Following a seemingly endless string of leaks, Sony has made things official: it is launching a new camera next Wednesday. The announcement, which will be held online, is scheduled to take place at 10:00 EST / 16:00 CEST on March 29 / 00:00 AEST on March 30.
All signs point to the camera being a new, full frame iteration of Sony's ZV line – a nascent range of content creation-focused cameras, that currently features APS-C offerings the Sony ZV-1 (opens in new tab) , Sony ZV-1F (opens in new tab) and Sony ZV-E10 (opens in new tab).
This new camera, reportedly called the Sony ZV-E1, will apparently be the latest Sony body to be built around the king of video, the Sony A7S III (opens in new tab) – and had previously been described as a "baby A7S III for vloggers".
The core A7S III tech has been reused a few times by the manufacturer, in the form of cameras like the Sony FX3 (opens in new tab) and Sony FX6 (opens in new tab) cinema cameras. This will, however, be the first time that it has targeted the tech at the vlogging sector, with the official teaser page (opens in new tab) describing the new cameras as "the ultimate content creation experience".
So what else do we know about the Sony ZV-E1? According to leaked specs (opens in new tab) it will feature a body style akin to the ZV-E10, with the proportions of the Sony A7C (opens in new tab) and some elements from the FX3.
Obviously, being built on A7S III architecture, it is said to feature the same 12MP images sensor with sensitivity in the ISO409,000 range, capable of shooting uncropped 4K 60p and 4K 120p video (though the latter might come later via a firmware update, as the camera reportedly suffers from overheating at present).
We are also promised the AF system from the Sony A7R V but with more accurate detection, along with numerous new and innovative AI features. The price will apparently come in under the $2,500 mark (approximately £2,030 / AU$3,700), which is about halfway between the A7C and A7S III.
Given how consistent and comprehensive the leaks have been, it feels pretty safe to assume that they're accurate – but we're certainly looking forward to March 29 to seeing what those innovative AI features are…
If you enjoyed this article, you might be interested in the best vlogging cameras (opens in new tab) and the best cameras for video (opens in new tab). It's also worth checking out the best Sony cameras (opens in new tab) and the best Sony lenses (opens in new tab) to go with them.
