Review: FIREFLY 5S Wi-Fi Sports Action Camera with NT96655 & Sony CMOS sensor-Gearbest.com

Sunny

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 31, 2014
Messages
5,095
Reaction score
1,739
Location
Colorado
Country
United States
Dash Cam
More than I can review. ;)
Thank you @GearBest for providing review sample.
It is available @ Gearbest for $72.99: *********************************
Quick links to review sections:
Daytime Screenshots
Daytime Videos
Night Screenshots
Night Videos
*********************************
Conclusion: will be added after tests
*********************************
Description:
This camera is advertised to use GoPro3 accessories so the body size is same.
It uses NT96655 chip and 12M Sony CMOS sensor.
It has built in Wi-Fi that's great for setting the FOV angle as well as for live view monitoring.
You have to download Firefly app using the bar code in the product manual to use the Wi-Fi feature.
[Note: I downloaded Firefly app from google play store and it didn't work, couldn't connect to camera.
So download using the bar code in the product manual. It takes 1/2 hour to download due to slow host connection but works.]


There are few things that are interesting features in this camera.
Adopting back illuminated Sony CMOS sensor.
FOV can be changed to Large, Medium, Small via menu settings.
.65” OLED screen in the front.
Time-lapse video at .5 or 3 second intervals. (This can create time lapse videos so no need to join time laps pictures).
1600mAh battery.
For more info, please click the link: *********************************
Quick unboxing video:

*********************************
Package contents:
The product box is very small and camera is packed nicely in foam inserts.
It comes with minimal accessories.

Besides camera with lens cap, it only has product manual, mini USB and AV out cables.

However, since it's same size as GoPro 3, there are many accessories available to buy depending upon its use.

DSC03030-Firefly-5S - Copy.jpg

Buttons and features:
201508311117391175.jpg


The small screen is very handy.
Camera has up/down buttons on the side that cycle through settings.
Pressing Up button for few seconds turns Wi-Fi.

201508311117399994.jpg


201508311117361104.jpg

*********************************
Front: .65" OLED screen, Power button and lens with lens cap.
Firefly 5S is front left. Others are SJ7000, Ausdom A261 and Git1.
DSC03033-Ausdom-Firefly-SJ7000-Git1.jpg

Top
: Ok/Shutter button with status LED.
DSC03034-Ausdom-Firefly-SJ7000-Git1.jpg

Bottom: microSD slot.
DSC03035-Ausdom-Firefly-SJ7000-Git1.jpg

Left from back: microUSB and micro HDMI ports.
DSC03036-Ausdom-Firefly-SJ7000-Git1.jpg

Right from back: Up (wi-fi)/down buttons.
DSC03037-Ausdom-Firefly-SJ7000-Git1.jpg

Back: Battery door.
DSC03038-Ausdom-Firefly-SJ7000-Git1.jpg

Side-by-side with Git1 that is exactly same size except the lens housing that's little longer on Git1.
DSC03039-Ausdom-Firefly-SJ7000-Git1.jpg

*********************************
I never had GoPro so this is my first action camera with screen on the front face.
The only trouble with having screen on the front is that I’m using it as a dashcam and it’s really difficult to operate/check the camera as it’s facing the other side.
Blue lights on power and shutter buttons flash when recording so that helps to at least know it’s doing something.

Video samples to follow...
 
Last edited:
Firefly Wi-Fi app:
As mentioned above, I downloaded Firefly app from google play store and it didn't work.
Phone connected to Wi-Fi but the app couldn't connect to camera.
So I downloaded the app using the bar code in the product manual. It takes 1/2 hour to download due to slow host connection but works.
It could be a different version that's on the google play store.

Turn the Wi-Fi on either by pressing up button for 3 seconds or by going to the menu.
The camera screen will display Wi-Fi icon and password.
Open Firefly app and it should display live camera view.

This is the one I downloaded from app store and didn't connect.
It's just to show what the app logo looks like.
Screenshot_2015-10-12-06-56-56.png
Screenshot_2015-10-12-06-58-11.png

Once connected, the app can start/stop recording, view/download files along with various other settings.
Screenshot_2015-10-12-07-43-43.png

The wifi got disconnected several times when I tested it because my phone was trying to get on the internet with this wifi.
I think there is a setting in the phone to disable checking internet connection so need to do that.
 
