Hey what's up everybody.
It is your boy Hugh here in 360VR.
So GoPro MAX is now officially out.
There are ton of 2D reviews out there by 2D videographers or YouTubers - big influencers
that might not have any experience in 360 VR content creation, or just don't have enough
360 cameras to compare to really show the image quality, stabilization, stitching quality
of the GoPro MAX among all the others 360 cameras.
GoPro MAX is a mind blowing camera if you never use a 360 camera before.
But if you put that with other 360 cameras, is GoPro MAX still stand out?
There are cheaper or even better options out there, should you buy the MAX for 360 or even
2D overcapture video production?
This video series will answer all these questions and more.
This is a 5.6K 360 video, so please look around or better, watch this in your VR headset like
Oculus Go or Oculus Quest.
If you put on your VR headset already, let's check out the GoPro MAX image quality now.
[MUSIC]
In front of me is the Insta360 ONE X.
And me stand straight in front of the lens.
The ONE X is about like 1.5 Ft away from the camera I am 3 ft away from the camera and
also I put a focus chart like 5 ft away from the camera but off the side.
The reason why is because of these camera are fisheye camera.
The center is usually sharper than the edge of the lens.
But that is edge just the side edge of the lens.
So we want to find out how sharp is the edge kinda side of the lens of the GoPro MAX with
the focus chart right here compared to Fusion, ONE X and the VuzeXR.
So if you walk with me to the side.
Oh BTW the condition here is actually really dramatic.
The Sun is right here right on my face.
I am defintely blown out or over exposed but on the other side.
If you walk with me like right here on the bushes area this is all in the shadow areas.
So we want to see how good is the highlights compared to shadows of the GoPro MAX.
Pay attention to the detail of the tree.
And then also look around here we have the Insta360 Titan right here.
later on we will compare it the Titan with the GoPro MAX just for fun but it will be
interesting to see how much the image quality different in VR of these 2 cameras.
And also I think really important to test out is the stitching quality of the GoPro
MAX.
So I place a focus chart right here.
Right on the stitch line and it is 3 ft away from the GoPro MAX.
As you all know GoPro Fusion is really good - have a really good stitching quality.
It will look great even in 2 ft like right now.
So I want to find out if the max has the same stithcing quality and sharpness on the edge
so why I want you to focus on the focus chart to see how sharp the edges.
While we at it, let's go ahead and do some stitch tests.
I am 2 ft away.
I am 1 foot away.
I am touching the camera.
optical flow artifates.
Top and bottom.
Also pay attention to the bottom as well so we use the Invisible selfie stick from the
Insta360.
So I know the invisible selfie stick will disappear in the ONE X. Will find out if it
is gonna disappear on the GoPro MAX.
So let's switch to the next camera.
See how it perform.
Compare to the MAX.
Next will be the Fusion.
Before we jump to Fusion, let's do a quick overview of the image quality of MAX.
Again, the full detailed review is going to be in the next 2D video.
This is just a quick overview to point out the obvious for you to look at.
The obvious advantage of the MAX is its dynamic range and color.
I love the GoPro color and it always look rich and pop.
I think the color in MAX is even better than the Fusion.
Hightlight vs shadow is the biggest improvement of MAX.
Look at the sun and compare it to the dark areas in the bushes, everything is well exposed.
Later you see both Fusion and ONE X can not match this even blend of light.
This is thanks to their newly improved EAC projection with extra overlap for post color
blending to get rid of the common stitch line and better expourse matching between front
and back lens.
This is probable the most impressive improvement of the MAX - as no other 2 lenese 360 camera
can do that.
This makes MAX the best seamless overcapture 360 camera - from the stitching stand point.
There are optical flow stitching artifacts especially in the nadir and zeith or top and
bottom of the picture.
Look up at in the sky and you see what I am talking about.
Later on, you don't see this problem in both Fusion and ONE X. ONE X is famous for its
nadir stitching - aka invisible selfie stick.
MAX is not there yet.
The sky is my big concern tho, b/c this mean you can not hook the MAX upside down and fly
it with a drone.
The ground will have stitching artifacts makes the drone footage unusable.
Now we have GoPro Fusion - which is only $299.
Beside dynamic range or expource blend which only available on MAX, the Fusion look identitcal
to MAX.
If I do not do a one after another comparison, you probabaly can not tell which one is which.
So the GoPro marketing says the MAX is 5.6K - but it is not true.
The final ProRes or Cineform 422 render is only 5376 by 2688 - which is 5.3K - little
bit better than Fusion 5.2K in 30fps.
