200 Mbps 4K 60P video:

https://youtu.be/_hOtGWgq-RE

Zhiyun Evolution gimbal.

It would sure be nice if someone were to shoot a stage event with this great little camera to see if it would even be usable in such a senario.
The outdoor footage is very nice from this camera but even an analog sd camera looks good when shooting brightly lit outdoor scenes. The RX0 with its 1" sensor will mostlikely cut it indoors but will this super Yi4k+?

It would sure be nice if someone were to shoot a stage event with this great little camera to see if it would even be usable in such a senario.
The outdoor footage is very nice from this camera but even an analog sd camera looks good when shooting brightly lit outdoor scenes. The RX0 with its 1" sensor will mostlikely cut it indoors but will this super Yi4k+?

Here's a "stage event" night-time video:

Yi 4K+ 4K 60P Test Video: Nighttime Entertainment Under the Lights on Vimeo

It's even better under stadium lights than daylight. Very impressive.
Were you in stealth mode because no one seemed aware yet the footage is so stable it looks like tripod.
The players were a tad hot, is there exposure compensation (must be). This is a very competent little 4k camera.
btw I shoot a local high school teams game video where a hundred spectators is a good crowd. lol what a great spectacle this college game must have been.
Now I have to decide between this cam and a fat tire bike lol again

The stadium footage is nice and sharp and very stable as has been mentioned, but not really what I would describe as low light conditions but brightly lit night time. The large stadium lights are giving maximum lighting coverage for the game which is way above the sort of lighting available at an indoor evening function or amateur stage production where I would need good low light performance. I can achieve useable and quite sharp footage from a GoPro using a small video light to bring up the level just as the stadium lights are doing, but using lighting can be distracting and annoying at wedding receptions for example.

What would be a great comparison, would be footage shot in a bar at night, or at a party, disco or theatre show to really show low light performance if you get the chance at all.

Roger

https://youtu.be/m0Kne32ahPg

Damn! It would be interesting to mount a Yi 4K+ at the top of a goal post on each end of the field. Field of view would be from the goal line out to thirty yards. I really would like to edit that with footage from a 4K camera that is following the play.

I know a High School coach that would go for it. Can I borrow a couple of Yi 4K+ cameras (LOL)? What is the largest card the camera can use? Can an external battery be used?

What is the largest card the camera can use? Can an external battery be used?

256GB card; yes, an external battery can be used to power the camera, even without an internal battery. The card would give 4 hours of 4K 60P video at 135Mbps.

I'm noticing a fair amount of micro shakes in some shots, did you post any videos where you had the EIS turned on?

cheers

Damn! It would be interesting to mount a Yi 4K+ at the top of a goal post on each end of the field. Field of view would be from the goal line out to thirty yards. I really would like to edit that with footage from a 4K camera that is following the play.

I know a High School coach that would go for it. Can I borrow a couple of Yi 4K+ cameras (LOL)? What is the largest card the camera can use? Can an external battery be used?

Yeah me too
Camera angles all have to be more or less on the same side of the field of play otherwise everybody is coming and going willy nilly and its disorienting for a viewer so you couldn't have shots from both ends in the same play

I'm noticing a fair amount of micro shakes in some shots, did you post any videos where you had the EIS turned on?

cheers

Can you cite some specifics? All the shots were from camera + gimbal. It is a fantasy that EIS can stabilize effectively when the camera is moving, and also does not severely impact resolution. For that reason, all the clips are gimbal shots precisely to avoid resolution loss and to minimize shakiness.

Hey Mark you've prolly mentioned this somewhere so forgive the question pls: Clean hdmi output?

Hi all - sorry to interrupt the thread, but this is a response to how the Yi 4k+ can perform in concert (indoor) settings (with low-ish lighting).


Here is a sample of a video of a concert I recorded last Saturday. It uses two cameras; Sony AX100 (in 4k25p, cropping in post) for the front wide shot / medium close ups shot from the back of the hall, and the Yi 4K+ (recording in 2.7k25p mode) shooting a wide-angle of the audience from the back of the stage.

