Foreword: Xiaomi MIJIA Action Cam
Some people will probably be wondering why the “Xiaomi Mini Camera” (米家小相机) should be the manufacturer’s first action cam. After all, the first Xiaomi Yi Action Cam conquered the market in 2015. However, this was a product that was produced by “Yi Technology” and only sold in Asia by Xiaomi. Yi Technology now produces and sells its products completely independently of Xiaomi. The Xiaomi Action Cam, which has now been released under the name “MIJIA”, is the first action cam that Xiaomi itself worked on as a developer and sells at the same time.
Scope of delivery, design and workmanship
Anyone who already owns other Xiaomi products knows that the manufacturer does not attach much importance to an extensive scope of delivery. Accessories are usually not included with Xiaomi products. The scope of delivery for the Xiaomi MIJIA Action Cam is also comparatively small. In addition to the Action Cam, it also includes a microUSB cable, battery and operating instructions. A waterproof case and brackets must be purchased separately.
With dimensions of 71.5 × 42.7 × 29.5 mm, the MIJIA Action Cam is slightly wider than conventional action cams. A waterproof case, which is often included in inexpensive third-party accessory packages, will therefore not fit. If you want to protect the Action Cam additionally, it is best to order the original Xiaomi housing at the same time! The weight is also comparatively high at 99g (including battery).
The housing, made entirely of plastic, has a square shape and rounded edges. The case frame, which has a slightly roughened, non-slip surface, is interesting. The only control button is located above the frame. Next to it there is a status LED, the microphone and the loudspeaker. The lens with a 145 ° wide angle is on the front. Another multi-colored status LED was placed next to it. The only connection option is a MicroUSB socket on one of the sides of the housing, which is cleverly hidden under a sliding cap. There is no HDMI connection option with the Xiaomi MIJIA Action Cam.
The back of the case is occupied by the 2.4 inch touch display. The battery compartment with microSD memory card slot and a ¼ inch tripod thread are located on the underside of the housing. The processing quality of the MIJIA Action Cam corresponds to the typical Xiaomi quality and can definitely keep up with the significantly more expensive market leaders.
Display and touch screen
It is operated on the back via a 2.4 inch touchscreen and a physical button on the top of the housing. Thus, the Xiaomi Action Cam uses a larger touchscreen than the current market leader GoPro HERO6 (2 inch) and Yi 4K + (2.19 inches). The resolution of the display is 960 x 480 pixels.
The touch display is convincing in practice. The display is particularly sharp thanks to the high resolution of the display. Colors are displayed accurately. Looking at the display from the side hardly changes the display, which speaks for a good viewing angle stability. The maximum display brightness and thus readability in strong light is important for every action cam with a display. Here, too, the Xiaomi MIJIA Mini Camera does surprisingly well. There are a total of 3 brightness levels to choose from. At the highest brightness level, the display is easy to read even in stronger sunshine. Only direct incidence of light means that the display can hardly be read due to the reflective surface. Operation via the touchscreen is straightforward. Wiping movements and touch inputs are precisely recognized.
Hardware
With the MIJIA Action Cam, Xiaomi relies on an extremely interesting and at the same time atypical combination of a Sony IMX317 image sensor and an Ambarella A12S75 image processor. The Sony IMX317 is a native 8 megapixel and 1 / 2.5 inch image sensor that uses the Exmor R DOL-HDR technology. DOL-HDR stands for "Digital Overlap High Dynamic Range" and ensures that different exposure and subsequent processing create a picture with an improved interplay between light and dark. In theory, this enables better night shots with improved color reproduction at the same time. WiFi is supported with the IEEE802.11 b / g / n protocols. Bluetooth is available in version 4.1. A Bosch BMI160 IMU, which consists of a 3-axis gyroscope and a 3-axis acceleration sensor, enables electronic image stabilization (EIS).
