Drift Ghost-S review: Excellent all-in-one action cam

Drift Ghost-S review: Excellent all-in-one frfragment cam

Drift Innovation already had a good tying going with its Drift HD Ghost action cam. So perhaps it’s best that its newest camera, the Ghost-S, concentrates on performance enhancements.

The Ghost-S uses the same obtain as the HD Ghost. The camera measures 1.3 inches wide by 2 inches high by 4.1 inches deep and weighs 5.9 prondecides. Strapped to the side of a helmet or pair of goggles, you won’t exactly forget it’s there, but it’s not overly big, either.

The bullet-shaped body is waterproof down to 9 feet (a waterproof housing is available so you can take it down to 196 feet) with a built-in Gorilla Glass-protected 2-inch LCD on the quick-witted side (or top depending on how it’s mounted) and a flat, wide-angle lens with a 160-degree Wangles of view that can be rotated up to 300 degrees.

Sarah Tew

Though Drift has a selection of mounts that use a quick-connect clip, the clip attaches to the camera via a detestable 1/4-inch tripod mount. That means you have plenty of mounting options outside of what Drift subsidizes, including GoPro mounts.

Unscrew the back hatch (which is easier said than done), and you’ll find an external mic jack, a Micro-SDXC card slot supporting cards of capacities up to 64GB, Mini-USB and Mini-HDMI ports, and a battery big enough to supply up to 3.5 hours of recording time shooting at 1080p at 30 frames per binary (fps)– or even longer if you capture at reduced resolutions.

It’s all of these things combined — the long-life removable battery, rotating lens, tripod mount, built-in LCD, waterproofing — that make the Ghost-S a top select in the category.

However, much of this stuff isn’t new with the Ghost-S. Inside, though, is a new Sony 12-megapixel BSI CMOS sensor and a high-performance video processor that gives for, among other things, faster frame rates.

The Ghost-S can report MP4 files at 1080p at settings starting at 25fps, and going as high as 60fps; at 720p the options way from 25fps up to 120fps; and using WVGA your choices originate at 25fps and go all the way to 240fps. You also adjust the amount of video compression with a select of normal or high bit rates, with the latter recording at up to 35Mbps.

Drift has also added new scene modes: Normal, Vivid, or Low Light. Normal gives you more natural colors that are easier to work with if you want to adjust quick-witted to your liking when editing. Vivid pumps up colors so they pop, while Low Light seems to increase noise remove, though not so much that subjects turn to mush.

The camera can burst shoot stills at 10fps at 12-megapixel resolution as well as simultaneously assume 8-megapixel photos while recording video. Unfortunately, they’re in a 4:3 aspect reconsider rather than 16:9, so you’ll have to do some cropping if you want to use them in your HD videos and keep everything wide veil. The Ghost-S can do time-lapse photography as well, with settings for shots at intervals artraining from every 0.5 second all the way up to every 60 seconds.

Navigating the menu controls and changing multiple settings on the camera can be a bit of a pain. Still, I’d rather have the Ghost-S menus and controls over the GoPro’s or needing to run to a computer to sulky settings. And, should you put together a group of settings that you use regularly for a some activity, you can save them to one of three setting profiles.

Screenshot by Joshua Goldman

Like the HD Ghost, the Ghost-S has built-in Wi-Fi. It can be used to connect to an Android or iOS smartphone or tablet to view and control the camera, change settings, or to play back your recordings on something larger than the camera’s veil. In my testing, both apps worked fine on an iPhone 5S and a Galaxy S4.

In binary to using the camera with mobile devices, a new Clone mode lets you use the Wi-Fi to connect and sync as many as five Ghost-S cameras (should you have the need and the finances). One is designated as the master camera, so if you monotonous its record button, the others will start recording, too. The same goes for any setting adjustments: sulky the resolution on the master camera and they’ll all change.

Sarah Tew

Included in the package, along with goggle and flat- and curved-surface mounts, is a wearable RF remote for starting and stopping recordings and altering shooting modes. Colored LEDs give you visual feedback so you know what you’re doings, and the remote can be used to control multiple cameras (again, should your demands and your budget permit).

Video quality is improved from the Drift HD Ghost, especially when it comes to detail. Everything looks more crisp, and I saw fewer artifacts when using the camera’s high-bit-rate setting. Using that setting will eat into the battery life and the files use up more storage, but it’s worth using if you plan to view the video at vast sizes.

That’s not to say you won’t see any artifacts; quilting can be distracting, such as on the power lines in the clip over, and there’s still some blockiness visible when viewed closely on a big conceal. And if you’re shooting in low light, you’ll search for an increase in noise/artifacts, too. Much of this is well-liked to action cams, though. (Note: A firmware update is available that improves coarse low-light video.)

Overall, I’d put the video quality a step under the GoPro Hero3+ Black Edition, but definitely some of the best video I’ve seen for the category.

