Brian Snell
Registered
My Hero3 crapped out on me in Curacao last year (2016), and I spent many months sitting on the fence between getting the Hero4 Silver vs. the Hero5 Black. I found the Yi 4K and thought “bingo, best of both worlds at half the price”. Just got back from Grand Bahamas, and my thought now is “NOT SO MUCH”.
Here’s the conversation so far with Yi Technology (I inverted the conversation so it reads top to bottom)…
To: Yi Technical Support
From: Waterdogdiving
Date: May 30, 14:24 PDT
Using the Yi 4K with a Lingle Underwater Housing and Lingle Red Filter... at various depths between 40 and 120 feet... and the White Balance set on Auto... all the video shot was extremely red. Without the red filter, all video shot was missing color (differing shades of blue) as expected. Does the White Balance have to be in one of the other modes for the video to come out good using a red filter? I never had this issue with my GoPro’s. Could the Lingle Red Filter be flawed? I bought the Yi underwater housing initially, but the latch broke the second time I opened it, that’s why I bought the Lingle housing.
____________________________________________________________________________________
From: Yi Technical Support
Date: May 31, 00:28 PDT
Hi Water,
Thanks for contacting us. Can you please send us some video samples showing the problem so we can have a further check?
Regards,
YI Technical Support
____________________________________________________________________________________
From: Waterdogdiving
Date: May 31, 05:30 PDT
Yes. Please see attached.
____________________________________________________________________________________
From: Yi Technical Support
Date: Jun 1, 02:54 PDT
Hi water,
Thanks for your feedback. Yes, we have reviewed the video and found out that the video affection filmed in the water is not good so we suggest filming the videos with the filters removed. And we also let you know that, for using effect in the water we still need to spend more efforts and time working on it.
Regards,
YI Technical Support
_____________________________________________________________________________________
From: Waterdogdiving
Date: Jun 1, 07:19 PDT
Thank you for getting back to me. It is disappointing that your camera can not compete with the GoPro Hero 5 at this time. I am going on another SCUBA Diving trip in August. Will the underwater issues be corrected before then? Will the correction be software only, or will it require new hardware?
_____________________________________________________________________________________
From: Yi Technical Support
Date: Jun 2, 01:13 PDT
Hi water,
Thanks for your feedback. Yes, we have reviewed the video and found out that the video effection filmed in the water is not good so we suggest filming the videos with the filters removed. And we also let you know that, for using in the water we still needs efforts to optimize in the future.
Regards,
Yi Technical Support
_____________________________________________________________________________________
From: Waterdogdiving
Date: Jun 2, 07:55 PDT
I have comments and questions surrounding your response. “Yes, we have reviewed the video and found out that the video effection filmed in the water is not good so we suggest filming the videos with the filters removed.” At approximately 5 meters of depth, the loss of “red spectrum” light is noticeable, and the deeper you go the more blue everything gets. Your camera can not be corrected for that. So filming videos with filters removed is sub-standard and not worth doing. “And we also let you know that, for using in the water we still needs efforts to optimize in the future.” I asked if the underwater issues would be corrected before August… and I also asked if the correction will be software only, or will it require new hardware. You failed to answer either of those questions.
Here’s the conversation so far with Yi Technology (I inverted the conversation so it reads top to bottom)…
To: Yi Technical Support
From: Waterdogdiving
Date: May 30, 14:24 PDT
Using the Yi 4K with a Lingle Underwater Housing and Lingle Red Filter... at various depths between 40 and 120 feet... and the White Balance set on Auto... all the video shot was extremely red. Without the red filter, all video shot was missing color (differing shades of blue) as expected. Does the White Balance have to be in one of the other modes for the video to come out good using a red filter? I never had this issue with my GoPro’s. Could the Lingle Red Filter be flawed? I bought the Yi underwater housing initially, but the latch broke the second time I opened it, that’s why I bought the Lingle housing.
____________________________________________________________________________________
From: Yi Technical Support
Date: May 31, 00:28 PDT
Hi Water,
Thanks for contacting us. Can you please send us some video samples showing the problem so we can have a further check?
Regards,
YI Technical Support
____________________________________________________________________________________
From: Waterdogdiving
Date: May 31, 05:30 PDT
Yes. Please see attached.
____________________________________________________________________________________
From: Yi Technical Support
Date: Jun 1, 02:54 PDT
Hi water,
Thanks for your feedback. Yes, we have reviewed the video and found out that the video affection filmed in the water is not good so we suggest filming the videos with the filters removed. And we also let you know that, for using effect in the water we still need to spend more efforts and time working on it.
Regards,
YI Technical Support
_____________________________________________________________________________________
From: Waterdogdiving
Date: Jun 1, 07:19 PDT
Thank you for getting back to me. It is disappointing that your camera can not compete with the GoPro Hero 5 at this time. I am going on another SCUBA Diving trip in August. Will the underwater issues be corrected before then? Will the correction be software only, or will it require new hardware?
_____________________________________________________________________________________
From: Yi Technical Support
Date: Jun 2, 01:13 PDT
Hi water,
Thanks for your feedback. Yes, we have reviewed the video and found out that the video effection filmed in the water is not good so we suggest filming the videos with the filters removed. And we also let you know that, for using in the water we still needs efforts to optimize in the future.
Regards,
Yi Technical Support
_____________________________________________________________________________________
From: Waterdogdiving
Date: Jun 2, 07:55 PDT
I have comments and questions surrounding your response. “Yes, we have reviewed the video and found out that the video effection filmed in the water is not good so we suggest filming the videos with the filters removed.” At approximately 5 meters of depth, the loss of “red spectrum” light is noticeable, and the deeper you go the more blue everything gets. Your camera can not be corrected for that. So filming videos with filters removed is sub-standard and not worth doing. “And we also let you know that, for using in the water we still needs efforts to optimize in the future.” I asked if the underwater issues would be corrected before August… and I also asked if the correction will be software only, or will it require new hardware. You failed to answer either of those questions.
