Sjcam SJ6 Legend - Review 2022

GoPro owns the activity cam market place, only its cameras are expensive—if you want 4K you'll need to spend $400 on the Hero5 Black. There are plenty of lesser-known brands out at that place, offer cameras with similar functionality, simply without as much polish, for less. We've tested a bunch of affordable models, and the Sjcam SJ6 Legend ($159) delivers the best balance of video quality, features, and price. That makes it our Editors' Option for low-cost action cameras.

Design

The SJ6 Fable looks like almost every other activeness camera on the market. It's tiny, measuring simply 1.6 by 2.3 by 1.1 inches (HWD) and weighs 2.9 ounces. Its body is plastic, and not waterproof on its own, but a protective case rated to about 100 feet (30 meters) is included. We received a sample with a black cease, simply Sjcam too sells it in rose gold and silver.

There's a standard tripod mount on the bottom, a rarity for action cams. It adds some versatility in mounting, as you can use information technology with existing photographic equipment with ease. The waterproof case has a standard GoPro mount, for even more options.

The camera only has 3 control buttons. The height has a big Record push button that's easy to press. On the right side you get 2 smaller buttons—the top is power and the lesser takes you lot to the main menu. In our tests, the battery netted 75 minutes of 4K recording.

The SJ6 features a touch LCD, a feature yous don't frequently see in this cost range. Because of this, you don't have to utilise pocket-size buttons to navigate through long pages of settings. The interface is quite intuitive—tap the lesser center of the display, where it tells you which mode you're in, to modify the shooting way, press the Play icon to go into playback mode, and tap the gear icon to conform settings. The LCD is but 2 inches in size, but menu options are big enough to accommodate comfortably.

There'south a second LCD on the front. It'southward monochrome and not sensitive to touch. It shows yous the electric current shooting mode, recording status, bachelor memory, and battery life. Information technology'southward a nice addition, especially if you take the camera mounted, every bit you can check if yous're shooting with ease, even if the lens is turned in your direction.

A number of accessories are included in add-on to the waterproof case. You go an assortment of different mounting arms and adapters, including a tripod adapter for the waterpoof case, adhesive-backed mounts, and a cage that isn't waterproof, but is compatible with GoPro accessories.

Connectivity

Sjcam SJ6 Legend : App Y'all'll find a microSD card slot as well as micro HDMI and mini USB ports on the left side. The dated mini USB port is used for data transfer and storage. I'd have preferred to run across a micro USB connexion, as those cables are much more common—information technology'southward a scrap likewise early to hope for USB-C in a upkeep action cam.

There's too built-in Wi-Fi. The camera works with the free Sjcam app, available for Android and iOS, for remote control and wireless file transfer. You tin see a live feed from the lens, conform camera settings, take pictures, and start and stop video recording. One oddity—I wasn't able to select 4K recording when using the app for control; the highest setting available is 2K.

Video Quality and Features

The SJ6 records video at up to 4K quality with a 25Mbps bit rate and 24fps frame rate. That's swell for a cinematic look, but if you want to shoot at the more sports-friendly 60fps in 4K, you'll demand to spend more on the YI 4K+, which features a similar form factor and touch interface, but sells for around $340.

Despite not having the highest bit rate around, 4K video from the SJ6 is quite strong. Details are crisp and colors are accurate. I recorded a few dissimilar scenes using the camera for our sample prune. The first is a handheld walking shot with digital stabilization turned off. You can see that the video is shaky. For a 2nd walking test I enabled the digital stabilization system—it is bachelor when shooting at 4K. There are some added artifacts, but the jitters are gone. You still get the bobbing from side to side that's typical of handheld footage, but you'd see that issue with a Steadicam or gimbal besides.

The final portion of our test video is mounted footage, taken from a moving vehicle. Here nosotros move from shaded areas to bright sunlight during a drive. You tin can see some jostling when going over bumps in the road, and changes in exposure. The heaven blows out to white when passing under the shadows provided past copse, but when at that place's no shade the exposure changes to show the blue heaven and puffy white clouds. You'll discover a engagement stamp in some portions of video—it's enabled past default, so yous'll probable want to turn it off.

The dynamic range delivered by the video isn't equally proficient as others—we saw more than blueish sky with the Wimius L1. You tin enable WDR (Wide Dynamic Range) capture in situations where you lot're shooting in mixed lighting, and if that doesn't get yous the results yous want, try underexposing your footage using negative EV compensation and opening up shadows in your video editing suite.

If you don't shoot in 4K you have some other options. Dropping the resolution to 2K gives you lot a 30fps frame rate, the same as NTSC video, and you lot tin shoot at 60, 50, thirty, or 25fps—covering both NTSC and PAL standards. Sadly, 24fps capture isn't an selection at 2K or 1080p. At that place'due south too tiresome-motility capability. Yous can crank the camera to 120fps at 720p (along with 30 or 60fps options), or shoot standard-definition 480p video at a fixed 240fps frame rate.

When shooting at 4K you lot get the typical ultra-wide field of view you expect from an activity camera. This comes with a fish-eye effect. There is some distortion correction born, just its effect isn't slap-up when shooting at the widest field of view. There are medium and narrow options as well, both of which are bachelor when shooting in 4K.

Boosted video features include video time-lapse, with 4K, 2K, 1080p, 720p, and 480p output options, every bit well every bit irksome-movement capture at upwardly to 1-8th speed, time-lapse photo capture, burst paradigm capture, and simultaneous video and yet capture. There's also a car manner that records video just turns off the rear LCD so it doesn't distract you lot when driving, and an underwater mode that tunes the video settings for aquatic use.

When not in its underwater case, audio quality is strong. The camera picks up my vocalization clearly, without the hollow or compressed signature we experienced with some other upkeep cameras. For pro-grade sound, you can add an optional external microphone via the mini USB port.

Still images are captured at 16MP resolution in JPG or Raw format. The Raw format is proprietary, and doesn't enjoy wide conversion support—you can't but load it into Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw as you lot can with a DNG file. You can catch an open source Raw converter if you employ Windows or Linux. JPG photo quality is good. Details are crisp close to the lens, though the ultra-wide nature of the camera means that distant subjects aren't drawn with the aforementioned level of clarity. Information technology's on par with a expert smartphone camera.

Conclusions

The Sjcam SJ6 Legend is a solid action camera. It delivers stabilized 4K video in a small, affordable package, and it's quite like shooting fish in a barrel to access all of its features thanks to a impact-screen interface. Add together a standard tripod mountain, a front data LCD, a waterproof case, and plenty of included mounting accessories, and you have an splendid value for $160. You cede some smooth and video quality compared with pricier models like the GoPro Hero5 Black and YI 4K+, but the SJ6 Legend is a pinnacle-notch choice for budget shoppers. If you're looking for an even less expensive option, the Aukey AC-LC2 and Wimius L1 are both solid choices nether $100.