The best toy is not tired of playing, because it will have countless ways to play, ever-changing, often opening a new world. This is true of our building block toys, and the same is true of the sports camera we received from Xiaomi on March 3.
In fact, motion cameras are not the most accurate definition of such products. Although it is born for extreme sports, and The reason why the founder was born was that he could not find a suitable camera to take photos of himself surfing, but ordinary people could also use it to play more tricks: someone tied it to On, I saw myself in the eyes of the hula hoop; Some people use it to record the baby's growth moment; Some people use it to record street scenes in their hometown; Someone took it for aerial photography; Someone used it The feeling of; Someone put it in Let people know how the dishwasher works
In a word, sports camera is very fun. There are countless ways to play it. It is a good toy.
Getting started
(Volume contrast small screen mobile phone Xiaomi 2S)
The fun first benefits from the mini body of the sports camera. Similar to the famous GoPro, the small ant sports camera is only slightly larger than the common match box (Gee, it seems that it is not common now). Small, so it is flexible. It can be fixed on handlebars, helmets and other positions through various special accessories to obtain unexpected shooting angles.
Xiao Ant mainly has two buttons, one is the power button, which can also switch between photographing and video recording modes; A shutter key. These two keys need to work together. When I first got the ants, I thought I could start. After all, I also got a big SLR. How could I not even play with the "mini camera" with only two keys. The result is really not like this.
It is too simple, and there is no screen for viewfinder. You can only judge the status by the indicator light (the three indicators on the top, bottom and back of the fuselage have the same function and different positions, so that you can see them from different angles). But I don't know how to play without reading the manual, remembering and using it several times. Of course, once remembered, it is not easy to forget. To put it simply, the default mode for Xiaoyi to start up is shooting mode (customizable). Press the shutter key to shoot; Press the power key to switch to the recording mode, and the indicator light is always on. If the shutter key is pressed, the indicator light flashes, indicating that recording is in progress. Write it down. After starting up:
Indicator light is not on: take a picture
Indicator light is always on: video recording
The indicator flashes: recording
To be honest, although it is not difficult to get started, whether the startup speed of almost "instant on and use" or the mode switching speed is satisfactory, I always think it should be easier to get started, more intuitive, and more "difficult to make mistakes".
photograph
The default photo taken by the ants is 4:3, with a resolution of 4608 × 3456, which is the highest 16 million pixel photo. Each photo occupies about 2.5MB of space, which means that a 16GB MicroSD card can store about 5000 photos. In the App, you can adjust four photo resolutions, the minimum is 5 million pixels 2560 × 1920, but the scale is 4:3. We find that there is no obvious difference in the speed of taking pictures under different resolution settings, so we always use the default settings for more details.
Photographing speed
It is worth noting that the photography speed of the ants is slower than that of the iPhone 5s. Press the shutter key, the "drop --" beeps first, and then the "drop --" beeps again about 1.5 seconds later. Then the question arises, should I smile at the first beep or the second beep (yes, I can't keep smiling for 1.5 seconds). After the Doubi test (take the stopwatch five times, as shown in the figure above), I found that the imaging time was about 1.00 seconds, so when taking a selfie, you can press the shutter key first, and then smile calmly.
As for the photo effect, to be honest, I don't expect much from the 399 yuan product. With the naked eye, taking photos is certainly not as good as the iPhone 5 or the iPhone 4S, but it is close to the iPhone 4 and many thousands of domestic computers. This is not really suitable. After all, Xiao Ant uses a wide-angle lens with fisheye effect. You can see the difference at a glance.
Distortion correction
Some people may not like the effect of "fisheye lens", so Xiaoant also provides the function of "lens distortion correction". We switched this function on and off and took two photos at the same location to compare (see the above figure). Notice the shape change of the glass wall building behind. Then, I decided not to enable this function. The function of switching on and off during video recording has also been tested, which is the same as taking pictures.
videotape
The default video recorded by Xiaoyi is 1080p (30fps), 10 minutes of video, accounting for nearly 1 GB of capacity. Due to the limitation of MicroSD card disk system format, the maximum file size is 2 GB, so it will be divided into 20 minute videos. If you shoot the highest quality 1080p (60fps) video, it will take about 10 minutes, about 2GB. So when should I shoot a 60fps video?
