# An action cam like GoPro but at just $79 .. came to know from Indiegogo campaign



## Vyom (Aug 23, 2016)

So I came across this Indiegogo campaign.... eCam: The Best 4K Camera ever | Indiegog

The campaigner seems to be an Indian - Sairam Maduri from Lewes, United States. 

The featured product is a $79 action cam that boasts of all features that high end GoPro cams give but at a fraction of cost.

I am seriously impressed by the pricing.. which also seems to include wordwide shipping. (Not sure about customs tho).

What are views of digitans about this product? Especially photographers.. and especially those who own such cams, GoPro, Yi action cam or any other.

*c1.iggcdn.com/indiegogo-media-prod-cld/image/upload/c_limit,w_620/v1468867277/Features_1_x7c3gq.jpg


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## nac (Aug 23, 2016)

Excellent pricing. 

But target customers are not photography enthusiasts.


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## Nerevarine (Aug 24, 2016)

The xiaomi Yi camera 2, already is a tried and tested product, even Linus rates it better than Go Pro Hero 4


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## Vyom (Aug 24, 2016)

Nerevarine said:


> The xiaomi Yi camera 2, already is a tried and tested product, even Linus rates it better than Go Pro Hero 4


I have watched Linus's review of Yi cam. But this eCAM is about half the price of even Yi. I would love to see a review of this by Linus. 

Indiegogo have provided a platform where people collect funding to kick start their business while keeping the profit margins to a minimum. I think eCAM is an another example of the same.

Hence my excitement for this product.


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## Desmond (Aug 24, 2016)

Isn't imported goods custom free up to 50000 Rs?


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## nac (Aug 24, 2016)

Desmond David said:


> Isn't imported goods custom free up to 50000 Rs?


Is it?
Then many would be buying electronics product from overseas, like graphic cards...


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## Vyom (Aug 24, 2016)

Of course it isn't the case. I bought Core i5 4570 chip from abroad (I had Amazon gift card at my disposal). It cost $199. Still I had to bear the custom duty of around 4k.


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## sujoyp (Aug 24, 2016)

it looks a nice product...interesting

about custom..I thought its custom free till 5k and not 50k


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## Vyom (Aug 24, 2016)

If custom is free till products under 5k, then $79 (which is Rs 5304.45 as per current rate), it comes under customs.

I think the price is so low, that we can attempt to group buy this thing. Currently the perk couple buy is available, through which we can buy 2 cams for $150. This would still cost $75 each but might make customs less since two cams would be packed as one?

Anyone up for it?

Or another plan is to take a risk and attempt to buy it. But due to the nature of the Indiegogo plan, I don't know if it will be available for purchase later (after campaign expires).


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## sujoyp (Aug 24, 2016)

bro your logic is not correct..if we order 2 then together it will be 150 and then we have to pay the customs ultimately...150 comes under custom..

we have to search some other way


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## kaz (Aug 24, 2016)

Looks nice, any idea about the available months? Rugged case?

BTW, I'm getting the Yi 4K soon.


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## Vyom (Aug 24, 2016)

sujoyp said:


> we have to search some other way



What other way? I don't know of any other way. So you saying, buying 2 of them is better but individually?

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kaz said:


> Looks nice, any idea about the available months? Rugged case?
> 
> BTW, I'm getting the Yi 4K soon.



Its nice, but not better than Yi 4K? Did you see the Linus's review of Yi cam or what?

I want Linus to review eCam now!!!


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## kaz (Aug 24, 2016)

Vyom said:


> Its nice, but not better than Yi 4K? Did you see the Linus's review of Yi cam or what?
> 
> I want Linus to review eCam now!!!



Since last week I have been researching on action cams, and came to a conclusion that Yi 4k is better than Hero 4 Black in every aspect and costs half. Hero 5 is rumored to be coming soon with voice commands support and waterproof body.

No idea about eCam. I like the aperture size though. 
There is one more action cam by Indians, who was also doing crowdfunding. I forgot the name


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## Vyom (Aug 24, 2016)

kaz said:


> Since last week I have been researching on action cams, and came to a conclusion that Yi 4k is better than Hero 4 Black in every aspect and costs half. Hero 5 is rumored to be coming soon with voice commands support and waterproof body.
> 
> No idea about eCam. I like the aperture size though.
> There is one more action cam by Indians, who was also doing crowdfunding. I forgot the name



Well, Yi cam is good and its half the price of GoPro cams. But eCam is half the price of even Yi cams. Don't you think a little more research deserves to be done for this product?

