV-E10 II gains the Product Showcase and Background De-focus modes from the ZV-1. Product Showcase, which is only available in movie mode, forces the AF system to prioritise objects closer to the lens rather than faces and eyes. It’s useful for vloggers with products to promote. Background De-focus is self-explanatory and similar to the setting found in many smartphones.
The 4K recordings are now derived through over-sampling of 5.6K frames for 50p output (with a 1.1x crop) or 6K for up to 30p. The Cinematic Vlog mode, which was introduced in the more up-market ZV-E1, is designed to simulate the appearance of a movie by locking the frame rate at 24 fps and adding black bars to the top and bottom of the frame.
The S-Log 3 and S-Cinetone colour profiles have been added to the ‘Looks’ options. S-Log 3 is designed to capture a dynamic a range of up to about 15 stops but requires some expertise to use it effectively. Footage should also be edited with software that supports colour grading.
The S-Cinetone gamma curve (Picture Profile 11), which was originally developed for Sony’s VENICE professional cinema cameras, is easier to use as it eliminates the need for colour grading. It’s also gentler for skin tones – but requires accurate exposure metering. Further enhancement is available through the Soft Skin Effect, which de-emphasises wrinkles and blemishes on the subject’s face while increasing clarity around the eyes and mouth.
The range of bit rates, colour sampling settings and bit depths has been extended to include 10-bit 4:2:2 colour to cater for more professional end users. Low-bit-rate proxy movie recording is also supported, along with Slow & Quick movies for up to 5x slower playback as well as TC/UB (time code / user’s bit data) recording, just like many of Sony’s more sophisticated hybrid cameras. RAW video output, however, is not supported.
Sony has swapped to the higher-capacity NP-FZ100 battery for the new camera. It is CIPA rated for approximately 610 shots/charge or 130 minutes of movie recording, a significant improvement over the previous model. No battery charger is provided but the camera comes with a USB-C cable and adapter for charging the battery.
The top panel of the ZV-E10 II, black version, showing the accessory shoe and stills/video slider switch. (Source: Sony.)
The camera’s ‘Intelligent’ 3-Capsule directional microphone has also been improved and the camera comes with a fuzzy wind shield for suppressing ambient noise. The hot shoe on the top panel can accept external mics (when the wind shield is not in place) and a headphone jack is provided for audio monitoring.
The ZV-E10 II’s USB-C port can also be used data transfer and UAC/UVC web streaming for broadcasting and online meetings. Like the ZV-E1, the ZV-E10 II has a Type D micro HDMI port for connecting to an external monitor or recorder. In-built Bluetooth 4.2 and dual-band Wi-Fi 5 handle wireless communication for pairing the camera with smart devices.
Side view of the ZV-E10 II, white version, showing the main ports and the media slot. (Source: Sony.)
However, there’s still only one media slot – and you’ll need to use fast, high-capacity SD cards to take advantage of the camera’s capabilities. Another unchanged feature is the lack of in-body image stabilisation
Performance
Our Imatest tests showed the review camera fell short of the resolutions expected from the image sensor with both JPEG and ARW.RAW files. We had to convert the raw files into 16-bit TIFFs with Sony’s Imaging Edge software since they weren’t supported in the latest version of Adobe Camera Raw, our preferred raw file converter.
The loss of resolution is at least in part due to the lens which, as we noted, has been built to a price. That said, we think most vloggers should find the camera’s overall performance satisfactory – which is fine since this camera is not designed for serious photographers.
Resolution remained moderately high to ISO 1600, followed by a slow decline from ISO 3200 to ISO 12800 with a sharp descent thereafter. The graph below shows the results of our tests.
Low light exposures confirmed the camera to be an adequate performer for basic stills shooting. Long exposures at low ISO settings were essentially noise-free but by ISO 6400 shadows were beginning to block up and highlights started to blow out.
From ISO 6400 both ends of the dynamic range progressively lost details and noise granularity became increasingly visible. Colour shifts also occurred. The two highest ISO settings were effectively unusable, even at low magnification levels.
We’ve decided to dispense with our regular tests of white balance performance because we feel they are no longer necessary. Over the past few years no cameras we’ve tested have shown quantifiable problems with auto white balance control – provided the user selected the appropriate setting. Manual adjustment should only be required to correct unexpected colour casts.
The ZV-E10 II provides plenty of white balance settings, including an underwater mode for when the camera is used in a waterproof housing. There are also several ways to tweak colour settings in the unlikely event of the auto setting failing to correct visible colour shifts.
Video performance was mostly good and the 4K footage straight from the camera was smooth, colour accurate and natural looking with a decent dynamic range. It wasn’t quite up to the standard we obtained from the ZV-E1, which is to be expected given the difference in sensor sizes.
