Hey guys! Welcome to this comparison of the Insta360 one, the Theta V and the Xiaomi
Mi Sphere photo comparison. These cameras have been out for a few months
now and I can confidently say that these are the best 360 cameras under $500 for
photos I've used all three of them for a while and I feel like I've got a really
good understanding of their strengths and weaknesses and just a quick spoiler
this is going to be way closer than you think and the winner may surprise you
this video is 4k so be sure to turn the resolution up as high as possible
wherever you're watching whether it's Facebook or YouTube so you can see every
last pixel also just letting you know that because this video did turn out to
be a bit longer I've chosen to not display it as a 360 video only because I
don't expect you to interact for a really long period of time it'll be much
easier to sit back and watch a comparison while you've got two
hands-free and you can eat Cheetos at the same time now what is this photo in
front of me I hear you asking well this is me at Niagara Falls and I bet you
didn't think that this was shot on the Insta360 One that looks amazing doesn't
it the dynamic range is so nice and I've shot this in DNG RAW and I've taken it
into Photoshop and done a nice little color grade this is what the photo
looked like before take a look at that it's flat it's dull it's dark but I was
able to revive it in the color grade massively there seems to be two kind of
people out there people they just want to shoot and upload straight away to
their social networks and there's color grading nerds like myself that actually
do take the time to get the best colors possible out of their photos whether
it's going to be a 360 photo or a tiny planet before they post them online
therefore I'm going to have this split comparisons of most photos from this
point onwards so depending which camp you're in you'll see what you're going
to get moving over to the Xiaomi Mi Sphere and straight away straight out of the camera
you'll see the colors are much more saturated and the dynamic range is much
more balanced on the graded version I was able to bring out the colors a lot
more however it is kind of left with a blue tint all the way around I did try
to correct this but it wasn't really possible to remove it completely here we
have the Theta V and I shot this using HDR rendering and every photo from this
point on was shot with HDR rendering which is an awesome setting within the
theta app that in my personal opinion I think it will enhance
your photos in 90% of situations because the HDR on the Theta V is excellent take
a look at this image before and after both look stunning it was able to
capture the scene in front of me with the most amount of realism and accuracy
of color of all three cameras I do want to point out that HDR is not ideal when
you have movement in your shot as you can see by this man with three legs it
doesn't handle movement the best so try and be still if you can be still then
you're gonna have awesome HDR s here they are side by side and as much as I
hate to say it the Xiaomi is looking the worst because the sky is all blown
out the dynamic range doesn't really look as good as the other two look it's
totally absolutely a hundred percent acceptable but the other two are
performing better moving over to the Insta 360 one the dynamic range is
looking really good however it does still feel a little bit washed out I've
I've always been a little bit unsatisfied with Insta 360 cameras because they have
had a washed-out feel look again this result is amazing I'm just complaining
because I can again the Theta V just looks so good there's almost nothing I'd
change about this image other than the slight purple fringing and warning this
is the biggest weakness of the theta V is the purple fringing I will get to
that a little later. "Stitchiiiiiing" this is one of the key factors that you should
consider when buying a 360 camera and in this following experiment I put my face
my beauty on the line and turned the same line directly towards myself to see
just how good the stitching is brace yourself it's going to be hideous ok so
firstly don't put your face in the seam line unless you want to look like the
thing from the sewer secondly this isn't looking that good is it the stitching is
really not great however one thing Insta360 have over most other cameras is
stitching optimization which is a setting in their app and I'm gonna press
it right now and that's better I've gone from mutant Ben to liposuction Ben not
winning any beauty Awards there seriously though from my experience so
far the one has been average at best at near stitching anything within a few
feet of the camera is going to get stitched and chopped up however anything
in the distance especially with stitching optimization is going to turn
out a ok next we have the Mi Sphere held at arm's length seam line facing my
