It's the epic showdown of the century!!!
The Insta360 One X vs. the GoPro Fusion
which is the better 360 camera?
We'll find out by the end of this video
Firstly we're going to talk about the
cameras then we'll move on to sample
photos and videos and finally we'll end
it with a workflow comparison so no
question the One X is a much lighter camera
than the fusion I'd say almost half as
light so that's a tick for the One X not
that the fusion is really that heavy but
if you're doing extreme sports and
mounting it to your body weight is a
little bit of a factor both cameras are
relatively shockproof while they don't have
replaceable lenses the bodies are tough
enough to withstand a bump or two the
fusion is made of rubber the One X is made
of a tough plastic material I feel like
if you drop the camera on the body the
fusion would absorb the damage a lot
better the One X has bigger lenses than the
fusion so if you're clumsy and you're
likely to drop your camera the lens is
more likely to get damaged. One X comes with
an inbuilt 1/4 inch tripod mount whereas
the fusion is the GoPro mount how
useless are the GoPro mounts? I really
hate them you have to buy an adapter to
get the 1/4 inch tripod thread and 99% of
tripods come with a 1/4 inch tripod
thread both of them have replaceable
batteries and replaceable memory the
fusion can handle up to two 256GB
cards whereas the One X handles a one 128GB
card so while technically the
fusion could shoot for longer the One X has
better file compression so you could
shoot for longer on that 128GB
card. Fusion is USBC, One X is micro USB so
the fusion will charge slightly faster
than the One X so they both have great pros
and not-so-great cons to be honest I
put the design about even for now. With
photo resolution they're the same they
both shoot 18 megapixel photos, for 360
video the fusion shoots 5.2 K and the One X
shoots 5.7 K but that doesn't
necessarily mean the One X is going to be
better than the fusion there are so many
factors that lead to image sharpness and
when we look at our samples you'll see
just how close it is. So here they are if
you're like me you're probably thinking
the fusion looks better straight out of
the camera and this footage hasn't been
touched this is the natural look of each
camera the Fusion has better contrast
and colors straight away whereas the One X
looks a little bit flat the dynamic
range is about even with both cameras
you can notice this both in the sky and
the buildings on the right hand side
this is a super high contrast situation
I shot this at sunset and I think both
of them are doing
really good when I color correct the
footage they're both looking good again
I'd be happy using either of these
images the only thing that really stands
out to me is the color accuracy if you
look at the gopro fusion these are the
colors i was actually seeing with my eye
with the One X the yellow in the window and
the blue in the sky is just a bit off
I did try fixing this with color
correction but I wasn't really able to
get those accurate colors now let's look
at sharpness and when i zoom in 1000%
they're looking pretty even I couldn't
say that one is sharper than the other
yes the fusion has more contrast but
that doesn't mean it's sharper to me
these cameras are dead even for video
sharpness one feature that the One X has
that the fusion doesn't is log mode and
whether that's a good thing is to be
determined as you can see on the left it
looks super flat and this is supposed to
help you with color correction later on
after color correcting this log footage
I got them about even it did take a
while to get it right but I'm actually
really happy with the look of the one X
here I think it looks just as good as
the fusion despite having a slightly
different color palette now for our
first photo sample and with the photos
in this video I tried to make them look
as good as I possibly could using the
auto exposure settings in each camera
I'm not going to go into anything too
advanced like raw or manual HDR I'm only
going to be using the point-and-shoot
settings from each camera to get the
best result possible oops I forgot to
add labels and here they are..
what's that? Yes it's the One X on the
right hand side not the fusion the One X
is doing better for photos in this
situation look at that cloud behind Arc
de Triomphe and how well exposed it is
compared to the left hand side I shot
this with the One X's auto HDR settings
and how good does it look that dynamic
range is really excellent
you might be thinking Mr. Ben that's not
fair you can't use HDR for one and not
the other well one has HDR and not the
other so it's only fair that I use it
because this is an accurate
representation of what you will get if
you shoot with the One X and after I colour
correct it evens things up again both
colors and contrast and dynamic range
are looking excellent the highlights are
better with One X and I found consistently
it performs better than the fusion in
bright sunlight for photos. Sharpness
however is a different story when i zoom into
1000% the fusion
is noticeably sharper than One X both
cameras are 18 megapixels and this is
why I always say you shouldn't obsess
over resolution because sharpness can be
very different to what the numbers may
suggest here's our next photo shot outside Notre Dame
Cathedral in Paris and this
moment was absolutely magical the sky
looked amazing there was such a strong
sense of atmosphere and as you can see
the fusion did a better job in this
specific lighting situation even with
HDR of the One X it still wasn't able to
capture the horizon as good as the
fusion after color correcting they're
both looking stunning but the fusion
clearly still has the edge in this low-ish
light situation taking it to proper
low light now and here I am sitting next
to the pyramid at the louvre and this
first image is straight out of the
camera we have better colors and
contrast on the left hand side it's
looking a little bit flat and dark on
the right after color correcting the
exposure is looking more even however
there's a lot of noticeable grain with the
One X photo which you don't see with the
fusion this is something I've always
liked about the fusion is it's very rare
you ever see grain at nighttime I
