This still messes with my brain!
Can you see where the camera’s attached?
Well it was attached to the rear of the bike—before it came loose and tumbled down the mountainside.
Luckily these hikers found my $700 GoPro fusion undamaged.
That price didn’t include the two high speed SD cards that fit in the battery compartment,
or this computer, which is barely powerful enough to render the video from this 5.2k
camera.
The GoPro fusion is expensive, pretty involved to use, and arguably not a new concept.
But 360 cameras like the fusion are becoming more powerful and more affordable, making
them—almost practical.
Like other 360 degree cameras, the Fusion uses two lenses to capture everything in every
direction.
This can be used to create an interactive scene, where the viewer can choose the camera
angle by dragging their mouse or tilting their cell phone.
You’re probably familiar with google street view as well, which utilizes similar technology.
While these uses can be sorta cool, I’m more excited about the other applications
of 360 cameras.
Applications like you see in todays luxury automobiles.
Some vehicles come equipped with a 360 camera, which provides a top down birds eye view that
the driver can use to maneuver in tight spaces.
That’s the killer app for 360 cameras; the ability to simulate different perspectives.
With a helmet mounted 360 cam, I can give the viewer an out of body third person perspective
of my ride.
It looks like the camera is floating behind me, following my every move.
I can even make it look the camera it’s locked into position, so the rider turns and
the camera doesn’t.
Since this probably makes your brain hurt, I’ll do my best to explain how it works.
Suppose an aerial videography drone were to follow me.
It would capture this area here.
Now suppose a 360 degree camera were attached to my helmet.
It too would cover this same area and have access to much of the same picture information.
Straight out of the camera that picture would look like this, but with the help of software
we can bend and twist it until it looks like the shot from the drone.
In GoPro’s Fusion studio you can zoom out, change the camera angle, or just reframe the
shot to capture the good stuff.
This crash yielded two totally different angles from the same camera.
Being able to squeeze two or three shots out of one is perhaps the most practical feature
the Fusion offers.
There’s even enough picture information to totally hide the mount, which is how it
can look as though it’s floating.
The first time I used this camera I didn’t have it adjusted right, so the mount was showing
on the back of my helmet.
I later learned that by positioning the camera with the mount directly on the bottom, it
disappears.
As this technology advances, the distortion that comes along with these crazy perspectives
will be possible to correct for.
It’s even possible that software updates will improve the capabilities of the Fusion
as it stands.
GoPro has indicated some of the features they plan to release soon.
For instance, here’s a shot taken from a stationary tripod.
Since the Fusion films in every direction, we could in theory, render a panning shot
of Phil whizzing by.
At the time of this video Fusion studio doesn’t have this feature, but it will soon.
Other 360 Cameras like the Rylo do this already.
If you follow my friends at Trail Peek on Instagram, you’ll see that they’ve been
experimenting with a Rylo and getting some pretty cool results.
I haven’t tried a Rylo yet but I’d like to.
So the big question: As a mountain biker, should you buy the GoPro Fusion?
Heck no!
Not if you’re looking for a primary action camera.
For the price of the fusion you could have two Hero 5’s, or a Hero4 with a chest mounted
stabilizer.
For mountain biking this will serve you better, and it’ll be easier to edit.
Every time you film with the Fusion there’s a whole process you need to go through to
pull clips from it.
My computer has a 4 ghz quad core i7 with 24 gigs of ram.
That’s nerd speak for fast as balls, yet my computer can barely handle Fusion Studio.
It took me over 24 hours to render the clips in this video.
I’m sure GoPro is working on making the software more efficient, but it’ll currently
turn an imac into a melted pile of aluminum.
Then there’s the weight.
To achieve these shots, I needed to endure massive discomfort, and tighten my helmet
straps to the max.
This camera is a beast.
Not only is the Fusion expensive, heavy, and complex, it’s kind of unreliable.
The audio quality is inconsistent at best.
Sometimes it sounds okay, and other times it’s super muffled.
On this run, the Fusion failed to capture audio altogether—for $700.
Audio is very important to me, so this was a bummer.
And the video isn’t perfect either.
These distorted perspectives look pretty cool at first, but they’re hard to watch for
any length of time.
You might have fun with your Fusion for a week before going back to shooting with your
cell phone for the sake of convenience.
Then there’s the problem of accuracy, or lack thereof.
In other videos I’ve mentioned the “GoPro effect” which can make a gnarly rock garden
look like a walking path.
Fusion made this 10 foot vertical drop look like a speed bump.
For now the Fusion is most useful for making GoPro commercials.
Just round up a bunch of really good looking people and throw them out of an airplane.
Add a “tiny planet” effect, and play music over it to hide the crappy sound.
Speaking of the tiny planet effect, this is gonna get played out really quick.
For all eternity tiny planet will scream 2017.
Because of gimmicks like tiny planet, and its $700 price tag, the Fusion is an easy
target for criticism.
But in the right hands it does start to look like the future.
Sure, the technology needs to mature before it becomes more practical, but GoPro needed
to start somewhere.
The Fusion makes an absolute mockery of yesterdays 360 cameras, but I can’t see it taking the
place of a normal action camera just yet.
In the meantime, I’m gonna keep experimenting with the Fusion and other 360 cameras.
The technology is quite promising and will change the way we capture experiences—eventually.
As the desktop software and camera firmware undergo improvements, the Fusion will become
more practical.
When that happens I’ll be sure to update you.
When the price comes down, I may even recommend buying one.
Thanks for riding with me today, and I’ll see you next time.