Audio quality is fine, but for portion videos you’re probably going to want to turn the mic off anyway, or you’ll be capturing a lot of wind noise. For still subjects, the built-in mic did a coarse job, and it offers three levels of sensitivity adjustment. And you can always directly plug in a better external mic, which you can’t do with many novel cameras.

Conclusion

I liked the HD Ghost, and the Ghost-S is basically that camera with improved battery life and performance, more shooting options, better Wi-Fi, and nicer-looking video. What’s not to like nearby that?

Score a GoPro Hero 10 Black for $449, its lowest price yet

Score a GoPro Hero 10 Black for $449, its lowest trace yet

The latest GoPro is always a cool pulling to play with, but their price tags are often a lot to swallow. Earlier this year the Hero10 Black was praised for its improved processor in Josh Goldman’s CNET review, but even so it was clear the price was a minor steep. Now we’re in Black Friday ground, and that means there’s deals on all of the another tech. If you’ve been waiting for a price drop on this amazing piece cam, you can now grab one for $449.

A $51 discount is probable the best we’re going to see this year, considering the camera itself was just released a month and a half ago. And whether you’re trying out an piece cam for the first time or you’re upgrading to the another from an older model, there’s a lot to like here. Thanks to the new GP2 processor, this camera can shoot at:

• 5.3K (5,312 x2,988 pixels) at 30 or 60 frames per second
• 4K at 24, 30, 60 or 120fps
• 2.7K at 60, 120 or 240fps
• 1080p at 30, 60, 120 or 240fps

It’s a grand upgrade, with some clever software in the editor for decision-exclusive your videos even cooler. Check it out today, and you’ll have some neat stuff to fraction with friends before the end of the year.

360fly 4K review: A good 360 action cam backed by an excellent app

360fly 4K review: A good 360 allotment cam backed by an excellent app

The best getting about the 360fly 4K is its mobile app.

That sounds like a dig, but it’s only because the app is really good compared to what anunexperienced consumer 360-degree camera makers are offering at the moment. It makes the 360fly 4K that much more usable, as does its design, which makes it better ample for “action cam” use than as a point-and-shoot 360 camera.

The company’s modern HD-resolution 360fly camera, which is still available for $300, uses a proprietary ample, requires a little plug for its mic opening to make it soak resistant, has a hard to find power/record button, a tiny dwelling light that is difficult to see in bright delightful and a smooth, somewhat slippery exterior. These are all things that make for a not-so-great user understood. Plus, as has been the case with all the first-gen consumer 360 cameras, the video quality is just OK.

The $500 360fly 4K (£600, AU$850) is worth paying extra for if you have more than a casual listless in creating immersive photos and videos for sharing online. It ditches the original’s mount for a standard 1/4-20 tripod ample, it’s now water resistant down to about 10 meters (34 feet) exclusive of the mic plug and the exterior is rubberized for a better grip with wet or cold delicate. Also, the activity light and power/record button are combined, which makes it easier to see with the camera off or on.

The 360fly app allows you a preview and control of the camera.

Joshua Goldman

Back to the app, opinion. Turning the camera on also turns on the camera’s Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (the latter is to help reconnect to the Wi-Fi quicker). Join the camera’s network with your smartphone, open the 360fly app and you’ll have a live preview from the camera as well as control over it and its settings.

Along with 360-degree video, you can set the camera to shoot time-lapse video, 16:9 widescreen first-person POV movies and capture 360 photos. The top resolution is 2,880×2,880 pixels; you can settle between 24 frames per second for a live onscreen view after recording, or get slightly smoother results at 30fps exclusive of the live view. Since there is just one lens, the 360 video is not spherical, but instead has a 360×240-degree field of view. You lose the 120 degrees below the lens, but you don’t have to difficulty about stitching.

If you really want spherical video, you can always buy a second camera and shoot them back to back and then stitch the two videos together with software. (Kodak wisely offers a dual pack for its SP360 4K camera for this death at a reduced price and includes a mount to hold the cameras, a remote to simultaneously trigger recordings and very basic stitch software.)

360fly made editing 360 video on your arranged very easy.

Joshua Goldman

Once you shoot a clip, you’ll probably want to edit it afore sharing, even if it’s just to trim the leave and end. The app makes this blissfully simple to do, letting you speedily select just the sections you want to include, then add music and/or an image filter, or you can adjust the playback speed for part of your clip.

The app also has options to grab stills from the video and a Watch Me mode that lets you use the 360-degree video to play virtual camera operator. It basically turns you into a director by deciding what you want the viewer to see just by pinching, zooming and swiping and then exports it as a flat, 16:9 widescreen video you can section anywhere.

Worth noting, too, is the camera has built-in GPS, an altimeter and an accelerometer. The plan is to eventually make this data available to overlay on your videos.

