GoPro Hero6 Black: bhpho.to/2xhUJO0
Yi 4K+: bhpho.to/2fRcqMJ
Sony FDR-X3000: bhpho.to/2ziEKMH
GoPro created something almost magical on the version 6 Black. EIS is so good it is gimbal like, without the gimbal. I could see people updating their old GoPro just for this.
But how does it compare to optical image stabilization from Sony X3000? Driving with 2.7k EIS they seem equal in smoothing out the small bumps. However if you are looking for great stabilization with good resolution, then the Sony wins over the GoPro at resolution even though the GoPro is out spec'ing it at 2.7k 60 (Hero6) vs 1080 60 (Sony), and when you are running with the two the Sony beats the GoPro for stabilization as well. But the skin tone for the Sony are not as pleasing as the GoPro.
Detail: The Yi sharpness settings seem more aggressive than the GoPro, but both "lows" values seem to be the same giving me the impression that is low actually means no sharpness added. Resolution: It seems like they are the same sensor. With them both on low sharpness they look identical. When both are on Medium they Yi seems sharper. When you go from 4k to 2.7k the street signs look really out of focus. At 2.7k 60 EIS the Yi seems sharper in the driving shot with same sharpness applied. There is a big sharpness difference between GoPro 1080 60 and 4k 60, that is why I want to upgrade to a 4k 60 camera. I can't see a difference between 4k 30 and 4k 60 on the gopro.
Exposure: in many of my test when sun is hitting the lens the Yi's contrast lowers a lot while the GoPro seems to have tight hold on the contrast. Dynamic range, they might have the same sensor but they way they process the image is different, it seems like the GoPro has more perceived dynamic range.
Color: The GoPro saturation sometimes is out of control, I don't remember a GoPro with this much saturation before.
WB Color: both get it wrong sometimes, Yi seems better in artificial light where the GoPro wins outside. Yi can go green outside and is sometimes too accurate, it takes the warmth out of the morning sun, while GoPro can go warm and too saturated. Overall I would say GoPro wins for what I shoot.
Banding: I would say that they are about the same for most of my tests, however watch the sunrise time lapse, I can see more lines of banding on the Yi, also look how the bands move as the Yi adjust exposure more erratically, and the GoPro has a nice smooth exposure ramp. Driving in to the sun the Yi seems to have a cyan issue around the sun that the GoPro doesn't have, and yes sometimes the GoPro has more sun streaks than the Yi.
Battery surprising they tracked about the same each time I went through a charge cycle considering that the GoPro has a brighter screen, I think it wins.
Screen Brightness: GoPro wins, both dims after 1 minute (power), very useful for framing when it is that bright!
Construction: The Yi latch on case came off. GoPro feels better made.
Time Lapse: the GoPro wins because of the smoothness of exposure at sunrise
GoPro less lens flare streaks.
GoPro has a lot more CA than Yi in terms of video. However when you look at the raw stills, (assuming the sensor Sony IMX377), the lens on the Yi has more CA but is slightly sharper. The lens appears to be different, one is 2.66mm and the other is 3mm.
Codec: GoPro Protune 80Mb/s H.265 (no Protune) 66Mb/s, Yi 135Mb/s H.264. The HEVC files 40% smaller than the Yi files. Compression artifacts that I see appear to be equal, not bad considering the 40% savings in file size. GoPro HEVC only used 3% of my new very power computer CPU during playback, but the Yi h.264 used 15%.
Resolve: If you are using Resolve you need to make sure you force the footage levels to full, because auto does not get it right. They both clip at 100IRE, there are no super whites to recover. The GoPro imports fine but with no audio, while the Yi crashes the computer and you have to strip the audio channel to get it to work.
IphoneDo 12% is correct in Resolve not 5%
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