I provide honest ratings and reviews on tech, toys, and consumer home goods that I've purchased and used. Reviews are based on hands-on testing and personal observations. All opinions and comments are my own.
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Takeaway: Large, bright, clear HD picture; easy to use/setup, lightweight. You'll receive the LCD monitor, a sunshade frame, a shade box, a miniHDMI to HDMI cable, a microHDMI to HDMI cable, an NP-F550 battery, battery charger, a user manual, a cold shoe mount, cleaning cloth, Allen wrench, and extra screw. The LCD panel measures 4.75"L x 7"W and the screen has a 7" view-able diagonal. The native output resolution of the screen is 1920x1200 although the HDMI input accepts up to 4K signals from your camera. The images on the screen will still be HD, but not as fine point as 4K; you can however, output the feed in 4K to another monitor as well. On top of the unit are a few physical controls for power, 3 function (F) buttons, menu, and menu navigation keys which are also used for volume control. The 'F' buttons can be customized for options that you use frequently. On the bottom of the LCD are the ports: HDMI out, HDMI in, miniUSB, headphone jack, and power port. There's a ¼"-20 threaded mounting hole for the cold shoe mount or for any standard tripod mounting system. On the back of the unit is the battery plate and external speaker.
The unit is basically plug-and-play. All you need to do is install the battery, then plug the HDMI cable into the LCD, and into your camera. I used the microHDMI cable with my Sony a6300 camera and mini HDMI cable with my Canon T3i without a problem. The screen was able to display exactly what was on my camera LCD. The sunshade is quick to install and works well on bright sunny days outdoors. The LCD display panel is bright, has great resolution, color, and detail. It's great for both photography and videography as it lets you monitor your camera feed on a bigger screen and manipulate the view separately from the camera, whether that's attached to a tripod or rig. The 160 degree viewing angle lets you see the screen clearly from different positions so you don't have to be standing right in front of the monitor for a clear picture. Overall, I found this to be a useful tool, especially for the Sony a6300 because its LCD isn't fully articulated and framing shots from in front of the camera is much easier with a remote monitor. One tip is when using the monitor during live filming, turn its volume to '0' to avoid feedback back to the camera mic!
Takeaway: A nice budget camera for home videos, clear crisp images but low volume capture. You'll receive the video camera in a carrying case, a miniHDMI to HDMI cable, an A/V to RCA cable, miniUSB charging cable, and instruction manual. The camera is small and compact measuring 5.75"L (including battery) x 2.5"W x 2.5"H. It weighs 12 oz w/battery installed. The camera has a hand pad and strap pre-installed, though comes with no lens cap. The battery has a decent capacity and will last you a little over 2 hours of continuous use/recording. On the front of the unit you have the lens with 48 MP sensor, mic, and IR lights for night vision.
The flip out LCD screen rotates 270 degrees and can be folded flat when open to keep the camera on. If the LCD is shut facing in, the camera powers off automatically. This camera accepts both microSD and full size SD cards and both slots can be used simultaneously for up to 64 GB of combined storage. No memory card is included, but one is required to make recordings. The screen is also touch sensitive and you can access to functions by tapping the icons on the screen. Each mode has its own group of settings, but some settings do apply to both video and photo mode. In general the touchscreen works well, but you have to be precise where you tap otherwise it's easy to make a wrong selection.
This camera has a WiFi function that's supposed to allow you to connect to an app for remote monitoring and control, but I was not able to get the app working nor transfer files wirelessly. Hopefully the app will be improved and be functioning in a future update. There's also a ¼" mounting hole on the bottom of the camera for tripod mounting.
During the day the image quality of the video and photos is clear and detailed. The video is HD at 1080p, 2K and 4K, although at 4K the frame rate is only 24 frames per seconds, so it tends to be more choppy. The best image quality for video is achieved at 1080p at 60 frames per seconds. The footage has a lot of detail, less shakiness with anti-shake activated, and smoother transitions during fast movement and panning in general. The microphone from the camera picks up sounds and voices within a few feet from the camera but it's generally not that loud, and I had to bump up the gain in post processing (+15dB). Even with loop recording off the longest video clip length is 25 minutes before the camera starts a new file. At 4K,1 min video file takes up about 200 MB, at 2K 150 MB, and at 1080p 100 MB, so at the highest resolution a 32GB can store a little more than 2.5 hours of footage.
The zoom is all digital and goes to up 16x magnification. Zooming in and out is generally fairly smooth though there's not a great way to do a slow speed zoom and the resolution is compromised when zoomed in. The camera does a decent job on the auto setting with white balance, color balance, and ISO. These menu options are only accessible in photo mode, even though they'll carryover to video mode (with the exception of black & white and sepia). In video mode, you can also adjust the exposure live when recording by tapping on the icon on the LCD screen.
The biggest drawback of having a fixed lens is that the focus range is only good after about 6 ft. Anything closer than 6 ft and things will start to look blurry. In dark conditions, the infrared light works really well. It lights up pitch black areas in black and white similar to night vision goggles so you can see everything in the dark. Overall, the camera captures video and photos at very high HD resolution. The image quality at 1080p/60fps is smooth, crisp, and detailed, and still serviceable at other resolutions. It doesn't do great with fast motion though, and the 4K mode is choppy at 24 fps I recommend a tripod or steadycam) but otherwise it's a solid entry-level handheld camera that will make for decent quality family videos, YouTube productions, and B-roll footage.
Takeaway: Not bad as an MP3 player/FM radio, but poor screen resolution for videos/photos. The MP4 player includes a micro USB cable and a set of headphones. The player is made of a brushed aluminum shell and has a 1.75" diagonal LCD, but note that the screen is not a touch screen. On the right hand side of the player, there is a slot for loading a microSD card, but the unit also has 16 gb of built-in storage and a card is not required. Along the bottom is a microUSB charging port, the microphone, and the headphone port.
To turn the player on, press and hold the center play/pause button. The menu displays a list of options that you scroll left and right through. Note that the controls are a click wheel and not a touch sensitive scroll wheel. To select an option click the menu key in the top left corner of the control wheel. In Music mode press the up and down keys to adjust the volume and then the Menu key to accept the setting. The included headphones are not that great, so I recommend using your own set. Once you use a decent set of headphones the music quality is pretty good. Loading music to the player is easy using the included cable and you simply drop all the files into the root folder.
To exit out of a mode press and hold the menu key or use the back key in the top right corner of the controls. In video mode this player only supports AMV files, so you'll likely have to convert any files to get them to player on this player. The screen is awfully tiny, and the colors are somewhat washed out with fairly low resolution. There is a voice recorder on this unit and I recommend that if you do use it, to set the recording type to 256 kbps for better sounding quality. You'll have to go to a separate menu option to listen to the recordings. The radio mode functions and picks up a lot of stations in my area. The photo mode is as expected for such a tiny screen and the contrast will change depending on your viewing angle. In e-book mode you can read text files but not word documents, pdfs, or ebook formats. LAstly, there is a game mode with 1 game "Boxman."
Overall, for an inexpensive unit, it works as an MP3 player and portable radio. I wouldn't recommend it if you primarily want to view photos, videos and e-books. With 8 GB of storage and also the option to add an SD card up to 32 gb, you can also use it as a portable drive and card reader.