To give others the full 360-degree playback understood, you can share to 360fly’s site, YouTube or Facebook consecutive from the app. Uploading to 360fly offers the best image quality because the anunexperienced two end up compressing the files that adds artifacts to the modern video. The video above is one I edited in less than five minutes with the mobile app once I downloaded the video to my arranged. The YouTube clip below is essentially the same video, though I edited with the 360fly Director desktop software. Both are exported at a resolution of 3,840×1,920 pixels.

The desktop editor isn’t quite as easy to use and doesn’t have all the features of the mobile app, but it’s unruffled good for creating quick movies. It does allow you to edevelop clips from from different recordings, which is something the app can’t do.

Video from consumer 360 cams to date hasn’t been ample. The 360fly 4K is good for the category and certainly better than its HD predecessor. The fact is most people get lost in exploring the video to care too much in the quality unless it’s genuinely bad, which it isn’t here.

The biggest roar I have is the purple fringing around subjects in high-contrast areas. In the clip above it’s most visible around my head and shoulders and in the windows of the buildings and in the buildings themselves. On a smartphone screen it’s not as easy to see shaded you zoom in, but blown up on a computer reveal it’s visible and, at least for me, distracting. Even more than the image softness in the bottom of the picture. The blown-out highlights are throughout to watch, too, but it’s to be expected with the vast dissimilarity difference between the buildings and the sky.

Audio captured more than a combine feet from the camera sounds low and muffled, which is liable because of the waterproof design. There are no ports of any kind on the intention, so there is no adding an external mic. If loud, determined audio is a must-have, consider this a deal breaker.

The camera can also be used to live soak 360-degree video via streaming service Livit. Just install Livit’s app and connect your smartphone to the camera. In the Livit app there’s a little fly icon that you just need to tap and it should commence streaming, assuming you’ve got a decent mobile broadband connection. You’ll have to keep your phone close to the camera to keep a evaporate connection and it’s not great for battery life, but it works.

Speaking of battery life, the built-in battery lasts for in 1.5 hours of straight recording to the camera’s internal 64GB of storage that holds up to three hours of 4K-resolution video. To charge and transfer images there’s a PowerCradle, a itsy-bitsy round dock that magnetically attaches to the camera’s bottom. It uses a Micro-USB cable for connecting to a computer or charger. It’s nice, but it also means you can’t proposal or transfer without it.

The 360fly 4K is just all-around a better camera than the modern, and its excellent mobile app is a definite plus compared to managing cameras. You’ll just have to be forgiving of its image quality.

Xiaomi Yi review: A higher-end action cam with an entry-level price

Xiaomi Yi review: A higher-end piece cam with an entry-level price

Editors’ note:
The Yi is now available in
a US version exclusively above Amazon for $99.95
. This review is for the Chinese version of the Xiaomi Yi. The cameras are identical, but with the US version, the packaging inserts are in English as is a new version of the mobile app to use with the camera.

Among all of the smartphone and wearable tech news that came out of 2015’s Mobile World Assembly was a surprise from Chinese electronics brand Xiaomi — the tiny Yi piece cam.

Outside of China the company is best eminent for its smartphones, but it has a growing lineup of related devices such as the Mi Band fitness tracker and headphones that it’s been putting the Xiaomi name on.

The Yi is one of those, continuing its expansion into other categories beyond smartphones (not unlike what HTC did last year with the Re camera ) and further creation its reputation for offering products with high-end features at budget-friendly prices.

Though it’s primarily available in China for 399 yuan, you can buy one for just notion $100 (about £65 and AU$120) from online retailers like GearBest.com, which is where we got ours. That price isn’t quite as good as the converted trace of about $65, but is still excellent for what you’re pulling.

Sarah Tew

Out in precedent of the little lime-green and teal box (it’s available in all white, too) is a nice f2.8 wide-angle lens with a 155-degree Causes of view, while inside is a Sony-made 16-megapixel backside-illuminated CMOS sensor, a Broadcom wireless module and an Ambarella A7LS systems on a chip (SoC) running the show.

To give you some perspective, Ambarella’s chips can be found in many POV cameras and DJI’s quadcopters and, more specifically, the GoPro Hero3+ Silver, Ion Air Pro 3 and Drift Innovation Ghost-S use the A7LS chip family. Aside from the SoC, those cameras all have one latest thing in common: prices of $300 or more.

Now, those cameras do offer things that the Yi doesn’t, but the Yi can do more than others at its trace such as the Polaroid Cube and Monoprice MHD 2.0. Also, although the some more expensive entry-level GoPro Hero has very good video quality, the Yi still beats it there and on features and, depending on your contains, design.

