Which is the best 360 action camera?
In this video, i'll put the top three contenders
in early 2020 side by side,
the Insta360 ONE R, ONE X and GoPro MAX,
to see which one performs best
in a variety of shooting situations.
I'll start by saying,
no matter which one of these you choose,
you're going to get a good camera.
However, one of them stands head and shoulders
above the others.
You'll find out which one that is by the end of the video.
Now, let's start with the camera designs.
And with the ONE R, it's waterproof
without needing a housing.
You can put it straight in the water,
and it's gonna be fine.
It's USB-C.
It has an expandable and changeable battery.
Right now it lasts an hour,
but they've got an expanded battery coming soon,
which should hypothetically last twice as long.
It has a reversible touch screen.
It has a low profile, meaning it's much wider
than it is tall, making it more aerodynamic.
Let's admit, it looks exactly like a GoPro.
The ONE R has lens protectors, it's external mic compatible,
and it doubles as a 5.3K action camera with a one inch mod
if you only want to shoot in one direction.
The main cons are it takes time to assemble
because it is a modular camera.
Also, the body is thick, meaning stitching
won't always be perfect.
The GoPro MAX is also waterproof without needing a housing.
It's USB-C.
It has a good battery life
because it's got a pretty big removable battery.
It also has a touch screen, a bigger and better one
than the ONE R, as well as spatial audio,
which the ONE R doesn't have.
It does come with lens protectors.
They're not great, but they're something.
Then, the main con I see of the MAX is also
having a thick body, meaning stitching
won't always be good at close distance.
The main pros I see with the ONE X are it's thin and light.
The design is more vertical than horizontal,
meaning it's easier to hand hold than the other two cameras.
The first con is the screen brightness.
When you're in bright daylight,
it's not always easy to see that screen.
Also, it's a Micro-USB, whereas the other two are USB-C.
Also, it's fragile and has been known to break
in extreme circumstances.
The ONE R and ONE X shoot 5.7K 360 video.
The MAX shoots 5.6K.
Also, on a side note, I'm not including
the KanDao QooCam 8K in this video because 8K video
is still pretty hard to edit for most people in early 2020.
It's still a great camera, and I'll be releasing
in-depth videos about it on my channel in the coming weeks.
Now, before my hands turn to ice,
it was, like, minus 20 when I made this comparison,
let's shoot.
This first shot was taken with the cameras
held out of a car window,
and the first thing I'm noticing here is
the ONE X and ONE R look identical,
whereas the MAX looks a bit different.
This is something I noticed when Insta360 released the EVO.
It's like they used the exact same internal bits
of the camera, just in a new 360 camera design,
meaning the footage looked identical from camera to camera.
Well, I'm seeing it again here.
The ONE X and ONE R look really similar,
and I honestly can't pick them apart
aside from a small change of white balance.
What I'm noticing with the MAX is
it's much higher contrast straight out of the camera.
Also the colors are slightly more saturated.
I've also noticed the consistent roll of the horizon
with the GoPro MAX once you pass
the 20 second or so recording mark.
Here's hoping they fix that ASAP.
And none of these shots have been color corrected,
by the way.
Now, let's test out the stabilization in bright daylight.
Well, kind of bright.
Just very snowy, but it's daytime at least.
When I run with all three cameras
on my Trident Selfie Stick,
I'm seeing stabilization equally good from shot to shot.
All three cameras are doing a fantastic job,
so good that I'd say you shouldn't even think
about stabilization when choosing between these three
cause they're all gonna do great.
What I am noticing though is the red dot of doom
is present in the ONE X and ONE R footage,
whereas the MAX is clear of it.
However, the MAX also the worst dynamic range.
As you can see, the contrast is really high,
and as a result, it's losing detail in a lot of the scene.
When I color correct this footage,
these are looking pretty similar.
Yeah, the two on the left still have better dynamic range,
but they're all passable,
and they all look good for a running stabilized 360 shot.
It is worth adding that the two cameras on the left
also have HDR video.
I've used it here with the ONE R and not the ONE X,
and you can see by far, the ONE R has
the best dynamic range, especially around the sun.
I found this feature to be a bit hit and miss.
However, it's actually pretty decent
when you're using the camera on a tripod.
Now, let's test out the slow motion.
The ONE X and ONE R shoot 100 frames per second at 3K.