Commissioning and user interface
Commissioning is not a problem despite the Chinese operating instructions. Insert memory card and battery, switch on and start filming. What, in turn, could become an initial problem is the Chinese user interface. For example, our test copy was on an early firmware version that only offered Chinese as a selectable language. English was only added as a system language with firmware version 0.6.4.2444. However, if you order the Action Cam at this point in time, you should receive a model with the latest firmware.
For those who are greeted by a Chinese firmware, the following steps are recommended for flashing the current firmware. The firmware can be under this Link be downloaded (registration with Mi account necessary!).
- Unzip firmware.bin.
- Copy Firmware.bin to the root directory of the SD memory card.
- Turn on the camera and check if the battery of the camera is fully charged.
- Confirm the update with the right selection on the display.
- Wait for the update to be installed (1-2 minutes - LEDs are flashing).
- Scroll down from the top of the touch screen and select the settings icon.
- The 3. Select menu item from below and select English as language.
Xiaomi recommends using the Action Cam with at least one Class 10 Micro-SD memory card. Memory cards with a UHS-4 interface are best for high-resolution 3K video recordings. The manufacturer specifies the maximum memory size as 64GB. In the test, however, a 128GB SD memory card was recognized without any problems.
The user interface is clearly structured. The start screen is not too cluttered and provides information on the recording mode, the remaining recording time and the battery level at the top and bottom. The recording settings can be reached via the settings symbol at the bottom. With a swipe to the left you can switch to the overview of the individual recording modes. A swipe to the right leads to the gallery. If you swipe down from the top, a drop-down menu opens. Here you can get to the general settings, you can switch the WiFi on and off, activate the screen lock or switch off the camera. Here is an overview of all recording modes and setting options.
shooting
The Xiaomi MIJIA Action Cam offers a total of 9 recording modes. Here is an overview:
- video mode
- Time-Lapse Video (Time Lapse Recording)
- Slow Motion (slow motion recording)
- Loop Record (If the SD card is full, recordings will be deleted)
- Video and Photo (In addition to a video are stored in photos)
- Photo mode
- Photo Timer (Delayed Recording)
- Burst mode (multiple recording)
- Time-lapse photo (time-lapse shot with photos)
Settings
The settings menu is divided into two categories. There is a sub-item for the respective "recording mode" and the "general settings". Here is an overview of the setting options
video mode
- Resolution - 4K @ 30 / 25 | 2.5K @ 30 / 25 | 1080p @ 100 / 60 / 50 / 30 / 25 | 720p @ 200
- Quality - Super Fine | Fine | normal
- Lens Correction - On / Off (Until 2.5K)
- Image Stabilization - On / Off (Until 1080p @ 60)
- Microphone - On / Off
- Timestamp - Off | Date | Time | Date and Time
- Metering Mode (Measurement for Exposure) - Average | Center | commercial
- Exposure - + 2 to -2 in 0.3 steps
- White Balance - Automatic | Native | Daylight | Cloudy | submerged
Photo mode
- Aspect Ratio - 16: 9 (3840 x 2160) | 4: 3 (2880 x 2160)
- Output format - JPG | JPG + DNG
- Timestamp - Off | Date | Time | Date and Time
- Metering Mode (Measurement for Exposure) - Average | Center | commercial
- Exposure - + 2 to -2 in 0.3 steps
- Shutter speed - car | 1 / 60s | 1 / 30s | 1 / 15s | 1 / 8s | 1 / 4s | 1 / 2s | 1s | 2s | 4s | 8s
- ISO - Automatic | 100 | 200 | 400 | 800
- White Balance - Automatic | Native | Daylight | Cloudy | submerged
- Color - Standard | Bright | Artistic | Movie | Classic
General Settings
- Video standard - PAL | NTSC
- SD Card - Available Memory | format
- Standard recording mode
- Sounds - Loud | Middle | Out
- Display Brightness - High | Middle | Low
- Rotation - On / Off
- Screen lock - Off | 30s | 60s | 120s | 300s
- Automobile. Switch off - Off | 2min | 5 min | 10min | 20min | 30 min
- WiFi Auto - On / Off
- Bluetooth Pairing
- In Housing Mode - On / Off
- user Guide
- Date and Time
- Language
- About
- default settings
"Mi Home" app
The Xiaomi MIJIA Action Cam can be remotely controlled both via app, but also via Bluetooth with a corresponding Bluetooth remote. The app is controlled via the "Mi Home" app, which is also used to manage other Xiaomi products. The Mi Home app is available for both Android and iOS mobile devices in the respective stores.