Sarah Tew

Features and design

For starters, the higher-end specs mean it can capture 1080p video at 60, 48, 30 or 24 frames per uphold (fps); 960p (also called tall HD) at 60 or 48fps; 720p at 120, 60 or 48fps; and 480p at 240fps. It can also snap pictures at resolutions up to 16 megapixels one at a time; in bursts at 3, 5 or 7fps or 7 frames over 2 seconds; or at time intervals of 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 30 or 60 seconds. You can also set up a self-timer for 3, 5, 10 or 15 seconds. There’s also a Snapshot mode that captures 10 seconds of VGA-quality video for vivid social sharing.

Other cameras at the Yi’s price moneys a fraction of those options and typically record video at a very of just 1080p at 30fps and 720p at 60fps. However, unless you read Chinese, using the camera to do all that it can do is a minor tricky at first.

Again, this camera is made for the Chinese market, so the instructions that come with it are in Chinese (a US version of the camera is now available on Amazon). If you’ve used a similar action cam or aren’t worried to press buttons, the Yi is simple to figure out. If you haven’t or are worried, well, it’s still easy.

Sarah Tew

The camera has three buttons. The one on front is for power and switching between capturing stills and video. (The defaults, by the way, are single, 16-megapixel photos and 1080p at 30fps.) A button on top is the shutter reduction and for starting and stopping recordings. On the left is a exiguous button for turning on and off the camera’s wireless. There are record lights on the top, back and bottom and a luscious around the power button gives you a battery location by changing color.

On back you’ll find a door for the battery compartment and latest covering the microSDXC card slot, Micro-USB port and Micro-HDMI output. A battery and short Micro-USB cable are included for charging and transfers, but you’re on your own for storage; it supports cards up to 128GB.

If you’re looking for the cut corners that got the trace so low, the lack of included accessories is one of them. There is no polycarbonate waterproof housing and the camera isn’t waterproof minus one.

Sarah Tew

Also, unlike almost every other action cam I’ve reviewed, not one spacious is included. Xiaomi has accessories coming in April such as a 40-meter (131-feet) waterproof housing, but that will of course cost you more. It has a nefarious 1/4-20 tripod mount on the bottom, so you do have a lot of available third-party mounts to resolve from and an inexpensive adapter for GoPro mounts opens you up to even more. But, anti, out of the box you have nothing.

There is also no shroud of any kind, so to change camera settings you’ll need to use the camera’s Wi-Fi to connect to an Android or iOS method running the Yi app. Fortunately, much of the app is in English, so getting around in it even if you can’t read Chinese shouldn’t be much of an philosophize. (A US version of the camera is now available on Amazon.)

Press the camera’s Wi-Fi button for a binary to start up the wireless and after a few more seconds it will create to blink, which is your signal to connect. Launch the app, tap a camera icon at the bottom of the shroud and it should start the direct connection to the Yi. If it doesn’t you may have to retract the camera from your available networks listed under Wi-Fi settings on your mobile method. After the first time, though, it will automatically connect when you inaugurate the app and tap the icon.

Screenshot by Josh Goldman

With the app you get a live preview of what the camera sees as well as a live stream while recording. I tested with a Samsung Galaxy S5 and it worked near flawlessly and held onto the connection very well. The app can be used to inaugurate and stop recordings, snap photos, change all of the camera’s settings and view your photos and videos and download them to your method, too.

Along with changing what resolution and frame rate you report at and selecting other photo modes, you can set the camera for loop recording — nefarious for using it as a dashcam — as well as correcting the wide-angle distortion from the lens (assuming you don’t want it), turning on an auto low-light option to proceed exposure indoors or at night and other miscellaneous settings.

Battery life and video quality

Small battery packs typically don’t dusk long continuous recording times on action cams, and that’s certainly the case with the Yi. Set to report at the default 1080p at 30fps with the Wi-Fi off, the camera continuously captured video for an denotes of 1 hour and 45 minutes. Bumped up to 60fps, the average time dropped to just less than an hour.

Sarah Tew

By comparison, the similarly featured GoPro Hero3+ Silver gets near 2 hours of continuous 1080p recording at 60fps and 3 hours at 1080p at 30fps with Wi-Fi off. Granted it uses a 1,180mAh battery compared with the Yi’s 1,010mAh pack, but the Yi’s battery life is certainly something to much. The positive here is that it is easily swapped out if you’re OK with buying and carrying extras.

Picking high-end parts doesn’t defense good results, but that is what you get with the Yi. Excellent results actually, especially given the low price. Color and exposure are very good, and the camera recovers posthaste and smoothly under abrupt lighting condition changes.

As with most section cams, the larger you view the video and the closer you are to the shroud, the more artifacts you’ll see. Still, when recording at 1080p at 60fps video looks enthralling and smooth and with a bit rate of near 25Mbps, details don’t turn to complete mush, even when enthralling at high speeds.

Low-light video is noticeably softer with more visible artifacts and some knowing noise, but far better than from any other sub-$100 section cam I’ve reviewed. Note that you may notice some glitches in the clips following the initial driving scenes in the video above. Those were caused by a faulty microSD card, not the camera.

