Its a Camera. An itsy-bitsy teeny weeny camera. Rival to the GoPro Hero 5 and the like. I bought it because it was cheaper. A lot cheaper! But why did I decide I suddenly need a camera? Well, firstly I was bored at work. That usually means shopping for running gear or signing up to another event or race. I also decided I wanted to start capturing some of my adventures and a video camera/Action cam was needed (its never needed, wanted is the better word). I couldn’t justify the outlay of the GoPro or the impressive looking Revl Arc or Rylo offerings and soon stumbled across the YI Action 4K + through various tech review sites and found a deal on Amazon that was too good to turn down.
As always, I’m not going to go into all the techy spec as I don’t understand it for cameras either. In short though…it weighs less than 100g, shoots 4k videos (at 60FPS), has a 12mp camera, a battery that lasts >100mins and includes Electronic Image Stabilisation (EIS – that stuff that helps make the video less jumpy) and voice activated controls. Does that help? OK, let me be more clear. You can take photos and videos with it and the quality is damn good and the battery lasts for a long time. Oh, it also has a touch screen. Thumbs up. Review complete.
In all seriousness, if you are in the market for a piece of tech like this, don’t rely on me. Read up on various tech websites (a simple google search for action camera reviews will throw back plenty) and get a comparison across features. There are some rave reviews about the YI Action 4k+ and unless your are a more serious photographer/blogger you’ll be able to get by with the comfort of knowing it rates highly and favourably compared to the bigger brands. My basic summary (shortest, least informative tech review ever?) is below…
What I like
- Its size and weight (it fits perfectly in a pocket on the straps of my Montane Razor 15 and also on my Salomon Adv Skin packs)
- Its simplicity. Touch screen controls for navigation and settings. One big button to capture images/videos.
- The video/image quality – its excellent. Pictures come out fantastic (most of the pictures on this site have been captured using the camera!) and video is clear. The EIS helps improve quality here (note, if you want completely smooth videos from activities like running you either need one of those mega expensive gyroscopic stabilising selfie like sticks or an inbuilt gimbal thingy
- Battery Life – more than sufficient to film plenty of running
- The cost! Compared to something like a GoPro it is a bargain
- Compatibility – standard accessories and fittings for other cameras typically fit ok.
- You can also control it from your app, kinda cool!
What I don’t Like
- The voice activated controls sometimes are triggered during conversation. I should really turn it off (note, I have now turned it off!)
- The App. Its crap basically. Not easy to use and often quite slow. But, it does the job of transferring and editing photos/videos
- Its not waterproof and a separate (bulky) case is needed (I managed to get one as part of the deal, I have used it once and the video was blurry from water on the cover. Doh)
- It doesn’t come with a memory card. More expense required before you can get started.
Conclusion
Just want to capture some memories and make some basic but high quality videos for sharing. This is perfect. Comes with comparable features of better, more well known brands for a fraction of the price. Want something more “professional”, then pay for something more professional (or unlike me, invest more time in understanding it and its capabilities!!).
The best way to get a sense of this camera is to look around the blog – the vast majority of the pictures you see will have been captured by this bad boy!
Run With Dai 