Personally till now, eCam is looking too good to be true. But the campaign seems to be genuine. There are many backers. Campaign have collected more than 10 times the initial target. Campaigner have also answered lots of questions to backers personally.

I think one can a risk with eCam, could we?

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Also, one question that is common for all these action 4K cams. The resulting film that it captures is oval shaped (due to high FOV). Is there some setting which can be used to reduce the FOV so that fish eye effect can be reduced if not eliminated?


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## nac (Aug 25, 2016)

Vyom said:


> Also, one question that is common for all these action 4K cams. The resulting film that it captures is oval shaped (due to high FOV). Is there some setting which can be used to reduce the FOV so that fish eye effect can be reduced if not eliminated?


For still photography, we can de-fish in post. If it's possible with still, should also be possible in video as well. But I don't know any tool to de-fish videos personally.


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## CRACING (Aug 25, 2016)

Desmond David said:


> Isn't imported goods custom free up to 50000 Rs?



Nope, actually it was a misunderstanding. Previously we needed licence to import items that cost 2000 and above. Otherwise we would have charged 41.492% duty. Now that limit is increased from 2000 to 50,000 so for only those products that cost above 50k we need import licence.

For importers without licence and product total cost under 50k, the duty will be charged as per guidelines by CBEC.

For more details check the comments of Akshay Aggarwal here

As of gifts:

5.1 Bonafide gifts up to a value limit of Rs.10,000/-, imported by post, are exempt from Basic and Additional Customs duties vide Notification No.171/93-Cus., dated 16-9-1993. Further, only those items can be imported as gifts, which are not prohibited for importation under Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992.

5.2 The sender of the gift may not necessarily be residing in the country from where the goods have been dispatched and any person abroad can send the gifts to relatives, business associates, friends, companies and acquaintances. The gifts have to be for bonafide personal use. The purpose of this stipulation is that the person receives the gift genuinely free and the payment is not made for it through some other means. The quantity and frequency of the gifts should not give rise to the belief that it is used as a route to transfer money. The gifts can be received by individuals, societies, institutions, like schools and colleges and even corporate bodies.


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## sujoyp (Aug 25, 2016)

so that means now we can get items as gift from Chinese and hongkong dealers till 10k without import duty...hmm not bad 

and about 4k recording...I donno why we need a 4k recording now...it will be just space gobbler...I want a 720p recorder which is waterproof...not even a FHD I need.

1HR of FHD will take maybe 2GB which is just too much...and if the recorder can do funky things like slow motion and HDR then its great


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## CRACING (Aug 25, 2016)

sujoyp said:


> so that means now we can get items as gift from Chinese and hongkong dealers till 10k without import duty...hmm not bad



Nope, I think there is no change made to gift guidelines and 10k limit for gift was made long ago. Still our customs officers would change duty on suspicious items (eg. large or heavy parcels), even though its marked as gift and valued under 10k.

So we cannot assume free import duty for gifts under 10k. Our customs officers are good at opening the parcel, finding its price online (usually considering a high price tag) and charge duty according.

Some days ago my friend had bought flipcover for his ipad from China Unfortunately it caught in customs. The price of the product is Rs. 1000 (15 USD) and marked as gift but customs officers opened the package and checked the price of original apple flipcover. It should be more then 2000 limit for non-licence importers so customs officers charged Rs. 1500. Gift marking didn't work.

My friend should have refused but he accepted it only to find a damaged cover. It happened because customs officers packed it badly, with jute rope and wax stamped. Seller refunded the product amount but amount paid for customs was lost. 

My advice, if anyone wants to buy expensive products then choose DHL, Fedex or etc private couriers, even if you have to pay more. These will take care of your product and customs duty will be accurate.


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## Vyom (Aug 27, 2016)

Well, I too the risk of buying eCam.. and paid for it yesterday, $99 ($79 plus $20 shipping).

Today I got a refund notification and got this email from Indiegogo. The campaign seems to be a scam or atleast broken some rules... so its gone for now:

*i.imgur.com/C10Qo0A.jpg

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Another update: Apparently this happened due to some miscommunication between Indiegogo and Campaign. I will order again soon, as soon as I confirm my CC was credited the money back.

*i.imgur.com/Xo92pw2.jpg


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## sujoyp (Aug 27, 2016)

Good luck to you...


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