30fps vs 60fps
In short, when moving at high speed, you should consider 60 fps if you want to do special effects at 1/2 speed or slower speed in the later video. We used two frame rates to shoot a video of a small fan when it stopped moving. It can be clearly seen that the fan blade at 30fps has obvious drag, and 60fps is much better. But in addition to the file size, 60fps has another side effect.
Battery life
In our tripod static test, we also shot 1080p video. From 100% power to automatic shutdown, 30fps can shoot for about one hour and 40 minutes, while 60fps can shoot for only one hour. About a 60% discount. After my lax test, using the standard 5V/1A power adapter to charge, it takes about 2 hours to fully charge. If 5V/2A adapter is used, it will take 1.5 hours to fully charge (This product does not provide a power adapter. When switching between the two adapters, we encountered the problem that the power displayed is either high or low. It is suspected that it is an individual reason. If you also encounter this problem, please leave a message.) 。
It is worth mentioning that Xiaoant supports charging while using it (it will be recognized as a USB flash drive if the computer is not available). In this way, battery life is no longer a problem in many cases. In principle, it is OK to record several hours of programs with it, as long as you keep changing the MicroSD card. However, we didn't do such tests. We don't know whether the ants will encounter problems (such as fever) when they work for a long time in actual operation.
Another thing to note is that the electricity indication of the ants is a little strange. If the mobile phone is not connected, the power can only be judged by the color of the ring indicator of the power key:
Blue, indicating 50% - 100% power
Purple, indicating 15% - 49% power
Red, indicating 0-14% power
This indication mode is not as clear and direct as the 4 lights or 5 lights used in the traditional mobile power supply. To make matters worse, because the red light is always displayed when charging, you must unplug it before fully charging to know whether it has been charged more than half, which makes you slightly uncomfortable. Therefore, every time I waited patiently for the battery to be fully charged and the light went out, I knew it.
Steady Video
We tied Xiaoyi with another Sony Z3 mobile phone without optical anti shake but with electronic anti shake patented technology, and took a video of "street view" in the office:
It is obvious that Sony Z3 mobile phone has much stronger electronic anti shake ability when taking photos while walking. It can be seen that there is still much room for improvement of the video anti shake algorithm of the ants. For motion cameras, this is a very important core technology.
P. S. Many parameters are concerned about whether the video jitter is severe because the ants have no optical anti shake. It is recommended to check whether GoPro has optical anti shake first, and then check Later.
Connect and share
All settings of Xiaoyi must be connected to the matching mobile phone app (Xiaoyi sports camera). After power on, click the small Wi Fi button on the right side of the body, wait for the blue indicator light to flash, and then connect the phone to the hot spot shared by the ants. At this time, the mobile phone can be used as the viewfinder of the ants to remotely control shooting or carry out detailed parameter customization. At this time, the mobile phone will not be able to access the Internet, and Wi Fi is occupied. Naturally, the mobile data connection cannot be started at the same time.
Due to the speed of direct Wi Fi connection, photos taken by phone control will not be transferred to the phone by default, only thumbnail images will be generated temporarily, and the original image needs to click "Download". The video will retain a 432 × 240 resolution "thumbnail video" version on the MicroSD card for easy viewing on the phone.
Export Video
The body of Xiaoyi has 3 interfaces. A MicroSD card slot supports a maximum capacity of 64 GB. It is recommended to use the fast class 10 standard MicroSD card. The MicroSD card needs to be purchased additionally. The price of 16/32/64GB is about 45/75/185 yuan, so 32GB is the most cost-effective. Please note that Xiaoant does not support memory cards smaller than 4GB.
