Drift Ghost HD Action Camera - Black

Product Information

The innovative rotating 360º lens and slim line form of the Drift Ghost XL Pro make this action camera stand out in a competitive market. Before joining the consumer electronics team at PCMag, Eugene worked at local news station NY1 doing everything from camera work to writing scripts. He grew up in Montclair, New Jersey and graduated from the University of Virginia in 2010. Outside of work Eugene enjoys TV, loud music, and making generally healthy and responsible life choices.

Drift Innovation Accessories – Drift Innovation

After 29 minutes of video recording, the Ghost-S will close the file in progress, and automatically open a new one - you won't have to start the recording again manually. This is a result of the file size limitations on MicroSD cards. A uniform 29 minute file duration means that the break in your video will be consistent and predictable, rather than changing each time you alter your settings. It is not possible to change the maximum video duration. The Ghost-S requires a Class 10/UHS -1 memory card, up to 64GB in capacity. We recommend the Sandisk Ultra brand as these are known to be very reliable memory cards. Samsung and UHS-3 versions of memory cards do sometimes cause issues and should be avoided.Still image quality is on par with the Hero3, which is to say good, but not great. The HD Ghost shoots images at 11-, 8-, or 5-megapixels. You're still dealing with a good deal of distortion introduced by the wide angle lens, but images look sharp and colors really pop. I noticed the HD Ghost had the tendency to blow-out highlighted areas, but otherwise the images looked crisp and generally noise free. Mounts are always an important factor with any action camera, and here the Drift utilises its style of clip mount. While this isn’t the GoPro three-prong style universally used by many manufacturers in practical use, it offers a far more rigid connection with anything it’s mounted to. In the past, before decent EIS, this mount proved itself for its robust build and reduction in vibration when compared with the GoPro equivalent.

Drift Innovation Ghost XL Action Camera – 1080 Full HD Video Drift Innovation Ghost XL Action Camera – 1080 Full HD Video

The Ghost-S's best and most differentiating feature is Drift's signature lens, which swivels up to 300 degrees by simply twisting the lens itself by hand. With the up-facing arrow to indicate the lens's upright orientation, and as long the camera is pointing in the direction you want to record, it lets you mount the camera at almost any angle while keeping a perfect orientation. By comparison, action cameras without the swiveling lens must be mounted in their upright position if you want to shoot properly oriented footage. While many now offer intelligent horizon levelling, the quality of the video footage cannot match that of the Drift Ghost XL Pro, which can shoot a level horizon natively. A wireless remote is also included with the HD Ghost, and can be worn around your wrist using the included strap. There are two buttons, Record and Stop, and multicolored LEDs that indicate recording state. It's a nice inclusion, as you can confirm recording status without having to look at the camera itself.

Audio quality is fine, but for action videos you're probably going to want to turn the mic off anyway, or you'll be capturing a lot of wind noise. For still subjects, the built-in mic did a decent job, and it offers three levels of sensitivity adjustment. And you can always directly plug in a better external mic, which you can't do with many other cameras. The solution is to remove your battery and open the battery hatch, and store the camera in a warm dry place overnight. This will allow the camera and anti-fog material to dry out properly. Drift action cameras are one of the original manufacturers and are known for an innovative design approach that enables you to capture a level horizon; however, the camera is mounted. If you're taking your first steps in video editing, iMovie (iOS) or Sony MoviEZ (Windows), will be good options. Both are fairly simple to use, don't require you to convert your files, and are either free or very affordable.

Ghost 4K – Drift Innovation

If you're having difficulty powering your Ghost-S on, please carry out the following steps to try to determine the cause of the problem: Regarding the build, the Ghost XL Pro is roughly the same size as the Insta360 ONE RS and GoPro, and when it comes to building quality, it comfortably sits alongside them as a premium action camera option. You also have the advantage over all other action cameras: it doesn’t have to be level, either the right way up or upside down; you twist the lens to get the horizon correct. There are also no in-built story modes or many other fancy features or modules that we have come to expect from GoPro or Insta360; the Drift Ghost XL Pro is just a pure no-fuss action camera. Charge your camera using a mains adapter - some laptop USB ports do not have the required output to charge the Ghost-S battery to its full capacity. You can plug the included USB cable into any USB mains adapter with an output up to 5v/2A.If you can power your camera on whilst connected to this power supply but not when the power supply is removed, there may be a problem with your Ghost-S battery.Dropping the resolution definitely costs you some detail, but the 720p/60 video is still very good. In the end, the results are above average, especially considering the flexibility of the camera and all it can do. Video quality is improved from the Drift HD Ghost, especially when it comes to detail. Everything looks more crisp, and I saw fewer artifacts when using the camera's high-bit-rate setting. Using that setting will eat into the battery life and the files use up more storage, but it's worth using if you plan to view the video at large sizes.