Anti-crisis Leica

Every review of a camera on a GT is sooner or later accompanied by a comment in the spirit of “well, when will the craftsmen from China make some kind of SLR three times cheaper to shake the monopolists?” Well, the case has not reached the SLR yet, but the mirrorless camera from the heavenly is not so long ago become a reality. The times of three SIM cards, TV and microwave embedded in the phone have passed, Xiaomi makes flagships competing in quality with A-brands, LeECO creates electric cars, and Yi Image has attacked the holy of holy saints - the famous GoPro. And now I decided to consolidate success by releasing what many have long dreamed of.

Inside, everything is grown-up: the matrix from Sony, powerful strapping for fast operation, smart software, a pleasant interface, and all this is packaged in a lightweight aluminum case. Oh yes. The camera ALREADY has a huge fleet of lenses.

Nothing extra

Modern mirrorless trying to sit on two chairs. Somewhere the manufacturers tried to make a “soap box that shoots like a SLR”, somewhere to do the opposite, shove the SLR into the case of a compact camera. In either case, ergonomics suffers.

The display, even if it is a touchscreen, is often inconvenient: UI elements give out giblets old software from non-touchscreens, to which they have attached touchscreen work on their knees, and a scattering of smaller buttons for the sake of compactness and joysticks do not add convenience.


Yi M1 Designed from scratch and does not contain hereditary contradictions. The minimalistic design, only reminiscent of classic cameras, is complemented by a three-inch touchscreen display and large, comfortable control buttons. Interaction with the camera, its configuration and setting of shooting parameters is carried out through a neat and clear interface. It will be convenient for both beginners and advanced photographers, and in which case the manufacturer can always release a patch and improve usability: with a physical button, this trick will not work.
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The camera turned out to be very compact, simple and light (the weight is only 281 grams without a lens, but with a standard battery that provides 400-450 frames on one charge).

Micro Four Thirds

One of the main features of the camera is that it came out in compliance with Micro 4: 3 format standards. Four to three is not the size of the matrix, but the aspect ratio. Crop factor in 4/3 and Micro 4/3 is the same, 2.0, the matrix size is 18x13.5 mm, the working area is slightly smaller. The standard inherited from the older brother one of the strongest advantages: full compatibility of cameras, lenses and other accessories from different manufacturers.


This means that you have at your disposal a rich fleet of compatible optics: more than 30 zoom lenses from Olympus and Panasonic, as well as more than 50 fixed-focus glasses from Olympus, Panasonic, Sigma, Tokina, Kowa, Mitakon, SLR Magic, Voigtländer, Samyang and Schneider Kreuznach. In addition, a short working segment allows you to use almost any lens from full-size cameras with the appropriate adapter.

One of the best matrices on the market

The heart of a mirrorless camera is a BSI-sensor Sony Eximor IMX269 with 20 effective megapixels. With this resolution and compliance with Micro FourThirds standards, simple arithmetic calculations give us a pixel size of 3.3 microns. Just for comparison: the pixel size of an average mobile sensor is around 1.1-1.2 micrometers, and for amateur Canon-70D cameras it is about 4 microns. The sensor has excellent dynamic range and high photosensitivity, which allows you to work with the most accurate, contrasting autofocus in conditions up to -4 EV.



The maximum resolution of images is 5184 x 3888 pixels, work with sRGB and AdobeRGB extended color space is supported, the ISO range is from 100 to 25,600 units.

Open RAW standard and 4k video recording

IMX269 belongs to the latest generation of sensors and supports saving data in Adobe RAW DNG format. The advantages of this particular source data format include good documentation and openness of the standard itself: you do not need a special converter or an additional package of drivers or plug-ins for image processing. DNG is supported by mobile devices, Windows, Linux and macOS-based computers and provides plenty of room for creativity in the post-processing of images.



A nice bonus to the excellent quality of photos will be recording video in 4k @ 30 fps format. You simply will not find a camera on the market that can shoot 4k for comparable money: even top-end mirror-known manufacturers for $ 1,000 are sometimes deprived of the opportunity to “not take away the bread” from professional models.

Two lenses included

Entry-level SLR camera manufacturers often complete them with a simple and nondescript lens. The Yi M1 comes with two lenses at once : a normal zoom with a focal length of 12-40 mm and an aperture of F3.5-5.6 and a high-aperture fixed-focal “trater” with a FR of 42.5 mm with an aperture of F1.8.



The first lens is perfect for shooting landscapes, architecture, group photographs and still lifes, and the second - for artistic photography and subject macro.




The camera supports manual focus with backlighting in contrasting zones: even a child will be able to focus on this mode.

Smart software

Comfortable synchronization with mobile devices via Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi Direct allows you to conveniently shoot from a tripod or from inconvenient angles without touching the camera, and the open standard DNG RAW files can even edit average Android smartphones: just install the Snapseed application. Send a photo from mirrorless to Instagram is now easier than ever.



Especially for beginners and those who only comprehend a photo, there are special shooting modes that simplify camera setup: issuing composition tips and taking some of the settings on themselves.

Most Popular Connectors

Photos and videos are saved on SD cards up to USH-3 grade. No more buffer overflow and waiting until a series of frames overwrites the media. The camera connects to the computer via standard micro USB. The choice is good, especially considering that the USB Type-B Mini is becoming increasingly rare, and for several years, as a standard Data cable and charging port on the most popular smartphones on the planet, Micro USB is available everywhere and always. For direct viewing of images from the camera on a large screen or projector, a connection is available via MicroHDMI.

The best of the world of photography and modern technology

Take the design from the best German cameras, do not hesitate to add full touch control (rather than flirting with him, as classic players on the market did), calculate and make your own optics, use the most modern standards in the photo industry ...



It seems that the photographic industry will soon have to reconsider its approach to consumer models and their capabilities. Excellent photo and video quality, convenient control, smart mode, designed for beginners ... Way to the young and audacious!

Black Friday - for girls and wimps

These men are purchased in Chinese Bachelor's Day - November 11th. All the most delicious activities are collected on a separate page with cute gifs, and details can be found in our recent post . Take care of your wallets and click quickly!