Review: Hawkeye Firefly Q6 4K camera

[kross1]

The Hawkeye Firefly Q6 is a high definition camera which I love, and hate. Mostly LOVE!

Summary from an online vendor:

"Hawkeye Firefly Q6 is a 4K action camera with 120° FOV. Hawkeye Firefly Q6 is equipped with a Novatek 96660 chipset, and a Sony IMX078 image sensor that can capture still images up to 16MP. Hawkeye Firefly Q6 also offers multiple video resolutions at 4K (24fps), 2.5K (30fps), 1080p (60, 30fps), 720p (120fps). Hawkeye Firefly Q6 is built in an 800mAh battery lasting for about 60 mins of video recording at 4K (24fps), the 0.7-inch OLED screen ensures easier operation.”

Let’s deal with the “hate” part first, to get it out of the way. The built-in battery is insufficient in capacity due to the current draw of the camera. While the specs. claim the battery should last for 1 hour, mine will be dead within 15-25 minutes, it often doesn’t make it thru 1 single flight. The camera draws 0.25A when powered on, 0.35A when recording videos.

Fortunately the camera comes with a mini-USB adapter which can be connected to your flight battery which resolves the problem. The quality of the videos makes it well worth the draw off of the flight battery, believe me. The camera can be configured to automatically record when powered by the mini-USB adapter, which is a great idea if used as a dash-camera in your car, and possibly for FPV. Additionally, the camera can be started and stopped via R/C control over the USB-port.

The camera comes in either yellow, white, or black, with 4 bright/blinking LED’s at the corners indicating power on and recording. Yellow seems the obvious choice for R/C purposes as it shows up well in the grass.

Now for the LOVE part of the review!
Look over the table below of resolutions and frames-per-second. This camera is at the upper end of frames-per-second and resolutions. The camera is LOADED with features, one of my favorites being the gyro stabilization of the image which greatly stabilizes the video.

See my

3-Cam Comparison (8 min 29 sec)

comparing the FireFly Q6 to the Mobius ActionCam and the Runcam HD.



*NOTE*: There are other/newer versions of the RunCam and the Mobius, as well as other brands of cameras. This table reflects the attributes for the cameras I used in my test.


The camera has a small 0.7” OLED display for configuring the camera. It is easily seen when inside, in the bright sun you’ll need a bit of shade. The menu system is quite easy once you get used to it. Since it is a small 0.7” display you need good vision on some of the screens, or reading glasses.

The camera does NOT include a mount/holster, but self-adhesive Velcro on the bottom works very well for me.

My camera came with the 2.1 firmware, however I downloaded and tested with their newer 2.2 firmware. Update: even newer 2.3 firmware available, but not used in my testing.

Like some of the competition the lens protrudes more than anything else, so some care should be taken in mounting the camera to try to protect it in the event of a crash.

The specs. state the camera supports 8-64GB micro-SD memory card (not included), however I tested with both a 64GB and 256GB card, both worked flawlessly, the camera was able to format and fill them to 100%.

For the video above I needed all 3 cameras set identically. Realize this camera does far better at the higher resolutions and frame rates, the goal of this test was to compare these 3 cameras on an equal footing. Set the Q6 for 4k 24 fps, and you'll love it as much as I do!

60fps FireFly Q6 vs Mobius (9 min 8 sec)

shows the difference when raised a bit to 1080P@60fps, compared to the Mobius at 720@60fps.

I have not tested this camera in low-light/dark conditions, or tested the still-photo abilities enough to post an opinion. I will update this thread in the future.

-KRoss1
KD2GTU

[Hermansen]

Amazing videos.