The other is MicroUSB, which can be charged (with a charging cable) and can also transfer data. When transferring data, both Windows and Mac will automatically recognize it as a USB flash disk when it is turned on. As of press release, Xiao Ant has a bug. After connecting to the computer for more than 5 minutes, Xiao Ant will automatically shut down. If it is transmitting data, it will be ruined. 5 minutes is the time for automatic shutdown. You can customize 3 minutes, 10 minutes or shutdown, but it is not recommended to disable this function to save power. The correct way is to connect the computer in an active state and not automatically shut down.
Snapshot compatibility
At present, the Android version of Xiaoyi Sports Camera App has been launched, and according to the official website information, the iOS version will be launched in April this year. We used the old machine Xiaomi 2S of MIUI 6 system when testing. Through the app, we can achieve a "snapshot" function of a 10 second video. The file resolution is 640 × 480, and the size is only about 1MB. In addition, we can directly add video filters and sound effects, and then upload them to Xiaoyi's video server, and send them to WeChat friends or Weibo（ ）。
But we can only shoot 10 seconds of video on another mobile phone without MIUI system, and can't upload it to Xiaoyi server for sharing. As of press release, the Android version of Xiaoyi Sports Camera does not support Android 5.0 system. We asked Xiaomi about this question, and Xiaomi replied that engineers are stepping up the adaptation of more models, and MIUI system is preferred.
When sharing snapshot videos, the phone needs to switch from the camera Wi Fi hotspot to the Wi Fi or mobile data network that can access the Internet. After sharing, return to the camera Wi Fi and continue to control. This process can be successfully completed on Xiaomi 2S, but we expect that on other Android phones and future iPhone versions, this operation may not be so smooth, and may require manual reconnection to Wi Fi.
399 yuan?
The software stability and upgrade response speed have always been one of Xiaomi's greatest advantages.
Xiaomi's Xiaoyi sports camera released on March 2 is strictly a beta version. This is Xiaomi's consistent strategy. At the initial stage of the product launch, the product will be distributed level by level to test their "fans" rice noodles and media (other people can't buy them). For ordinary users, even if they can buy it now, it is also a "semi-finished product". For example, the product specification page of the Little Ant Sports Camera introduces a gravity sensing module, but the software has not yet provided the function of automatically flipping the image; The time delay photography function is also being developed and improved.
As we all know, the abundance of peripheral accessories (various supports) is very important for sports cameras. Xiao Ant currently only provides a travel version with a self timer (499 yuan, 100 yuan more). Basic accessories such as waterproof shell, spare battery, Bluetooth remote control and tripod have not been launched yet.
So you see, sports cameras are not as simple as 399 yuan. Including the money of MicroSD card, tripod and various accessories, it will soon cost 1000 yuan.
summary
Xiaomi has used "toys" to describe his own products more than once. However, in our opinion, Xiaoyi Sports Camera is the most consistent product with the definition of toy. It has endless space for imagination and is Xiaomi's best toy so far. However, if this toy is used with a Xiaomi or Hongmi mobile phone, it can give full play to its potential.
It is needless to mention aerial photography and extreme sports. If you still have a curiosity about life, you can try to discover and even create a new world through such tools.
In the future, after the software development is perfect and the accessories are also sold, it should not be a problem for Xiaoyi sports camera to become the red rice mobile phone of sports camera. As an analogy, GoPro should be iPhone. You shouldn't compare iPhone with red rice, which is only 1/10 of your own price（ ）。
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Top:
cheap
Use while charging
Rich App customization options
Connect to the computer and use it as a USB flash drive
Match with Xiaomi mobile phone to play all functions
Step on:
Hard to buy, accessories are not yet available
Average battery life
Video anti shake effect is average
All settings depend on the phone
The selfie lever is only an extension lever and has no shooting function
Computer scoring: ★★★★ (4 stars, 80 points)
1 star=recycling; 2 stars=barely usable; 3 stars=in order; 4 stars=more than expected; 5 stars=strongly recommended
(Note: The beautiful photos in this article are stolen from Feiwei's unpacking photo ）
