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YI to launch the Pixie – a Spark-like tiny drone with 4K video

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It appears that YI Technology are about to finally release a drone. Although it’s not the one we’ve all been waiting over 18 months for. There’s still no word on what’s happening with the YI Erida, but what is coming is a new tiny Spark-like drone. The Pixie. Unlike the DJI Spark, though, this one will shoot 4K video.

While this is technically a rumour, there is a complete user manual online. It seems unlikely to go to all the trouble of creating that if the drone itself weren’t real. According to specs, it’ll shoot 4K, 1080p and 720p video with timelapse and burst mode 15MP photo features. It operates on 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz WiFi, with a suggested range of 100 metres.

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Google unveils a pair of 3D 180° point & shoot VR cameras by YI and Lenovo

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Well, this is pretty cool, a pair of new 3D 180° VR cameras, developed in partnership with Google for their VR180 app. They’re kicking the new VR180 platform with two offerings from Lenovo and YI Technology.  While the hardware is similar to a 360° camera, the configuration makes the final result very different. Instead of having one lens facing forward and one facing back, two stare in the same direction side-by-side.

This setup allows for 180-degree stereoscopic 3D video or stills when viewed back on Google Cardboard or a VR headset. The first camera is the Lenovo Mirage, which has a pair of 13 megapixel fisheye lenses with 4K sensors. Likewise, the YI VR180 also houses a pair of lenses and sensors, but is capable of 16.6MP images and 5.7K video.

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2017 DIYP Gift Guide – Cameras

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With Black Friday and Christmas on the way, there’s plenty of things out there begging for our money. Whether we’re buying a gift for somebody else or for ourselves, we want to get the best bang for our buck.

So, in this first part of our 2017 Gift Guide series, we’re going to cover cameras. There’s quite a variety here, from instant to medium format, but here are ten of our current favourites.

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The affordable 5.7K resolution YI 360 VR camera is finally released

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People have been waiting a long time for this one. Originally announced way back in April for release in June, the YI 360 VR has faced some delays. This was primarily down to the fact that YI felt they could get a little more performance out of the camera. Now, though, the YI 360 VR finally sees its official launch and is available to buy.

YI have teamed up with Microsoft to make it available in the Microsoft store for only $399, the same as the pre-order price. It was rumoured that the price would increase at launch, but thankfully, this has not happened. We’ve had the YI 360 VR at DIYP for a little while now. You can see our full review here to find out what we think.

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DIYP reviews the 5.7K resolution YI 360 VR camera

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For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been playing with the new YI 360 VR camera. I’ve wanted to get my hands on one of these since they were announced in April. So, needless to say, I was quite excited when it showed up at my door.

Since it arrived, I’ve used it quite a bit. I’ve taken it out while doing things with friends, shot video behind the scenes on photo shoots, and even live streamed to Facebook and YouTube. So, here’s what I think. In this post, I’m tackling these topics largely in the order I faced them when using the camera.

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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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YI Technology jump into the 360° market with the new 5.7K YI 360 VR camera

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We knew it was only a matter of time before YI Technology stepped into the world of 360° cameras. Hot on the heels of the GoPro Fusion, YI Technology have now announced their own, new YI 360 VR camera. Housing a pair of 12MP Sony CMOS IMX377 1/2.3″ sensors, each side has a 220° f/2.0 lens.

The YI 360 VR is capable of producing 5.7K (5760×2880) 360° footage at 30fps. Slightly higher resolution than the GoPro Fusion. If you want to speed it up to 60fps, you’ll have to drop down to 2.5K (2560×1280). Stills capture is also at 5760×2880. THiNK Media TV got a chance to check them out in person at NAB and posted a first look video.

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2 DIY Microphone hacks for the YI Action Camera

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The biggest problem with action cameras, pretty much any action camera, is the microphone. Whether it’s the original YI HD, the YI4K or even a GoPro, their sound just tends to suck pretty badly. But, it’s not really a surprise. The main intent of action cameras is for recording fast sports action with a wide field of view. There’s all kinds of noise going on that makes it virtually impossible to distinguish a voice easily anyway.

But, a lot have started using them for things like vlogging and family trips, because they’re small and lightweight. For these people, sound is important. Here are two videos which show a couple of different hacks to help you get a bit better sound out of your YI Action Camera. The first, by MrCsami swaps out the built in microphone for one with a built in wind guard. The second from shinyside removes the microphone completely, replacing it with a 3.5mm jack to use whatever microphone you wish.

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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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GoPro Hero5 Black vs Hero5 Session vs YI 4K

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A lot has been said about the new GoPro Hero5 Black and Hero5 Session cameras since their recent release. The new touchscreen LCD has received a lot of praise, as has the fact that you can finally use it underwater without an external housing. But the resolutions and frame rates haven’t changed since the Hero4 Black. So how does it compare?

We posted our own GoPro Hero4 Black vs YI 4K comparison video not too long ago, and the YI 4K pretty much smoked it in almost every aspect. Have GoPro done enough with the Hero5 to make up ground? What about the Hero5 Session? In this review video from Ben Schmanke, we get to find out.

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