14 DAY TRIAL // Life-logging has really taken off with the advent of the little GoPro cameras which you can snap onto basically anywhere. Now you can even mount a couple on your dog – that's how popular they are.
Well, Ricoh Imaging (the company behind Pentax cameras) is taking a shot at the market dominated by GoPro cameras with the palm-sized WG-M1 action shooter.
A GoPro clone with a rugged exterior
The devices are quite rugged, so they will be able to survive harsh conditions of weather, like being in cold environments or underwater, so if you have a sweet tooth for photographing Artic wildlife or marine specimens, the Ricoh WG-M1 might be exactly what you need.
It’s so resistant it can sustain being immersed in up to 10-meter/33-foot-deep liquid; it’s also shock-resistant so it should survive a drop of up to 2 meters / 6.5 ft, and is immune to temperatures as low as minus 10 degrees Celsius / 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
What can you do with it?
The camera arrives with a 14-megapixel sensor and works alongside a wide-angle, 160-degree, F2.8 lens in order to capture full HD 1080p video or photographs. The little WG-M1 is quite speedy, as it can snap up to 10 images per second.
The mini shooter further takes advantage of a 1.5-inch color LCD monitor and Wi-Fi, so you can sync it with your smartphones or tablets. Install the dedicated app and you can turn your mobile device into a remote, so you can take photos from a distance too.
We mentioned wild-life photography above, and here’s another reason why the tiny WG-M1 would be perfect for it: it embeds a motion-detection feat which turns video recording on, once motion is detected in the field of view.
The small addition is the first one in Ricoh portfolio of WG sports cameras to come equipped with Wi-Fi. Anyway, we kept saying that the camera is quite little and here are the numbers to prove it, the snapper weighs just 190 g / 0.28 lbs and can easily fit in your palm.
The WG-M1 relies on a lithium-ion battery that will enable users to shoot 150 minutes of video or snap up to 350 of images on a single charge. As for storing your work, the device takes advantage of 100MB of built-in memory, but if you want more, there’s a microSD and microSDHC memory cards.
The WG-M1 is available in both orange or black and is offered with a flat adhesive mount but can play nice with a variety of other mounts for attaching to helmets or even to your wrist.
Watch out for it starting this October (in the US) coming with a $299.95 / €232 price tag.
