When I first got my SJ4000 WiFi I thought that the amount of equipment that came in a box will be more then enough. However, after utilizing camera for a while, I realized that I never used most of the gadgets. I swear to God, most of these things are still in original zip-lock bags.
On the other hand, as I wanted to use my camera on a more advanced level and record better, creative videos, the amount of the equipment that I had to purchase was growing.
In this post I will list my top 10 SJ4000 accessories, that I believe each and every one of us should have. If you would like to see what you get in a box, check out complete SJ4000 review here.
Do you really need additional gear?
Lets first start of understanding what you want to do with your camera. Do you use it for sports activities, hunting or just recording your son and daughter while they play in the backyard. There is a huge difference between this. The easiest way to figure out if you need an additional accessories for your SJ4000 is to go open a manual if you still have it. There you have a nice least of gadgets you received and a few that can be bought separately. Think which of those could make your life easier and video better. If there is at least one, then move to the next paragraph.
SJ4000 accessories – prices and comparability
Unlike many bigger-brand action cameras, SJ4000 gear is dirty cheap and widely available. Literately there are tens of reliable online websites selling all sorts of gadgets for quite affordable figures.
Besides pricing, I really love comparability with other cameras. That means that once you buy additional equipment for one camera, chances are high it will fit next one you get.
Also I look at these accessories as Lego bricks. Possibilities are endless, and you can get your creative juices flowing just by finding different ways to mount a camera on a bike, car or on head. There are plenty of people doing their own DIY gear projects, being clever and improving their own video projects.
Lets now sum up most important things about SJ4000 accessories.
- You have to determine what you want to do with your camera
- There are hundreds of pieces so chose wisely, you obviously do not need every single one
- Accessories are compatible among themselves and majority of them can be used with different camera brands
- You can combine different pieces and create your own stands, mounts, etc
- SJ4000 gadgets are affordable and easily available
Its now time for my favorite picks. Here is a top 10 list of best SJ4000 accessories.
#11 Monopod
Taking selfies has been a major thing for lots of people these days. Even if you do not remember right away what it is, I am sure you have seen people with their camera attached to a stick. Selfie stick or monopod is exactly what it sounds like. A stick on which you can mount your camera. There are different types of selfie sticks, but it all comes to three models :
- Bluetooth monopod controls your phone/smartphone
- Headphone jack monopod which allows you to put headphone 3.5mm jack in it and take shots
- Basic monopod without triggers
If you would like to learn more about each type, there is a good guide here. To make long story short, since most of the action cameras including SJ4000 do not have Bluetooth or headphone jack, the only selfie stick for it is basic, bare bone monopod.
You can take photos in two ways, depending which model you have WiFi or Non WiFi. Since SJ4000 does not have a self-timer, you will have to set photo interval to at least 5 seconds. Better way is via the Android or IOS app which will let you take shoots by controlling camera via your smartphone.
I have really basic and not that good looking one, but it does a job for me, since I am not much of a selfie person. One interesting thing is that these stick come in different length, so if you want to capture as much background as possible, you should get larger or at least medium one.
Where you can get selfie sticks for SJ4000? I am sure you will have no problem finding them all around the web, but if you ask me the two places to get them would be eBay or Amazon.
10 Car Mount
Though most of people never use their SJ4000 as a dashcam, cam itself preforms quite good that way. There is even an option to set it up to work as a dash-cam. Car mount does not come in original packaging and has to be purchased additionally. There is no specific mount for the SJ4000. The only thing you should consider is the quality of the Suction Cup Adapter since you do nto want it to fall out while driving. I got a great deal for Car Adapter on Since I frequently compare more cameras performance as a dash-cam, I bought 3 of these.
#9 Bike Stand
Bike stand comes in original box together with your sj4000. It is pretty simple to set up, but it gives a lot of vibrations which causes your videos to look a bit shaky. If you do a lot of cycling, you might consider getting slightly better stand for your bicycle. Additionally you can combine different mounts and create your own stand.
#8 Floating Hand Grip Handle
If you plan to use camera underwater, besides waterproof case, you might want a floating grip handle. It is used to prevent your SJ4000 from sinking. Grip is made from a spongy material so your camera will float if God forbid you drop your camera while diving.
#7 Dog chest strap
Though probably the least favorite on my list, dog chest proved to be fairly useful accessory for dog trainers and animal lovers. Basically put this thing on your dog, and creative video from dog or cat perspective. Since I was a bit concerned about these gear being a bit heavy or painful for the pets, I was assured by few people that its quite light-weight and safe.
#6 Chest Strap
Similar to the one used for animals, chest strap is for humans. It is something that people who do any sort of climbing use. It allows you to remain focused on sports activities while making sure everything is recorded. Sounds good enough!
#5 Headband
Headband is my favorite additional accessory. It allows me to hike, climb, run and shoot video at the same time. Some people are afraid to wear it because they might look like idiots. I agree. You will look like an idiot wearing this if wear it while buying a beer in Wall-mart or recording crowded squares. But in extreme situations. Hell, I do not give a damn. I do not like being distracted when doing anything extreme. Why would you hike and hold camera, when you can simply put it on your head and get much better first person video?
There are plenty of head straps available, so you should make sure to get the most comfortable one. Trust me, you do not wish your camera to be unstable, or even worse to cause your camera to fell out. Upon testing three different head-straps, I found that this one on GearBest fits my needs the best. You can also get cheaper ones on their site.
