Two Years Later; Is the Zeiss ZX1 Worth It in 2020?

In 2018, We reported an announcement by Lens manufacturer Zeiss that it was going to release it’s first full-frame camera, with inbuilt lightroom and at the time, it was a huge deal and two years after that announcement, Zeiss has finally delivered with the birth of the gorgeous ZX1 but is it worth the price?

First off, the camera costs a whopping $6,000 (that’s a Canon R5 and Sony a7C with change). The camera has a 36-megapixel full-frame sensor with a fixed 35mm f/2 lens. The camera runs on the Android operating system, has a 512GB SSD drive (that non-removable), and has a version of Lightroom mobile built into it which lets you edit images on the fly but is all that worth $6,000?

Manny Ortiz takes the camera out for a spin and gives his first impressions. The sensor delivers impressive images and it is capable of 4K/30p videos but the autofocus isn’t the best according to Manny and whilst it has that beautiful touchscreen, there’s very little one can do in terms of button customization as the camera has very few buttons (two to be exact; shutter button and one custom button with limited custom options). At $6,000, You expect a lot (You should expect a Sony FX6 but that’s another discussion) but the ZX1 doesn’t exactly deliver on its price point.

To watch Manny’s full impression, click below.