Which is the best action camera for low light?

If you're into action cameras or thinking about getting one, you're probably aware that filming in low light can be tough. But with the right know-how and adjustments, you can still get some great footage.

Luckily, today's action cameras are getting better and better at handling low-light situations. They come equipped with better image sensors, wider ISO ranges, and smart noise reduction tech. These upgrades mean that even when there's not much light to work with, your action cam can still churn out high-quality footage, even without extra lighting.

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What is low light?

When you're taking pictures or shooting videos, low-light situations happen when there's not enough light around. This doesn't just mean nighttime; it could be on cloudy days, inside buildings, during dusk or dawn, or even underwater.

Working in low light with your action camera comes with its own set of challenges. In places where light is scarce, your footage might end up looking too dark, grainy, or lacking detail. If the light isn't even, you might lose details in the shadows or highlights.

To deal with low-light conditions, you'll need to tweak your camera settings and how you shoot. You can make your camera more sensitive to light by turning up the ISO, but that might add unwanted graininess. Slowing down the shutter speed can help, but it might make things blurry, especially if there's movement. And capturing fast-moving subjects becomes tougher when it's hard to see clearly in low light.

Settings that affect low-light shooting

In low light, adjusting your action camera's settings can make a big difference in your footage:

  1. ISO sensitivity: ISO helps cameras see better in the dark. When it's really dim, boosting the ISO can make everything brighter in your footage. But, too much ISO can bring in some fuzzy spots called digital noise, which isn't great. Many modern action cameras let you adjust the ISO, so you can find the right balance between brightness and clarity.
  2. Shutter speed: Shutter speed determines how long the camera's shutter remains open to capture light. Longer exposures gather more light but may cause blur in fast action scenes.
  3. Stabilization: Action cameras often include built-in stabilization technology such as electronic image stabilization (EIS). This feature reduces shake, especially in low light, making your footage look smoother and clearer, which makes watching it even more fun!
  4. Field of View (FOV): Wide-angle lenses are great for capturing action and expansive scenes but they tend to let in less light compared to narrower lenses. Adjusting de FOV or use accessories that helps reduce the potential decrease in light.
  5. Aperture: The diameter of the camera lens regulates the quantity of light that reaches the image sensor. In most cases, action cameras are equipped with non-adjustable apertures, meaning they cannot be manually changed.
  6. Noise reduction: Action cameras use special tricks to make low-light videos look less grainy. But sometimes, these tricks can make the picture look too smooth or lose some cool details
  7. External lighting: When it's really dark and hard to see, adding extra lights can make a big difference in how your videos turn out. Action cameras usually have extra accessories like LED lights or special mounts to attach more lights. These extra lights can brighten up the scene, make everything clearer, and help your footage look way better overall.

Best action camera settings for low-light scenarios

There are 2 action cameras that are advance for low-light these are:

  • DJI’s latest Osmo Action 4 camera comes with a 1/1.3″ image sensor and a 2.4μm pixel size (the bigger the pixel size, the more lights come in).
  • Insta360 AcePro's image sensor is the same size as DJI's Osmo Action 4 camera. In general, a larger sensor is one way to get better image quality. Although the DJI Action 4 has the same size sensor, its video resolution tops out at 4K, while the Ace Pro goes up to 8K (7,680x3,272 pixels) at 24 frames per second. Although, I don’t think this should be the main factor to decide one or the other camera.

Summary

It’s important to say that while action cameras can capture cool footage in low light, they might not be as good as professional cameras or setups made just for that.

But with some practice, playing around with settings, and adjusting to the lighting, you can still grab some epic moments, even when it's dark out!

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