#4 Storage bag
Organization. Simplicity. Perfection. I like to keep things organized. One thing you might not know about me is that I collect trading cards. Now you get a point, mint condition is everything. Anyway, back to the topic. Storage bag will not only protect your camera but also help you organize and quickly access mounts and gear. There are variety of bags available, and there is no particular one that is best. I have the largest one, since I have two cameras. If you have only one, medium or smaller bags will do the job for you. Alternatively, if you are on the budget you can keep your camera in ear-bud case which is 2-3$.
#3 Lens Cap
It is often said that the lens determines quality of your camera. In conjunction with a cam body, it definitely is integral part. Though its hard to keep lenses in perfect shape, especially the action camera lenses which operate in more extreme situations then other cameras, you can do your best to protect it from dust and scratches. Lens cap is ridiculously cheap thingy that can be a life saver for the lens.
#2 Tripod Mount
Tiniest of all, but not least important, tripod mount is a life-saver when it comes to camera attachment to a mount. At the same time, it is the most useful part when you try to combine different types of mount and create a custom stand for your SJ4000. Though you get one with a camera itself, it is really handy to have few spare as it can also be used for buckle and bike attachment. Absolutely the least expensive gear of all on the list and very handy one.
#1 Power Bank and spare battery
The worst thing that can happen besides loosing or crashing your camera is loosing a chance to capture memorable video. Imagine you finally did that jump, kick or shoot. Upon checking your camera hoping video was awesome -crap, your battery drained.
I promised myself never to allow battery to drain out. Some things happen once in a lifetime. What if I was unable to capture them? Stupid, feeling, right? That is why power bank and/or spare batteries are absolutely must.
Simply said, power bank is a huge battery that can charge not only your camera, but also smartphone or anything else powered via USB. Since I go out a lot, I got a brandable, neatly looking Xiaomi 16000mah power bank.
I bought it on since it was the only place that guarantees that it was not fake. And there are tons of fake Xiaomi power banks. You do not necessarily need this one, since it is around 35$ (when not on discount), you can get cheaper ones for 10-15$.
I always prefer to add few bucks and get quality stuff for charging. I simply do not like to mess around with something that can burn my house. Xiaomi is reliable brand, so I thought that for that price it was a good deal. Also it looks like an Apple device. Design is beautiful. Additionally it is swat resistant and has over-voltage protection.
NOTE > Currently there is an amazing deal on GearBest for this power bank. Its only around 23$ (50% off the retail price). And its 100% original one, not a copy. For that price, do not even think about buying flimsy cheaper copies, this one is really fabulous.
In addition to spare power bank which charges your camera, I wanted to have at least one more spare batteries. So that I can record immediately, without having to wait for power bank to charge it. Usually it takes 2-3 hours for power bank to recharge the battery, so one or two extra batteries should do the job. On official manufacturers site spare batteries are around 9$, where as on Amazon you can get them for around 6$.
Update : User ukbren from RC Groups forum suggested a battery cradle for charging battery without having to plug in camera.
If you’re going to suggest spare batteries, i would say the usb charging cradle (so you can charge batteries outside of the camera) – essential if you have more than one battery.
BONUS – Optical Filters for SJ4000
Below is an article written by Reddit user Ryan, who kindly offered to share his experience about Optical filters with our readers. Huge thanks to Ryan for an amazing analysis.
Strangely all filters are referred to as ‘pink’ in the title, but you can choose your own colors. I picked Red and Purple, they cost approximately £3.23 GBP each. They arrived in good time, however they came in a regular envelope with no padding.
The red filter had a small crack in the corner, but hasn’t appeared to affect it’s performance. The purple filter has a small shard of what appears to be metal right in the center of the lens, as far as I can tell this shard is inside the plastic and irremovable, perhaps it is debris left in the mold when this filter was cast.
Unfortunately it is also visible on any footage taken, I have not contacted SJCAM about this due to the low price, but I will update you if I decide to. I have enclosed photos of the damage to both the filters.
There is no way to clip the filters onto the camera casing, instead they slide on. On my initial dives they stayed in place, however they did begin to fall off later on. Although there is a little hole allowing you to secure the filter, it’s left up to you to find out how. An elastic band has worked quite nicely for me so far.
Here are some photos I took of my living room to compare filters.
As you can see the red filter is very strong, I suspect it’s only use in scuba diving would be for deep blue water possibly with additional lighting, as a UK-only diver I have never dived/filmed in deep blue water, so this is merely speculation on my part. Perhaps the ‘orange’ and ‘pink’ filters might be a more suitable choice for blue water diving.
The purple filter is the closest thing SJCAM offer to ‘magenta’. However it still works well in green water anyway. Here is some footage I recorded at a depth of 6m, conveniently as the unsecured filter bounces around it gives a good opportunity for comparisons to be made with and without the filter.
In summary, despite it’s setbacks the cheap price of the purple filter definitely makes it a worthwhile purchase if you intend to record in green water and I would recommend it.
Editor note : You can check the amazing video comparison side by side, made by Ryan, on this DropBox link.
Update 11/5/2015 Ryan was in touch again regarding waterproof case. He personally performed SJ4000 up to 20m in the water so far without problems. You can check this image of his. (Thanks Ryan).
What is your favorite gadget for SJ4000?
Alright, so those were my TOP 11 accessories for SJ4000. I would really like to know which one of these you use? And more importantly do you use something that is not on the list? Let me know in the comments bellow, I would like to hear what you think.
As always, for any question about particular accessory, feel free to ask me in the comments section.
If you are looking for action camera deals and coupons, check out this page of mine where I list all deals I found on the web and save some money.
