Last week the site The Information posted a piece stating the possibility of GoPro being bought out by Chinese electronics company Xiaomi which are the makers of the main competitor to GoPro in the same form factor with the Yi camera line. We liked the Yi 4k+ last year as it delivered pretty acceptable quality in 4k 60p in a GoPro like the body+enclosure design. We were not thrilled by the bit rates or the slow-motion quality but it was in the running for the best alternative action camera with a lower price.
If the rumors are true Xiaomi will be consolidating the Action camera market and improving the Yi camera line overnight by rebranding it to GoPro as the name might be just as valuable as the technology being acquired. Most of the current Yi camera products share the components with pre Hero 6 Black cameras like the Hero 5 Black as they were based on the Ambarella chips that GoPro used for a decade.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
The Barnacle Action Camera 2.0 is a Kickstarter project from Canberra Australia, that aims to democratize good quality action cameras for every one. They have just 14 days left in their funding goal with just under 1/3rd of the required pledge total. This is an unconventional camera that aims to go toe to toe with the best action cameras out there.
The shape and tiny size is different with everything controlled from Apple or Android devices besides a basic power and record buttons on the top of the camera. It however aims at the professional market with features that are usually twice the cost on other brands. It is a decent camera for very little money in the end.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
The Casio EX-FR200 is a weird camera in many respects. It’s 180 degree fish eye lens makes spherical imaging and the entire lens and sensor assembly detaches for remote operation. With the aid of a second lens and sensor module you can take 360 degree images and footage for a VR wrapper compatible with YouTube 360.
The camera modules can be bought separate and controlled from the main body unit without the need to buy two full pieces of kit. If you were trying to get into the Youtube 360 and VR video panoramic craze this is an easy way to do it. Price is not yet specified but we expect it to be competitive with high end GoPros or USD $450 and below. The camera is not dive proof see below…→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
The GoPro Like competitor project Mokacam on indiegogo has reached their goal 13x over or 1329% with over 660k USD by their backers. The project is just hours away from closing funding and a few of their offer kits are still available. If for anything it is a very cheap way to get into 4k at 15fps on a small GoPro like camera for under $200 USD with options for a tilt screen, pluggable magnetic batteries and even a portable electronic gimble for the tiny wonder of a camera.
What jumps out is how good the image quality is and all the surmounted obstacles that the team successfully accomplished to get the camera ready for production. It is not as strong in the frame rates as the GoPro Hero 4 black as it is only 15fps at 4k but it is not it’s function to eclipse that camera but to offer an alternative at a very low cost. It also offers a 1080p 60, 120fps 720p mode and a 240fps VGA mode hence why we are covering it as a high speed camera.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
Another big set of releases at CES regarding cameras that have a slow motion mode fro the consumer are the Sony Handycam and Action cam models that were refreshed. The Sony FDR-AX53 is the most interesting of the two as it is probably the smallest and lightest Handycam from Sony that shoots 4k in a near professional quality level.
It offers so much for under 1k that it will pose some problems for other cameras in it’s segment. It is not as advanced in the zoom department as the Panasonic WXF991 which can ramp zoom and focus on dolly motion but it does have a jack of all trades feel about it.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
It seems that GoPro is not quite done with camera updates this year. They just released a very small variant of the Hero 4 hardware called the GoPro Hero 4 Session. Some jokes have already come out about the name like the next Re-Session Camera to own. However this is more of an evolutionary and reductionist product than any release GoPro has ever made before.
The Hero 4 Black is a powerhouse little camera with great frame rates for slow motion and 4k video at 30p. Some have criticized the codec in 4k mode as being too lossy and we agree to a point. What interest us however is not the 4k mode for now which is absent from the GoPro Hero 4 Session altogether but the lower res Full HD and HD slow motion high frame rate modes.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
