The SJ4000 Action Camera Review

The SJ4000 is the current action camera making waves in the sports/action camera world. A no brand, GoPro copy, this little camera will surprise you with its simplicity and above all the quality of the image that it can record and capture. The SJ4000 currently sell on ChinaElectronics for 70 pounds with free delivery.

Offering full HD recording you can film your favourite moments in the following definitions. 1920*1080 at 30 frames per second, 1280*720 at 60 frames per second, 848*480 at 60 frames per second or 640*480 at 60 frames per second. I have yet to try it on any other setting than the default one which is 1920*1080 and as yet haven’t found any need to lower the resolution. I suppose if you are wanting to use this as a dash camera on a long journey or have a small memory card the lower resolutions would be acceptable options.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCZ837-yeOw

 

One of the major things that people seem to be concerned about is if the camera is really waterproof. I haven’t tested it to its full potential, which is 30 metres but I have dived down to 10 metres with no incurrent problems. The camera worked perfectly and didn’t get wet at all. One of my friends who is a diving instructor owns the very same camera and tells me he has gone as low as 35 metres and the camera didn’t get wet at all.

The only time I have found that the SJ4000 didn’t record very well was when I went out on the motorbike and attatched the camera to the handlebars of the motorbike. The vibrations from the bike caused a lot of rolling shutter effect (wobbly video), but from what i have read, this is a problem on all action cameras, not just the SJ400. The next time I went out I attatched the camera to my helmet and there were no recording problems whatsoever.

When it comes to sound the SJ4000 has a built in microphone that works reall quite well. The only drawback is when the SJ4000 is in its waterproof case. This tends to muffle the sound quite a lot but is onlt to be expected, as with all waterproof cameras.

The camera comes boxed with various mounts already included like two 3M stick pad bases to attach to your helmet, bike handlebar mount, two velcro belt mounts and waterproof case. The great thing is that the SJ4000 is compatible with all commercial GoPro mounts on the market.

The SJ4000 action camera only has two main buttons and volume buttons and is extremely easy to use. The front button is for turning the camera on and off and cycling through the various options. Once you press the button to turn the camera on it boots in less than 2 seconds and opens directly in the record video mode. To start recording video you can press the top button once and it will start to record. To stop recording press the top button once more. If you press the front button again it will take you to the stills camer mode for taking photos. The top button is used to take the picture. Press the front button once more and it will take you to the review mode where you can see all the videos and photos you have taken. You can use the volume buttons on the side to scroll through your videos and images. You use the top button to play the selected videos. Press the front button once more to go to the settings menu. One more press of the front button will return you to the record video mode. One long press of the front button will turn the camera off.

If I could place one drawback on this camera it would be the fact that it doesn’t have WiFi control so photos taken from a monopod extendible arm aren’t possible. At the moment most camera that have WiFi function are much more expensive.

All in all this is a great value action/sports camera and for the price of one GoPro you can buy three of these little beasts. If you are new to the sports camera world the SJ4000 is a great camer to start with. You can try your hand at filming your extreme action moments without breaking the bank. You will probably find that the SJ4000 will be more than enough for you.

I will be uploading sample clips as soon as I have had time to edit them so please keep checking back or leave me a comment with your email to send you information when they are ready. I will also leave links to the files in my dropbox account so you can download the videos to be able to appreciate them in their full uncompresed glory. The videos on YouTube are so compressed that you can’t see how well this camer records.