YI M1 Mirrorless Digital Camerа vs Sony A5100

Are you looking for a compact camera which will allow you to make shots like the professional camera does? So our review is what you need. This is a comparison of two mirrorless cameras which are so popular in photography forums. So let’s start, we are talking about YI M1 Mirrorless Digital Camerа and Sony A5100.

What are the main features of these two cameras? When you are looking for a certain camera or any other device you first of all look at the characteristics of this product. That’s why we find it useful to make a short comparison of these cameras:

Design

When you see these models for the first time you will find the difference in a size. The dimensions of YI M1 Camera are 113.5×64.3×33.6mm and 110×63×36mm of Sony A5100. But when you are working with the lens this difference is invisible.

If you are an amateur and big amount of buttons with complicated settings makes you feel confused — take a look at YI M1 Camera. 3-inch sensor touchscreen and minimum buttons let you easily understand how it works. If you look closely you will find that all the main buttons are situated on the right side (all the settings you can configure by sensor display). This design decision and low weight (280g) allows you without any problems make shots by holding the camera in one hand. On the top of the body are the main control buttons situated. For example the on/off button, camera dial, and button of video recording inside of it.

What about its design? It looks like a classic DSLR camera but more compact and practical.

Sony A5100 also is a compact camera (you can put it even in your pocket) with a classic design. These devices have the main control buttons on the body and sensor display which allows you to use autofocus or focus on an object by one tap on the screen. The material of the body is made of polycarbonate which is scratch resistant. It also has a small weight — about 283g. Moreover, Sony A5100 has a rotating display which makes it very useful and convenient in situations when you should make photo by yourself without any help or to see the general picture of future photo or video.

Technical characteristics

Yi M1 Camera

M1 Camera has a 20.16MP Sony IMX269 sensor with mechanical Copal shutter. Thanks to the Micro Four Thirds system this model is compatible with more than 50 types of lens that opens you many new abilities for creativity. Sensor LCD Touchscreen provides easy and fast operation of the camera.

The camera can produce shots in RAW format with resolution up to 4K.The focus distance is 35mm with 85mm for portrait and 90mm of macro range.

The fast connection is provided with built-in Bluetooth 4.1 and Wi-Fi. Just download a special app and you will get an access to your entire photo library. To keep all your photos this camera use Micro SD card and the battery capacity (900mAh) will allow you to make about 450 shots without recharging. But if you want to recharge this camera — use USB 2.0 cable for it.

Sony A5100

This model is a simplified version of Sony A6000. Rotating on 180 degrees display perfectly compensates the lack of a viewfinder. Big 24,3MP CMOS APS-C sensor with phase autofocus provides a high-quality image. If you want to continue editing of the shot you can save the photo in RAW format. The camera can make shots in burst mode (about 6 frames per second). Video recording is available at resolution 1920×1080 with a frequency about 60f/s. Video compression available at formats: MPEG-4, AVCHD и XAVC S.

One battery charge is enough to make about 400 shots, that is more than enough for a long photoset or for a one day in traveling. Recharge the camera you can using USB 2.0 cable too. Like a Yi camera, Sony A5100 easily synchs with a smartphone and you get fast access to your content.

Practical using

What makes reviews more interesting? Of course, this is a practical comparison. To compare these two cameras we decided to make shots using different settings and ISO ratios (moreover they are similar in both models). It will help us to understand how the quality of photo will change with different settings in the same illumination.

Conclusion

These two cameras make incredible perfect and interesting shots and it is quite complicated to compare them. But there are some conclusion points that we can make after using of Yi M1 and Sony A5100 cameras.

If you are the beginner in photography you can choose Yi M1 camera. Easy operation, fast focus, compatibility with many modern lenses.

Talking about Sony A5100 camera it will impress you by its logical operation. Moreover, its rotating display will please selfie-fans. Just only one minus of this camera — no ability to connect the microphone, maybe if you are a video blogger it won’t be enough for you. But if you are an amateur — this camera will be ideal for you.