You’ll need to use a V90 rated SD card to record at the highest quality settings – although these are effectively over-kill if your footage will be shared online. For most purposes HD resolution should be adequate for general vlogging, including when the camera is used as a webcam.
Autofocusing performance was variable and depended on selecting the most appropriate mode setting. We found tracking of human subjects to be generally good in movie mode. Although the AF system tended to prioritise focusing on the subject nearest to the camera, it locked quickly onto a person as they entered the frame, which would suit most potential users.
The Product Showcase function maintains focus on the closest object when the lens is zoomed in or out, even when there are other things in the frame. It’s useful for isolating objects from the background when you select the widest lens aperture in the aperture priority AE mode. An example is shown in the Samples section below.
Shooting vertical videos is easy; you simply rotate the camera through 90 degrees. However, movies shot vertically are played back filling the screen so you must rotate the camera again to view them properly.
The wind filter was quite good at suppressing ambient wind noise without unduly interfering with normal audio recording. Audio quality was adequate, rather than outstanding.
We carried out our timing tests with a Lexar Professional 32GB SDHC II U3 card, which has a 300MB/s speed rating. The review camera took just under a second to power-up, when the card had been used previously in the camera.
Capture lag averaged 0.1 seconds becoming negligible when shots were pre-focused. Shot-to-shot times ranged from 0.5 to one seconds, depending upon how fast as we could keep pressing the shutter button. It was impossible to estimate processing times because there’s no indicator light on the camera but it’s safe to say that with the low resolution of the files and the fast BIONZ XR processor, they would be effectively very short and negligible for JPEGs, even at the highest quality.
The ZV-E10 II only has an electronic shutter and because of the camera’s huge buffer capacity, we opted to record bursts of approximately 10 seconds for our measurements. In the High-speed+ mode, we recorded 90 large extra-fine JPEG frames in 10.2 seconds, which was a bit slower than the specified 11 fps frame rate. With losslessly compressed ARW.RAW files, 52 frames were recorded in 6.1 seconds, which is roughly the same frame rate. In each case, we were unable to measure buffer clearance times.
Conclusion
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SPECS
Image sensor: 23.3 x 15.5 mm Exmor R BSI-CMOS sensor with 27 million photosites ( 26.0 megapixels effective) with no optical low-pass filter
Image processor: BIONZ XR
Lens mount: Somy E-mount
Focal length crop factor: 1.5x
Digital zoom: Approx. 2x Clear Image Zoom for stills; approx. 1.5x for 4K or 2x for HD movies
Image formats: Stills: JPEG (DCF 2.0, Exif Ver. 2.32, MPF Baseline compliant), HEIF (MPEG-A MIAF compliant), ARW.RAW (V. 5.0), RAW+JPEG; Movies: XAVC S: MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, XAVC HS: MPEG-H HEVC/H.265
Audio: LPCM 2ch (48 kHz 16 bit), LPCM 2ch/4ch (48 kHz 24 bit)
Image Sizes: Stills (3:2 aspect ratio): 6192 x 4128, 4384 x 2920, 3104 x 2064; Movies (PAL system): 3840 x 2160 at 50p, 25p; 1920 x 1080 at 100p, 50p, 25p; Slow & Quick Motion supported
Aspect ratios: 3:2, 4:3, 16:9, 1:1
Image Stabilisation: Lens based plus electronic stabilisation (Active Mode) for movies, which crops the frame
Shutter (speed range): Electronic shutter: Stills – 30 to 1/8000 second; Movies – 1 to 1/8000 second; flash sync at 1/30 second
Exposure Compensation: +/- 5EV in 1/3EV or 1/2EV steps
Exposure bracketing: images in 1/3, 2/3 or 1 EV step, max. +/-3 EV, single/burst
Other bracketing options: Aperture, Focus, White Balance
Self-timer: 2, 5 or 10 seconds delay
Interval recording: Yes, for time-lapse
Focus system: Fast Hybrid Phase Detection AF/Contrast AF system, 759 points PDAF for stills; 495 points for movies; range: EV-3 to EV20
AF recognition targets: Human, Animal & Bird (stills and movies)
Other AF features: AF Level for Crossing. (Still), AF Track for Speed Changes. (Still), AF Subj. Shift Sensitivity (Movie), AF Transition Speed (Movie), Switch V/H AF Area, AF Area Regist., Circ. of Focus Point, Focus Map (Movie), AF Assist (Movie)
Exposure metering: 1200-zone evaluative metering
Shooting modes: Intelligent Auto, Intelligent Auto+, Program AE, Aperture Priority AE, Shutter Priority AE, Manual Exposure, Bulb shooting, MR1 (recall camera setting), Sweep Panorama, Scene Selection (Portrait, Sports Action, Macro, Landscape, Sunset, Night Scene, Hand-held Twilight, Night Portrait, Anti Motion Blur)
Other modes: Product Showcase Set, Background Defocus, Soft Skin Effect, Creative Look, Custom function, Picture Profile, Time-lapse, Cinematic Vlog Setting, My Image Style, Vertical Display
Filter modes: 10 Creative Look presets
Colour space options: sRGB and Adobe RGB
ISO range: Auto (ISO 100-6400); Manual: Stills – ISO 50 – 102,400; Movies – ISO 100-32,000
White balance: Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Incandescent, Fluorescent (x4), Flash, White Underwater Auto, Colour temperature setting (2500-9900K), Custom (x3)
Flash: External flashguns only
Flash modes: Pre-flash TTL control
Flash exposure adjustment: +/- 3EV in 1/3EV and 1/2EV steps
Sequence shooting: Max. 11 frames/sec.
