YI Lite Review - successor to the YI 2K Action Cam

YI Lite - Small. Powerful. Lite.

It has been known since MWC 2017 that YI Technology is planning a successor to the extremely popular YI 2K Action Cam. Little was known about the hardware at that time, but it was known that the camera would use a housing identical to the YI 4K and that it would also be equipped with a display on the back. The YI Lite has been on the market for a few weeks now.

Scope of delivery, design and workmanship

The scope of delivery includes the action cam with its waterproof housing, a micro-USB cable, a rechargeable battery and a multilingual user manual including information cards. The quality of workmanship of the Action Cam, as well as that of the accessories, is not objectionable.

The housing of the YI Lite hardly differs from the current YI top models. The dimensions are 65 x 42 x 30 mm with a weight of 72g including the inserted battery. Due to the same dimensions, the accessories of the recently released YI Action Cam models are compatible with each other. The batteries can also be swapped between the devices, whereby the YI Lite's battery only has a capacity of 1200 mAh despite its identical size.

The front of the matt black plastic housing is formed by a status LED with "YI Lite" lettering, as well as the 6-layer lens with a 150 ° wide angle and an F / 2.8 aperture. The top of the housing is also equipped with a status LED, which is embedded in the power button. The power button is surrounded by two microphones and the speaker next to it. On the back is the 2 inch touchscreen. The battery compartment with integrated memory card slot is located on the underside of the housing. At the same time there is a ¼ inch tripod thread. The connection options only amount to a micro-USB socket. An HDMI connection option is missing! 

Display and touch screen

The most important feature of the YI Lite is the display on the back, the lack of which was considered a major disadvantage of the YI 2K. The LCD display is only 2 inches more compact than the display of the current YI top models. The resolution is also reduced to 320 x 240 pixels, which results in a point density of 200 PPI.

In practice, the display impresses with its pleasant sharpness, realistic color rendering and good viewing angle stability. The display brightness is sufficient to read the display even in moderate sunshine. In strong sunshine, however, the display is only slightly legible, which is mainly due to the highly reflective surface.

The operation is similar to a smartphone via the touchscreen of the YI Lite. The accuracy of the touchscreen is nothing to complain about. Entries are precisely recognized. Once the YI Lite has been inserted into the waterproof housing, operation via the touchscreen no longer works, of course. Instead, the so-called “In Housing Mode” can be activated, which means that the Action Cam can be operated completely using the button on the top.

Hardware

On the hardware side, the YI Lite is equipped with a Hisilicon Hi3556V100 image processor and a 16 megapixel Sony IMX206 image sensor. The Hisilicon chip consists of an 800 MHz Cortex-A7 and a 1.25 GHz Cortex-A17 core. In combination with the Sony IMX206 image sensor, the YI Lite is able to record videos in 4K with 15 frames per second and in 1080p even with 60 frames per second. Electronic image stabilization is available on both 2.7K and the resolutions below. A Broadcom 43455 chip is responsible for Bluetooth and WiFi. This supports Bluetooth version 4.1 and is able to set up a 2.4G and 5G WLAN with a maximum data throughput of 50 MB / s.

Commissioning and user interface

YI Technology recommends using the Action Cam with at least a Class 10 Micro-SD memory card. The manufacturer specifies the maximum memory size with 16GB to 64GB. In the test, however, a 128GB SD memory card was recognized without any problems. Commissioning itself is straightforward. Insert the battery and memory card into the camera, switch it on and start filming. Firmware updates can be downloaded directly from the manufacturer's website or updated automatically via the YI Action app.

The user interface hardly differs from the other YI Action Cam models. The start screen is surrounded by information about the recording mode, battery level, WLAN status and recording time. The lower bar also offers quick access to the gallery, which you can use to view saved recordings. As soon as the Action Cam is not used for a longer period of time, the display darkens automatically and a display lock is activated. Of course, these and other functions can also be configured directly via the settings menu.

Here is an overview of all recording modes and settings options.

shooting

Overall, the YI Lite 9 recording modes. Here is an overview:

• Photo mode
• Photo Timer (Delayed Recording)
• Burst mode (multiple recording)
• video mode
• Time-Lapse Video (Time Lapse Recording)
• Slow Motion (slow motion recording)
• Time-lapse photo (time-lapse shot with photos)
• Loop Record (If the SD card is full, recordings will be deleted)
• Video and Photo (In addition to a video are stored in photos)

