Sony ZV-E10 The Best Live Streaming Camera of 2022

I LOVE this camera!!!

Anyone around me will confirm that it’s all I’ve been banging on about since its release last year, and for good reason!

In this post, I want to unpack what makes it such a perfect camera for content creators and why we’ve crowned it our best camera of 2022! 

My move to Sony

I need to rewind a little though, back before this camera had even been born, to explain that Sony had already built up an enviable reputation with their 6000 series cameras, strong enough to draw me away from my previous love, Panasonic.

The most impressive thing about their range of cameras was the autofocus.
Super fast and rock solid.

So Sony was already in a powerful position in the market.

Then in 2021, Sony released the ZVE10

Wow!!!

This camera took all the best features of the 6000 series cameras, and supercharged them!

And… get this… they reduced the price!!!

So as I run through all these incredible features, keep in mind that this camera is only $695 for the body, $50 less than the 6100 at the time of writing this.

If you want to know more about the Sony range of cameras, watch this video.

Top Features Of The Sony ZV-E10

So where do we start?

Probably by explaining that I’m specifically looking at this camera through the lens of content creation. I’m not considering the photographic features or movie-making features, I’m talking to you content creators, recording YouTube videos, online courses, or live streaming. This one’s for you!

Autofocus

As Auto Focus was always the most talked about feature, let's start there.
The Sony ZVE10 not only has face detection to keep the focus locked onto me, but it has eye-tracking! And it’s flawless!

If you’ve used alternative cameras and switched on the face tracking you’ve likely experienced your camera ‘hunting’, where it can’t decide whether to focus on your or something more interesting going on, or maybe it’s been a little slow in following your movements, not with this camera.
Sony have really nailed their eye-tracking. And while it’s likely not relevant to your content creation, you can even choose humans or animals as the subject to be tracked, and it will genuinely lock on to your pet’s eye to focus.

Bonkers.

Face-Priority

Then around focusing, Sony has given you the ability to choose whether or not to prioritise your face. For example, if I tend to gesticulate a lot and wave my hands, then without face priority, the camera may think I want it to focus on the closest item. With face priority on, it won’t look at anything but my eyes and will lock onto them unless they’re covered. Where you may choose not to have face priority on is if you’re demonstrating items and want the camera to focus on something other than your face.

On the smaller ZV1 they’ve given this the name ‘Product Showcase’, but it’s basically turning on and off the face priority.

So that’s a great feature that I love!

Still, on autofocus, there are two powerful settings to play with;

AF Transition speed

This lets you decide how quickly it jumps to another subject, like when you want the focus to shift to your hand as we just discussed, and then there’s another setting, AF Shift sensitivity.

AF Shift Sensitivity

Here you can decide how responsive you want the autofocus to be.

We turned this down recently when Owen and I were on camera together as the camera was jumping to the background when we looked at each other instead of looking forward. Turning it down makes it more forgiving but then I was getting frustrated at it not identifying my hand as quickly, so I keep this high when on my own.

All this to say, Sony has really taken their auto-focusing seriously and I don’t know another camera with options like this!

Then let's consider the fact that is an interchangeable lens camera.

Interchangeable lenses

I would always use a Prime lens for recording like this, and rather than go into details about what Prime lenses are, let me point you to this video where we’ve explained why you should consider one.

Sony is building out a great range of lenses to choose from and other third-party brands like Sigma, Viltrox and Tamron also make compatible lenses so your choice is vast. For us, as you’ll see on our Gear Guide, we use the ZV-E10 with a Viltrox 23mm prime lens and love the crop it gives us.

4K Recording

This camera lets us record and stream in 4K at 25 frames per second or 30, depending on where you live in the world. Just be aware though that at 4K 30p it will crop. At 24 or 25 frames per second, there’s no crop, so for once, us Brits are at an advantage.

And if you want to record some nice slow motion b-roll footage, you can slow that down to ¼ speed in 1080p. Nice.

No 30min Record Time Limit

Like the 6000 series before, the ZVE10 has no recording limit at 30 mins that you experience on alternative cameras. This is a big plus right there!

External Mic

You have a mic jack allowing you to add an external mic directly into the camera and you have a headphone jack allowing you to monitor the sound again, directly in-camera. This is particularly useful if you’re away from your desk recording.

Image Stabilising

There is a digital image stabilising built into this camera but to use it, you’ll find your image crops in a bit. I would turn it on for impromptu handheld recording but have it turned off for everything else.
Nice to know it’s there though, although if I were recording anything serious hand-held I’d use a gimbal.

S-Log

If you know what S-Log is, you’ll be pleased to know that’s included. If you don’t know what it is, don’t worry, honestly.

Skin Softening

What about this one…we now get to add some Skin Softening!
I have customers who will turn on a Zoom feature to soften their skin as they want to look as young as possible! And Sony has now added a feature giving you 3 levels of skin softening in-camera! 

All I'd say is go easy with this, low would be as much as I'd use else it will start looking fake.

Summary

I could go on listing more but I don’t want to bore you.

Look, this small camera is revolutionary!

It makes it really easy for you to record and stream studio-quality footage, that’s always in focus, at a very reasonable cost.
I don’t know another camera on the market that would dare to go head-to-head with the Sony ZV-E10!

And bottom line, it’s what I use in all my videos and what I recommend to my Pro Video Academy customers, so hopefully, that speaks volumes.

Honestly, the only negative I have with it is the fact that when I’m recording, all the cables come directly in front of the screen!

Whoever thought that was going to be a good idea!

Oh well, maybe they’ll have moved it in the ZVE20?

So yes, as I said at the top, I love this camera, it does more than I’ll ever use, I don’t see myself growing out of it any time soon, it’s super easy to use and makes me look great every time I show up on Zoom calls or on videos.

That’s why it’s our Best Camera for Video in 2022!

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