(Please excuse the lighting - we don't have fill-lights yet).

I've used the 2.7k mode because it was a sort of "half-way house" between full HD and 4K (and also because you can correct the lens distortion on the camera in this mode unlike the 4K50p / 60p mode).

https://youtu.be/xvxV_1ZQ-_o

The Yi 4k+ was actually recording for 265 minutes non-stop, and was still warm when I turned it off. This camera was connected to the mains using a long USB cable attached to a Samsung phone charger.

Note that these clips have been colour-corrected in post, but for your information some of the settings on the Yi 4k+ were as follows:

White balance: Native
Shutter speed: 1/25
No lens correction
Sharpness: low
Video Quality: medium
ISO: 1600
EV: -0.5
Flat colour.

The hall was quite warm for such a large space (even though it was about 2/3rds full).

This camera has passed the long-recording test with flying colours :). The concert went on for about 4 hours. I really REALLY like this camera! :D

Hey Bryan, could you post a clip (just a few seconds) right out of the yi camera completely un-touched in post please and thank you

Hi Bruce - Here is a raw segment from the end of the concert (unfortunately I couldn't take the cut from the clip that I originally supplied, as it would mean that I would have to re-render that section in my NLE).

The Yi 4k+ created this raw segment, as I've set the camera to record long takes as 3Gb segments, but this segment lasts about 2 minutes - Of course you don't have to watch all of it).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nztcbfjqzhwrcda/YI001924.MP4?dl=0

thanks Bryan

You're welcome.

One other thing to mention is that the lights were a mixture of sodium (white) and tungsten lights (the spotlights on the pulpit/stage). Also they were on constantly throughout the evening, so no changes in lighting even at the end.


PS - There is no HDMI port on this camera.

Bryan

One other thing to mention is that the lights were a mixture of sodium (white) and tungsten lights (the spotlights on the pulpit/stage). Also they were on constantly throughout the evening, so no changes in lighting even at the end.


Thank you for the video and clip. What is "Native" white balance? And why did you use it?

Hi Mark - To be honest I just chose Native because it seemed close to the colour look I was after. I suppose I could’ve chose Auto as the colours of the lights didn’t change throughout the concert.

Oddly the manual didn’t really say much about the Native setting either (it just says "the original colour" without a more detailed explanation), so if anyone knows, please enlighten us!

post deleted

I hate to be the one to ask but did butter from the rolls or something get smeared on the lens by accident because this is so much below what I expected from this little camera. There must be some explanation.

post deleted

I hate to be the one to ask but did butter from the rolls or something get smeared on the lens by accident because this is so much below what I expected from this little camera. There must be some explanation.

If 2.7k mode zoomed in is still not good for you, there's always 4k mode. I havent got any indoor examples to show - maybe someone else can chime in...?

Hi Bryan
Ah zoomed in. But that is a fixed focal length lens.
By any chance did you shoot any footage without the zoom?
Thanks
Bruce

Hi Bruce - check out the original raw footage. It was already shot at its widest setting (in camera).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nztcbfjqzh...01924.MP4?dl=0

The last two clips I did post (I've taken the 2nd one down now) had "zoomed" sections that were actually cropped digitally in post (I use Magix Vegas Pro as my video editing software).

The Yi 4k+ camera is a fixed focal lens camera, but it has 3 different field of view settings built-in, depending on the video mode - Narrow, Medium and Wide. These settings basically crop the sensor to "zoom" the image to the 3 field of view settings.

Still, it is a good way to simulate multiple "angles", especially when recording in higher resolutions.

BTW - I dont know if it has been mentioned before, but the lens distortion can be corrected in-camera in 4K! (but not in 4K50/60p though). Still, the fisheye isnt as much as on other action cams I use (I also have a sony X1000V and X3000).
To me this is excellent as it means I could crop the image without making it look as if it were cropped from a fisheye image (especially when cropping or"zooming" at the corners of the footage - i.e. the Livestream Mevo "look").

