Let’s take a look at DBPower’s new 4k action camera. Can this, not so budget, action camera beat the top brands?
Video Review
First I highly recommend you to check the video review, as it shows you all the cool features and the quality of the camera.
But if you’re too lazy to watch the video or just want quick overview, then below you find some of the most important information about this camera.
Quality
Well let’s start by saying that they advertise it as 4k action camera, which is not true. I don’t know where they get this 4k from, even on the camera box itself it says that max recording dimensions are 2880×2160, that’s not 4k.
4k = 4000, it’s short for 4000 pixels longways. It means that display must have 4000 pixels from left to right, that’s where 4k resolution comes from, however 2880 is not 4k, not even close, it’s 3k if anything. Even tho 2880×2160 is not 16:9 aspect ratio, it is stretched to fit, so there’s no distortion and it can be viewed perfectly fine on any 16:9 monitor without any issues.
Even tho it’s not a true 4k camera, the quality is really good. It can surely beat most of the cheap range cameras by far. Image quality is sharp and clear, also it can handle dark areas quite well. It will have some pixelation in darker areas, but it illuminates dark areas quite well. Most cameras won’t be able to do that.
If you’re not sure about video quality, watch my review video on youtube in full HD on a good monitor and be the judge of quality (note that youtube downgrades the footage a bit too).
Picture quality is good too, but could be bit better to be honest.
However what really surprised me, is microphone quality, it’s really good! I have tested lot of action cameras, including GoPro and I think this camera has the best audio so far. It sounds almost like it’s a proper mic, such as gaming headset mic or a even a decent desktop mic.
Features
This camera is full of features, it has touch screen, which is quite rare for a action camera. Naturally it comes with 100% waterproof case, so you can completely submerge the camera for as long as you want, it’s rated for 30 meter depth, but i’m sure it can go further.
Another great feature that stands out, is that you can use this camera as webcam for your PC. It’s very easy to set it up, just plug the USB into camera and other end into PC, then turn the camera on and select the camera option (there’s only 2 options, camera and mass storage). Then it will be detected as plug and play camera (it can be used for skype calls and any other program that detects camera).
Camera uses standard mounts. It also has a standard tripod mount underneath, so you can put the camera straight onto tripod (other action cameras i’ve seen, don’t have tripod screw thing on camera itself, they have it only on case). By standard mounts, I mean that they are compatible with GoPro and other camera mounts.
There’s also option to change the viewing angle in between 70 – 170 degrees, so you can change it to wide angle or normal. I gotta warn you tho, this option is bugged. It doesn’t change the viewing angle after you hit ok, you must power the camera off and on again. Manual says nothing about this, but I tested and that’s only way to change it.
There are lot of other cool functions too, such as time lapse, loop recording ..etc ..etc
There’s also another bug that annoys me a lot, it randomly keeps turning the beep sound on (the beep that it makes when you press a button / touch something on screen). I specifically turned it off as i hate all sorts of beeping when going through settings and pushing buttons, but it keeps coming back on!!!
Worth It?
So is this camera worth buying? Well it depends, it costs bit more than other budget / cheap range action cameras, but then again it does have bit higher quality. It all comes down to what you need it for, because more than 90% of people still watch videos in 1080p or even less, so there’s really no point in making higher quality videos, keeping that in mind, you could go with a cheaper 1080p camera, but if you want better quality than 1080p, then this camera can get the job done for sure.
Also it’s multi-purpose camera, you can use it as action camera, PC webcam, camera to record other stuff, such as reviews or recording your pets..etc (as it has good mic), use it as dash cam in car (not designed for it, but it can do the job) or you can use it to do time-lapse videos.
All in All, this is a great camera with lot of features and good quality and very good mic quality!
Where to Buy?
Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B071K5Y59M
Vipon: https://www.vipon.com/product/4211660