The star of the compact action video camera market is undoubtedly GoPro and its Hero range, but competition is hotting up and Drift Innovation wants a piece of the action with its new HD Ghost, which offers a built-in display, remote control and rotating lens.
The HD Ghost is noticeably bigger and bulkier than the latest devices from GoPro, but it’s also taken a slightly different approach to its interface and that may suit some punters better.
The most glaring difference between the HD Ghost and GoPro’s offerings is Drift’s decision to include a 2-inch colour LCD display in the device itself. The latest GoPros, meanwhile, rely on Wi-Fi to allow users to connect to a mobile phone or tablet for preview purposes.
However, even with a built-in display, the HD Ghost includes Wi-Fi so that it can connect to a remote control and to mobile devices. You can’t use Wi-Fi to transfer content from the device, but you can use a phone to adjust the settings and preview content. At present, only the iPhone and iPad are supported, but support for Android is expected to follow in coming months.
One of the best things about the HD Ghost is just how easy it is to use. Once it’s charged, making a first video is as easy as holding down the power button to turn it on, and then tapping it again to start recording.
An LED light on the front provides visual confirmation that it’s recording, as do a pair of LEDs on the supplied wireless remote controller.
The remote is designed so that it can easily be attached to strap, and there’s even a wrist strap included in the package. It’s a practical and incredibly useful accessory.
The remote has two buttons, both of which are large rectangles that are easy to press with gloves on. Given the target market of outdoor enthusiasts, this makes a lot of sense.
The remote can be used to switch between shooting modes — video, stills, burst shooting and time lapse — and for starting and stopping recording. Also, like the HD Ghost camera, the remote is waterproof.
Those who want to go deep-sea diving will need to purchase the optional waterproof housing, but the camera is waterproof up to three metres out of the box, making it well suited to rainy conditions or watersport.
At its maximum settings, the HD Ghost can record video in either 1080p at 30fps, or 720p at 60fps. That’s by no means market leading, and those wanting to create slow motion effects will miss the ability to shoot at full resolution and 60fps, but the HD Ghost nevertheless offers crisp, detailed recordings that will more than do for hobbyists.
Video is captured in either the .mp4 or .mov formats, with the former offering higher compression and thus smaller files. Stills can be captured at 11-, 8- or 5-megapixels. It’s also possible to set the field of view of the lens from a super-wide 170 degrees to 127 degrees or 90 degrees for less fish-eyed perspectives. In addition, the camera can capture time lapses with predefined intervals between still frames.
Another thoughtful design decision is that the lens rotates, making it easy to align the field of view, even when the camera is positioned at an unusual angle.
The lens includes seven elements and shows excellent resistance to flare, even in bright sunlight. Detail from daylight filming is superb (see video), but low-light shooting suffers from a huge amount of noise, no doubt on account of how small the camera’s sensor is. If you’re looking to record nocturnal escapades, this isn’t the camera for you, but then no compact camera is.
On top of the HD Ghost are four buttons: menu, back, forward and select/record/power. The user interface is extremely intuitive and adds to the impression that, while it may be heavier than many of its rivals, the HD Ghost is almost certainly the easiest to use.
Perhaps the best feature on the HD Ghost is its “Flashback” mode. Users can set the camera to record video in loops from 10 seconds up to five minutes. If something interesting happens during that time, a single button press on the remote control will store the last loop.
One of the most common complaints about compact video cameras is battery life, but here the HD Ghost’s 1 700mAh battery performs surprisingly well, offering more than three hours of recording time at full resolution. For those who need even longer than that, there’s always the option of buying a spare battery because opening the rear cover of the camera to access the battery and microSD memory card is a quick and simple procedure.
The largest card we had to hand was a 64GB microSD and, even at full resolution, that was enough for more hours of footage than the battery could handle.
Like most compact cameras, the HD Ghost has a built-in microphone and we found the sound it captured perfectly useable. However, wind noise was a problem, but we suspect that has more to do with how the camera is likely to be used than the design of the microphone. Those looking to use an external microphone will be pleased to know that there’s an audio jack for just that purpose.
Aside from the price — at R4 650 the HD Ghost is pricier than both Sony’s Action Cam and GoPro’s latest devices — the obvious complaints about it are its weight and the universal clip that’s used to mount it to different attachments. Also, its inability to shoot 60fps at 1080p means there are other options on the market that offer superior video quality.
The HD Ghost is considerably larger and heavier than a GoPro, weighing in at almost 200g, but it does offer increased ruggedness and is waterproof at the outset. Depending on your intended use this may be a benefit or a burden.
A 720p video shoot done using the HD Ghost (via YouTube):
Drift supplies a small selection of adhesive mounts with the HD Ghost, but we’d like a mount bundled for attaching it to handlebars or poles. The universal clip that screws into the bottom of the camera and then attaches to the mounts doesn’t feel like it’s designed to handle the sort of abuse action cameras often encounter.
Nevertheless, the HD Ghost is one of the most intuitive compact video cameras we’ve seen and the fact that so many useful accessories are included goes a long way to mitigating the higher price tag. — (c) 2013 NewsCentral Media
