Top critical review
2.0 out of 5 starsCompression artifacts make this unusable
Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2022
I read all the great positive reviews and jumped in on this camera. I was very disappointed though. After trying all the different supported resolutions and quality options I found that compression artifacts were present in every option. The most obvious is the stair step or stair case artifact. This is when a straight line looks like a bunch of little stairs. You can see it best with something circular. I produce cooking shows and I was hoping to be able to use this as sort of "bodycam" for the chef to get that perspective, but the quality is so low it is unusable for me.
Perhaps I just got a bad one, but what I'm seeing is usually a result of insufficient processing power in the camera to process the raw video information into a compressed format. That results in the the type of problems I'm experiencing. This camera may be great for underwater or other uses. I did try the camera outdoors in full sunshine as I know many artifacts can manifest from insufficient light, but the images were still substandard.
I will be sending this back, however I did give it two stars for a reason. This is a really nice package in term of accessories. Just about every type of mounting option there is was included in the box which is really nice. Note that it does NOT included a microSD card so you'll need a fast one to record with this camera. (BTW, a really slow card can be the cause of some of the issues I saw, but the SD card I used is a name brand and the fastest they make.) Two batteries is an extra plus as well.
Update: I forgot to mention another issue with this camera. By design it has a wide angle lens which is appropriate for an action camera. However, it also means that you get the whole "fish eye" lens effect. This shows up as curved lines when they should be straight. In one of the test videos I made, I had a ladder in the scene and it was bulging and curved. I think this camera may use a form of digital zoom rather than an optical zoom as this effect remained even when I used the zoom function. Ultimately, after thorough testing I have decided to return this camera.
