GoPro knock offs... my experience...

[rob-kayak]

GoPro knock offs... my experience...

I wanted to get a waterproof camera... not spend a lot of money...
Small, stow in my hatch, or my pocket.

And discovered a plethora of these cameras
Exhausted research, YouTubes, reviews...

Basically these cams look like this...

action cam.jpg

There are dozens of these... rebranded, sold under different names.

The price point in these cameras go from approx $39 to $80 on Amazoo.

This has got to be one of the biggest scams as far as reviews are concerned that I have seen.
Most offer bonus free gifts for 5 star reviews
One I saw repeatedly offer a free cam to the negative reviewers to come back and give a good review.

In the lower end of these cameras... approx $40... they work but a lot of the features you would like are not there..
and will eventually be disontinued.

The big selling point on these cameras is the 4k Video.

I had/have no real interest in 4K Video... and even 1080p video...
although... if it's there... I would use it at some point.
For example perch fishing on the South River when I was catching on every cast and the fish were pulling me along...

But this 4K Video scenario... extrapolates... to still images.
Basically as far as 4k is concerned... has to be "Native", and high end FPS (frame per second) rates.

What a lot of these cameras, when you get into the $60 to $80 range...
do is with camera processing, fudge the actual video.

For my testing.. fudge the still images.... and the 4K is also fudged...
That is... what is supposed to be 20MP Still (megapixels) width 5120px height 3840px...
is actually 4MP... actual image size is 2688x1520 pixels. Everything higher is interpolated/upscaled.
And even worse, actually with what I bought.

Now... with Amazoo... the description on the product was a Sony CMOS.
CMOS is what makes the camera picture good... ie: Lower or Higher Megapixels, etc.
Think of it as the motherboard for the "lens", and there is another "motherboard" for the unit.

While looking at lots or reviews (other than Amazoo), YouTubes, and then the actual reviews on Amazoo..
I learned a lot post purchase... most described above.

Most of these companies don't give you the actual specs of the CMOS and "motherboard" chip.
Probably because they change all the time as permutations of these Chinese products are produced.

So... what I bought is named "Campark X20"... and with the specs listed below.. and the tons of accessories...
Not bad for $65 and what was supposed to have a Sony CMOS (12mp) chip.

--->4K I already knew this was fudged from YouTubes and other reviews... didn't really care because 1080p would be fine if used.
--->20MP (megapixels) Action Camera
--->Touch Screen
--->EIS Anti Shake (Electronic Image Stabilization)
--->WiFi to connect with your phone, control the camera, download to share social media, with the Google App (worked fine for me !)
--->Waterproof Underwater Case
--->Adjustable View Angle
--->Remote Control (click a button to shoot stills or vids worked great in testing)
--->2 Batteries
--->and a whole bunch of camera mounts and straps.

I get the camera with all it's cool stuff... OH Boy !
I'm stoked... I can take quick pictures of fish to share with ya'll !
But then the process of testing... 50 or so still images later.. testing every option ingood and low light...

Man.. these stills suck for 20mp... the meta data of the pictures show width 5120px height 3840px..
Their size vary from 5meg to 6meg.. that's close enough... but what's going on.

With great help from the guys over at https://www.goprawn.com/ kinda the gurus for these action cams..
My camera is Model X20-1
and this is the breakdown for these X20 models...
X20 = 12Mp IMX078 this what is supposed to be in the camera as advertised.
X20-1 = 4Mp OV4689 is what my camera has installed NOT Sony
X20-2 = 13Mp GC13603 is a Galaxycore... and I don't think it is available in the U.S.A. (only seen it ordered through Italy).

So I have 4MP (megapixels)... and the images are fudged, processed to width 5120px height 3840px to represent 20MP.
No wonder they are so grainy.

