New King of 8K 360 Cameras? Qoocam 3 Ultra vs. Insta360 X4 | 30-Minute In-Depth Review
hey what's up everybody! now you are at Laguna Beach right here in California Southern California in front of me is the beautiful Pacific Ocean and behind you it's just a giant rock and we are actually in between ocean kind of uh it's one of the advantage of a 360 camera so you can actually see everything around you And that footage was captured on the brand-new Kandao Qoocam 3 Ultra. After a long wait, it's finally here – a pocket-sized 8K 360 camera designed with professional creators in mind. The Qoocam 3 Ultra boasts one of the highest resolutions on the market, offering 8K and 10-bit color, specifically targeting the Apple Vision Pro or any HDR display. With 5.7K 360 in 60fps super sampling, a new Dynamic Boost mode for better highlights, a 96MP sensor with an F1.6 fast fisheye lens, and support for 8K 360 livestreaming, plus built-in GPS, this camera meets all the high-end demands of the 360 community as well as Virtual Tour community. And the best part is? It comes at a surprisingly affordable price!
But before you get too excited, there are some trade-offs you need to know about – trade-offs that might not align with what you're looking for in an 8K action 360 camera. In this in-depth technical review, I'll break down all the pros and cons of the Qoocam 3 Ultra, compare it with another popular 8K 360 camera – the Insta360 X4, and help you make an informed decision. Ready to find out if this is your next 360 camera? Let's get started! Hi everyone! It is your boi Hugh The number one reason you should consider upgrading your camera is image quality. Unfortunately, the 360 camera market has often prioritized gimmicks like AI and impressive specs on paper over actual RAW image quality. It's refreshing to see that the Qoocam 3 Ultra has taken a different approach. Over the past three years, they've re-engineered a consumer 360 camera that prioritizes what matters most to immersive content creators – outstanding image quality in a compact, portable body.
We know the Qoocam 3 Ultra features a larger image sensor and faster fisheye lenses, but let's dive straight into the image quality comparison to see how it stacks up against the Insta360 X4 and the Insta360 One RS 1-inch 360. "From left to right, we have the Insta360 X4 in 8K, the Qoocam 3 Ultra, and the Insta360 One RS 1-inch 360 – honestly, the only three 360 cameras worth considering in mid-2024, unless GoPro surprises us with the Max 2 or Canon. Immediately, you can see the Qoocam 3 Ultra's image quality is far superior to both the X4 8K and the RS 1-inch. Zoom in on the chart and kimchi, and you'll notice a sharper, more natural image with the Ultra. There's less compression and fewer digital artifacts. We even spotted missing details in both
the X4 and RS 1-inch – the red dot on the 'I' of 'FUJIFILM' is only visible in the Qoocam 3 Ultra. "Interestingly, the Insta360 X4 still looks better than the One RS 1-inch 360, despite One RS has a bigger 1" sensor. In 360 cameras, resolution is crucial because the pixels are spread across the entire 360-degree frame. Both the Insta360 X4 and Qoocam 3 Ultra use Quad-Bayer sensors, a new technology originally developed by Sony. Despite being smaller than 1 inch, these sensors deliver better image quality in well-lit situations. However, Quad-Bayer sensors struggle in low light, which is why the X4 isn't a great low-light camera."
The Qoocam 3 Ultra uses a slightly larger sensor than the X4, but what really makes it shine is its new lens design. Theoretically, both the Qoocam 3 Ultra and X4 Quad-Bayer sensors can achieve 96 megapixels, but this requires sophisticated prism and lens designs, which significantly increase production and engineering costs. Currently, the best practice is designing the lens according to the Quad-Bayer binning, which is 1/4 of the resolution. So, the X4 lens is designed to meet roughly a 36MP specification instead of 96MP. This high-quality lens shows its advantage when
capturing distant objects. Here, the boat and swimmers far out in the Pacific Ocean are clear with the Qoocam, while the X4 shows just a blurry mass. This is crucial for landscape videography and travel videos, so travel enthusiasts, take notes! We do notice some noise even in well-lit situations, similar to the old Qoocam 3. This isn't necessarily a bad thing for a professionally focused camera. In-camera denoising is usually not as effective, even with the X4's AI chip handling it. You can achieve much better denoising results using software like DaVinci Resolve. However, this is still a
trade-off for those who just want to shoot and post without worrying about post denoising. If you look at the highlights, you'll notice that the Qoocam 3 Ultra has a significantly better dynamic range. This is thanks to a special mode called Dynamic Range Boost, which uses the Quad-Bayer sensor to perform a 3-stop HDR merge directly in the video. The end result is much better highlight detail, especially in the sky.
