Yi Technology 4K+ Action Camera review

The Important Overview

That is TechSwitch’s overview abstract that provides you all the important thing data you want when you’re searching for fast shopping for recommendation in 30 seconds – our common full, in-depth overview follows.

The Yi Expertise 4K+ Motion Digicam is simply pretty much as good because the GoPro Hero6 Black, however it’s not an identical. An motion digital camera simply as moveable as its rival – and with simply as poor a battery life (lower than two hours) – the Yi Expertise 4K+ Motion Digicam can file in 4K at 60fps, identical to a GoPro Hero6 Black. That is extra element and smoothness than you most likely have to seize your adventures. Its 12MP pictures are nice, too – sharp and vibrant – and it additionally shoots in uncooked (although not natively in HDR). 

The place the Yi Expertise 4K+ Motion Digicam will get one over on a GoPro Hero6 Black bodily is with its weight (93g vs the GoPro Hero6 Black’s 117g) regardless of having a barely bigger touchscreen. It is also simpler to make use of, due to a super-fast processor and an impressively easy person interface your granny may grasp. 

Nonetheless, the Yi Expertise 4K+ Motion Digicam is extra inexpensive than its rival, and that comes with a couple of lower corners. In contrast to the GoPro Hero6 Black, the Yi Expertise 4K+ Motion Digicam is splash-proof, not waterproof (not with out including a separate housing), whereas it additionally lacks GPS, an accelerometer, and a gyroscope. Are any of these omissions deal-breakers? Most likely not.  

So when you’re aquatic-minded, or you must know precisely the place you have been, and how briskly you’re going once you took a video, purchase a GoPro Hero6 Black. Nonetheless, when you’re extra involved in saving a couple of quid on options you did not even need, the Yi Expertise 4K+ Motion Digicam is likely one of the easiest and finest designed devices round. Everybody contemplating shopping for an motion cam ought to take a look on the Yi Expertise 4K+ Motion Digicam as a result of it is virtually precisely the identical and, in some methods, even higher than a GoPro. 

Who’s it for and may I purchase it?

When you have your eye on a GoPro for a while, however have not but  buyers in a single, is a good alternative to avoid wasting a bit of money. Virtually pretty much as good as its extra well-known rival in virtually each means, the Yi Expertise 4K+ Motion Digicam is however not natively waterproof. Do you care? Motion cameras like these are usually used sporadically, and the way typically any of them truly get taken underwater is anybody’s guess. Nonetheless, simplicity is the Yi Expertise 4K+ Motion Digicam’s largest attribute, and when you’ve no want for the GPS, accelerometer and gyroscope discovered on the GoPro Hero6 Black, why pay for them? 

Light-weight, straightforward to make use of and producing nice high quality 4K video and stills that is really easy to switch to a telephone for sharing, the Yi Expertise 4K+ Motion Digicam is a formidable approach to save a considerable slab. Nonetheless, this follow-up to the Yi 4K Action Camera is extra tweak than overhaul, with the principle enchancment being that the Yi Expertise 4K+ Motion Digicam can movie in 4K at 60fps, so when you’ve already obtained Yi’s first motion cam, skip this second model and watch for the third. 

Yi Expertise 4K+ Motion Digicam value

• Present value: £299/ $339.98 (each costs embody waterproof case)

An motion cam that is significantly better worth than a GoPro

• Constructed-in picture stabilization
• Not natively waterproof
• Recharges by way of USB-C port

The Yi 4K+ is not extremely completely different to the unique Yi 4K, the principle addition being a capability to shoot video at 4K at 60fps, identical to a GoPro Hero6 Black. Requiring a U3 class microSD card for use, taking pictures in 4K/60fps does imply a most bitrate of 120Mbps, which is double what the Yi 4K supplied. It is also price taking into account that though the Yi 4K+ does have digital picture stabilization onboard, it solely works as much as 4K/30fps.

Inside is similar 12MP Sony IMX377 half.Three-inch CMOS sensor with Exmor R as on the Yi 4K, however this model has a brand new Ambarella H2 + Quad-core ARM Cortex A53 processor. They work terrifically properly collectively, permitting the Yi 4K+’s working system to work fluently and and not using a hitch regardless of the larger bitrate. 

You are most likely not going to make use of the Yi 4K+ a lot for images, however you possibly can. It shoots very usable 12MP photographs, and it is potential to avoid wasting in JPEG or preserve the uncooked recordsdata, which is outputs as common .DNG recordsdata. It would not deal in HDR, because the GoPro Hero6 Black does, however because it shoots in uncooked that is no large deal. 

In contrast to the unique Yi 4K, this new model recharges by way of USB-C port , and within the field is an adaptor for hooking-up an exterior microphone. It takes a microSD card as much as 64GB. 

So why would anybody purchase GoPro? There are a couple of tiny corners lower on the Yi 4K+. In contrast to the GoPro Hero5 Black or the brand new GoPro Hero6 Black, the Yi 4K+ shouldn’t be natively waterproof, though a separate Waterproof Case Package – which can be apparently ‘dustyproof’ – is obtainable. Nonetheless, the one actually noticeable distinction between the Yi 4K+ and GoPros are that the Yi 4K+ lacks the GPS, gyroscope and accelerometer sensors, so your movies do not embody tags for geographical positioning, path and pace. You both care about that, or you do not. Except you are a efficiency athlete obsessed by information, it is most likely irrelevant. 

Nonetheless, what’s annoying – and it is precisely the identical with all GoPro merchandise – is a brief battery life. The Yi 4K+ has a 1400mAh battery that lasts for simply over an hour in 4K mode, just a little longer if not. 

A small, moveable and money-saving design

• Weighs simply 93g
• Not waterproof
• Corning Gorilla glass

Apart from its engaging, delicate checkerboard sample on its font, the Yi 4K+ appears precisely the identical, bodily, as its forbear, the Yi 4K. 

It weighs simply 93g, and it is rectangular little 65 x 42 x 30mm physique hosts a 2.19-inch color touchscreen coasted in robust Corning Gorilla glass. Higher nonetheless, that touchscreen – in addition to being a big – is of wonderful high quality; it is colourful and contrasty, with a terrific viewing angle, and it is extraordinarily delicate to the touch. That makes the clear, concise working system a breeze to make use of; I might go so far as to say that the Yi 4K+ has among the many easiest and speediest person interfaces I’ve come throughout within the final 15 years. 

Its new voice management software program does add to that, although outcomes are combined regardless of having to first have the Yi 4K+ file a voice pattern. Shouting ‘Yi Motion take photograph’, ‘Yi Motion file video’ and ‘Yi Motion flip off’ (amongst different voice instructions) on the Yi 4K+ does herald outcomes, however it would not work too properly when you’re open air … which is kinda’s all what this digital camera is for. 

The Yi 4K+ has a typical tripod thread on the underside, which is a boon for anybody wanting to attach it to the plethora of mounts obtainable (in addition to a typical digital camera tripod). Regardless of the natively straightforward to make use of Yi 4K+ not requiring a superb app to make the system usable (which is so typically the case), its free Yi Motion app is spectacular. 

Linking reliably to a smartphone by way of Wi-Fi on both 2.4GHz or 5GHz, the app can entry all of the settings on the digital camera, and hosts an virtually instantaneous stay feed. When you’re performed, you possibly can switch photographs and movies to your telephone, apply some filters and picture results (from HDR and a the 360-degree camera-style ‘Tiny Planet’ and ‘Spial Galaxy’ to extra run-of-the-mill ‘classic’, ‘nostalgia’ and ‘romance’), and share to Fb, Instagram and – displaying its Asian heritage – Line. 

To battery life, which on the Yi 4K+ we measured at round an hour on 4K/60fps, and virtually two hours on Full HD 1080p, which is comparatively good in comparison with the GoPro Hero6 Black. Nonetheless, that does not imply such a super-short battery life is suitable, and appears to me to sign that the Yi 4K+ is just too small for its personal good. 

Picture high quality

• Clear however jumpy 4K/60fps
• Clean however noisy Full HD
• Good wide-angle JPEG and uncooked pictures

The Yi 4K+ does 4K at 60fps. Nice, however in follow that headline-grabbing function does include a couple of caveats. For instance, its 4K Extremely 4K mode – its most detailed – tops-out at 30fps. So does its 4K HD mode (which accommodates 4000×3008 pixels as an alternative of the usual 3840 x 2160 pixels). Nonetheless, stick it in 4K mode and the Yi 4K+ can file in 60fps (or 48fps, or 30fps). 

At 60fps the outcomes are impressively sharp and contrasty, with properly saturated color. Video could be a little uneven when you hand-hold, which is a results of the low frame-rate (notably noticeable on digital camera pans) and the truth that Yi 4K+’s digital picture stabilisation solely applies to 4K/30fps and beneath. Nonetheless, that is one thing for the follow-up from Yi, and moreover, picture stabilisation could be overdone (see the Sony FDR-X3000R review for proof of that). 

These after the smoothest potential video from the Yi 4K+ ought to take into account taking pictures in Full HD 1080p, which could be performed in all types of body charges, from the ‘cinematic’ 24fps proper by means of to 120fps, which is nice for slow-motion footage. That jumps to 240fps when you shoot in 720p. It is also price realizing that when you shoot in 4K/24fps it is potential to make use of an extremely large discipline of view mode, which stretches the sensor. 

The Yi 4K+ additionally takes good nonetheless photographs, albeit all in a wide-angle. Which means you need to get actually near your topic – uncomfortably shut, typically – although it produces a fairly sharp photographs however. I did not discover an excessive amount of fisheye impact and, moreover, it may be simply eliminated later. Nonetheless, the completed JPEGs typically seem very compressed, contrasty, and with over-exposed areas.  

In addition to producing JPEGs, the Yi 4K+ data uncooked photographs at DNG recordsdata. Nonetheless, taking pictures in uncooked does require just a little persistence, with an approx. 10-seconds wait between every shot. It additionally would not produce the cleanest uncooked photograph you may ever see, however they’re ok to provide some a lot better-looking outcomes by means of Photoshop. 

Not satisfied? Strive these

If the Yi 4K+ motion digital camera isn’t for you, listed here are three wonderful alternate options so that you can take into account…