face and again not winning any beauty awards but it is better
before the Xiaomi is quite a thin camera and most of the time I haven't had any
issues with stitching I obviously don't make a habit of taking selfies like this
but I've experienced the stitching to be less than perfect I know it's something
they're continually working on and there have been many people come on with
solutions to getting perfect stitching however for this comparison I want to
stick to the manufacturers apps only same setup with the theta V and you're
probably thinking why didn't he turn the scene towards his face well guess what I
did the seam is smack bang in between my two eyes and look at that that is head
and shoulders above the others the Theta V has the best stitching I've seen from
any all-in-one 360 camera I've never ever had a serious issue with the Theta's
stitching and this is by far one of its biggest strengths okay it's not
completely flawless but it does do the best overall job I also want to add that
I know for a fact that all three of these companies are constantly updating
their firmware and apps to improve the stitching so while this is what you see
now no doubt there will be improvements next test is the Sun this is something
that 360 cameras simply can't avoid so you will want to consider getting a
camera that does handle the Sun well if you do shoot outdoors a lot here we have
the Insta 360 one and it's looking pretty blown out however when I do grade the DNG RAW
file I'm bringing back a lot of detail in the sky and this is actually looking
quite balanced and really atmospheric I like what I'm seeing here with the Xiaomi
the sky is blown out a lot more however to be perfectly honest it's not
actually drawing my eye the Xiaomi doesn't really get lens flares and this
helps keep the image more balanced overall drawing less attention to the
Sun and other imperfections when I color corrected it brings back a little bit
more detail in the sky however it does magnify one issue which is a color
imbalance in one of the lenses this may look like a lens flare but actually it's
one lens picking up Orange more than the other so you have one side a bit bluer
and one side a bit more Orange I know they definitely are working on
fixing this however this is something I've consistently experienced throughout
shooting photos with the Xiaomi when I shoot tiny planets it's easy to avoid
this it's only when you're going for a really strong color correction that this
issue is magnified switching over to the Theta V and this looks okay but this is
in Auto exposure when I change to HDR rendering take a look at
this the Sun is handled so well the dynamic range is just amazing here can
you believe we have such strong highlights and dark shadows working
cohesively within the same image this is looking so so good the Sun is a tiny
little dot there in the sky there's almost nothing other than the actual
circle of the Sun the Theta V performs really well for circular lens flares as
well it doesn't really get those bands or stripes over the image however there
is one thing that you must be careful of and that's the red dot of doom see this
little red dot here it'll show up in basically every picture you take
outdoors so be careful I edit mine out in Snapseed but if it bothers you and
you're not someone that does color grading then it's always gonna be there
putting them side by side you'll see there's a massive difference between all
three however at the same time I think personally they're all acceptable and
the Sun isn't really ruining any of these images and I would be happy
publishing any of these photos Here I am standing in the Eaton Centre in Toronto
which is a beautiful old building and this is going to be a test of mixed
lighting I have a strong light source above me I have artificial lighting
below me and there's lots of walls and floors around so you've got all kinds of
lighting competing in the same photo again the untouched version looks a bit
dull and desaturated personally I like bright vivid colors and I'm not really
happy with that color palette when I do enhance it it's acceptable but the sense
of atmosphere isn't really as magical as it actually was instantly when we
switched the Xiaomi Mi we see the potential that this image has the colors are
looking nice warm and inviting and the dynamic range is excellent here in the
last example the Xiaomi didn't really hold up but in this example where
there's less contrast between your highlights and your shadows the Xiaomi
performs excellently next I got the Theta V out and yes that is a security
guard approaching me clearly I was acting highly suspiciously with my
multitude of cameras taking an endless amount of selfies so she was probably
calling up the SWAT team luckily before that phone call was made I held the
Theta up in the air and I erased her memory.