Regards,
Bryan

I switched to the Zhiyun Smooth Q gimbal. I think that other than putting the cam on a tripod and shooting long events, the best use for any action cam is on a gimbal - EIS quite visibly lowers video quality and simply does not stabilize well when moving (this is true for any camera). Still, one has to practice with a gimbal, and that is what I am doing.

https://youtu.be/pgEcCzSdhqo

Very smooth, Mark :) - The music fits the video as well!

Well to me Image is everything. First thing, second thing, everything and I can't get past those smeary faces. I just have an ordinary hp 4k monitor but those faces in the crowd can't be more than 240p

Well, it is a limitation for your expectations. But, for me, because the end product would be a DVD, It's ok (Apart from that "over-zoomed clip", I've rectified it since. Also note, that hardly any in-camera sharpening was selected when recording).

I still wouldn't knock the potential for this camera. It is what it is after all.

Bryan

Hi Bryan
I fiddle with the settings so much at times that I have to restore factory defaults to get a camera behaving properly again. Then try shooting a scene native as the camera suggests without re-fiddling just to confirm.
Bruce

Hi Bruce - sorry to hear that. Updating the firmware should resolve that issue. Ever since I've bought mine, I've always made a habit of checking if a new firmware has come out for the camera to sort out stability issues, add new features etc. I'm still enjoying the creative possibilities of this machine 😎.

Here is an earlier clip, this time in 4K50p. Colour-correction, brightness and sharpening was done in post (I couldve done it in-camera, but didnt).

https://youtu.be/gTcD6XqPwkc

(Yes - that guy on the piano is me ☺, accompanied by my fellow musician buddies. The situation was a church gathering during a 10 minute interval).

Once again, the clip was originally shot in Native WB, but with ISO 800, 1/50 shutter. No Lens correction.
This time the camera was powered by the battery, and I managed to get about 90 minutes out of it before it shut down.

I also have the raw footage of the same clip for examination:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/w5i1n6ut0z7i4yo/YI000805.MP4?dl=0

Regards,
Bryan.

Btw - the audio on this cam isnt too bad at all 😊

this Youtube clip is leaps and bounds improvement. The folks way in the background full screen on a 4k monitor are nice and sharp, not blurry and smeared - awesome. Dropbox version must get scaled down or something because its of a much lower resolution than the youtube clip

Sharpness can be tweaked in-camera, but I'm a fan of doing it in software :) Whenever I shoot with the Yi 4k+ I tend to use as flat an image profile as I can before editing the footage (in terms of colour, brightness/contrast and sharpness).

This camera can produce a great picture when tweaking those colour/white balance/sharpness out of the box, but for me the REAL test is in tweaking the image so that the same look is matched by my other cameras as closely as possible in a multicam situation.

If I was pushed for time, I would use the settings in-camera to produce the final image, but that's not my preference - I like getting the most out of raw footage.

Dropbox version is as-is.

https://youtu.be/M21DVvR9zsQ

Hi Mark - Do you use the Lens Correction function on this camera?

I've just come back from a concert I recorded using the Yi 4k+ as one of the locked-off cams. I was using the Lens Correction and I've noticed that the foreground objects looked sharp, but the background objects' detail looked a bit smeared (as Bruce says), but the edges of the objects are sharp oddly enough.

Alternatively I've also got ProDad DeFishr software to get rid of the fisheye with better results, but it takes ages to perform the task.

I'll upload a still of the shot later.

This is an experimental self-portrait clip. This was originally shot in 4k50p, Yi Colour mode, but I used a black & white preset on NewblueFX Film colour plugin in Vegas 15.

I then slowed the video to about 65%, and exported as XAVC25p (4k).

It was a sunny day, but it turned me into a silhouette, so I had to adjust the exposure with a bias for the shadows.

I like the result. To stabilise the footage I used Mercalli V4, as i couldnt on the Yi4k+ at 4k50p.

https://youtu.be/SskYC440WU8

This is an experimental self-portrait clip. This was originally shot in 4k50p, Yi Colour mode, but I used a black & white preset on NewblueFX Film colour plugin in Vegas 15.

