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: 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: Nice build quality, sound, and extras; small details could be improved but not big issues. This ukulele comes with all the accessories that you need to get started - minus lessons of course! You'll receive the ukulele in a canvas carrying bag, a clip on tuner w/CR2032 battery, a neckstrap, an extra set of nylon strings, a cleaning cloth, and two felt picks. The case for the ukulele has a zippered front pocket for the accessories, a side handle, and a shoulder strap on the back. The 24" body is made from mahogany that is both durable and resonant with a handsome medium-walnut stain. The neck is stained a lighter color which I think gives it a nice contrast. The bridge is rectangular and unpolished though (quite plain looking) and it has a bit of a rough feel to it. Along the fret board I noticed the ends of the frets were clipped in such a way that they have very tiny "burrs" on the end. This is different from the soprano uke that I have whose fret ends are tapered and polished smooth. On the Hua Wind uke this results in a slight catch at each fret as I run my hand along the side of the fret board; it scrapes a little though isn't sharp enough to cut my skin.
On the back of the head, you have four worm drive tuning pegs with plastic grips. This ukulele is also outfitted with two strap buttons for use with a snap-on shoulder strap. However, the included strap is a sound hole hook-style strap which you wear around your neck and it wraps around the bottom of the uke and hooks into the sound hole. While you can't go hands-free with this neck strap, this design makes it compatible with ukuleles that don't have the strap buttons too.
The clip-on tuner comes with a battery that you install in the back of the LCD panel, and the unit is really easy to use. The large brightly lit display is easy to reada nd determine when your strings are flat/sharp or in tune. When the strings are tuned, the LCD turns a bright green for easy identification. The uke isn't tuned when you receive it and the strings will be very loose. Tuning the ukulele for the first time went quickly with the tuner. With new strings, you'll end up tuning the strings pretty often, sometimes several times in an hour long practice session. But after the first week or so, the strings stretch out and settle and you'll need to tune less frequently. The sound from this ukulele is warm and round with full sounding tones. It's great for beginners like myself, though perhaps it's meant for those with a bit of experience as there weren't any instructions as to which notes to tune to nor a primer to reading ukulele tabs. I was able to find a few tutorial videos online which helped immensely. Overall, for someone who's new to playing the ukulele, like myself, I found the sound and construction from this instrument really nice. It's also a great size for kids and a lot of fun to play.
