Firefly 6s/7s

[spectral]

Both the Firefly 6s and 7s have:

• Image Sensor: Sony IMX078 CMOS
• Chipset: Novatek 96660
• Gyro stabilization

The 7s has a 2" LCD screen on the back.

Anyone have any experience with either of these? Seems like a real competitor with the Gitup Git2.

[spectral]

Firefly 7s

[nutsey]

Search "F88 action cam" at Aliexpress if you want to get this cam cheaper

[spectral]

Good call! That's the generic name of this camera? Who makes it? ...not "hawkeye"?

[petesimon]

which F88 is the firefly 7s ?

i see the full hd one for ~$48 USD https://goo.gl/Klz8cP -- we would want more than 1080p30fps
and i see the 4k one for ~68 USD https://goo.gl/a4LBYx -- even if it's not the real firefly 7s, this would be good if the 1080p mode with gyro ON, and any 2.5k mode both look nice.

will 7s FIREFLY7.BIN firmware http://www.cnfpv.com/en/TECH/155.html work on the F88 from aliexpress ?

also, if you don't care about a LCD live view screen, then check the firefly 6s again these days (May 2017). the price is quite good now, ~$60 USD, probably because 7s is popular and the 8s will soon be released (or already has been).
http://www.gearbest.com/action-cameras/pp_239152.html

[nutsey]

The first one is based on NT96658 and I'm pretty sure its sensor is not Sony IMX078.
The second one looks similar to 7S.

Btw, Zed 2 fw from here: http://www.ac-robin.com/support/
also works for 7S (as well as Zed 1 for 6S).

I like 6S for its battery.

[petesimon]

nutsey - i received my Firefly 7s yesterday. and flashed the AC Robin Zed 2 firmware.
it seems to be working but haven't tested everything yet.


photo link - https://imgur.com/DOMR6z2

firmware download link - https://www.dropbox.com/s/mqozti7x6k...-v1.1.zip?dl=0

sometime later... i will write a nice review in the main 7s thread

[spectral]

nutsey any thoughts on how the firefly/F88 compares to the git2?

There aren't too many videos comparing them. I would think the F88 does better in low light because of the 12MP, but from the videos I have found it looks like git2 does better at night.

[nutsey]

Git2 has better EIS comparing to other Novatek based products. Git2 also has the widest settings selection comparing to others. There is no significant difference between IMX078 and IMX206 when we talk about low-light performance.

[spectral]

Git2 has better EIS comparing to other Novatek based products. Git2 also has the widest settings selection comparing to others. There is no significant difference between IMX078 and IMX206 when we talk about low-light performance.

I've been looking at videos, namely this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMJOzrWflpc

If you fast-forward to around 4:00, you'll see a night time test. The Firefly 7s seems to perform better, I am guessing because of a lower MP (12 on firefly 7s vs. 16 on the git2).

However, you appear very right about the EIS. Fast-forward to 4:20 in the video for image stabilization. The firefly 7s appears very jello-like, I do not like the looks of its EIS. Git2 seems to be the best.

Do you notice in that comparison the colors of the git2 seem more blueish?

The SJ 5000x Elite is probably the worst at night, but the image appears to be the most sharp. Perhaps it could be settings on the git2 that are making it look less sharp in this comparison.

[nutsey]

Let's split it into a numbered list.

1. Yes, the bigger sensor cells in Firefly 7s can capture more light due to their size, but the difference is not that much. I'm pretty sure Git2 would show competitive results with WDR on.

2. EIS is very useful for some cases. Moreover it works when Git2 is in webcam mode - really great for video streaming purposes.

3. All Novatek 650/660 cams tend to have WB shifted to blues. C'mon, Novatek, buy IPS and calibration kits for your engineers!

4. Here I must mention that those SJs and GitUp cams share same lens model. So number 1 above can also be explaned by more details in low light if it has brighter lens.