But Fusion can do true 5.6K in 24fps.
So in number, the Fusion is higher resolution than MAX - thank to that 2 SD card setup.
MAX does use EAC projection that can have 25% quality increase in the final result - or
at least that is what they says in their article.
But watching this in a VR headset, in ProRes with Premiere and Oculus Rift S - the original
source file does not look better than Fusion in term of sharpness and compression artifacts.
I provide the download link below if you want to check it in your VR headset.
BUT, around stitch line where the focus chart is, you can see Fusion get really blurry - it
can not keep the sharpness around the edge of the lens.
For MAX, even the stitch line area is sharp.
And the stitch line is blend way better than Fusion.
Also, there are chrometic abberation around the stitch line area in Fusion - not in MAX.
The stitching quality is most the same as they both use D.wrap.
So I think MAX really stand out when you look at the left and right stitch line, in term
of sharpness, expource blending, and stitching quality.
This is an obvious advantage of the MAX.
Good job GoPro.
But is this worth extra $200 with lower resolution compared to Fusion.
Well comment below and tell me what you think.
Now we have the Insta360 ONE X - a popular 5.7K 360 camera.
Even tho the resolution is higher in the ONE X, there is no visible quality improvement
on the ONE X compared to MAX.
Actually, I personally think the sharpness in Fusion and MAX is better than ONE X - deal
to lower compression artifacts.
MAX is using H.265 as source compression inside the camera - so 60mbps bitrate is actually
close to 90mbps in ONE X.
Again the age old argument of Insta360 ONE X actual sensor resolution is really unknown.
By looking at this in a VR headset, sharpenss is mostly the same.
MAX again has better edge sharpness - and really show when compared to ONE X - which
you know already - ONE X do not have the same stitching quality compared to Fusion.
So MAX has huge advantage in term of stitching and edge image quality compare to ONE X. Plus
MAX has less compression artifacts thanks to HEVC - same advanced codec technology use
in Insta360 Titan - the overall image quality is better in MAX.
Not by a lot.
Just a tiny bit.
If you are looking at the center of the lens - you probably can not tell.
Well there is why both focus chart here are off the side.
Quickly we jump to HDR mode in the ONE X. HDR video allow ONE X has a better dynamic
range - as you can see in the shadown behind me.
But same expource blending issue - ONE X is not doing so well with the sun shining directly
to the lens.
So the whole HDR video look waste out compare to MAX or Fusion.
Other YouTuber love the HDR mode, but personally I will stay away.
You can not do HDR with a 8 bit sensor.
Lastly we have the Vuze XR - an other 5.7K 360 camera.
They are a US-based company just like GoPro.
Judging from the image quality, Vuze XR is a little bit blurry compared to MAX or ONE
X. I think Vuze XR is better as a VR180 camera - for 360, it is not so much.
Stitching wide, VUZE XR also not as good as MAX, Fusion or ONE X because of the big gap
between the lenses.
Now for bouns point, we quickly jump to Insta360 Titan in 5K.
Even tho with exact same resolution to the MAX - you can tell the details is way way
better in the Titan, especially in the distance object.
I know this is not a fair comparison.
But it really put you in the prespective that sensor size and lens quality play a very important
part in the image quality in 360 VR.
GoPro MAX is a fun consumer camera.
But it still have no place in professional world simply because its resolution limitation
and small sensor size.
You can only do some much in ISP (image signal processor) and software advancement.
GoPro MAX really set the bar high in both of these areas - but it falls short in the
actual hardware specs.
This leave competitors like Insta360 and Kandao space to come take crown.
Yes, MAX is the best consumer 360 camera right now in the market - but for how long?
Thank you for watching.
This is just a simple first video of the series - testing and reviewing the brand new GoPro
MAX.
If you are more a 2D videographer, you don't want to miss my next unbiased GoPro MAX review
video in 2D.
Also, we will put the GoPro MAX in the real world like what you see here, flying on DJI
drone up in the sky - what I call the drone stabilization test.
I will also put it side by side with the Insta360 ONE X, Vuze XR and even the UNDER NDA I CAN'T
SAY ANYTHING JUST YET unreleased Kandao camera - that will be direct competitor to the GoPro
MAX.
I heard rumor it is a X K+ consumer camera fill the gap that MAX fail to delivery.
All that on the next series of videos.
So don't forget to subscribe.
If you like this test, it will really help me and this channel by liking and sharing
this video.
I will see you in Virtual Reality next time.