AKASO V50 Elite 4K/60fps Touch Screen WiFi Action Camera Voice Control EIS 40m Waterproof Camera Adjustable View Angle 8X Zoom Remote Control Sports Camera with Helmet Accessories Kit

This camera is for me a replacement of my older 1080p camera. There is a lot in the box, including a simple wrist wearable bluetooth remote control as well as the more usual multiple mounting options. And, obviously wifi. I have seen comments complaining about the app that accompanies the camera, but for me it works well albeit the range is not huge. On my example the touch screen works really well. Battery life is not outstanding, at around 30 minutes in my experience (I still have 720p camera that lasts for hours on one charge) but you do get two batteries and they recharge from a USB supply, so you can use a powerbank if you are out and about. The good things: two frame rates for 4k and 2.7k, up to 120fps in 1080p, and up to a staggering 240fps in 720p. Stills can be shot in RAW format - a big bonus. The built in distortion correction works really well, but you have to turn it back on every time you change video resolution if you want it (it stays on switching between photo and video). The IS is OK rather than spectacularly effective (not available in 4k 60fps) , use it if you don't have a gimbal. The sound is OK too (obviously useless inside the waterproof case) although I usually record sound separately with a Zoom H1. Now for the not so wonderful. Exposure is automatic, although in the setting menu there is the possibility to over or under expose by up to 2 stops in 1 stop intervals. It is a good idea to under expose where there are bright areas in an image, such as clouds, to avoid burn out. The 'natural' colour setting, the default, is rather over saturated for my taste, but switch to 'cold' and it suits me. In short, this is a lot of action camera for the money. So although it is not the world's best performer it has a lot of solid real world useability and more than adequate output quality for most users. I'm very happy with it and taking on my hols in due course.

The media could not be loaded. I spent many hours reviewing a wide range of different action cameras ahead of a ski trip and found that the flagship brands such as GoPro or Insta360 were going to set me back at least £400. While there are a range of cheaper cameras, Akaso was one of the most competitive and had received good reviews so I decided to give the V50 Elite a go.-Getting started-As this was my first action camera, I wasn't 100% sure on what the best setup was. Luckily, the camera arrived with enough instructions to help me through the process. It is pretty much ready to go but I did have to turn on a few settings such as image stabilation and wind noise reduction. I also found that there were some things that weren't explained very well such as how to remove the protective casing or what each mount was used for. Neverthless, a bit of googling and I was ready to go.I struggled to find any advice on the best SD card to use. I did see someone mention a specific one on an Akaso forum but that was no longer available so again, a bit of googling, and I found the correct speed/size.-Functionality-Overall, the Akaso is clearly capable in lots of scenarios. There is a range of image resolutions to choose from (4K 60FPS to 720 60FPS) and it's definitely worth experimenting with these. There are options for changing the video encoding, recording loops, fast motion settings, angles and more. Having so much control over the image (white balance, exposure, watermark date/time) was useful but I did find that the settings didn't always hold e.g. I set the date and time to overlay the image but none of my videos had this.One of the most useful settings is the WiFi. This allowed me to transfer videos over to my phone via the Akaso GO app and free up space on my SD card. The process was quite clunky (but I think this is down to the app) and it takes a long time but considering I only took one 64GB card with us, this helped a lot. To put some perspective on it, to transfer an 8-minute video took about 15 minutes. Not sure why!It's also worth noting that the battery life isn't fantastic. A full day of recording (up to about an hour's worth) seem to wipe out my battery life and thats with the auto power off setting turned on. Akaso do include a second battery though so it's worth taking a second if you plan to do a long day.-Image and sound quality-The V50 Elite had fantastic quality. Initially, I was shooting in 4K 60FPS but I found that this just took up too much space on the SD card too quickly so I knocked it down to 2.7K 30FPS and on a 64GB card, I could get around 1hr45 of videos. In hindsight, I wish I had taken more SD cards as Akaso doesn't recommend putting in anything above a 64GB card. The image was crisp and sharp, there was no pixelation and I couldn't be happier with this. I would recommend playing with the different options. I regret not opting in for 60FPS as the skiing may have looked a little smoother.Sound quality was a bit of a let down. It isn't terrible (and from what I have read, is a massive improvement on previous models) but the camera struggles to pick up voices (I had it mounted on my chest) and it comes out very tinny. I have also read that there is an external mic available so if sound is something that is more important for you, maybe consider that also.-Overall-The V50 Elite was a great option for me as it was my first action camera. It was a quarter of the cost of the flagship cameras but you wouldn't know that based on the premium image output. Sure, there are some things left to be desired in terms of file transfer, sound and battery life but these things still worked well enough and allowed us to capture some life memories.FYI - I've attached a small clip of some footage. It's worth noting that the editing software I used may have knocked the quality down to 1080p so keep in mind that the raw footage is actually a little sharper. Sound is the same though!