Just like the old Qoocam 8K, the Qoocam 3 Ultra is capable of capturing 10-bit color in HLG BT2020. You can learn more about the differences between 10-bit and 8-bit video here." Now, let's compare all four modes to see which one you should use. From left to right, we have DR boost in 8-bit Rec.709, no DR boost in 8-bit, DR boost in 10-bit HLG, and no DR boost in 10-bit HLG. 8-bit without DR boost performs the worst under direct sunlight, struggling
with both highlights and shadows. However, DR boost in 10-bit introduces some color issues when converted to Rec.709 color space. You can see this chromatic aberration around high-contrast areas. The best results are achieved by using just one enhanced mode. In my tests, 10-bit HLG produced the best outcome. Yes, we lose some highlight detail, but the color is richer, with less banding and overall better shadows, which is where most of my subjects fall.
10-bit HDR video, similar to iPhone HDR video, isn't for everyone. You need to know how to handle HDR color space to enhance your footage effectively. Otherwise, you risk clipping highlights or washing out your image. The best practice is to shoot in
10-bit and convert it to Rec.709 color space, or avoid using it if you're unsure. Here's how you can convert BT2020 Qoocam 3 Ultra footage into Rec.709 color space in Adobe Premiere. Go to Lumetri Color and jump to the settings tab. Make sure your settings match mine. Under project settings, check 'Auto Detect Log Video Color Space'. Ensure your media color space is set to Rec.2100 HLG. Change the working color space to Rec.709 unless you are grading for Apple Vision Pro or Dolby Vision. Check 'Auto Tone Map Media'. At the clip level, use Max RGB settings
and adjust the exposure and highlight saturation to your preference. This works like RAW color, allowing you to recover missing highlights and saturation without creating banding." See, I've just offered you more value! Smash the subscribe and like buttons, and drop me a thank you comment down below! The real advantage of 10-bit is HDR on an HDR-enabled device like the iPhone 15 Pro Max right here, or better, Apple Vision Pro. The current Kandao XR app on Apple Vision Pro supports HDR immersive video, so take advantage of that and experience the difference between HDR and SDR immersive 360 video. And trust me, HDR looks amazing! 8K is still a big file to handle, both in terms of hard drive space and processing requirements. The Qoocam 3 Ultra has an even higher data rate, around 150Mbps,
which is 50Mbps more than the X4 in 8K. This will eat up your card space faster than most action cameras out there. Fortunately, the Qoocam 3 Ultra comes with 128GB of very fast built-in storage and supports microSD cards up to 1TB. I prefer shooting with the internal memory as it is very reliable, reducing the risk of common card corruption issues, and offers more than three times faster offload speed if you have a Thunderbolt 3 or 4 connection. If you're only doing 360 reframing for social media instead of full immersive video, you probably won't need 8K. That's why
the Insta360 X4 has a 5.7K+ mode that supersamples 8K full sensor quality down to 5.7K – a much more manageable file size without significant quality loss. Supersampling is a common feature in modern cameras, like the new SONY and Canon models, such as the R7. The Qoocam 3 Ultra, like the X4, also supersamples from 8K down to 5.7K. But it
has one decisive advantage that might make action sports videographers want to upgrade now – 60fps in 5.7K supersampling. Let's compare. Here on the left is the Qoocam 3 Ultra in 5.7K 60fps, and on the right is the X4 in 5.7K+ mode at 30fps. To avoid confusion, the Qoocam does not have a separate 5.7K+ mode like the X4. Take a look at me in the distance, running away from the wave – I am significantly sharper than in the X4. Look at a close-up object like this blue sunshade on the right. You can clearly read the branding on the Qoocam, but not on the X4. Now let's slow them down to 50% of the original speed in slow motion. Take a look. The X4 has obvious skip frames and choppy motion,
while the Qoocam is super smooth in slow motion. The Qoocam 3 Ultra doesn't stop there. It can also do 4K at 120fps – super slow motion. Look at this seagull flying by very close to the camera. You would miss the action if you weren't in super slow motion. But there is a problem with the 120fps mode. Even though the quality is still from 8K supersampling,
we see aliasing issues on hard edges, like right here. We hope Kandao can fix this issue in future firmware updates. However, you can use Topaz Video AI to easily fix this. It's always easier to use AI to upscale than to increase the frame rate. Remember that! If you need slow motion,
shoot at a high frame rate and upscale in post using AI, but not the other way around." If you appreciate this extra tip, drop a like for Kimchi! What about low light? We all know the Insta360 X4 in 8K struggles in low light situations due to the design of the Quad-Bayer sensors. The ISO is capped at 1600, which is too dark for most nighttime situations – like this Fourth of July fireworks show, celebrating American Independence Day in an election year. The recent firmware upgrade for the X4 allows you
