Xiaomi Camera Yi Action: review, manual, reviews

The average consumer is getting closer to extreme sports. Literally a few years ago, to get a more or less high-quality picture, for example, a parachute jump, you had to acquire a solid and very expensive set of equipment. Today's realities have significantly lowered the price threshold of such devices. Thanks for this you need technical progress and tangible competition in the gadget market.

The relatively young company "Xiaomi" went further and made the extreme shooting more accessible by launching a device called Yi on the market. So, the hero of today's review is the Xiaomi Yi Action Camera. Let's try to identify all the advantages of the model along with the shortcomings, taking into account the opinions of experts and feedback from ordinary gadget owners.

Equipment

The company has long taken the rule of packing its products in boxes of very dense cardboard without any excesses like color advertising or vivid instructions. The packaging is simple and tasteful. The only thing you can see on the lid is the logo and the sticker with the code on the back.

Supplied Xiaomi Camera Yi Action in two versions: normal and tourist (advanced). Considered will be the second option: it is not much more expensive, but is equipped with an entertaining monopod, which is surely useful in extreme campaigns. Another reason to overpay for the enhanced version is the availability of additional camera mounts (only two, the rest have to be purchased), which is also very handy.

extended version

Inside you can see the Xiaomi Yi Action Camera itself, mounts, telescopic monopod and a USB cable to recharge the gadget. In the bag there is a rechargeable battery of very low capacity (1010 mAh), and there is no power supply. All the holders and underwater cases are not provided by the manufacturer, so all this can be bought separately if desired.

Design

The choice of colors is small: completely white gadget or bright green. The case is made of quite strong plastic, where the front and back are pleasant to the touch matte coating, and along the perimeter there is a ribbed edging - an original and eye-pleasing design decision.

On the front side is a strongly bulging 24 mm black lens without any protective cover or protective protrusions. For this ill-considered moment often recall the unkind word designers Xiaomi Yi Action Camera. Reviews dazzle with indignation of the owners: why one of the main parts of the gadget was without protection? Of course, you can look for a protective case on sale, but what if it interferes with the normal operation of the device or it is not possible to buy it at the moment? As a result, it turns out that an unprotected lens is easily scratched, and the Chinese manufacturer has not taken care to put in the kit, even if it is a bad one, but at least some kind of cover.

Control and lighting

Near the lens is a relatively large button to turn on the device. Pressing once switches the photo modes from video and vice versa, and long hold turns the unit off. The button is fitted with a diametric LED that changes color depending on the level of charging of the battery: at the moment of inclusion in the network for recharging, the button is highlighted with a red halo.

In addition to the attractive illumination of the shutdown button, on the Xiaomi Camera Yi Action you can see four more LEDs. The rear, top and bottom sensors show the current shooting mode, and the side diode is responsible for the wireless protocols. Many reviews of the gadget point out as a positive moment the possibility of turning off the backlight and the presence of adjusting its activity.

On the top of the Xiaomi Camera Yi Action is a one-shot shutter release button. One section says that the camera is deprived of autofocus, but maybe this is for the best (do not set up autofocus during the jump from the springboard).

The lower part is equipped with a screw fastening for a monopod, a tripod or a now fashionable self-stick. The hole has standard dimensions for photo devices, so you can record almost anything in it. On the right you can see the button for activating wireless communication such as "wifai" and "bluetooth", and there is no protocol splitting.

Many owners of Xiaomi Camera Yi Action complain in their responses to the "reverie" of the gadget. After connecting to an external device like a smartphone or a laptop, the camera needs about 10-15 seconds to simply be detected, and further synchronization is not fast and responsive. Also, users noticed a certain inhibition and at the time of photographing: after the shutter release, the gadget continues to "think" for one or two seconds.

Shooting

The camera is equipped with a 16-megapixel matrix from Sony's Exmore R series. The lens has aspherical lenses and aperture in F2.8. And the latter in no way affects the effect of the bokeh (blur), because the focus, starting at 20 cm, is automatically set to infinity. Therefore, to get something like a macrophoto, alas, will not work.

Xiaomi Yi Action Camera review has a very impressive (about 160 degrees) due to specific lenses and a wide-angle lens, but someone may not like the visible effect of the "fish eye" because of the aspherical design.

Quality photo

The maximum resolution of the photo is 4608 by 3456 pixels. If there is a desire, then you can set the indicators at 13.8x5 Mp, but this will greatly increase the "thoughtfulness" of the device. The quality of the photos seems to be good, but not impressive. Snapshots by their saturation are noticeably behind the flagship smartphones and even sometimes from digital soap boxes. In addition, many users in their reviews note problems with the sharpness of the picture at the corners of the photo, especially noticeable after the activation of the suppression of distortion (barrel).

You can also note the poor performance of the exposure mode during shooting the Xiaomi Yi Action Camera. The instruction indicates that this option is enabled by default and automatically adjusts to the environment. But in most cases, automatic work deprives photos of juicy and bright colors, replacing them with some kind of yellow-green similarity.

Video recording

Immediately it is worth noting that the gadget can only take pictures in a horizontal position. Even though the developer claims to support the accelerometer, it obviously does not fit to change the orientation. The optical stabilization protects against the shaking of the image, but in such devices without it anywhere. The maximum resolution at which the eye does not see friezes and sagging is 1920 by 1080 pixels at 25 frames per second and with a 16: 9 aspect ratio.

List of working resolutions for the format 16 to 9:

• 1920 x 1080px / 25 fps.
• 1920 x 1080 px / 48 fps.
• 1920 x 1080 px / 24 fps.
• 1280 x 960 px / 50 fps (4: 3).
• 1280 x 960 px / 48 FBS (4: 3).
• 1280 x 720 px / 50 fps.
• 1280 x 720 px / 48 fps.
• 1280 x 720 px / 100 fps.
• 848 x 480px / 200 fps.

The maximum duration of one video is 5 minutes. You can not change this parameter, but as an alternative, you can set the mode of continuous filling of memory until the space on the CD-card runs out. That is, you can fill the media with five-minute segments, which then can easily be connected on a smartphone, laptop or personal computer.

Summarizing

Thinking about the acquisition of the camera "Xiaomi", you must always keep in mind its price tag. This is the most advantageous advantage of the gadget. You can buy a device for 5 thousand rubles, which is quite realistic for the average extreme. Therefore, looking at the price, you can forgive the camera for most shortcomings and shortcomings, and coupled with the advantages of the model, you can say that buying yourself fully justifies.