This camera from Sony was not designed for me -- or just barely -- but I like it anyway. 

The target market is clearly vloggers, and content creators, and aspiring influencers who are ready to graduate from their smartphones. 

Not a bad marketing plan. 

But the features Sony added, and the ones it trumpets in pursuit of this market, are features that are totally unnecessary for me.

For example, the ability to shoot glowing selfies -- I never appear in my videos. I'm interested in what's in front of the camera, not who's behind it. 

The selfie orientation on the ZV-1 also extends to the microphone, trained on a selfie narrator. 

A "product shot" feature makes it easy to hold up a product, always a make-up product in the promos. The "product shot" feature will automatically focus on that make-up brush or lipstick. Again, not me. 

Not me.

So what do I like about the ZV-1? 

• First, it has a significant sensor (a 1.0"-type (0.52" x 0.35") Exmor RS® CMOS sensor, aspect ratio 3:2) that's normally available only in more expensive cameras. 
• It also has the Sony user interface, which I've gotten used to. 
• All the features that make it easier to quickly shoot and upload photos and videos. I like that. 
• The price (around $750) is the most I'm willing to spend on a camera. 
• Max recommended it, and he's got one, so I can bounce my naive ZV-1 observations and questions off a much more experienced and talented photographer. 
• The broader "content creator" orientation is one that roughly aligns with what I'm interested in, so new features will probably try to stay current with evolving practices and specs in that area. Super subtle, obsessive image geekiness -- I'm not really interested in that, and neither is the ZV-1 developer team, I'm assuming.

Is that enough for a recommendation? I think so, but I'll keep adding to the pros and cons as I use this camera, and you can decide for yourself.