to use the 5.7K+ mode to bypass this limit and go up to ISO 6400. However, the Qoocam 3 Ultra already outperforms in terms of specs. In 8K, the ISO cap is 6400, and it allows you to choose 3200, 4000, 5000, and 6400, instead of jumping straight from 3200 to 6400 like the Insta360. Here’s a side-by-side comparison at ISO 3200. The X4 is very soft and blurry – you
can’t even tell what people are doing around the Tesla. With the Qoocam 3 Ultra, even though it is a bit noisy due to the high ISO, you can still see the image clearly." In the distance, there should be light, but that information is completely missing in the Insta360 X4. This is partly because the lens aperture is larger in the Qoocam 3 Ultra,
allowing more light into the sensor and letting the camera capture more details. The Qoocam 3 Ultra is the best low-light 360 camera available for under $600. However, this doesn't mean it is a true low-light camera. As you can see from my iPhone footage, it still performs far better. So, I still don't recommend using any consumer 360 camera for low-light filmmaking. Stabilization Test "Besides my skin color, which tends to appear too red on the X4, both cameras have very impressive stabilization. What about machine vibration? What
makes Flowstate Stabilization special is how the X4 handles rolling shutter jello in high vibration frequencies. So, we decided to put the Qoocam 3 Ultra on my drone and conduct a drone 360 camera test. Here are the results. As you can see, even though the color, dynamic range, and clarity are excellent, the stabilization is not. We can see vibration and
rolling shutter jello that are impossible to fix. The Insta360 X4 and Insta360 Sphere never have this issue, so this is a significant drawback. I hope Kandao can address this, as it will also affect motorsports when you attach the camera to a motorcycle, sports car, or FPV drone. The idea of a 360 camera is to stitch the front and back lenses together into an equirectangular sphere footage. This process is
called stitching. To cover the full 96MP sensor, the Qoocam 3 Ultra uses an offset lens design, which affects stitching quality as a trade-off. Let's take a look together. On the left is the Qoocam 3 Ultra, using the latest Studio Dynamic Optical Flow Stitching. On the right is the Insta360 X4, using the latest AI stitching. At first glance, both look pretty good,
but let's freeze the frame at about 2-feet. Look at my face and the line behind me. The Insta360 X4 uses machine learning to keep my face and the line intact, while the Qoocam 3 Ultra shows Optical Flow artifacts, distorting my face for a brief moment before snapping back to normal. This is one area where I hope Kandao can utilize AI to improve the stitching quality.
So, the Qoocam 3 Ultra audio in the current firmware is a bit hot and tends to clip. The X4 has better audio levels and sounds less harsh compared to the Qoocam 3 Ultra. In terms of audio quality for daily vlogging, the X4 is better. However, just like the old Qoocam 3, the Ultra can record 4-channel ambisonic audio directly in the camera. This eliminates the need for an external ambisonic spatial mic, which is a significant advantage if you use spatial audio in your immersive 360 films. Ambisonic audio
can be upmixed to Dolby Atmos for Apple Vision Pro. The Qoocam series is the only camera that has built-in spatial audio. Audio engineer or meditation creator, this is your camera 360 photography is a key feature for professional virtual tour creators and 360 landscape photographers like myself. Please give me a follow on Facebook 360 and let my work inspire you." "If you are a real estate photographer,
you might be wondering if this camera can deliver professional-quality images that can make you money. I'm happy to tell you that yes, it can. The Qoocam 3 Ultra captures 14K (13888 x 6944) HDR 360 photos, which is higher than the X4's 12K and the One RS 1-INCH's 6K. Let's compare. From left to right, we have the One RS 1-INCH, the Qoocam 3 Ultra in AEB mode, and the X4 in HDR mode. The highlights are better in the One RS 1-INCH and X4 because both allow you to capture 1 stop EV apart with 9 bracketed HDR. The Qoocam 3 Ultra AEB only allows you to capture 0.7 stops apart with 7 bracketed HDR. However, the Qoocam 3 Ultra offers
more natural color rendering without the strange saturated green seen in Insta360, and realistic highlight roll-off without an overly HDR look. It also has better shadow detail. Let's pan to the shadow side of the house. Here, you really see the difference in quality when matched in size. The X4 quickly loses shadow detail – look inside the computer, it’s just black. The One RS 1-INCH has better dynamic range, but the sharpness suffers at only 6K. Look at the
chart and the Emmy statuette; it also misses color information on the keyboard and mouse. Additionally, the Qoocam 3 Ultra, like other Qoocam series cameras, has a DNG8 mode. Let's compare DNG8 mode with AEB HDR photo mode. The AEB mode is just slightly better than DNG8 mode. The benefit of DNG8 mode is no ghosting, and it's perfect for outdoor scenes as it captures much faster than traditional HDR merge. It's the ideal mode for outdoor landscape 360 photography.