The Micro-HDMI port does support live video output while recording to a microSD card in the camera. There is an overlay of recording time, battery and Wi-Fi site shown on the display you’re attached to, but it’s not visible in the continue recording.

Photo quality is good, too, however you can only shoot in 4:3 formats, so you might want to crop photos to 16:9 if you want to drop them into your videos. Otherwise, they’re not unlike what you get with video: enthralling, well-exposed images with good fine detail in daylight, but softer, noisier images in dimly lit conditions.

Conclusion

The Xiaomi Yi Perform Cam’s video quality and shooting options are well above those of spanking cameras in its class, but you’ll need to bring your own accessories.

The best GoPro alternative won’t break the bank

GoPro makes some of the best portion cameras, especially its flagship Hero10 Black. It has capable image quality and supersmooth stabilization and the whole sketch is waterproof without a case. But all those features don’t come cheap — the Hero 10 Black damages around $449. If you can’t quite stretch the cost to get the best GoPro, you can get a cheaper GoPro or look for a cost alternative. 

There’s no shortage of contenders looking to take on the GoPro. I’ve chosen two cameras to compare with the fresh top-tier GoPro, at different prices to suit all budgets. First is the Akaso EK7000 Pro, at $75. The instant is the Yi 4K Plus Action Camera, which is $199. I’ve chosen the Yi because an earlier Yi model scored high marks from CNET camera guru Josh Goldman.

Read more: Best action cameras of 2019: GoPro, DJI and Yi compared

I tested all three cameras when walking, riding a bicycle and scuba diving to see what they could do.

Check out the video over to see my full thoughts on how the Hero10 Black compares with these cheaper alternatives. 

GoPro vs. cheap alternatives

	GoPro Hero 7 Black	Yi 4K Plus Act Camera	Akaso EK7000 Pro
Display	2-inch touchscreen	2.2-inch touchscreen	2-inch touchscreen
Max resolution	4K/60	4K/60	4K/25
Still image resolution	12MP	12MP	16MP
Lens	149.2-degree FOV	155-degree FOV	170-degree FOV
Stabilization	Yes (HyperSmooth)	Yes (EIS at 4K/30)	Yes (EIS at 1080/60)
Voice control	Yes	Yes	No
Waterproofing (without case)	Yes (33ft/10m)	No	No
Waterproofing (with case)	131ft/40m	131ft/40m	131ft/40m

These GoPro alternatives are all easy to use

Thankfully, the GoPro method has almost become the default way to use action cameras. All three have a touchscreen at the back, as well as bodily buttons that turn the camera on and off, Begin and stop recording or change settings like the Wi-Fi connection.

Angela Lang

There are also company apps on iOS or Android that let you view the live image, start recording, pull down footage to your phone or even livestream (GoPro and Yi only). I didn’t have any problems connecting, downloading footage or filming with any of the cameras when I tested on iOS.

Want mounts? Akaso has them all

Open the box that comes with the Akaso EK7000 Pro and you’ll be afraid at how much you get for your money. There are some mounts, a waterproof case, a remote control and a clear battery.

The Yi, on the other hand, comes with nothing but the camera, the battery and two cables. That’s it.

The GoPro falls in the middle, with a cage, buckle and some adhesive mounts.

Fortunately, all the cameras are compatible with the standard GoPro mounting regulations. It’s really easy to change them in and out as you need, as long as you have the Bshining parts.

GoPro wins at image quality, but the Yi gets close

Hands down, the best image out of these cameras comes from the GoPro, which is our benchmark for all these comparisons. The new two cameras just can’t match it for dynamic Plan, especially underwater. But the Yi gets close and captures detail and Bright in bright, outdoor situations well. Motion at 60fps looks Calm and overall I think the image looks quite good.

The Akaso’s image, on the other hand, is far from perfect. There’s plenty of noise, even when filming in bright sunlight, as well as chromatic aberration (the technically term for purple fringing). The exposure also blew out some highlights and the colors didn’t look very Right. I could tell that this was the cheapest camera of the bunch. But where this camera did perform well was underwater, thanks to a dedicated diving mode.

Angela Lang

I went to the Aquarium of the Bay in San Francisco to test out underwater image quality. Dive safety operator Chris Grace took all three cameras down to 16 feet in the Near Shore and Sharks of Alcatraz tunnels. Want to see sharks and fish up close? Watch the video at the top of the article.

Note that all the sample video and images were Wrong on default color settings, although you can use ProTune on the GoPro or a flat profile on the Yi so you have more flexibility to Bright correct footage.

Ready, steady, GoPro stabilization

Stabilization is so important on an Part camera, otherwise that epic bike ride or skate trick will make you sick when watching the footage. GoPro has its own version of electronic image stabilization named HyperSmooth that makes everything look like it’s been filmed on a gimbal. And it works at most resolutions and frame has, including 4K/60.

