Yi Technology 4K+ Action Camera
The world’s best-value action camera
The touchscreen is full of colour and contrast, with a great viewing angle, and it’s extremely sensitive to touch
£309.99 from Yi Technology, yitechnology.com Feat ures 4K at 60fps, image stabilisation, touchscreen and voice control, raw format images
The Yi 4K+ isn’t hugely different to the original Yi 4K, apart from the ability to shoot 4K video at
60fps. Filming at that resolution means a maximum bitrate of 120Mbps, which is double what the previous Yi 4K offered. Bear in mind that although the Yi 4K+ does have electronic image stabilisation onboard, that only works when shooting 4K at 30fps.
Inside is the same 12MP Sony IMX377 1/2.3in Exmor R CMOS sensor, but this version has a new Ambarella H2 and quadcore ARM Cortex A53 processor. They work terrifically well together, allowing the operating system to work fluently and without a hitch despite the higher bitrate.
You’re probably not going to use the Yi 4K+ much for photography, though that’s possible. It shoots very usable 12MP images, and it’s possible to save in JPEG or keep the raw files, which it outputs in DNG format. It doesn’t deal in HDR, but since it shoots in raw that’s no big deal.
Unlike the original Yi 4K, this new version recharges via a USB-C port, and there’s an adaptor for an external microphone in the box. It takes a microSD card up to 64GB.
A few tiny corners have been cut. Unlike the GoPro Hero6 Black, the Yi 4K+ is not natively waterproof, although a separate Waterproof Case Kit – which is apparently ’dustyproof’ (sic) – is available. Yet the only really noticeable difference between this camera and the GoPro is that the Yi 4K+ lacks GPS, gyroscope and accelerometer sensors, so your videos don’t include tags for location, direction and speed. For you, that might not be too important.
However, what is annoying is the device’s short battery life. The Yi 4K+ has a 1,400mAh battery that lasts for just over an hour in 4K mode, and just a little longer in sub-4K. We got almost two hours when using Full HD 1080p though, which is quite good compared to the GoPro Hero6 Black. However, we’d still prefer a longer-lasting battery.
A touch of quality
Aside from its subtle, attractive checkerboard pattern on the front, the Yi 4K+ looks the same, physically, as the Yi 4K. It weighs just 93g, and its rectangular body (6.5x4.2x3cm) hosts a 2.19in colour touchscreen coated in tough Corning Gorilla Glass. Better still, that touchscreen – as well as being generously sized – is of excellent quality; it’s full of colour and contrast, with a great viewing angle, and it’s extremely sensitive to touch. That makes the clear, concise operating system a breeze to use; the Yi 4K+ has one of the simplest and speediest interfaces we’ve seen in years.
Its new voice control software adds to that, but results are mixed despite having to first record a voice sample. Shouting phrases such as “Yi Action take photo”, “Yi Action record video” and “Yi Action turn off” at the camera heralds results, but it doesn’t work too well if you’re outdoors, which is where this camera is for.
The Yi 4K+ has a standard tripod thread on the bottom, which is a boon if you want to connect it to the plethora of mounts available
(as well as a standard camera tripod).
An app isn’t required to use the camera, but the free one is impressive. Linking reliably to your iPhone via Wi-Fi on either 2.4GHz or 5GHz, the Yi Action app can access all the settings on the camera, and host an almostinstant live feed. Once you’re done recording, you can transfer images and videos to your phone and apply some filters and image effects (from HDR and 360-degree camera styles Tiny Planet and Spiral Galaxy, to more runof-the-mill Vintage, Nostalgia and Romance). You can share to Facebook, Instagram and – showing the camera’s Asian heritage – Line.
Frame of reference
The ability to shoot at 4K does come with a few caveats. Ultra 4K mode – the Yi 4K+’s most detailed option – tops out at 30fps. So does its 4K HD mode (which sits at 4000x3008 pixels rather than the standard 3840x2160 pixels). However, in regular 4K mode, the Yi 4K+ can record in 60fps (or 48 or 30). At 60fps the results are impressively sharp, with good contrast and well saturated colour. Video can be a little choppy if you hand-hold, which is a result of the low frame rate – particularly noticeable on camera pans – and the fact that image stabilisation only applies to 4K running at 30fps or below.
Consider shooting in Full HD 1080p for the smoothest possible video, which can be done in all kinds of frame rates. You can also shoot at 240fps if you shoot in 720p. It’s also worth knowing that if you film in 4K at 24fps, it’s possible to use an ultra-wide field of view, which stretches the image data.