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Firmware update turns the YI M1 into the camera people hoped for at launch including manual exposure control for video

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When YI sent us their new M1 mirrorless camera last year, we had high hopes. On paper, the hardware and spec looked very impressive. Once we got it into our hands, though, we were a little disappointed. It felt a bit hit and miss. In fairness, for stills photography, it wasn’t really that bad, as long as you were shooting in bright conditions. Even there, though, it lacked a little something.

Where it mostly seemed to fall flat were in the video and timelapse departments. The biggest issue being that there was no manual exposure control for either of these modes. Well, thanks to a new 3.0 firmware released a few days ago, the majority of the problems faced by the YI M1 seem to have been cleared up.

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DIYP Reviews the Yi M1 mirrorless Micro Four Thirds camera

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The M1 mirrorless camera from YI Technology was one of the biggest surprises at this year’s Photokina A company known for Action cameras, dash cams and home monitoring devices was now getting into the “real camera” market. With the way things are right now, it’s a very brave move.

We showed you a brief first look at the M1 during DIYP’s visit to Photokina, and it sure was an intriguing little camera. We’ve had one of our own for the past few weeks along with both the 12-40mm f/3.5-5.6 and 42.5mm f/1.8 lenses, and we’ve been putting them through their paces.

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YI CEO: Splitting off from XIAOMI, We are not afraid of crappy counterfeits, China will get bigger

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We are keeping a close eye on YI. initially dubbed as the GoPro killer, YI has been growing. They have a gimbal out, a drone in the planning and a mirrorless camera. I thought it would be very interesting to speak with YI CEO, Mr. Sean Da, about the past, present and future of YI.

It is clear that YI is very technology focused. When we talked with, Mr. Sean Da, he was not telling a lifestyle story about mountain climbing, surfing or parachuting. He was simply saying, we have the best camera in the market. This is a really interesting approach to the market, but I think it is also one of the companies weak spots. A lot of the market is not being sold on tech, it is being sold on stories and I think that YI will have to pivot that was if they want to conquer the market.

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First impressions from the M1 – Mirrorless camera by YI

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Yi is a definitely a weird company in the camera makers word. While Sony, fuji and the likes are marketing their cameras as part of of a complete life style story, YI is more focused on technical specs and price.

This is how they marketed the YI 4K, and this is their approach with the Mirrorless YI – M1.

We had a quick play with the camera at photokina and the camera is different in some ways from what we have learned to expect from mirrorless cameras. (there will be a full review coming soon too) .

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Yi Technology are launching a 20MP mirrorless camera

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Well, this is a bit of a surprise. Yi Technology, yup, the action camera people, have announced that they are releasing a micro four thirds mirrorless camera. They’re also bringing out two new lenses to go along with it, a 12-40mm f/3.5-5.6 and a 42.5mm f/1.8.

Called the Yi M1, the new camera is built on a 20MP Sony IMX269 sensor, features a 3″ touchscreen LCD, and has built in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. A companion mobile app allows for instant sharing across social media.

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