AEESPORT ACTION CAMERA 16MPX 4K VIDEO AMBARELLA LYFE SHADOW WATERPROOF BIKE CAR

On a positive side - this camera will serve well on a snorkelling holiday, although there are many shortcomings for any other usage. Still, at £25 it is a good value for money. Only a single proprietary battery is included, which limits any adventure to 15-30 minutes. The advertised features of the protected lens and touch screen are a disadvantage, as they reduce the quality of recording and make the camera difficult to operate.AEE LYFE SHADOW C1 action camera is falsely advertised here, because it's not 16MP, doesn't have image stabilisation, the HD mode at 100fps produces low quality video (reduced detail), and the battery doesn't last 1h while recording 4K even when the screen is switched off. This camera was formerly known as Liveman C1 (2016) by LeEco (a French sounding name of a Chinese company producing low quality phones). The overall quality of video capture is poor in comparison with an old Samsung Note 4 phone, but marginally better in comparison to a great number of Chinese cameras based on Allwinner V3, Sunplus 6350 and Novatek 96660 chips.This camera uses IMX078 12MP (4072 x 3044) sensor, which can do "4K UHD" (not "4K" by DCI standards) at 30fps in sunlight, dropping to half of it in low light. This marketing trick with terminology is not a problem, as it is also applied to all consumer TVs. IMX078 is actually a good sensor in comparison to many other cheap cameras, although better cameras would be using IMX117. Starting with 2014 Samsung uses "stacked" sensor technology in phones, which almost doubles the detail and improves low light performance, so this camera was obsolete at its release. The processor chip is Ambarella a12s75, which is good, but not for car DVR application, which calls for a12a.The lens field of vision depends upon the used area of the sensor. Loss of quality takes place when a narrow mode is used together with high resolution. The widest angle by my inaccurate measurement is about 110 degrees.Usable settings selected to match the sensor:Video UHD "4K" at 30fps - Ultra Wide, which is about 110 degrees.Video HD at 60fps - Medium Width, which is about 70 degrees.Photo 12MP.TV - NTSC to enable multiple of 30fps frame rates.Bit Rate - S.HighMemory card: micro SD, speed U3 written on the sticker (although a good quality class 10/U1 might be sufficient), capacity 16G or more.This product makes sense only as a disposable camera mostly for diving, as lack of image stabilisation limits it's application in sports where vibration is possible (can be applied later in a PC), dynamic blur and overly strong compression affect moving objects. Maximum distance for numberplate reading is about 15m in bright light static, less when moving. The screen is too small and barely visible in sunlight. Operation of touchscreen is required, which is impossible while diving or in wet. Luckily, the display can be switched off by holding the WiFi button on the waterproof case, and switching between video and photo is a double tap on the trigger button.A readable manual can be found in AEEusa website for a similar Lyfe Titan model, as the included sheet is insufficient. WiFi app, Bluetooth and USB are good, although the WiFi app requires too many permissions, which rises security concerns given the company is Chinese.In 4K video mode:AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 1 ch, floatle, 127.8 kbit -- goodVIDEO: [H264] 3840x2160 24bpp 29.970 fps 29914.2 kbps (3651.6 kbyte/s) -- not enough by GoPro standardsFirmware: Ver:F.EA.24Throughout years the enthusiasts found no way to enable any additional features in this device, and the customer support from AEE is non-existent, as I have found out.