SJCAM SJ4000 is by far the most popular action camera that SJCAM produced. Do not let you its price trick you, its feature rich and better then most big-brand cameras. This post will be an ultimate review of this Chinese brand action cam.

SJCAM SJ4000 Wifi Version action camera (black color model)

The first time I heard that there is a decent under 100$ action camera, I must say I was a bit suspicious. Hearing that it was made by the fairly new company based in China... Well, I am sure you are feeling the same right now. That is why you are reading this article, right?

The SJCAM SJ4000 is a multipurpose action camera which can record video at 1080p x 30 FPS and take photographs. It is also water-resistant up to 30m when used with housing. It is action-packed with lots of additional gadgets. Camera has been released in two variants :

• WiFi version

Specifications

Bellow is a table which shows all the specs of SJ4000 WiFi. Same specs apply for the non WiFi version, except for the WiFi mode obviously.

• 12 Mega Pixels CMOS Sensor
• Color :Black/White/Silver/Yellow/Blue/Pink/Gold
•  Wireless WiFi 
• Screen : 1.5" LCD Screen
• Image resolution -12 mp, 4000 x 3000 -8 mp, 3264 x 2448 -5 mp, 2560 x 1920 -3 mp, 2048 x 1536 -2 Megapixel, 1920 x 1080 (recommended) -1.2 Megapixel, 1280 x 720
• Video Resolution -HD 1920 x 1080p / 30 fps HD 1280 x 720p / 60 fps (records each frame twice, so its not real 60 fps!) -848 x 480p / 60 fps 640 x 480 / 60 fps
• H.264 Compression format
• 4X (Digital Zoom)  
• LENS 170° Wide Angle Lens f= 2.99mm F= 2.8
• Supports up to 32 GB Micro SD. Minimum Class 6 Micro SD is recommended.
• English/French/Spanish/German/Chinese Simplified/Chinese Traditional/Russian/Japanese/Korean language supported  
• Connectors :USB 2.0; HDMI
• Battery Detachable, 900mAh
• Camera Dimensions: 29.8 x 59.2 x 41mm
• Weight :44g (without battery) 58 g (with battery)

Design

The first thought everyone gets after seeing this action cam for the first time is : "Is this a GoPro?"

Enough said. The design is very very similar to GoPro.

Camera dimensions are 59.3 x 41.1 x 29.3 mm. It weights  approx 58g with and 44g without a battery inside.

Cam is pretty lightweight and much smaller then you expect it to be. The first time I opened the box, my first thought was "Wow, can this tiny thing really make videos?". One thing I particularly like about it is variety of colors to chose. For the SJ4000 model, there are 7 different colors.

black model

Download Video and photograph samples

In the lengthy video above , you will see my entire review of this camera which includes sample footage. Since YouTube encodes videos and reduces their quality, 

Video Time Lapse

While I was playing around with the camera, making videos for my YouTube channel, I realized that I haven't upgraded firmware. Since my camera was original, I was not afraid to make an upgrade by following instructions on SJCAM website. T

How SJ4000 time lapse works?

Camera has an option to set time lapse to 3, 5, 10, 30 seconds and a full minute. What does that mean?  Basically this is how it works. If you select lets say 10 seconds, this means camera will capture a frame every 10 seconds. If you leave your camera for an hour (60 minutes), camera will take 6 frames per minute or in total 360 frames in hour. Lets say you are recording at 30 fps you will get 360/30 = 12 seconds of video in time lapse.

Photography Features

You probably heard that video and photo do not go well together in one device. Either its a device for photography or video-making. On rare occasions if one gadget can handle both well, its bloody expensive.

With video content becoming more important and widely used then ever before, companies are making models that can do great shoots and video at the same time. Still, if you need this camera just for a sake of taking photos, then I recommend you to go with a digital camera or a DSLR.

While taking shoots with this camera, you will be able to chose between different modes such as color, sepia or black and white. Additionally, changing white balance will make your photos look different as well, which is extremely useful if you want to make your shoots a bit warmer or colder for instance.

Sample of photo in auto mode. 12MP taken by SJCAM SJ4000 Wifi with a waterproof housing on it. (compressed quality)

Photos taken with SJ4000 are not bad, but they are not fantastic either. Perhaps the biggest disappointment is the resolution of the photos. Though the manufacturer claims that the highest photo res is 12mp, few other reviewers confirmed that it is definitely bellow that.

Manufacturer claims that photos can be taken in :

• -12 mp, 4000 x 3000
• -8 mp, 3264 x 2448
• -5 mp, 2560 x 1920
• -3 mp, 2048 x 1536
• -2 Megapixel, 1920 x 1080
• -1.2 Megapixel, 1280 x 720

Wide Angle lens enables you to capture amazing wide photos. Whole San Siro stadium captured. 12MP (compressed)

In the reality 12mp and 8 mp photo look exactly the same as the 5mp ones. When you zoom the photo it quickly blurs and the details are not easy to spot. Bellow are few more photos I have taken with my SJ4000.

Piazza Grande, Peble Pawning - Locarno Switzerland. Photo with SJ4000 WiFi. Cloudy Mode. 12 MP. Waterproof Housing on it. Rainy day. (Compressed)