Last edited:
Firefly 5S Folders and Files:
Root folder has DV folder and it has a sub-folder named MOVIE that has all the video files.
File names are named with date and time so very easy to find particular file.
5 minute file is around 440mb in size or 450mb if calculating at 1k byte instead of 1024.

Firefly 5S Folder and Files-logo.png

Bit rate and file properties: Overall bit rate is only 12.3 mbps and video bit rate is 11.1 mbps which is pretty low.
File properties using mediainfo:
General
Complete name : H:\DV\MOVIE\2015_1012_084256_008A.MOV
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : QuickTime
Codec ID : qt
File size : 440 MiB
Duration : 5mn 1s
Overall bit rate : 12.3 Mbps

Movie name/More : CarDV-TURNKEY
Encoded date : UTC 2015-10-12 08:47:57
Tagged date : UTC 2015-10-12 08:47:57
Origin : NVT-IM

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 1 frame
Format settings, GOP : M=1, N=15
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 5mn 1s
Bit rate : 11.1 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 30.000 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.178
Stream size : 397 MiB (90%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2015-10-12 08:47:57
Tagged date : UTC 2015-10-12 08:47:57

Audio
ID : 2
Format : PCM
Format settings, Endianness : Little
Format settings, Sign : Signed
Codec ID : sowt
Duration : 5mn 1s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 512 Kbps
Channel(s) : 1 channel
Sampling rate : 32.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Stream size : 18.4 MiB (4%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2015-10-12 08:47:57
Tagged date : UTC 2015-10-12 08:47:57
----------------------------------------------------------------
 
Last edited:
Firefly 5S Daytime screenshots:
Video is of decent quality but underexposed.
There is no out of focus area in FOV which is a good thing but video quality could be better with higher video VBR instead of only 11.1 mbps.
Also, it underexposes too much in mixed light conditions like evening drive with sunlight that came out very dark.
I'll test with increased exposure sometimes.
Firefly 5S doesn't have option to flip the video upside down so I had to do that in youtube after uploading.
I think all action cams should have option to rotate video upside down.
Audio is very good.

Few daytime screenshots @ 1920x1080p:
Notice the time stamp in upper left corner. Normally it's on the bottom right corner if it had flip option.
Also sorry about the black left side, it's partially blocked by another dashcam and I had hard time connecting to Wi-Fi to adjust FOV.

2015_1012_083755_007A-fragment.MOV_20151012_234139.437.jpg

2015_1012_084256_008A.MOV_20151012_234439.406.jpg


2015_1012_084256_008A.MOV_20151012_234500.156.jpg

2015_1012_084256_008A.MOV_20151012_234518.484.jpg
2015_1012_175229_020A.MOV_20151013_000157.000.jpg
2015_1012_175730_021A.MOV_20151013_000211.859.jpg

Little bit too dark footage as shown in the screenshots below:
2015_1012_175730_021A.MOV_20151013_000216.312.jpg

The above image should be this bright taken by Ausdom A261:
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/attachments/2015-10-13-06-53-35-mov_20151012_225826-171-jpg.17920/

2015_1012_175730_021A.MOV_20151013_000233.843.jpg


It's much brighter outside than what the video has:
2015_1012_175730_021A.MOV_20151013_000618.968.jpg

2015_1012_175730_021A.MOV_20151013_000550.375.jpg

The above image should be this bright taken by Ausdom A261:
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/attachments/2015-10-13-06-58-35-mov_20151012_225744-515-jpg.17922/

Continued...
 
Last edited:
did you travel to europe just for this review? i mean... a traffic circle? :p
There are two on my way but enough of them already.
Both roundabouts are right next to each other.

That picture is very dark as Firefly underexposes at it's default 0 position.

Here's how it actually looked at the time of video with Ausdom A261:
2015-10-13-06-53-35-mov_20151012_225808-062-jpg.17919
 
Firefly 5S Daytime videos:
Video is in line with G1Wx quality but little underexposed.
Audio is very good.
It doesn't have image rotation setting so the date time stamp is upside down.
I set it to record on power and it won't stop afterwards even with repeated pressing of OK/Shutter button so had to turn power off.
Will test more on that but was little frustrating. (Edit: Found this issue was due to the frame I'm using. The frame was pressing on buttons on the side and it won't respond to anything else. Need to find open frame that doesn't clamp on all sides.)

