Sony ZV-E10 II specs leak - no mechanical shutter, absent AI chip, massive price jump

The Sony ZV-E10 II has been all but confirmed to launch on July 10, and previous leaks about the new APS-C camera indicate that it will be a rather exciting release. The latest leaks from Andrea Pizzini on YouTube, however, indicate that Sony may be making some controversial changes to the ZV-E10 line-up with the launch of the ZV-E10 II.

For one, the leaks reveal that the ZV-E10 II will likely not have a mechanical shutter at all, similarly to the recently launched flagship Nikon Z9. According to tests by CineD, the A6700 sensor that will be in the ZV-E10 II has rolling shutter of 15.9 ms in 4K 25 fps, with the result dropping to 8.1 ms at 4K 120 fps, thanks to the 1.5x crop. These results are fine, but nothing mind-blowing.

Unless Sony has managed to tweak the sensor to get faster read-out speeds, the lack of a mechanical shutter may be a turn-off for many photography-oriented buyers.

Further, likely in an effort to cut costs somewhat, the ZV-E10 II will not feature the same AI Processing Engine as the A6700, meaning there might be some missing performance when it comes to autofocus. Still, the ZV-E10 II will supposedly still feature the same human and animal autofocus and subject recognition as the A6700.

The lack of a dedicated AI processor for these tasks means the ZV-E10 II might be a tad slower or less efficient than the Sony A6700, which will feature similar sensor hardware.

Other software features slated to arrive on the ZV-E10 II include support for 4K 4:2:2 10-bit video and 5.6K oversampled video output. The ZV-E10 II specs leak claims the new APS-C camera will also sport the same microphone as the ZV-E1 premium full-frame vlogging camera.

The last tidbit shared by Pizzini in the latest leak is the price. According to his sources, the ZV-E10 II will cost slightly over $1,000 when it launches on July 10, putting it around $300 more expensive than the original ZV-E10 cost at launch and dangerously close to the existing, far superior A6700 (curr. $1,398 on Amazon) and Fujifilm X-S20 (curr. $1,399.95 at Best Buy with a 15–45 mm kit lens).