Is the Yi M1 Worth Getting With Firmware 3.1
When YI sent us their new
M1 mirrorless camera
concluding year, we had high hopes. On paper, the hardware and spec looked very impressive. Once we got it into our hands, though, we were a trivial disappointed. It felt a scrap hitting and miss. In fairness, for stills photography, it wasn’t really that bad, equally long as you were shooting in bright conditions. Even there, though, it lacked a piddling something.
Where it mostly seemed to fall flat were in the video and timelapse departments. The biggest issue existence that at that place was no manual exposure control for either of these modes. Well, thanks to a new 3.0 firmware released a few days ago, the majority of the bug faced by the
YI M1
seem to have been cleared up.
The official patch notes for the new firmware list a host of features M1 users have been asking for.
- Added exposure control in the manner P/A/S/G for video capture
- Added AF/MF control for video capture
- Added RAW+JPG format for nevertheless capture
- Added still image pick in Time Lapse
- Added the option to shoot ane-3 images when using the self-timer function with an initial 2 or 10 second timer
- Added a histogram in live view manner for both still and video capture
- Added new focus viewing modes with improved epitome quality including 6x, 8x and 10x mafnification in manual focus mode
- Added 2 ways to bear witness the metering mode in the UI
- Added the user guide (restoring factory settings to view)
- Added multiple option of images for deletion
- Added 2 new options for the display grid
- Car Exposure algorithm optimisation
- Master Guide template brandish logic optimised
- Improved Autofocus Speed
- Fixed some known bugs and improved overall stability of the camera
- Changed the thumbnails in each screen from 9 to 12 images
Those first iv are some of the big deals that put users off buying the M1 when information technology was first launched a little over a year ago. Specially the i right at the height of the list.
A lack of manual exposure command in video style was a huge oversight and a dealbreaker for most. As I said dorsum then, though, YI are quite good with their firmware updates, and now they’ve come through. Manual exposure control is now available for both timelapse and video.
Not having existent control over the focus for video wasn’t too big of a deal, because you lot could e’er use a lens for another organisation with an adapter. I oft utilize Nikon lenses and an adapter with Micro Iv Thirds cameras, giving me full manual aperture and focus control.
RAW+JPG is huge for those wishing to shoot raw, simply notwithstanding post up sneak peeks to social media while still out on a shoot. Y’all can too convert RAW files to JPG now inside the camera, but this was non e’er so, and the mobile app didn’t support RAW files. So, if you wanted to upload to social media in the field, you were forced to shoot JPG simply.
The still prototype option for timelapse is also a big deal for whatever serious timelapse shooter. Especially every bit it now offers full transmission control likewise. This means we can use it to grab the best possible quality of timelapse, then process and get together on the computer one time dwelling house, with total RAW capability.
A picayune farther downward the list, which is also huge for video people, specially, we encounter mention of the live histogram. At that place’s two different “live view” modes. Ane is for stills and shows the unabridged frame. The other is for video, and shows the cut downward 16:9 crop when shooting 4K video. Both of these testify the live histogram. The LCD likewise accurately reflects the exposure when changing settings shooting video.
The autofocus speed for stills shooters has likewise been improved somewhat. In our quick initial tests, even the 12-40mm f/three.5-five.6 lens seemed to lock on quite quickly, even in fairly dim light.
All in all, information technology’s a much needed update from YI. And this could breath some much needed new life into this little camera. As well equally the update, the cost has dropped considerably. At launch, the YI M1 and 2 lens kit was effectually $699. Towards the end of the year, that had been revised downward to $549. Now, though, yous can pick up the
YI M1 2 lens kit, including both the 42.5mm f/1.8 and 12-40mm f/three.5-5.6 lenses together for only $379. For what information technology now offers, this is a great deal.
For existing YI M1 owners, you can download the new v3.0-int firmware on the
YI Engineering website.
The firmware on our YI M1 has at present been updated and we’ve had a niggling bit of a play. It really feels similar a whole new camera in many respects. So, keep an eye out for an updated review in the near future.
