Why You Should Avoid Budget Sports Cams for Street Photography
I was ready for extreme wide angle. The Hinsio 5k Sport Cam didn’t disappoint with its 170-degree field of view, which places it somewhere in the 15mm focal length realm in full frame terms. But what I wasn’t ready for was the poor image quality once I had the images up on my desktop monitor.
Here’s the thing. Everything looks pristine when you’re looking at the back of a tiny little sports cam. The images look crisp and high quality. And when you know you’re working with 48-megapixel stills images, there’s a little room for hope. When I transferred the files seamlessly to my smartphone and edited them with Snapseed, I was still hopeful although I could see the limitations right away in the Hinsio JPEGs (like most budget sports cams, you can forget about Raw files being an option).
But the truth is revealed on the big screen, folks. And it’s an ugly truth.
Why Did I Even Bother in the First Place?
Good question.
I knew from owning a previous sports cam model that the images weren’t great which is why I used it primarily for its intended use, for video. But for monsoon season this year, I wanted to get out and hit the streets of Mumbai and capture some iconic imagery without being burdened with wrapping up my main camera so I don’t potentially ruin it during a torrential downpour. After all, I’ve already ruined the top section of the circuit board twice on my old Canon and had to have it repaired when a little bit of water managed to seep through the hotshoe from under the cover of an umbrella.
These days, I play it safe. I have a waterproof camera bag for my Sony, but I still prefer using my customized DIY oversized ziplock bag. The issue is that it's tough to handle the controls when strong winds threaten to tear the umbrella from my hand or flip it inside out. Plus, wearing rain gear to free up my hands is usually out of the question because even in heavy rains, the humidity here is terrible, making it unbearably hot to wear synthetic rain jackets. Sure, I can manage for short periods, but for photo walks lasting a few hours, it's just not practical.
One solution was to get a sports cam and mount it on a mini tripod. With the HINISO 5K's little remote clicker, I could take pictures using the same hand that held my umbrella. I was even prepared to go without an umbrella and brave any heavy storm just to build a collection of monsoon street photography. But, unfortunately, I never got that far. Even before I was able to get into some heavy rain, I ran into big-time issues with the image quality on my first test run.
I Would Say the Image Quality Sucks but That Would Be Too Kind
Image quality of the Hinsio 5K sports cam. Zoomed in at 100 percent.
The image above is the best shot I took during my first test session with the HINISO 5K. If you zoom in to 100%, you’ll notice heavy degradation in the overall image, especially in the hands. This was completely unexpected. My mid-range, nothing-special Android smartphone takes better photos! I’ll prove it later (stay tuned). It's mind-boggling that these companies, whose primary job is to produce excellent image quality for stills and video, have fallen so short. This kind of Crackerjack quality just isn’t acceptable. No offense to Crackersjacks!
I’ve included a few more shots that I took and edited with Snapseed. Suffice it to say, there will be no second test session using the Hinsio for street photography. You’ll see why now with some images I took that aren’t so great but should have been acceptable even with a smartphone camera.
All images are clickable and viewable at 100 percent zoom.
Exhibit A
Shot in bright conditions using a mini tripod. Edited in Snapseed.
Exhibit B
This example is just plain shocking. Sitting still in the backseat taking a shot on a mini tripod. Looks worse than security cam footage from the movies.
Exhibit C
Stills image from the Hinsio 5K action cam. Edited in Snapseed. Another example of an image that should have been a slam-dunk for image quality.
Sometimes, I wonder why I even bother experimenting with formats that aren't designed for still photography. But in my defense, I was misled by the Sony ZV-1, a compact camera marketed to content creators and influencers who need a discreet option for video-making.
Wrap-Up
I'd love to get my hands on a high-end Sony or GoPro to test the image quality of their stills, but that will have to wait. In the meantime, I have other options to explore, and I'll be sharing those stories in the coming weeks.
I won't drag this out any longer than necessary. I'm not trying to single out Hinsio because I'm sure most budget sports cams produce subpar stills to varying degrees. I hope their video footage will at least surpass my smartphone, but that remains to be seen.