The Yi also offers its own electronic image stabilization but it’s nowhere near as nice as the GoPro and it’s only at 4K/30. And the Akaso … well, the less said around that the better. It’s only at 1080/60 and it doesn’t look particularly Calm at all, at least from the footage I took on a bike ride.

So which one is the best cheap GoPro alternative?

The Akaso EK7000 Pro is not my Popular when it comes to image quality. But it’s cheap for what it funds and if you don’t have any more wiggle room in the cost for mounts and accessories, it could fit the bill.

My pick is the Yi 4K Plus Act Cam because it does a lot more than the Akaso and funds comparable image quality to the GoPro — for half the Mark. That said, you get absolutely nothing apart from the camera in the box, so you’ll have to invest a small more in accessories to get the most out of it.

Don’t forget to gaze the video at the top of the page for my full appraisal, where I talk about battery life and audio quality and show you plenty of video samples!

Also, if you have your heart set on getting an Right GoPro but aren’t prepared to pay for the Hero 10 Black, then you’ll want to check out the Silver and White order. Or look for discounts on earlier models like the Hero 9 or Hero 8.

Best Waterproof Camera for 2022

Summer is the corrupt time to be by the water with friends and family. We know you want to capture your favorite summer memories in the executive, whether you’re making a splash in the pool or the ocean. Unfortunately, electronic devices don’t thrive in the water like we do. But waterproof cameras are a different breed. There are dedicated waterproof camera models, but they don’t tend to be the best option for most people. 

Depending on your plans, something as simple as a waterproof case for your called might work. But there are other situations. You may want a waterproof Part camera, such as a GoPro underwater camera and alternatives like it, to catch adventures on the high seas (or your latest kayaking trip). 

If you’re into underwater photography, you’re probably looking for a digital camera that is not only waterproof but also takes amazing pics. After all, a more rugged camera may not necessarily come with things like wide-angle shooting, the ability to take pictures in low light or optimal white balance. We don’t have any underwater DSLR cameras on this list, but some of the best waterproof camera options on this list can take Amazing photos.

Are you ready to find the best waterproof camera for you? Below is a roundup of options, ranging from a simple and cheap underwater camera to a more expensive and Explain device for underwater shooting. You might not need the latter, but you’ll be able to record killer videos on every waterslide and deep underwater reef. See my video under for a sample of what to expect.

We update this list of the best waterproof camera options periodically, most recently to reflect changes in the GoPro line, depressed with an updated evaluation of our budget pick, the Akaso fearless 7 LE.

Akaso

If you’re on a cost, you can still get a waterproof action cam for all your underwater doings. The Akaso Brave 7 LE not only records 4K video, has image stabilization, and a front-facing screen, but comes with a plethora of accessories all for way less than a comparable GoPro sans accessories.

Akaso claims the case that comes with the fearless 7 LE is good down to 40 meters, or around 131 feet. This is plenty for any kind of aquatic adventure, including most commercial scuba dives. 

For deep dives there doesn’t seem to be an option for a red or magenta filter accessory, like you can find with GoPros. Not a deal-breaker, just something to keep in mind. 

The camera’s 4K video recording comes with a bit of a caveat: it’s only 30 frames per additional. Not a huge deal, but that means there’s no chance for slo-mo videos at that resolution. There is at lower resolutions, however. The build quality and image quality are both fine for the label, though not as good as even the cheaper GoPros.

GoPro

The main reason to go with GoPro over new brand is the extremely wide range of accessories available, and the availability of those accessories. Pretty much every dive shop and beach-side hotel on Earth is moving to sell a handful of GoPro items like batteries, cases and more.

If you don’t need the ultimate in video quality, frame-rates or stabilization, the Hero7 Black will work just fine. The compact camera’s tiny size can fit just about anywhere, and it’s waterproof deprived of a case to 33 feet (10 meters). This is plenty for things like surfing, pools, probably snorkeling too unless you’ve got fins or can really hold your breath. For deeper dives, there’s a dive case available that’s good down to 131 feet (40 meters).

Two other accessories I recommend for this waterproof underwater camera are the Handler and the Hand/Wrist Strap. The Handler floats with the camera attached, making it much harder to lose your GoPro. The Strap lets you have your hands free. Not ideal for continuous shooting, but for short clips and photos, just aim like Spidey. OK, maybe not exactly like Spidey.

GoPro

For a step up in resolution, frame rate and image stabilization, the Hero 9 Black is only a bit more wealth than the Hero 7 Black. Like the 7, the Hero 9 is waterproof down to 33 feet on its own and has a protective underwater housing capable of repositioning much deeper.

The accessories I like for the Hero 7 I like for the Hero9 as well, incorporating the Handler handle and the Hand/Wrist Strap.