Settings

The settings menu is divided into two categories. There is a sub-item for each "Shooting Mode" and "General Settings". Here is an overview of the settings

video mode

• Resolution - 4K HD @ 20 | 1440 @ 30 | 1080 @ 60 / 30 | 720 @ 120 / 60 / 30
• Timestamp - Off | Date | Time | Date and Time
• Lens Correction - On / Off
• Image Stabilization - On / Off
• Microphone - On / Off
• Video standard - NTSC / PAL
• Image Quality - Low | Middle | High
• ISO - Automatic | 100 | 200 | 400 | 800 | 1600
• Exposure - + 2 to -2 in 0.5 steps
• White Balance - Automatic | Native | Artificial light | Daylight | Cloudy
• Sharpness - Low | Middle | High
• Metering Mode (Measurement for Exposure) - Average | Center | commercial

Photo mode

• Resolution - 16MP | 10MP
• Timestamp - Off | Date | Time | Date and Time
• Lens Correction - On / Off
• Shutter speed - car | 2s | 5s | 10s | 20s | 30s
• ISO - Automatic | 100 | 200 | 400 | 800 | 1600
• Exposure - + 2 to -2 in 0.5 steps
• White Balance - Automatic | Native | Artificial light | Daylight | Cloudy
• Sharpness - Low | Middle | High
• Metering Mode (Measurement for Exposure) - Average | Center | commercial

General Settings

• WiFi - On / Off | SSID and PW | 2.4G / 5G | info
• Bluetooth Pairing
• SD Card - Available Memory | format
• Standard recording mode
• Screen Lock - Never | 30s | 60s | 120s
• Automobile. Switch off - On / Off
• In Housing Mode - On / Off
• Language
• Location
• Display Brightness - High | Middle | Low
• Sounds - Loud | Silently | Out
• LED - On / Off | Status LED
• Date and Time
• Factory settings - Settings | WiFi | Bluetooth
• About

"YI Action" app

To control the YI Lite remotely, you either need the YI Bluetooth Remote or you can use a mobile device with the so-called "YI Action" app. The app is available for both Android and iOS mobile devices and can be downloaded from the respective stores. The connection between the app and the mobile device is via WiFi, which is why the Action Cam sets up its own WiFi for this purpose.

If the mobile device and the YI Lite are connected, all camera settings can be made directly via the app. In addition, a live image is transmitted, you can select the recording mode and start a recording remotely. Saved recordings can be transferred from the Action Cam to the mobile device, shared on social networks or exchanged within the YI community.

There were no complaints about the transfer in the test. The connection was stable to within several meters and only slightly delayed. The same applies to access to the memory card. Recordings are quickly transferred to the mobile device.

recording quality

Video quality of the YI Lite

The YI Lite uses the same Sony image sensor that was already used on the older YI 2K. However, there are differences regarding the image processor that can process videos in 4K. However, the refresh rate is comparatively low 20 pictures-per-second. The video format is MP4, encoded in H.264.

 The video recordings recorded with the YI Lite are convincing in good lighting conditions with a pleasant level of detail with no over-saturated color reproduction. With increasingly poor lighting conditions, the grain of the image increases and the image sharpness, including the level of detail, is also lost. High-resolution 4K video recordings cannot be played smoothly due to the low frame rate. Much more interesting, however, is that a smooth 1080 frames per second are achieved in 60p. The maximum video bit rate is 32000 kBit / s. The bit rate of the stereo sound track is 45 kBit / s with a sampling rate of 48 kHz. Without the use of the waterproof housing, the sound recording quality is acceptable, but sometimes a bit tinny. With a waterproof housing, the recording volume is greatly reduced.

A well-functioning feature that significantly enhances video recordings up to 1440p is the electronic image stabilization (EIS). Uneven camera movements are digitally compensated for on all 3 axes. A disadvantage is the low loss of video quality and the slightly indented field of view. In return, you get a largely wobble-free recording. Even running movements are stabilized to a certain extent.

 Sound recording without waterproof housing 

 Sound recording with waterproof housing 

Photo quality of the YI Lite

Photos can be taken with 16 and 10 megapixels. The YI Lite is extremely suitable for one or the other snapshot. Photographs have a natural color representation, a high level of detail and a good contrast ratio. The “Adjust Lens Distortion” function ensures that the “fish-eye effect” is removed by the software in both photo and video recordings. This means that the Action Cam can also be used as a compact camera without any problems. The recording format is JPG. RAW or DNG is not available! 

Battery

The battery supplied with the YI Lite has a capacity of 1200 mAh. In comparison, the battery of the YI top models has a capacity of 1400 mAh. There is no size difference between the batteries, which is why the more powerful YI batteries can also be used with the YI Lite. The battery runtimes differ depending on the resolution, how long the display remains active and whether the WLAN is active. The values ​​given by YI Technology are largely understandable. With a resolution of 4K and deactivated WiFi, the runtime was around 110 minutes. A value of around 100 minutes was also understandable with lower resolutions and, at the same time, higher refresh rates. The charging time is 1 ½ hours.