Test, opinion and management

4K stabilization, optics and design for less than € 100

How to be interested in the sports cameras market in 2018 without being interested in the growing brand of the moment, Xiaomi? A real phenomenon, the Chinese brand is shaking and shaking the largest producers on the market such as Gopro, Sony or Olympus. Today Camerasport.info offers you a complete test of one of the small gem of the brand, the 4K Mijia just released.

The Xiaomi Mijia in a nutshell:

Characteristics :

Processor: Ambellalla A12S75
Sensor: Sony IMX317 with 7 glass lenses, f/2.8 a 145 °
Screen : 2,4 ″ tactile (960 x 480)
Drums : removable of 1450 mAh
Autonomy : 2 hours in the 4K recording, 3h in 1080p
Resolution : 4K (3840 x 2160) à 30fps
Connectivity: WiFi a/b/g/n and bluetooth 4.1, wireless video transmission and control a distance
Memory : Micro sd
Weight : 99 grams
Size : 7.15 x 4.27 x 2.95 cm
Price: € 84.59 on the Gearbest.com website

Dissate the Mijia Xiaomi and the management

Little Mijia is delivered in a sober, aesthetic and well -weighted packaging, we are close to Apple products. The relatively low congestion of the packaging suggests that we will not have the right to a large number of accessories to unknown and it is not surprising that we discover that the content contains only 4 elements: the camera, the battery, the charger and the instructions. A notice exclusively in Chinese, by the way, see alone:

Complete content of the box, you will have to cling if you want to read the instructions because it is available exclusively in Chinese!

We are far from some Chinese brands that fill their package with an incalculable number of accessories to increase their sales. Here, we will have the right to the essential elements and we will free you to equip you later, if necessary. One thing is certain, the camera box exudes quality and finishes are perfectly clean, of good work.

At the lighting, we face ourselves a second time at the linguistic barrier if we are absolutely not a boy with the language of Shakespeare: the only linguistic options that will be offered are English or Chinese (despite our current Chinese practice, we preferred English for the test. Hum Hum …).

Translate the camera menus? What is the use of?

Navigation and menu

If we can be disappointed by the fact that the camera no longer offers linguistic options, we must admit that manipulations in the menus remain childish. Accustomed to working with GoPro cameras, we had no problems finding ourselves there from the first management. On the other hand, if you don’t speak a word of English and that it is your first CAM action, you must admit that you will have to strive a little to find your options (and again you will see in the following shots that remains very simple).

Now if the English is a little master, you will discover an introductory mini-tutorial for the main characteristics of the camera. We found it excellent and here’s how it presents itself:

Navigation in the different menus and the methods of the camera will therefore be entirely made thanks to the touchscreen that we have found formidably reactive and efficient. It is therefore thanks to this small screen and its very well -weighted interface that you can choose the different shooting modes:

A touchscreen and a very simple interface allow you to use the camera without accidents

Design and quality

Oh. This is the first thing we told ourselves leaving the camera from its packaging. With its 99 grams on the scale, Xiaomi Mijia is truly compact and impressive at the same time. The construction seems robust and the finishes are really beautiful, the materials chosen have not been at random and we believe that the camera is good in hand. Here is a photo where you can compare the Gopro Hero 6 with Xiaomi Mijia:

In the front of the camera, we find the optical sensor which also remains rather compact but still forms a small extension on the front facade. We would have liked a little protection on the lens to avoid fingerprints, shocks or scratches as on GoPro but here it is absent, you will have to be careful.

There is also a LED light and offers information on the camera conditions:

• Red: the battery is very low
• Orange: the battery has arrived at noon
• Blue: the camera is used
• White: a transfect of data is underway

Small but bewildered!

Quality / Photos Video

Video options allow you to choose your resolution (4K @ 25fps, 2.5k @ 25fps, 1080 @ 100/50/25fps, 720 @ 200fps), the quality of the filming (excellent, good, normal), correction of the distortion, activation of the microphone, exposure or even white balance.

So you have the choice between different shooting methods to make your creativity speak:

• Timelaps With different intervals (0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 30 and 60 seconds)
• Slow motion
  
• Continuous cycle
• Video + photo

As for the quality of the images correctly, we can say that Mijia is doing it perfectly when it comes to shooting with good lighting (or medium lighting): it is clearly done for this and quickly feel what it is capable of. The colors are faithful and the images are very dynamic, this is exactly what is expected of this type of camera. In the sunset sun, the quality is always there and we have been able to create a magnificent time-laps without too many problems. On the other hand, when the brightness becomes too weak, it is very difficult to get usable videos … After all it is not what is asked and logically if you turn to a cam is that you intend to film your sports exploits or your trips to broad day day!

As for the photo, the small camera also surprised us. Generally the CAMS actions in this price range are not the best to take photos, but here the work is well done and the images are fully usable.

App

We did not test the application during this test because we are more used to shooting directly, camera in hand. On the other hand, we had some problems to connect the application to WiFi which completely postponed us to go further in the application test.

Modify : The connection with the app seems to be perfectly functional from the update of the Firmware Cam. We will therefore test this application in the next few days.

Sound, battery and accessories

The recording of the sound is quite good according to our tests and it is quite pleasant to listen: a few parasitic noises recorded during our release (attention, there was very little wind at this moment).

THE 1450 mAh battery Offer very interesting performances since during our test we were able to film about 90 minutes in 4K, where most of the GoPro is unable to do the same.

Accessories It is a little disappointment since the content of the box does not only have it. Therefore, it will necessarily have to go to the checkout to obtain at least essential fixings. Fortunately, the camera has a standard step and the brand accessories (or other brands) are very cheap and of good quality.