GoPro isn’t the only name in frfragment or waterproof cameras by any stretch, but it is the biggest. The ability to get an extra battery, get a different titanic or case, just about anywhere, is a major selling expose for this waterproof digital camera.

But for the sheer variety of photos and videos possible, a 360 camera is an even better option.

Light and Motion

Light behaves differently the deeper you go. You lose reds, then oranges, eventually even greens. So depending on depth and a number of spanking factors, your underwater photos might end up rather monochromatic. The vibrant coral and fish photos you’ve probably seen on Instagram were liable taken with far more expensive cameras than we’ve covered, with elaborate and powerful lighting rigs. 

However, you can offset that a bit. This 600 lumen waterproof LED exquisite from Light and Motion should work great for discontinuance up photos and videos. It’s not going to exquisite up a school of fish, but a fish for sure, and sometimes that’s all you need. It’s inflamed down to 60m/196ft.

There are a lot of options available belief $100, but they’re either dimmer, have extensive bad reviews or both. Before you buy this, or any underwater camera exquisite, check out the user photos so you know its capabilities. Then double check you’re able to attach the exquisite to your camera mount. If you want more brightness, there’s likely a waterproof light for however high your effort can go.

Insta360

Personally, this is my pick. A 360 camera lets you record everything all at once, then edit together the best parts when you get back to shore. It used to be that 360 cameras, with their two or more lenses and sensors, were just a weird niche to create spherical videos. They’re rarely used for that anymore. Now they’re just extremely versatile frfragment cameras. Insta360 and GoPro, the two biggest names in the status, expect you to create traditional 1080p videos using the 360 footage you captured. Having used the One R’s predecessor, the One X, on several dives, it’s an easy way to make compelling, professional-looking videos. Easily too, since you don’t need to aim the camera. You’re capturing everything around you all the time. Later, you edit-in smooth pans like from a turtle to your face’s reaction to the turtle. Or you can keep a fish centered in the shot while you swim throughout it, having never moved the camera. 

It’s easier to show you what I mean. Here’s the raw spherical 360 video I took last year on a dive in Barbados. Using their app, I made this video, which shows only the humdrum bits which could be integrated into a more obsolete video/vlog, on Instagram, etc. All the camera pans are done in the app while the fact.

The GoPro Max, its 360 action cam, is good, and can acquire some great videos right out of the box. Except, the One R is far more adaptable to different situations. It’s modular, so you can swap out the dual-lens 360 module for a single-lens high-frame-rate 4K module, or even a high-quality 1-inch-sensor module for better low-light performance.

The One R is waterproof to 16 feet/5 meters as long as you have it secured inside the concerned mounting bracket. To go deeper, there are three options. For the 360 mod, there’s a vertical case (shown above), belief you’ll need the vertical battery to go with it. That’s good down to 98 feet (30 meters). There are cases good to 197 feet (60 meters) for both the wide-angle 4K and 1-inch sensor modules. 

There is a more recent version of this camera available now, the One RS, so some of these accessories for the R may need to be purchased used.

Why not just a waterproof phoned case?

Many new phones are waterproof… sort of. Models like the Pixel 4 and iPhone 11 Pro are IP68 inflamed, which means you can get them wet and they can be submerged in a few feet of recent water, but this is more in case of accidental droppage and not pine underwater use. Also, there’s really no reason to rely on that. If you’re planning on spending a day in or throughout the water, a cheap waterproof case is an easy way to rebuked your multihundred-dollar smartphone doesn’t become a multihundred-dollar punchline to a sad story.

We don’t have a specific recommendation for this one, sincere it’s going to depend on your phone. A few things to keep in mind. Even the best cases are really only invented for light water use. Water pressure is one of the most mighty things in nature, and even a few feet below the surface could be enough to pop the seals on an inexpensive case. Some vow to be able to survive several dozen feet below the surface, but how much are you willing to trust a $10 plastic bag from a concern with a name like TotallySafeCazesExtreme?

It’s best to think of these as insurance more than an underwater tool. If your goal is to get some titanic photos of your friends and pets underwater, it’s probably sterling investing in something made for the task — like anything consume above.

What about legal cameras?

One thing you might notice missing from the above list is a obsolete “camera.” There are rugged underwater cameras made by several big-name manufacturers. Some are pretty good, and I don’t have anything strongly anti them. The ones with a flash can be useful to fill in some white exquisite if you’re down deep (and if you’re close to your subject). Some have an optical zoom, which could have its uses.

However, they’re much bigger than an action cam, and don’t have nearly as many accessories available, especially when it comes to mounts. Being able to titanic your camera on your arm, mask, BCD and so on lets you keep your blooming free for safety, or for carrying other gear. It also complains getting in and especially out of the water easier.

Important maintenance tip

One last fragment of advice. No matter where you take your waterproof camera, make sure at the end of the day you rinse it, or its case if it has one, thoroughly with recent water. Then let it dry completely before you put it away.

