A shade better.
Action cams are all the rage today whenever you need to get
close to the action and then immediately upload to the internet in the hope of
being included in a Fails of the Week compilation. However, as great as these
new strain of tiny rugged cameras are, they usually require some form of
complicated mount, either for your helmet, bike, jet ski, drone or dog.
Wouldn't it be better if there was a camera you could just pop on your face and
go? Now there is... the SunnyCam.
Essentially what we have here is a pair of sunglasses with a HD video camera built into the bridge, right between the frames. That camera can capture video at 720p (1280x720), stills with a resolution of 1600x1200, and WAV audio recordings. And they'll also keep the sun out of your eyes.
Included with the SunnyCam (along with a hard carry case, a
USB charging/data cable, a car charger adapter, a wall charger, additional
clear lens, and a wipe cloth) is a 16GB Micro SD card onto which you can record
all your first-person adventures. We found this to be a rather generous
inclusion with the product and were expecting no more than 2 or 4GB. As the
on-board battery can record continuously for up to three hours, you'll have no
problem filling the SD card with videos and stills.
On your face, we found the SunnyCam relatively comfortable,
if a little rigid. The frame is completely plastic and although there is quite
a bit of give to it, people with larger heads may find them a bit of a squeeze.
Also, don't over stretch the frames, as we discovered that by pulling the
supports further apart to bend the plastic slightly, it drew out the camera
compartment in the bridge of the shades, exposing it.
Of course the real question is what the quality of the video
is like. For that check out the below video of our review of the Revell Argus
RC Helicopter. The majority of the review was filmed with the SunnyCam (the
first minute wasn't, however), and gives a pretty good impression of the
quality.
Overall we were rather more impressed by the quality of picture than the quality of build. Although the video and audio captured by the SunnyCam isn't as good as the first minute (which was filmed on a high-spec smartphone), for extreme sports and adventuring it is rather good. The brighter and clearer the weather conditions, the better the picture, and 720p recordings tend to lend themselves to motion due to the slight image blur and pixilation. At the end of the day , it was a great way to film a helicopter.
SunnyCam have certainly packed in the extras into the box,
and as we said the inclusion of a 16GB Micro SD card is generous. However we
felt that the SunnyCam will always be a budget alternative to full sized action
cams like GoPro. Until the picture quality and build improve, with the option
to customise and adjust frames, SunnyCam may remain just a bit of a novelty.
£89