The GoPro MAX doesn't shoot slow motion,
so I've had to slow down the 25 FPS to match the other two,
and despite the kind of low resolution
from the Insta360 cameras,
the slow motion is pretty buttery.
This is really satisfying to look at,
and if you're wondering what I'm doing, by the way,
I'm burying bread in the backyard.
It's a long story, but if you follow my Instagram stories,
you probably know what's going on.
(pizzicato string music)
Next, I wanted to test these cameras
with a moving subject in mixed lighting,
and what better place for a grown man to visit
to play with his toys than the zoo.
Luckily, Sammy the seal also wanted to know
which of these three cameras is best,
so he agreed to be part of the test.
By the way, I forgot to mention,
all samples from this video are shot in auto exposure mode.
As I walk through the tunnel,
again the ONE X and ONE R look identical.
Where the MAX stands out, and it's not good,
is the lights are flickering at the bottom.
This is to do with the hertz of the camera,
and a frequent annoyance I've had with the MAX
is always having to change this
to suit the type of indoor lighting you're shooting.
And you don't always know it's going to be a problem,
and here, I got it wrong.
I also noticed with the MAX that change of auto exposure
is pretty noticeable when you're going
from one lighting situation to another.
Now, here comes Sammy, and he's clearly visible
in the ONE X and ONE R shots.
In the MAX, it's really high contrast,
and I'm struggling to see him in the shadow areas.
When he enters the bright part,
the MAX exposes him really well, but then when he goes back,
it's hard to see him again.
Consistently, I've found the MAX has produced
high contrast photos and videos, which can be a blessing
in some situations and a curse in others.
So in these samples here, I've gotta say,
the ONE X and ONE R are doing a better job
in terms of dynamic range,
and this is without color correction.
It's better to start off with a slightly flatter image
so you can color correct later
than have your footage look too high contrast
and too saturated straight out of the camera.
But, I guess it's a personal preference.
Okay, so now I'm starting to see some differences
between these three cameras.
However, how well do they do at photos?
Now, I'm going to shoot the exact same situation
using the camera settings that produce
the best possible result with each camera.
Say, "Cheese!" Sammy.
Now, all three of these cameras have relatively low
photo resolution compared to their other competitors.
However, after color correction, I was able to get
all three images looking identical and pretty decent.
Here's my ONE X shot.
The dynamic range is looking pretty good.
The sharpness and color are decent.
When I zoom into 300%, Sammy is captured in midair,
well, mid-water, with a decent amount of clarity.
With the ONE R, it's the same story.
I've got good colors, good contrast, and I'd be pretty happy
using this photo as social media post.
With the MAX, I've gotta say, I was pretty surprised.
You can't shoot raw, so this is just a JPEG.
So, I've color corrected the really dark,
high contrast JPEG, and gotten the exact same results
I got with the ONE X and ONE R, shooting in raw.
So how do I rate these cameras for 360 photos
in action type situations when you don't have a lot of time
to change camera settings?
Well, I'd say they're about even.
This is a sound test.
Can you hear me?
One, two, three,
four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10.
This is a sound test.
Can you hear me?
One, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10.
This is a sound test.
Can you hear me?
One, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10.
Okay, now it's time for a voice control test.
GoPro, start recording.
And, we're rolling.
GoPro, stop recording.
Start recording.
And there it goes, it's recording.
Stop recording.
Had to speak a bit more clearly for the ONE R
than I did the GoPro MAX.
ONE X, start recording.
ONE X, I said, start recording.
Why aren't you listening?
That's right, ONE X doesn't have voice control.
It's snowing.
And already, my ONE X has run out of battery
without even having turned it on yet.
Not good, ONE X.
So, as I've been shooting this video,
I've been plugging in the ONE X to the power bank
every five seconds, whereas these two
have been lasting much longer.
Of these two, I've had to charge the ONE R
more than the GoPro MAX.
So if I were to take an educated guess,
I'd say the GoPro MAX wins for battery life,
followed by the ONE R, followed by the ONE X.
And, look, I don't have the cold weather battery,
so if I did, I'm sure this would last a lot longer.
Now, let's test the nighttime moving shots.
And I am no pro ice skater,
so I gave the cameras to my cousin,
and he skated as fast as he possibly could
around this ice rink.
When reviewing the footage,
I found the ONE X performed the worst,
not because it can't stabilize properly.
It's actually doing a very decent job,
but because the lenses were fogging up a bit
in the cold weather, and it just doesn't seem to be handling
those dark shadows of the night sky very well at all.