I then slowed the video to about 65%, and exported as XAVC25p (4k).

It was a sunny day, but it turned me into a silhouette, so I had to adjust the exposure with a bias for the shadows.

I like the result. To stabilise the footage I used Mercalli V4, as i couldnt on the Yi4k+ at 4k50p.



I like the result. Since you were going for B&W, I wonder if you would have been better off shooting with the Yi flat color profile, which may give better DR.

Given the backlight, might you have done better using the spot meter option, which would read the light off your face only? Obviously, the ev adjustment does the trick too.

I think one of the great advantages of shooting 4K and 50p is the ability to slow down the "action" and still have 4K.

Hi Mark, thanks for the critique.

Youre right about the flat profile. I originally wanted to see how it held up in Yi colour but changed my mind after the shot hence I changed it to B&W. Still, it was an off the cuff thing so I’ll bear in mind if I do it again. Same thing about the spot meter.

On the raw footage the clouds (not seen here) looked really nice, but it completely silhoutted me out.

4K50p is great but I suppose it depends on what you are shooting (in terms of how much detail you wish to capture at that frame rate). For me, for slow-motion it is great because I like to see all the lovely small details in the background while at the same I am looking at the main subject.

https://youtu.be/46p4-4eQyrE

Slow motion excerpts:

https://youtu.be/RGGyvskbDR8

Mark, that is awesome! I was ready to pull the pin on a Yi 4K but I happened upon a trade for another brand. Big mistake! The lens on brand X looked like I was shooting through a fish bowl. The edges were so distorted and soft as to make the clips useless.

Your latest work has me shaking the piggy bank.

Thanks

https://youtu.be/8QawZ9rnWfo

Shot in "4K HD" mode (4000 x 3008 = 4K+!) and rendered at 3840 x 2160 (UHD).

Slow motion, 4K, and night:

https://youtu.be/g-I8Saogqzo

From 4K60P. Neat video was used to reduce noise.

https://youtu.be/5FhEBF01Neg

Mark, what's the difference between the 4K+ and the 4K? An extra hundred bucks, and I can't tell a difference in specs or build.

https://smile.amazon.com/YI-Sports-Action-Resolution-Control/dp/B01CW4AZ4M/
https://smile.amazon.com/YI-Action-Sports-Camera-Control/dp/B01FU9ZIMU/

Mark, what's the difference between the 4K+ and the 4K? An extra hundred bucks, and I can't tell a difference in specs or build.

https://smile.amazon.com/YI-Sports-Action-Resolution-Control/dp/B01CW4AZ4M/
https://smile.amazon.com/YI-Action-Sports-Camera-Control/dp/B01FU9ZIMU/

The Yi 4K+ has 4K 60P, the Yi 4K only goes up to 4K 30P. Faster frame rate, smoother action.

The Yi 4K+ provides electronic image stabilization in 4K (30P), the Yi 4K does not have stabilization in 4K

You can shoot raw images in the 4K+.

Live streaming in the Yi 4K+ in HD.

Because the Yi 4K+ has a more powerful processor, performance is better in all dimensions - video noise, for example, and faster transfer speeds via usb.

https://youtu.be/XpV_a3cQUTM

Mark,
Is there a way to run the camera from AC or an external power pack for extended time lapse work?
Special cable, etc?
Thanks.
Ken

Mark,
Is there a way to run the camera from AC or an external power pack for extended time lapse work?
Special cable, etc?
Thanks.
Ken

Absolutely - normal USB-C cable to normal USB 5V AC adaptor, min 1.5 amps, or to external USB 5V 1.5A battery pack. You can run the camera this way indefinitely, even without a battery installed.

Thanks Mark.
I only need to run the camera in time lapse mode for a week at a time, so that should work. Power banks are pretty cheap now.
Ken

What are you using as a lens cap for your YI cameras? I found a lens cap/case that's in the $15 range but I have no interest in the case and $15 seems spendy for a silicone lens cap the size of my fingertip.

I find the fisheye lenses on these action cameras get beat up easily because they're convex and they protrude, so I prefer to keep them covered.