Now all my test images were long shots and across the street and of my backyard.
But what really was I getting this camera for... shoot pics of a fish in the boat.
So I won't show the bad pictures.. but I finally simulated a boat fish pic.
And... well the pic is not bad...
And.. with all the cool accessories, the Remote is a real cool feature.. I can fire up the camera quickly when a fish is coming in... and use the Remote to get a Still, or a Vid.

test_campark20x _02.jpg

We all love our gadgets and toys :-) ...
but I start to put them categories... ones we use all the time... to ones that just end up on the shelf and a waste of money.
Now if it is a great gadget... maybe one I will use infrequently.. but worth that use, I will spend the money.
For example... I wanted a battery operated fan for my RV (aka known as my converted Cargo bivwack trailer)
I looked long and hard... and settled on a $50 fan, the Caframo Ultimate Direct Wire 12V "boat" fan, used in cabins of sailboats a lot...
super low current draw... I bought a spare fishfinder battery, that I can run it on... I can get plus 6 hours before it drops below 12volts...
and I now I also have a dual purpose spare fishfinder battery.

I returned the Campark X20 Action Camera today... I couldn't justify $65 4MP non Sony CMOS that I had received.
I contacted the company that I would be happy to purchase the product if provided with the Sony CMOS.
I doubt if it will happen.

Well... that was a lot of info... hope it helps.
If you think my test "boat" shot is enough for you... and $65 is justified... more power to ya !

[Yak Fish]

Thanks, I was looking at these as my Go Pro Hero 5 Black that's less than 2 years old now intermittently records sound. Sometimes videos have sound, sometimes not. I can't live with that. Go Pro wouldn't do anything about it, which was rather disappointing. I do like the product so I got the new Hero 7 black. I haven't gotten it yet, but those cheap cameras did entice me.

[rob-kayak]

@Alan
sorry to hear that.. I'm sure you have exhausted a search to resolve the problem, learning things along the way as I did.
There are tons of YouTube reviews out there... and looked at them for your choice.
Below is a link that puts out pretty good reviews of lots of cams.. I briefly think he wasn't too fond of the Hero 5...
but I might have a "photosynthesis moment" on that as I briefly scanned the video titles...
I think he liked the cam you are getting..
(all the videos he makes below)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqv...m_XduLQ/videos

Now if somebody is still interested in this topic...
The list of shame fake 4K cameras and CMOS size

The link below starts at page 33... because page 1 is dated January 2016..
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/thread....16490/page-33

A camera that was recommended to me... and has a decent Sony CMOS IMX206...
the Yi Light Action Camera at $79... and they post a PDF of the Specs.. that most of these inexpensive cams do not provide.
Production model is a year plus old on this cam... but holds up well...
an updated review of the cam in the first link above is still very favorable, considering all the reviews the guys does.
But there are no accessories with the Yi Light Action Cam... no waterproof case, mounts etc.
You can get a waterproof case for about $13, that boasts a glass lens
But one other drawback is that there is no default setting for "Still" photos... so I would have to open up the case... and change the settings... then take the pic. Unfortunately that wouldn't work for me.
Yi Cameras answered my question within an hour of posting on Amazoo listing page.
I think they are a reputable company by providing specs of their cameras.

A lot of you guys have peddle kayaks... and keep forward motion and your lines straight in adverse conditions... allowing you to fiddle around with your gear. Paddle kayakers..can't.

I wasn't going to post a pic of an unfavorable still photo... but I thought "Ol' Rob" is being too picky.
I took one final shot yesterday morning... just to reaffirm my final decision to return my cam.
Bright sun, early morning, sun at my back. The morning dew reflecting off the leaves probably added issues to the photo.
I could have lowered the EV value.. but point and shoot is the modus operandi.

Once you open up the photo.. you can zoom in, or right right click your mouse and "view image", zoom in.. or down load it to your computer and inspect it. You will see how quickly it gets grainy.

action_cam_bad_still.jpg

Have a good holiday folks. Take lots of pictures :-)

[thedutchtouch]

Rather than a knock-off I'd suggest an older GoPro. I have a hero 3plus (work camera but I was allowed to fool around with it to learn how to use it as long as I replace it if it's lost/broken by me)... They are 90 bucks from Walmart https://www.walmart.com/ip/Gopro-HER...BoCLgQQAvD_BwE and I believe still available on Amazon. Video quality is great for my needs.


Edited to add: the older ones aren't waterproof but cases are still available, one of the benefits of the 3+ is it still uses removable batteries, I believe the newer gopros don't.