probably could edit it out of my One X
photo but I couldn't really be bothered
I know they are working on its low-light
photo capabilities so use this as an
example for what it looks like in
October 2018 when i zoom in 300% this
definitely confirms that the fusion is
better in low light however the one
redeeming quality of the One X is in the
highlights the lights behind me are so
much better exposed in the one x's
image I think I'm seeing a trend
emerging here the One X performs really
well in bright situations and highlights
of images whereas the fusion is better
in darker situations and shadows of
images here's a quick video sample of
the same situation and everything I said
before applies here too the only
noticeable difference being the fusion
comes out a lot bluer than the One X here
they are color corrected the fusion
still wins but I'd say both are usable
both cameras have 6 axis stabilization
and when putting them side-by-side while
strolling this champs elysses I can't
really tell the difference while this is
far from an extreme sports situation
I've noticed both cameras are
industry-leading
in terms of their stabilization even
when I speed it up to 1000
percent they're both still
buttery smooth I can't tell the
difference, can you? Finally let's do a
slow-motion comparison both cameras are
3k the One X shoots 100FPS and the fusion
shoots 60fps in both situations I've
slowed them down to 100 fps and the
difference is night and day on the left
it looks like actual slow-motion when
you see the wheels of the tires they're
just spinning so smoothly on the right
it's jittery and jarring and doesn't
look like real slow motion which is so
funny because when the fusion was first
advertised they had some amazing
slow-motion shots in their promo videos
but these were clearly heavily
post-processed
and not achievable for the average user
with the One X they're actually delivering
on their slow-mo promise I just did this
in premiere in two seconds and you can
also do it in the app as well I've
always said it that insta360 have made
the best apps for 360 cameras and this
situation is no different their app is
amazing it's so easy to use you can
download 5.7K video in seconds the
fusion app is a lot less developed you
have to use the main GoPro app and it's
not really as 360 friendly as the One X app
both of them allow you to do over
capture but with the fusion you have to
hold your finger down and move your
phone physically to get your over
capture there's no automatic controls
where you can set viewpoints and have
them smoothly transition from one to the
other with One X you can add as many points
as you want there are so many different
ways you can stabilize, reorient your
footage and you can do it in minutes it
makes a mobile workflow for reframing
totally possible whereas with the fusion
there's no way I would ever use over
capture other than with photos so you
need to ask yourself do I prefer a
mobile reframing workflow or a computer
one if its computer the workflow will be
exactly the same for both of these
cameras you download and stitch the
footage and then you'll reframe your
footage in whichever program you
most like using where the desktop
workflows differ massively is the
rendering and stitching time with the
fusion we all know it it's a nightmare
it takes so long to process your footage
and you need a super super fast computer
which most people don't have with the One X
you can use a much more basic computer
to render your footage and it will do it
much faster people have told me they've
spent days rendering fusion footage just
to get two minutes of video whereas with
the One X I've never waited any longer than
about half an hour if you have a super
fast computer like mine with 64
GB of RAM, and an
8GB graphics card it doesn't
matter which of these cameras you own it
will do it without issue but if your
computer has lower specs in terms of
your graphics card and your RAM then the
One X is going to be a much faster
option clearly the One X is made for
beginners to intermediates where as the
fusion is more for intermediates and
this is reflected in the workflow the One X
workflow is so much faster than the
fusion's and who doesn't want a faster
workflow we don't want to be sitting
around waiting for our footage to stitch
over 6 hours we want it instantly we want
to do it on our phones and that's why
the Insta360 One Xis the perfect camera
for workflow another massive factor to
consider in this comparison is the
support around each of these cameras
because GoPro have now parted with Kolor
their software company we can't expect
regular updates for the fusion in terms
of firmware in terms of software in
terms of app updates who knows they may
never ever update the fusion from this
point on it's an amazing camera already
don't get me wrong but in terms of
future updates and upgrades I wouldn't
count on the fusion getting any better
at all with the One X however Insta360
are known for continually updating their
firmware almost on a weekly basis and
making their camera better and better as
time goes on the One X already starts with
so many amazing features that are
available right now so can you imagine
the amazing updates they'll add to this
camera say in three, six months that will
make this so much better of a camera the
final thing to mention is the price the
One X is $399 at the moment the Fusion $599
that's almost double the price if you
consider the fusion photos and videos to
be significantly better than the One X and
money isn't an issue for you then you
should consider the fusion but if you're
like me and you see them as close enough
then no question the One X is the camera to
choose so I'd be curious to know which
camera do you think is better and why?
Leave a comment down in the
description you can find links to buy
both of these cameras down there as well
for the best price possible also be sure
to check out my video course 'a
beginner's guide to 360 video' if you
want to learn how to get the best
results possible for 360 videos with
these cameras it's really easy if you
know a few simple things and in my video
course I'll teach you all my best tips
and tricks alright well I've got a train
the catch and photos to shoot so I best be going!