[Ben singing] ♩ ♪ ♫ here comes the man in black ♩ ♪ ♫
okay you get the reference I digress now take a look at this image I think the
dynamic range speaks for itself it's looking excellent I love this image
again this is HDR rendering not much I can fault about it other than the
chromatic aberration on the left-hand side yes this is actually a split screen
the left-hand sides before the right-hand side is after I removed the
chromatic aberration and a few small things but really this barely needed any
touching up here's the side by side I'm loving the theta V, I'm loving the Xiaomi
the insta 360 is a little bit too washed out for my liking so since I have an
abundance of choice in this kind of situation I would definitely favor the
Theta or the Mi sphere taking the dynamic range point to the extreme
because you guys know I love my dynamic range Here I am about to go to bed in my
air B&B in Toronto we have soft ambient light inside and a dark cityscape
outside this time I've split it horizontally before is on the bottom and
after is on the top this is so I can get a good cross-section of highlights and
shadows on the same plane if I were to guess I'd say more than 50% of
situations I find myself in taking photos the lighting is highly mixed
either I'm inside and there's windows with completely different brightness
outside or I'm outside and there's harsh shadows everywhere this is why I'm going
so in-depth and why you should consider this a big factor in which camera you
choose for photos so now that you've seen all three what do you think were
there big differences were they noticeable were you paying attention to
the shadows and highlights if not let's take a closer look from left to right we
have different amount of depths of the clarity of the city on the Left it's
mostly black and all the buildings fade into each other in the middle we're
getting a bit more definition in color on the right we've got both depth and
beautiful color when I punch into 400% zoom instantly the Xiaomi grabs my eye
when you look at the one York sign you'll see the signer the most amount of
clarity of the three and overall it looks the sharpest the Insta 360 has a
noticeable amount of grain from my experience so far it's not been a good
camera in low-light and every dark situation I've been in with it there's
always been a thick cover of noise throughout the image I can't help but
liking the look of the Theta V photo I'm just an addict to bright colors and the
Theta is always going to be colorful I wish I could have the sharpness of the
Mi Sphere and the colors of the Theta that would be perfect but again these
are going to be the two that will perform better in this situation when we
look in the opposite direction it's a different story when we look at the Mi
Sphere I think my theory from before is really ruining true because this is a
high contrast situation it's not handling those highlights well at all
those whites look completely white I could not recover any of that detail so
you will want to beware when shooting in high contrast situations with the Mi
Sphere the one does better than it at least you've got some definition in that
bedside lamp and some definition is better than no definition when I look at
the Theta V it brings a tear to my eye look at all that definition it's
capturing almost everything within that bedside lamp the theta just thrives in
mixed lighting there's no denying it every camera I've compared the Theta S
and Theta V to so far have paled in comparison when I've done this specific
lighting setup it's just so good at balancing the highlights and the shadows
into one evenly exposed image taken out into low-light I'm next to the iconic
Toronto sign and these are all looking pretty decent I think if you have a good
scene in front of you ultimately that's going to shine brighter then camera
specs and honestly I'd be happy posting any of these images despite the
differences I talked about earlier I'm gonna do the 400% zoom anyway and you'll
notice there's much more clarity on the Mi Sphere and Theta V in both the
highlights the shadows the sign and the building behind the sign Niagara Falls
Ontario one of the most picturesque spots in the world it's time to take
these three cameras out on an assignment to see which one is going to handle this
situation the best the first camera I used was the Insta 360 one and it did a
decent job at capturing one of the smaller waterfalls while the before
photo was too flat for my liking I was really able to bring out the vivid
colors in the water and the silly red poncho and this is a photo I ended up
posting on Instagram and it got a good response
I had it connected to my phone and it was nice having the big preview so I
could see that I was getting a really beautiful 360 before I took it
however the Insta 360 one combined with my iPhone 7 plus is a grand total of over
$1000 and given the waterfall was producing a lot of spray I did not feel
comfortable leaving these two out and putting them both at risk so it was time
to switch the boat sailed closer to the main waterfall of Niagara and I knew it
was a good move to switch to the Theta V because there had very rarely let me down
I knew it was going to capture those colors that dynamic range the whole
atmosphere with the most amount of accuracy and as you can see here it did
an excellent job if I could have kept it out I would have however I experienced
the same issue that I had with the one this is an over $400 camera and there's