Buffer capacity: Max. 143 Large/Fine JPEGs, 59 compressed RAW files, 22 lossless compressed RAW; RAW+JPEG – 17-44 frames
Storage Media: Single slot for SD, SDHC, SDXC cards (UHS-I / UHS-II compliant)
Viewfinder: None
LCD monitor: Adjustable 3-inch TFT LCD touch panel with 1,036,800 dots;
Weather sealing: No
Interface terminals: USB Type C (SuperSpeed USB 5 Gbps (USB 3.2) compatible); HDMI micro connector (Type-D), 3840 x 2160 (59.94p / 50p / 29.97p / 25p / 23.98p) / 1920 x 1080 (59.94p / 50p / 23.98p) / 1920 x 1080 (59.94i / 50i), YCbCr 4:2:2 10-bit / RGB 8-bit; Multi-interface show with Digital Audio interface (wind screen supplied); 3.5mm stereo mini-jacks for microphone and headphone
Wi-Fi function: Built-in Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 GHz band/5 GHz band); Bluetooth v 4.2 (Bluetooth Low Energy); USB & network streaming supported
Power supply: NP-FZ100 rechargeable Li-ion battery; CIPA rated for ; USB charging supported
Dimensions (wxhxd): Approx. 114.8 x 67.5 x 54.2 mm (from grip to monitor)
Weight: Approx. 292 grams (body only)
Distributor: Sony Australia
TESTS
Based on JPEG files recorded with the E PZ 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS II lens.
Based on ARW.RAW files converted into TIFF format with Sony Imaging Edge.
SAMPLES
ISO 50, 30-second exposure at f/4; 27mm focal length.
ISO 100, 30-second exposure at f/4; 27mm focal length.
ISO 800, 10-second exposure at f/4.5; 27mm focal length.
ISO 6400, 4-second exposure at f/8; 27mm focal length.
ISO 12800, 2-second exposure at f/8; 27mm focal length
ISO 25600, 2-second exposure at f/10; 27mm focal length.
ISO 51200, 1-second exposure at f/10; 27mm focal length.
ISO 102400, 1-second exposure at f/16; 27mm focal length.
23mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/320 second at f/6.3.
50mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/200 second at f/6.3.
16mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/8 second at f/7.1.
44mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/8 second at f/6.3.
43mm focal length, ISO 125, 1/160 second at f/8.
16mm focal length, ISO 640, 1/40 second at f/9.
50mm focal length, ISO 640, 1/40 second at f/8.
24mm focal length, ISO 25600, 1/100 second at f/5.
16mm focal length, ISO 102400, 1/2000 second at f/5.
Three frames from a clip taken using the Product Showcase mode showing how focus is maintained on the closest subject as the focal length is changed.
Still frame from XAVC HS 4K 50p video clip; 200M 4:2:2 10-bit.
Still frame from XAVC HS 4K 25p video clip; 100M 4:2:0 10-bit.
Still frame from XAVC HS 4K 50p video clip; 45M 4:2:0 10-bit.
Still frame from XAVC S 4K 50p video clip; 200M 4:2:2 10-bit.
Still frame from XAVC S 4K 50p video clip; 140M 4:2:2 10-bit.
Still frame from XAVC S 4K 25p video clip; 100M 4:2:0 8-bit.
Still frame from XAVC S HD 50p video clip; 50M 4:2:2 10-bit.
Still frame from XAVC S HD 50p video clip; 50M 4:2:0 8-bit.
Still frame from XAVC S HD 100p video clip; 60M 4:2:0 8-bit.
Still frame from XAVC S HD 25p video clip; 100M 4:2:0 8-bit; S-Cinetone colour profile.
Vertical video; XAVC S HD 50p video clip; 50M 4:2:0 8-bit.
Additional image samples can be found with our review of the Sony E PZ 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS II lens.
Rating
RRP: AU$1688 (body only); $1888 (with 16-50mm kit lens)
- Build: 8.8
- Features: 8.9
- Ease of use: 8.7
- Autofocusing: 8.7
- Still image quality JPEG: 8.7
- Still image quality RAW: 8.8
- Video quality: 8.9
BUY