Don't get me wrong, this footage is still usable,
but I think we can probably do better.
Here's the ONE R, and a feature they were talking about
when they released this camera is that
the low light stability had improved,
but something I didn't realize when filming this sample
is that you need to tell the camera
you're shooting in low light first before you take your shot
to activate the really good stabilization.
Here, I didn't realize.
I thought I could do it in post, but you can't.
So while this shot looks pretty average,
it's not really representative of what this camera can do.
I just messed up the shot.
My bad.
I'll do my best to shoot more low light samples ASAP.
Now, here's the GoPro MAX, and, whoa!
I wasn't expecting that.
Finally, the high contrast of the MAX
is working to its advantage.
This footage looks great.
Not only is the stabilization excellent,
but the contrast is basically perfect.
You can see the white of the snow and the dark of the sky
in the same image, and it looks really good.
Not all situations are going to be like this,
and the high contrast is a hindrance in most situations,
but definitely not at nighttime.
In my books, the GoPro MAX wins for low light video for now.
There are way more things I could've talked about
in this video.
However, from these samples, I think I have enough info
to rank them from three to one.
Coming in third is the ONE X.
This is the oldest camera of the three by over a year.
And that's both a blessing and a curse.
Because it's old, it's the most developed of the three,
and they've added the most amount of things to it,
but at the same time, it's missing a lot of the things
that 360 action cameras have in 2020.
The ONE X used to be the best consumer 360 camera
money could buy hands down, but now these two cameras
have come into the picture and improved on the ONE X
in various aspects.
The design of the ONE X isn't as rugged as the other two,
so it's always going to be a much bigger risk of damage
when you're using it in action type situations.
The ONE X is a good camera,
but the only unique selling points I see over the other two
are the price and the light, slim camera body.
So if you want a 360 action camera, and you're on a budget,
then the ONE X will still be a really good option
going into 2020 because I'm predicting the price
will go down significantly by the end of the year.
Coming in second is the GoPro MAX,
and the MAX has the best design and it's the easiest to use
of all three of these cameras.
The touch screen is great,
and it's a really user-friendly beginner 360 camera.
If you're a massive fan of GoPro,
then you should probably go with the MAX because
there's going to be a lot of familiar elements
with the app and the work flow.
And it also has the benefit of being able to shoot 1080p
from one side as a flat 16 by nine video.
The mobile and desktop apps are pretty decent
for reframing 360 videos.
However, there is a massive limitation,
and that's to do with the resolution.
It's really hard to export anything over 1080p.
You have to bring your footage into Premiere
and manually keyframe it, and then export at 4K,
and they just make it really hard to do that.
So if you're something that shoots a lot of 4K,
then the MAX is going to be a frustration.
I do have two videos about the GoPro MAX on my channel,
so be sure to check them out
if you're considering buying this camera.
Look, you're not going to be disappointed,
and as you saw in the video,
there were some really impressive GoPro MAX shots.
I guess I just see it as having
no real unique selling points over the other two cameras
in this video other than the design.
When Insta360 made the ONE R,
they fixed a lot of the issues people were having
with the ONE X and many other 360 cameras,
things like the screen charging ports,
wanting to use 360 cameras also as flat action cameras
with higher resolution and not be limited to 360.
With the ONE R, you can shoot up to 5.3K flat
16 by nine video.
That is a lot of resolution.
It has a really great app and work flow,
and something I'm really pleased they've added is
you can now export 4K video in the mobile app
to your camera roll.
I see the biggest flaws of the ONE R right now to be
the clunkiness of design.
Also, the screen is good, but not great.
It's just a little bit small.
However, I'm putting the ONE R in first place
because it's got hundreds of features,
and it combines the best of both of the other cameras
in this video into one.
It takes all the great things we loved about the ONE X
and makes them more action camera friendly,
like the GoPro MAX.
There are hundreds of cool video effects
you can achieve with the ONE R,
and I haven't even scratched the surface here.
So that's it.
Those are my rankings.
I'm curious, what were your rankings?
Did you see the ONE R as the best,
or did you prefer the MAX or the ONE X?
By the way, coming by the end of this week
is my video about the ONE R one inch edition.
Is it really as good as they say it is, or is it all hype?
Make sure you hit that subscribe button
and ring the notification bell so you can be
the first to find out.
If you have any questions, drop them below,
and Sammy and I will see you in the next video.
(funky music)