Aukey AC-LC2 - Review 2022 - Brown Publienew46

The Aukey AC-LC2 ($79.99) is one of the least expensive 4K-capable action cameras yous can purchase. The modest, lightweight shooter captures ultra-broad video footage, 12MP still images, and includes a waterproof housing. You lot lose some features for the toll, of course—at that place's no bear on screen, which makes card navigation a pain, and there'south also no image stabilization function. If you're wiling to live with the limitations, it's a solid value for the price, especially compared with a $400 GoPro Hero5 Black. Our favorite budget action cam is a bit more expensive, but if you lot have the money, the $160 Sjcam SJ6 Legend offers stabilization and a touch screen and earns Editors' Selection marks.

Design

The Ac-LC2 follow the standard action cam pattern motif. Information technology's a minor black box, 2.0 past 3.2 by 1.6 inches (HWD) in size, with a lens that protrudes slightly from the body. The torso is made of lightweight plastic, so the Air-conditioning-LC2 only weighs 2.2 ounces. Information technology's only available in a black end.

There are a total of four command buttons on the Aukey. Power/Mode is on the front, Up and Downward are on the correct side, and Record/OK is on the top. Up doubles equally a playback push and Downwardly serves double duty, toggling the in-photographic camera Wi-Fi system. Y'all need to use the buttons to navigate through menus, as the LC2 doesn't support touch input.

The LC2'due south menu isn't that lengthy, but using the buttons is still a pain, simply because they're not that intuitive. You lot have to use the front button to cycle through shooting modes until you go to the wrench icon that indicates settings, and then use the top button to select it. It's easy enough to use Up and Downwardly to navigate through the menu settings, but you need to retrieve to use the tiptop push to change settings.

There's no confirmation that you've successfully changed a setting. The kickoff item in the settings screen is Video Resolution. If you go in at that place, and want to change to 1080p from 4K or vice versa, pressing the top button will make the alter and immediately back you out to the main bill of fare. If you lot press the front button you'll too dorsum out, but the setting won't change. Some sort of indication that the modify was made would exist a big plus.

There are as well some options that crave multiple menu settings to enable. If you desire to capture time-lapse photos, yous need to set the interval between shots using the Fourth dimension Lapse screen and besides enable the Continuous Lapse function, which is a separate menu item. If y'all just turn Fourth dimension Lapse on without enabling Continuous Lapse, the function turns into a self-timer.

But hopefully you won't accept to change settings too often after the initial setup. If you programme on using Fourth dimension Lapse frequently, simply exit Continuous Lapse on all the time, it'due south a dissever mode, so you can withal take individual photos every bit normal. As well, y'all'll probably desire to disable the time stamp, which is on by default, so that your video won't have the date and fourth dimension permanently embedded.

The LCD is 2 inches in size. Aukey doesn't listing its resolution, only it'southward sharp to my heart, and bright enough to meet outdoors every bit long equally you shade it with your mitt on a sunny day. It'southward merely there for framing up your shot, and information technology gets that job done.

Aukey includes a ton of accessories with the LC2. There's a waterproof example, proficient for depths of upwardly to 100 feet (30 meters), so y'all can swim and dive with the camera. At that place's as well a watch-style remote control, a cage for tripod mounting, a tripod mount for the underwater case, agglutinative GoPro-style mounts, and several arms and clamps for mounting on various other objects. Considering the cost, it's a pretty epic accessory packet.

Connectivity

Aukey AC-LC2 : App The LC2 has a standard microSD memory card slot, along with micro HDMI video output and micro USB for data transfer and charging. 2 batteries are included, and the LC2 netted virtually 70 minutes of 4K recording in our tests. It does take a while to fully charge, about two hours, so expect to spend some time replenishing those batteries between employ.

You also get built-in Wi-Fi. It works with the iSmart DV app, available for Android and iOS, to control the photographic camera, adjust settings, and transfer images and video to your smartphone. Using the app to accommodate shooting settings sidesteps some of the woes that come with navigating menus using the push interface. The LC2 doesn't display the Wi-Fi countersign on its screen when you set up it to connect, merely by default information technology'south simple to recollect: 1234567890. I thing to note: If you lot're put off by ads in apps, y'all'll be offended past iSmart DV. Information technology includes advertising banners on its main screen.

Video Quality and Features

The Air conditioning-LC2 shoots 4K footage at a strong 60Mbps bit rate, simply it only does so at the PAL-standard frame rate of 25fps. That's an oddball choice. It's actually close to 24fps, which is preferred for a cinematic await, just it's not quite there, so editing clips together with those shot at 24p is a little problematic. And information technology certainly doesn't approach the 60fps rate, which captures smoother movement and can exist slowed down to one-half-speed for a slow-move effect. If you want to shoot that fast at 4K, you'll need to spend more than on the YI 4K+.

Other frame rate options include ii.7K at 30fps, 1080p at your choice of 30 or 60fps, and 720p at threescore or 120fps, the latter of which is perfect for quarter-speed slow-motion Y'all don't get 24fps options at whatsoever of these settings either. All video is recorded with the ultra-wide field of view and fish-eye await associated with activeness cameras—in that location are no medium or narrow field of view options, which is a disappointment.

Video quality is pretty good. The color profile doesn't testify as much contrast as some other cameras, but that will make it easier to color right and reduces blown-out highlights. You'll still go blow outs when shooting scenes with both bright light and shadows using the default metering settings, merely you lot tin can darken (or brighten) autoexposure by up to 2EV in-camera if a shot calls for it.

There isn't whatever sort of stabilization, then handheld footage is very shaky and jittery. Effective digital stabilization is one of the reasons nosotros advise spending more on the SJ6 Fable. The Aukey does a skillful chore of picking up articulate audio in indoor environments, but it caught a lot of current of air noise in our outdoor test scene. You can enclose information technology in its case if you want to muffle air current noise, only doing and so volition also muffle your voice or any other ambient sounds.

In addition to video recording, the LC2 supports photo capture, burst photo capture, fourth dimension-lapse photo capture, and offers an upside-downwards way that flips video and images for those times when mounting requirements call for it.

While I was happy to see decent 4K video from an inexpensive camera, the LC2's photo quality is poor. Images have enough of pixels, 12MP to be precise, merely details are absolutely destroyed, even under bright sunlight. Stick to recording video—you lot can always extract an 8MP withal from 4K video, and net better results than yous tin can by using the Aukey to snap a JPG.

Conclusions

The Aukey Air conditioning-LC2 is a good activeness camera for shoppers on a very tight upkeep. You lot get 4K video, a microphone that picks upward voices clearly, and decent battery life. There are some hurting points—the oddball 25fps frame rate at 4K, the disability to alter the field of view, and the disappointing nonetheless image quality are all worth considering. If yous put a priority on image quality, merely remain on a budget, the Wimius L1 is a solid culling for about the same price, although its audio and video quality lags a bit backside the Aukey. Our Editors' Choice for budget action cams is a bit more than expensive, but at $160 the Sjcam SJ6 Legend delivers stabilized 4K footage and a touch screen, for much less coin than a GoPro.