The truth about Sony Clear Image Zoom - a proper test using a7sii
Shot on Sony a7sii
with Sigma 18-35mm ART lens
ISO 100
I obviously zoomed in loads in Premiere, then zoomed in a bit more in on the 1.4x CIZ (to match the 2x CIZ shot) and obviously zoomed in even more on the 0x CIZ - so the frames matched.
Conclusion: Zooming in using Premiere is the same quality as using CIZ. All this hype about it referencing an 'AI powered library of shapes' and making sense of the image is clearly rubbish. Main difference is that when using CIZ, you lose functionality with focus/ tracking/ etc. So really no point in using it at all, every. Unless you really are lazy with editing.