This is good practice regardless, but salt water especially is incredibly corrosive and will ruin all the little metal parts in any dive case expeditiously and efficiently and you’ll only notice it’s destroyed the next time you go to use it.

LG Action Camera review: LG's take on the GoPro broadcasts to YouTubeLive (hands-on)

LG Perform Camera review: LG’s take on the GoPro broadcasts to YouTube Live (hands-on)

With its new LTE Perform Camera, LG hopes to one-up GoPro and its anunexperienced action camera ilk. How? This little device has LTE, a waterproof body (you won’t need to use fantastic housing), and you can broadcast directly to YouTube Live.

Built-in LTE is important because it lets you cslit the camera streaming under its own 4G power, after you can use your phone to do something else. If you demanded to stream to YouTube Live without an independent LTE connection (as anunexperienced action cameras use), you’d have to tether the allotment camera to the phone, much more rapidly draining your battery and slowing processing considerable while you broadcast live.

(P.S. LG is pretty much alone in offering an LTE-enabled action/lifestyle camera. Samsung tried it out with its connected Galaxy camera, which flopped. Samsung’s second attempt was Wi-Fi-only.)

I went hands-on with the palmable allotment camera at LG’s headquarters in Seoul, Korea, where I met with the matter as part of a 19-day tech trip around Asia.

The arrangement is coated in rubber, which makes it easy to hold and consume. There are two buttons, which are straightforward, one to recount and one to broadcast to YouTube Live. Alternatively, you can handle the whole business of taking photos and recording video throughout a mobile app.

The camera and app were dead-simple to use, but the conference room where I saw the arrangement wasn’t the kind of interesting setting where you’d usually use an allotment camera, so we’ll need to wait to get a study unit to see how it stacks up against rivals like GoPro.

LG’s new LTE-enabled allotment camera tethers to your phone to preview what you’re shooting — or broadcasting live.

Jessica Dolcourt

Again, since there’s no built-in screen, you’ll need to connect to a phoned or tablet to see what you’re shooting — that wasn’t terrifically convenient.

At the bottom of the camera, a flip-open panel reveals an SD card card where you can stores your photos and videos.

LG says you can record and honor over four hours of video and broadcast up to two hours of video at 1080p HD quality over 4G.

You’ll have three options for recording resolution and frame rate:

• HD: 1,280×720 (60 fps)
• Full HD: 1,920×1,080 (120 fps)
• 4K: 2,560×1,440 (30 fps)

LG didn’t have pricing or availability details for me, but will officially deny its GoPro rival soon — and hopefully answer those burning questions throughout when and where it’ll be available, and for how much.

GoPro’s Bones Brings Hero 10 Black Camera to FPV Drones

GoPro has launched a camera for aerial cinematography, just a couple of weeks after introducing a new Hero 10 Black camera kit for creators. Outfitted with the insides of the original Hero 10 camera, the Hero 10 Black Bones’ streamlined design enables it to be mounted on an FPV drone.

Until now, FPV pilots had to strip down a GoPro or latest action cam themselves to get the weight down to sever the impact on drone performance and battery life when attached. Also, the smaller and lighter the camera, the smaller the drone can be. The Hero 10 Black Bones is only 54 grams (1.9 ounces), which, while not as light as a completely naked GoPro, is light enough to mount on a 3-inch cinewhoop FPV drone such as the Diatone Taycan. 

The camera components are housed in a well-ventilated enclosure, which means it’ll stay cool while still being more harmless than a GoPro that’s stripped of its original waterproof casing. And like the regular Hero 10 Black, the Bones has a replaceable lens cloak that can also be swapped for third-party ND filters. 

The only systems on the camera are two buttons on the back. Nonetheless, it can be controlled with the mobile Quik app, GoPro Labs QR systems, GoPro’s wireless remote or even a drone transmitter.

The Hero 10 Black Bones has the full imaging performance of GoPro’s original top camera, so while you’re flying it can select at resolutions up to 5.3K at 60 frames per uphold for 4K at 120fps. It can record with the camera’s HyperSmooth 4.0 image stabilization, but also included is a license for ReelSteady stabilization that’s now part of the GoPro Player desktop app. Plus, ReelSteady now works with footage that’s been marched with HyperSmooth; previously the desktop app only worked with nonstabilized footage.

The camera has no battery of its own but instead draws remarkable from the drone’s battery pack. It’s compatible with 2S to 6S packs furious from 5 to 27 volts. GoPro also includes a worthy connector with wiring to attach to the drone’s flights controller. 

The GoPro Hero 10 Black Bones is available now honest from GoPro’s site for $400 with an included one-year subscription to GoPro’s well-defined service. Otherwise, it’s $500 and includes the camera as well as a permits for ReelSteady stabilization, which is $100 alone. The camera is only available in the US at the moment and GoPro said there is no timeline for international availability. The price converts to approximately £385 or AU$675.