The app is also completely available in English. If this is not the case when the app is started for the first time, the app language must be changed from “Default” to “English” in the profile settings. The connection between the Action Cam and the mobile device is via WiFi. For this purpose, the camera sets up its own WLAN, which is connected to the mobile device. All recording settings and general camera settings can be made directly via the app. At the same time, the Mi Home app offers the option of live image output and you can transfer all the recordings stored on the SD memory card to the connected mobile device.
The transmission between the mobile device and the Action Cam proved to be extremely stable and only slightly delayed in the test. However, a slight delay is normal and occurs with cameras from other manufacturers. Unfortunately, the MIJIA Action Cam only builds a 2.4 GHz network.
recording quality
Video quality of the Xiaomi MIJIA Action Cam
The Xiaomi Mini Camera records videos at maximum 4K resolution (3840 x 2160) at 30 frames per second. With a resolution of 1080p, the Action Cam achieves up to 100 images per second, with 720p even up to 200 images per second. The recording format is MP4, encoded with H.264.
In the price segment up to € 100, the 4K recording quality of the Xiaomi MIJIA Action Cam can hardly be surpassed. Recordings are crisp and sharp and score with a high level of detail across the entire image area. If you reduce the resolution, the level of detail also decreases slightly. The color rendering is rich. The camera copes well with difficult lighting conditions, so that even filming in backlight does not cause any problems. To what extent the 3D noise reduction advertised by the manufacturer has an impact is hardly understandable. Image noise is not noticeable, at least in good lighting conditions, and is hardly significant even in poor lighting conditions. The maximum video bit rate is 61000 kBit / s. The bit rate of the stereo sound track is 127 kBit / s with a sampling rate of 48 kHz. Unfortunately, the sound recording quality is not that good. Speech is recorded in an understandable manner even from a distance, but there is a "cracking" sound at regular intervals that disrupts the sound recording.
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A feature that should not be missing on any good action cam is image stabilization. The Xiaomi MIJIA Action Cam enables recordings up to 1080p @ 60 to be electronically stabilized. For this purpose, the camera uses a Bosch BMI160 IMU, which consists of a 3-axis gyroscope and a 3-axis acceleration sensor. Thus, the camera would be equipped with the same Bosch IMU as the much more expensive one Yi 4K + However, the stabilization performance can not keep up with the current Yi top model. Major shocks result in small micro-snares, which make the recording largely unusable. Gentle camera pans are in turn adequately stabilized. Running movements should be avoided. To what extent Xiaomi will improve the EIS with future firmware updates is currently not foreseeable.
Photo quality of the Xiaomi MIJIA Action Cam
The photo resolution is limited by the 8 megapixel image sensor. The aspect ratios 16: 9 (3840 x 2160) and 4: 3 (2880 x 2160) can be selected. The recording format is JPG. It is also possible to save photos as JPG + DNG. Like the video recordings, the photos taken impress with their rich colors, extremely low image noise and a high level of detail across the entire image area. The lens distortion correction can only be activated in the selected 4: 3 format.
Battery
With a capacity of 1450 mAh, the Xiaomi MIJIA Camera has one of the largest batteries currently available on the action cam market. However, due to the atypical battery format, it is also difficult to obtain replacement batteries. Almost every import shop has the camera including waterproof housing and selfie stick listed, but separate batteries are only available indirectly! The battery life is around 4 minutes with a 105K resolution. At least 1080 minutes can be achieved with a reduced resolution of 135p. A full battery charge takes 100 minutes.