1. Beautiful Fall Morning and driving alongside mountains:

2. Driving alongside mountains:

3. Sunshine to lighted underground parking garage:

4. Afternoon rush hour traffic:
@ 2:45, one dumb/smart driver is stopped on right only lane to merge back.
I honked and he flipped me even though he was the guilty party.
Audio muted at the end but registrator viewer added some static noise.

5. Afternoon against Sun briefly followed by nice sunshine and fall colors (very dark video compared to what really it is):

Actual brightness should be like this VIDEO from Ausdom A261.

If you'd like to compare these videos against other dashcams, click below:
LUKAS LK-9370 and more LUKAS LK-9370
AUSDOM A261

Will test at night soon...
 
Last edited:
Comparison of Git 1 and firefly 5s please,including still pictures and low light/night.

Has anyone compared the low light performance with Mobius.
 
My videos :)

Just confirms Firefly underexposes too much.
And bad thing is there is no EV setting to change.
 
Firefly 5S night screenshots with high/low beam test:
It captures night objects pretty good where there is headlights or traffic lights.
Roads look pretty natural without too much grain but it's very underexposed so everything looks very dark.
To make it worse, there is no EV setting to increase exposure.
In other words, night video quality is not as good as expected from the hardware specs.

Fragment of 2015_1013_195746_025A.MOV_20151013_232822.750.jpg
Fragment of 2015_1013_195746_025A.MOV_20151013_232826.140.jpg
Fragment of 2015_1013_195746_025A.MOV_20151013_232840.828.jpg
Fragment of 2015_1013_195746_025A.MOV_20151013_232905.437.jpg
Fragment of 2015_1013_213822_026A.MOV_20151013_233346.093.jpg
Fragment of 2015_1013_213822_026A.MOV_20151013_233420.046.jpg
Fragment of 2015_1013_213822_026A.MOV_20151013_233453.546.jpg
Fragment of 2015_1013_213822_026A.MOV_20151013_233500.453.jpg

High beam:
Fragment of 2015_1013_213822_026A.MOV_20151013_233507.453.jpg
Low beam:
Fragment of 2015_1013_213822_026A.MOV_20151013_233510.250.jpg

Night videos to follow...
 
Last edited:
Comparison of Git 1 and firefly 5s please,including still pictures and low light/night.

Has anyone compared the low light performance with Mobius.
Compare the above night screenshots with Git1 here: https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threa...rproof-1080p-action-camera.14334/#post-189260
There are few screenshots at the exact same spots.
No comparison, Git1 is much much better.
Git1 captures a lot more light, everything is brighter.
Git1 has sharp footage compared to Firefly's slightly fuzzy footage, specially if you check the street lights flowering up with a fuzzy halo around them.
 
Firefly 5S night videos with high/low beam test:
I switched headlights to high/low back and forth in residential areas to see the difference.
From residential area to traffic intersections.
Audio replaced.


Night videos have good color but footage is very dark and there is no option to adjust EV.

If you'd like to compare these same night videos against other dashcams, click below:
Ausdom A261
LUKAS LK-9370WD
SJ7000
 
Last edited:
Firefly 5S Photo Mode at 8M:

2015_1018_152846_008-edited.jpg
2015_1018_152413_001-resized.jpg
2015_1018_152420_002-resized.jpg
2015_1018_152859_011-edited.jpg

Git1-Sj7000-Firefly-Photo-1.jpg

Git1-Sj7000-Firefly-Photo-2.jpg

Large FOV:
2015_1018_152846_008-resized.jpg

Medium FOV:
2015_1018_164639_001-resized-M-Fov.jpg

Small FOV:
2015_1018_164701_003-resized.jpg

100% crop comparison at medium and small FOV:
Git1-Sj7000-Firefly-fov-m-s-Photo-3.jpg
 
Last edited:
Firefly 5S video on board Syma X8C quadcopter:


X8C struggled to carry it even without any gimbal nor waterproof housing. :(
 
Back
Top