The SJCam ad for the SJ8 Pro action cam caught my attention immediately with its 8x Zoom feature for which I have a use. Regardless of being a digital zoom, it is still far more useful to me than having no zoom at all. I'm only an amateur at photography and have no need for a camera that can spot a gnat in an apple orchard a mile away, nor do I have the expensive software that would enlarge that picture to bigger than life. So I make do with what is readily available, and the SJ8 Pro is the only small action cam I know of with zoom. Funny that out of the half-dozen Youtube video reviews I have watched, only one even mentioned the cam's ability to zoom. In fact it was that zoom feature I wanted most because even though zoom is a mainstay for the vlog cameras, it is not common to the smaller wearable action cams that are usually focused locally on an athlete's performance. In some cases it is useful however, so now I finally have zoom mounted and available for when I have a use for it!
I have to wonder about the simplicity of this SJ8, if that is typical for SJCams. It seems a few shortcuts were taken in comparison with other cameras that also appeared rather suddenly, but were still accepted. The SJ8 is a wonderful little camera and learning how to use all its features may require some intuitive insight by the operator, but I still prefer having a user guide to glance through for info on things like charging the battery and viewing recorded videos on a PC. When charging there will be a tiny red LED on the left side of the screen and when that LED goes out, the battery is fully charged. Try and find something that tells you that and you won't find it anywhere. There is no documentation included in the package except for the little booklet that points out all the camera's controls in several languages. How to use your new camera is entirely up to you to discover, but there are some reviews and SJCam provides a web page that may be your best source for info on the SJ8.
Most would consider the zoom feature as an added attraction over the SJ8 Pro's 4k 60FPS resolution. However, if that is all it had to boast about, then I would probably select a Yi 4K+ instead because even the photos are limited to 12M. But the added ability to zoom in and out while wearing the cam nestled in a gimbal and mounted to my chest harness makes this camera well worth considering. Zoom operates with a swipe across the + and - magnifier icons on the screen. Using the zoom feature requires a stationary base or a gimbal to prevent the zoomed focus from bouncing all over the place. There are excellent point & shoot cameras that sell for less than this SJ8, but they are larger and more complicated (or sophisticated) and so far I haven't been able to locate a wearable gimbal that can adequately control the heavier cameras. The Zhiyun Crane M works perfectly but cannot be mounted to a chest harness. The SJ8's small action cam size fits anywhere a GoPro can fit into, so in addition to having virtually a multitude of gimbals available that work with this cam, consider also that its settings can be readily fine tuned using the touch screen on the rear. There are two sets of settings and it all works so perfectly, so the camera is proving to be well worth every penny.
The audio is adjustable and can even be turned off completely. Turn the external mic setting on but do not turn the gimbal control on in the settings because it then expects the gimbal to operate audio and cancels out the camera's mic on setting. The audio in my SJ8 is not exactly great because when the cam is mounted on my chest harness and the audio volume slide is set about 50% it doesn't pick up my voice. At 70% the audio works fine. Going above 75% voice at close range is distorted. Distortion from wind is not as bad as on some other cams. I have found there will be some additional protection from wind noise on most action cams when the cam is fastened to a chest mount (except for a Yi). But I expect to eliminate all the distortion eventually with some sound dampening material because this camera is likely to get a lot of service.
Add a debit or credit card to save time when you check out
Convenient and secure with 2 clicks. Add your card
Customers also viewed these products
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
Climate Pledge FriendlyProducts with trusted sustainability certification(s). Learn morePRODUCT CERTIFICATION (1)
Carbonfree Certified determine the carbon footprint of the product, and associated carbon emissions are offset with reduction projects.
Climate Pledge FriendlyProducts with trusted sustainability certification(s). Learn morePRODUCT CERTIFICATION (1)
Carbonfree Certified determine the carbon footprint of the product, and associated carbon emissions are offset with reduction projects.
Reviews with images
This is the best action camera SJCAM has ever produced ! Watch out GoPro
Being a long time SJCAM user from the M10, SJ4000 all the way up to the SJ7 STAR I have always been happy with each camera, but, this SJ8 PRO is the most advanced sjcam camera to date and performs just as good as my Hero 6 black for a fraction of the cost. The user interface is easy to navigate, the touchscreen is very responsive, the image quality in all resolutions is great but lets talk about it's 6 axis stabilization that even works at 4K@30 which in my opinion is FANTASTIC ! The camera comes with 2 microphones so you get a nice stereo audio signal but beware, you only need to have the microphones set to about 80% for crystal clear audio. To top it all off, it will even do 4K@60fps at 100Mbps recording !I would recommend this camera to anyone looking to get GoPro like quality without paying the cost.Bravo SJCAM, you knocked it out of the park with this camera !
Top reviews from other countries
Roland Frisch
Trotz exFat-Formatierung keine Videos über 4GB Dateigröße
Reviewed in Germany on August 24, 2020
Ashish nayan
Best for 4K not for 1080p.
Reviewed in India on June 9, 2020
Ashish nayan
Reviewed in India on June 9, 2020
If you are a moto vlogger and record in 4k 30fps then go for it blindly coz it has the best stabilization at this range. The stabilization of this cam never disappoints you. the video you record is sharper image quality. the camera software is best at 4k recording with a high bitrate.
If you don't have a heavy system to edit in 4k then don't buy. You can go for an Sj6 legend. Sj6 has better quality at 1080p 60fps.
But you want to record in 1080p 60fps then don't go for it coz it disappoints you a lot even I got disappointed after watching 1080p video. Stabilization work good but the quality of the video does not look like 1080p it's like you are recording at 360p or 480p. At 1080p 60fps the bit rate is to low and this is the basic reason to spoil your mood.
Slow-motion works well. It has a good battery backup of 1h13min at 4k 30fps.
Images in this review
