It seems like just the other day that GoPro was the definitive leader in the action camera market, but a number of really good products have popped up over the course of the last couple of years. While GoPro might still have the edge, new gadgets from Sony, like its newly-announced Action Cam Mini, is posing to be serious competition.
A follow-up from Sony’s Action Cam, the Action Cam Mini is about 30% smaller than its predecessor and weighs 62 grams. It’s really light (an incredibly important detail if you want to mount it onto a bicycle or helmet), even more so than GoPro’s Hero3+.
The Sony camera can capture full HD 1080p video at 60, 50, 30 and 25 frame per second, has a 170-degree field of view, and you will also be able to take still images with the 11.9-megapixels Exmor R BSI CMOS sensor. For those wanting something a bit slower and artistic, you can create slow-mo videos by shooting at 120 frames per second.
But being smaller than the previous version of the camera has its drawbacks – the battery had to be shrunk as well. Where big brother clocked in video time of over two hours, the Sony Action Cam Mini will now only manage to get just over an hour when shooting 1080p video.
If you so please, you can pair the camera with a live-view remote, which is essentially a remote and screen that you can strap to your wrist to keep track of what you are shooting and change the modes. It’s similar to the GoPro smartphone app, but it’s a separate unit that controls the camera.
With the remote it will cost you about R3 500 ($350), or if you chose go remote-less it should be around R2 500 ($250). Both are expected to launch in October.
[Source – Engadget]