the chance that it could get ruined by water damage and I've already ruined so
many Thetas I don't want to add another one to the faded graveyard I just did
not feel comfortable putting this camera at risk because I know it is very
fragile and it could potentially be ruined if I get one too many drops of
water in it so I had no choice no choice but to switch to the only one of these
three cameras that is water resistant and that is the perfect camera for this
situation the Xiaomi Mi Sphere I knew nothing could possibly go wrong now
because this is a cheap water-resistant camera even if it got covered in water
or even if I dropped it it's only around $200 that I'm losing it's not $400 it's
not $300 this is the cheapest camera and as a result I'm willing to take more
risks with it which means I'm going to get more photos in situations like this
if I hadn't have had the Mi Sphere right now I wouldn't put my cameras away from
full stop by this point because they would have been water damaged I felt
very comfortable snapping away and I got about 10 to 15 photos with the Mi Sphere
there was so much water spray that the lenses did keep getting covered in water
droplets however every 10 seconds or so I would clean the lenses on my jeans and
then try again I'd use the two second self timer and try and take my epic
selfie it did fail a lot of times but before the boat turned back I got that
one epic shot that I'm going to cherish always I've posted this on Instagram and
Facebook as soon as the boat docked and I got a massively good response and I'm
going to look back on this photo in 10 20 30 years and feel like I'm actually
there I'm so glad the Mi Sphere was able to capture this moment for me and to me
this reminds me of a saying that a lot of photographers use the right camera to
use is the camera you have on you the Xiaomi was the camera that did the job
even though the Theta V probably would have taken technically a better photo
I was still able to capture at the moment with these Xiaomi and
look I may been able to deal with the one as well but any of these cameras
would have captured this moment and it was capturing the moment there was the
most important thing practicality is just so key I say it all the time your
camera needs to be something that you can get out and take a photo with
straight away and feel comfortable doing so all of these cameras are fast and
easy to use however they do have their subtle differences I would strongly
encourage you to check out my full review of each camera to see exactly
what those nuances are they're all great but they all have a time and a place oh
and by the way you may have noticed not once up to this point have I mentioned
what any of the resolutions are funny that huh turns out there are so many
things that are more important than resolution aren't there well anyway
here's what the resolutions are well the Xiaomi MI and Insta 360 One are 6912 by 3456
the Theta V is 5376 by 2688 yeah look that's a smaller resolution but it
did outperform the other two in the vast majority of situations this is why you
shouldn't obsess over resolution yes you do need it with 360 but you just need a
basic amount and then there are more important things that come into play
looking at prices and the Insta 360 one is around about the $300 mark on
Amazon I will put a link down in description I think that's a really good
deal it does have a lot of flaws but it still is an excellent camera and hey you
know what it's on gearbest.com as well free shipping $280
I found gearbest to be excellent others have had mixed experiences but to save
twenty bucks I would strongly recommend trying gearbest you can also find the
Xiaomy Mi Sphere on gearbest for around the $200 to $230 mark it does go up and
down all the time so do click the link in the description at the time of
watching this to check out the price but you're looking at 200 and something
totally worth it in my opinion it's an amazing video camera as well do check
out my review on that finally we have the Theta V it's $427
right now and as a photographer to do all the awesome stuff
you see in this video I can personally justify paying that much extra a lot of
other people just can't they won't pay the lowest price possible for a 360
camera so if that's you then go one of the cheaper ones if you want really good
quality go the Theta V so I'm curious who is your winner did you like the
Insta 360 one did you prefer the Xiaomi or are you a die-hard Theta fan let me
know in the box below I'd be keen to know which is your favorite also
don't forget to hit that subscribe button for more awesome side-by-side
comparisons of all of the mayor 360 cameras we have so many cool videos
coming out in 2018 is not funny I have way too many 360 cameras on order right
now I've gone completely broke I've stopped eating but you know what it's
worth it cuz these cameras are so damn cool by the way did I mention that I
already did a video comparison between these three cameras well maybe that's
the next video you should watch also feel free to check me out on instagram
my handle is @BenClermont if you want to see tiny planets and all kinds of
wacky 360 stuff you can find me there we also have a share account it's
@lifein360photo if you post a tiny planet on Instagram and you tag #lifein360
you then have a chance of being shared by the official life in 360
Instagram account alright guys until next time keep capturing your world in
360 this is your boy Ben Clermont and I will see you in the next video
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