The remote, which you can strap onto your wrist using the included wrist strap, pairs easily with the Ghost-S, and you can use it to start and stop recording as well as take still, time-lapse, and burst photos. It also indicates recording status, which is useful when the camera is mounted on, say, a helmet. The two buttons are large, which makes it easy to operate the camera when wearing gloves.

Drift HD Ghost-S Review | PCMag Drift HD Ghost-S Review | PCMag

Connecting the Drift to a Nexus 5 and an iPhone 5s via Wi-Fi was painless, and the well-designed app lets you remotely operate the camera and change its settings. The iOS version's video stream of what the camera is looking at was fairly immediate, but the same can't be said about the Android version; it shows a two-second lag. Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buying decisions. Read our editorial mission & see how we test. Please note that selecting a 127 or 90 degree field of view in the video settings menu will cause a slight decrease in image quality. This will digitally crop the image, resulting in a slight drop in resolution. The zoom feature will have a similar effect - this is a digital zoom and so unlike an optical zoom the further you zoom in the more grain you'll experience.

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. However, with the Drift Ghost XL Pro, you know that you have one of the best action cameras on the market. It doesn’t try to please everyone or cram in all the features you can think of; it just provides you with the core, and there’s a lot to say. 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.

Drift | No matter what moves you, capture it best with Drift

Besides the build quality and the design being minimalistic and sleek, there’s little else to comment about the camera’s build. 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. The camera menu system, while easy to understand, can be a pain to navigate; video is very good, but is not without issues; and, as with many cameras, you'll have to supply your own microSDHC card for storage.The HD Ghost can also be used for burst-shooting 5-, 8-, or 11-megapixel photos at up to 10fps as well as time-lapse photos, snapping off shots at 0.5-, 1-, 2-, 3-, 5-, 10-, 30-, or 60-second intervals. 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. At the end of the test, the Drift Ghost XL Pro put in a solid performance; being able to mount the camera in ways that would usually be impossible gives you plenty more options when it comes to filming and enables plenty of fun. In use, it performs well with the large buttons and beep, enabling you to easily operate the camera even if you can’t directly see it. The Ghost-S features anti-fog material, and if this becomes saturated condensation can occur inside the body of the camera. The moisture may be allowed to enter the camera if the rear hatch is removed in damp, or very cold conditions.

Video Tutorials – Drift Innovation

In the box, you'll find the camera itself, a remote, the battery, a non-waterproof connector hatch that gives easy access to the mini USB and mic out ports, a universal clip, two mount clips, a wrist strap, a mini USB cable, a microphone extension cable, and a goggle mount. For motorcyclists, this is the camera of choice; its sleek, low-profile design sits easily on the side of a helmet. For motorsports, the ability to rotate the lens to get a level horizon is a godsend when attached to a roll cage. Drift has also added new scene modes: Normal, Vivid, or Low Light. Normal gives you more natural colors that are easier to work with if you want to adjust color to your liking when editing. Vivid pumps up colors so they pop, while Low Light seems to increase noise reduction, though not so much that subjects turn to mush.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: