The budget
Yeah, yeah. What else were you expecting? Like any other buying guide, this one starts with a budget in mind.
It is very important that you determine the amount of money you are willing to spend on an action cam. With a clear budget in mind you will filter out cameras that you can’t afford or the ones that are too cheap for you.
Trust me, you do not want to start a research without the budget. You’ll loose precious time looking at wrong models.
I understand. It’s not always that you can’t spend 500$ on an action camera. You might have the money. But you won’t use camera often, hence you just think it wouldn’t be money well spent. And that’s perfectly fine.
From financial and pricing aspect, there are 4 groups of action cameras on:
- Extremely tight budget <50$
- Tight budget 50-100$
- Mid-range budget 100-200$
- High-end budget 200$+
Extremely tight and tight budget
Even if you have plenty of cash to spend, my personal recommendation for newbies is to start small. For up to 100$ you can find bunch of cameras that will help you understand what is an action camera, how it works and things you can do and can’t do with it.
Mid-range budget and higher-end
In my personal experience, once you get your first cheap camera, you will soon break it or realize there is a feature you really want and it does not offer it. Of course there are people who bought a cheap camera and it works, does the job well, so they have no need to invest further.
After their first encounter with action cameras, some users realize their first camera works well, they barely use it, and when they use it it provides decent results and meets their expectations and needs.
The other part breaks their camera, starts swearing the technology and starts talking about good old days when all products were mechanical.
Higher end action cameras
The third part of users are people ready to move forward. They familiarized themselves with a concept of an action camera. They bought their first one that was a good experience, but they want to take their videos to the next level.
Those users are considered an experienced action camera users and provided that they have the financial possibility they usually go for a more expensive cameras.
Depending on your financial status, determine the maximum amount of money you are willing to spend on your first or the next action camera.
Okay, assuming that you determined your budget. We can move to another important factor – video quality.
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Hi, I am interested in an Action Cam that would produce the very best quality of still shots for zooming and seeing details in the picture. I see some cameras on the market advertising 20MP photos but the image sensor is a Sony IMX117 (12MP sensor). Could you offer any advice about which Action Camera might best fit my needs?
If a sensor is 12mp, and output is 20mp, that means resolution is interpolated and will be 12mp stretched up, basically useless for your need.
You can check YI 4K (12MP), or YI (16MP) (YI vs YI4K comparison), Sony FDR X1000V (8mp), those are some quite decent.
Hi, what is the best camera below 100 usd for photos?
There are multiple factors, but from a price-value aspect, I would say this one.
Long shot but any idea which is the better action camera (going to be using it with a weather balloon and general biking and such) the Soocoo C30R or the Git2 Pro?
Basically is the Git2 worth the extra cost? Some say a 16MP sensor might be worse in lower light than a 12MP but I have no idea :’)
I’ve personally reviewed two Soocoo cameras, and I just do not trust their quality control and support. In my humble opinion, Git 2 is worth the extra cost. As for the low-light, that is true, however difference would be far more visible in 16 vs 2MP sensor, than in 16 vs 12.
Hy Pavle,
I want to buy an action camera: good 4k picture quality, native if possible, stabilization, under 100USD. this is my first camera…
thanks for help.
Cheers Gabriel
Hi Gabriel, check out our recomendations here https://pevly.com/best-action-cameras/
Thanks for the guidance.However, these models are older models, can you suggest me something from 2017: Andoer, Akasoo, Firefly, Xiaomi Mijia(can go up little 100usd).
Thanks once again Pavle.
If something was released after does not mean it works well, I can’t recommend any specific camera besides the one we thoroughly tested and recommended here.
Hi:
Can you please suggest a budget action camera that would support external Mic. Should have a good Camera as well.
Regards
Tarun
Hi Tarun, please check our recommended camera list, there are some supporting external mics out there https://pevly.com/best-action-cameras/
hello which is better between, SJCAM SJ6 – Xiaomi Mijia – SGCOOL explorer 2c – SGCOOL explorer 3 – Eken H6s 4k – Eken H9s.
The best camera is the one which suits your needs the best and budget. Our top picks can be found here https://pevly.com/best-action-cameras/
Your list is way to long. I recommend that you start with our recommended cameras and see which one fits your needs the best https://pevly.com/best-action-cameras/
From your experience, which is better between h8r n h9r ?
Hi Suhrisman,
Between these two models the H9R has better results. The main reasons are the video quality and the price. In essence, the H9R can shot sharper videos. A part this difference these two cameras are very similar. If i can suggest you another camera, you could consider the Xiaomi Yi !