Today, we are going to take an initial look at a new 3D 360 professional VR camera - the
TECHE Phiimax 3D.
This camera is built with Professional VR filmmakers in mind.
A notifiable feature is standard SSD drive as its storage.
As you see, I am using the standard Samsung EVO Solid State Drive.
This saves a ton of time for onset DIT and also minimize the risk of SD card failure.
It uses the latest H.265 compression technology as its video codec - to capture more data
in a smaller filesize.
TechE understands the importance of ambisonic audio capture.
So the camera has no fans and no vents.
Instead, it uses a fully sealed, aluminum enclosure to dissipate heat.
So when it records, it is silence.
To handle different filming environments, like the desert or waterfall, Tech-E claims
the Phiimax is fully waterproof and dustproof.
And their stitching solution called TECHE optical render relocates each pixel in a new
position to achieve a better result, which is pretty impressive compared to Mistika VR
and other stitching solution
Let's take a more in-depth look at the camera.
Hey, what's up everybody, it's your boy Hugh here from CreatorUp - the #1 YouTube channel
dedicated to 360 Virtual Reality Filmmaking for everyone.
Tech-E sent me a beta unit of the Phiimax 3D for testing.
After filming it in Kauai, I want to make an initial review video.
This is not a sponsored content, and the unit is for testing only.
Also, this is a beta unit, so your production unit should be even better.
If you have not heard of Tech-E (short for Technology for Everyone), here is another
review of their Tech-E 720 Pro 360 camera.
Like all the other Tech-E cameras, Phiimax 3D has an impressive build quality.
It does not feel like cheap plastics like some other Chinese made camera.
I feel like I can drop the camera on the ground, and it will survive.
Like Insta360 Pro 2, it also uses 2 antennae to boost the wifi signal so you can remote
control the camera using the cellphone mobile app.
It is not as far as farsight from Insta360, but it is pretty decent as the antenna is
bigger and higher quality.
It has the lunchbox design for ease to carry around with the red handle on the top of the
camera.
B/c the camera can get pretty hot during filming, more on that later.
You can mount your spatial audio device directly on top - like my H3VR here.
Phiimax 3D has audio capture internally, but they recommend using external spatial audio
mic like Zoom H3VR - which I have a review right here.
You can do simple operations in the front panel here.
But it does not have a LED display like the Titan or Pro 2 - so it is recommended to control
the camera using mobile app.
Let's talk about the mobile app.
It is a professional VR camera, so it has full manual control, individual lens exposure,
ISO-priority and shutter speed priority.
One cool little feature is that the preview has stitch line grid overlay.
It helps the DP to know who and what is in the stitch line - it is simple, but it is
really useful on set for blocking and directing.
Back to the camera, the major advantage of choosing the Phiimax 3D is the storage.
Phiimax uses standard SATAIII SSD drives - which provide faster read and write speed both in
camera and in offloading footage on set.
You can even just get coupled of the Samsung SSD - which I have here, and use it as editing
drive in post - it is faster than most of you drive anyway.
So no offloading necessary.
Using a single SSD is safer than using 9 SD cards like the Insta360 Titan.
As one of the SD cards fail, it will ruin your entire shoot.
Phiimax solves the DIT nightmare in 360 productions on set - as a professional DIT, I really enjoy
this feature.
If you are the sound guy, you will love this camera too.
The camera has no fans and no vents.
Instead, it uses a fully sealed, aluminum enclosure to dissipate heat.
So no fan noise.
If audio is crucial for your production, Phiimax will be an excellent option.
On thing tho you need be careful is that the camera gets pretty hot during long hour filming.
You should not touch the camera body directly.
Use the red handle bar instead.
The battery is built inside the camera - there is no replaceable battery, which is kinda
bummer.
It is a good battery tho, and the camera can film continuously for 2 hours.
If you need to film longer hours, Phiimax can hot-swap external battery that sold separately.
These batteries are the size of an iPhone but can give 2-3 hours extra filming time
without interrupting the recording.
Combine it with a big SSD, this camera can technically run forever.
The reason why the battery is built-in, according to Tech-E, is that the camera is waterproof
and dustproof.
They have a video running water to one of the Tech-E cameras on their facebook group.
Not the Phiimax 3D - but we hope the production version of the Phiimax 3D can also have this
feature.
This will open so many creative ideas for 360VR - like put the camera directly under
a waterfall.
But I don't know if the camera is really waterproof yet so don't take my word for it.
Here is a video shot on PHIIMAX in Belfast IVRPA.
The camera is in the middle of the fountain.
You will never want to do this with the Insta360 Pro.
So PHIIMAX is def splashproof.
But I still wish it is waterproof so I can capture myself doing stuffs like this.
I really appreciate if a camera design pays attention to details.
Take a look at the power supply system.
It uses pins connection and a screwable ring to secure the connection.
So if your intern step on the power cable, it will not unplug and ruin your shoot.
There are other connections at the bottom of the camera - including ethernet cable for
Livestream, GPS anntana for Google street view, a HDMI 2.0 out for video village or
live video monitoring.
It also has a more stable mounting option that comparable with FLIR Ladybug spherical
camera system.
It is designed for more than just 360 cinematographers.
I also notice interchangeable lenses design here.
It indicates the possibility of swatching different F-stop lenses or adding ND filter
like their Teche 720 Pro camera.
This is just my guessing based on their other cameras.
Good design does not mean anything if the image quality is not up to the professional
standard.
So let's take a look at my sample footage of this camera.
Again, this is an early beta unit, so some of the problems you see from my footage might
not be there anymore in the final production unit.
The RAW camera video is encoded in H.265 with a total bit rate of up to 600Mbps, which is
equivalent to 900Mbps for H.264 encoding.
To compare, the Insta360 Pro 2 compress in H.264 with 120Mbps per lens, in total 720Mbps.
So Phiimax has around 20% more data than Pro 2.
Also, notifiable mentioned, PHIIMAX tells you what sensor they use on their camera with
total transparency.
It uses six Sony Exmor R CMOS sensors that share the same clock signal.
If you do some googling, you know Sony Exmor R sensor is better in low light.
You can see that in my sample footage when the sun goes down entirely.
The brand new Insta360 Titan also use H.265 compression technology to improve image quality
and data efficiency.
So we can see the trend here.
I highly recommend, if you have not, go check out the PHIIMAX 3D sample video I created
in your Oculus Go or Quest VR headset.
The footage looks great with good details and low compression artifacts.
Low light is clear with minimal noise.
And the camera actually captured the rainbow created by the Spouting Horn in Hawaii, as
you see right here.
But I do spot things that are not so great.
Dynamic range is a weakness right now, especially the blow out highlight compared to other VR
camera.
It does not do LOG just yet.
So there is no way to protect the highlights.
In the next video, I will compare the PHIIMAX 3D with Insta360 Pro 2 and Kandao Obsidian.
So don't forget to subscribe
You also notice stitching issues.
But that is stitched with Mistika VR.
As the time I produce this video, their software is not ready yet.
The lens on PHIIMAX 3D is 200 degree - so it has a good amount of overlap.
TechE claims that their own stitching solution can do 1-meter optical flow stitching.
This is pretty impossible from a technical standpoint.
I can not back that statement so I will also be very interested to see when their software
is released.