As a 360 camera targeting professionals, Kandao offers features that influencers might not need, but professionals do – such as 8K 360 live streaming and GPS-enabled Google Street View mapping. The live stream feature is not available in the current firmware, so I will have a dedicated tutorial to cover it in detail when it comes out. See this little map icon here? It indicates that the camera is receiving GPS data. 8K video with GPS data can be directly uploaded to Google Street View to generate GSV blue-line. Virtual tour photographers might want to offer this service to make extra money from local clients. Learn more in this video." The Qoocam 3 Ultra also has a Bluetooth microphone feature, allowing you to connect it with your DJI Mic. Personally,
I don't use Bluetooth mics as they often sound bad, but it’s a useful feature if you need it. Now, let's talk about some cons I found in the Qoocam 3 Ultra. The strengths of the Qoocam 3 Ultra can easily become its drawbacks for those who lack post-production skills in 360 video. The 8K video takes longer to stitch and render, which can't really be done on a phone. Additionally, it requires color grading and denoising to make the footage look great. Fortunately, this channel will arm you with the necessary knowledge to excel in 360 post-production, helping your videos stand out from the sea of other 360 content. If you're new
here, don't forget to subscribe and hit the bell." Beyond the complexity, there are some physical limitations as well. The biggest concern is the weight. At 327g, this is by far the heaviest 360 camera – almost double the weight of the X4 (198g) and 93g heavier than the One RS 1-inch 360. This weight limits the camera's use in drones, FPV, and most action sports that require a lightweight camera. I wish they could remove the WiFi unit, GPS unit,
and internal storage to reduce the weight. Another issue is the color science. The Qoocam 3 Ultra captures pretty flat images, which is great for those who know how to color grade but not ideal for those who prefer a more straightforward approach. This can be easily fixed with a LUT, which I will provide for download if anyone is interested. Comment and let me know. The camera runs on a powerful Android system. It works great when it does – for example, the start-up time is almost instant. However, it has crashed on me a couple of times on the beach. This
is a pre-production unit, so hopefully, this issue will be resolved in the final production unit. The camera can also overheat. The X4 eliminates overheating problems with over 30 minutes of filming time. However, the Qoocam 3 Ultra overheats fairly quickly in 8K mode. Your mileage may vary depending on your shooting environment. It also has a built-in fan that gets loud when the camera is very hot, which isn't ideal for capturing clear audio. It has a time-lapse video mode, but it's only 8K. The X4 has an 11K time-lapse video mode, which
looks amazing. If you need time-lapse, you can use the interval photo mode to capture 14K time-lapse photos in both DNG and JPG. The interval can be set as low as 1 second, but you'll need to stitch them together in post, which can be a hassle but allows for very high-quality time-lapse. There is no starlapse mode neither – that's an Insta360 feature. However, the long exposure
time can be set up to 50 seconds, so it will be able to capture the Milky Way with no problem. I'm heading to Joshua Tree soon to capture some Milky Way time-lapse footage for you, so don't forget to subscribe to see that video. Despite having a similar battery capacity as the Insta360 X4, the Qoocam 3 Ultra's 10-bit mode and high-quality 8K footage tend to drain the battery faster. I got about 50 minutes of run time compared to the Insta360 X4's 135 minutes. Make sure to get at least two batteries. The price is $100 more than the X4 at $599,
but you can offset that by pre-ordering now for $499. Check the link down below if you're interested. I'll provide a discount if it's too late for you to pre-order. Compared to Qoocam, Insta360's mobile app, Premiere plugins, and desktop editing app are very powerful with lots of AI features. Kandao does have its own app with many similar features,
but it isn't as powerful as Insta360's. Honestly, nobody does. Not even Canon or SONY. Insta360 is renowned for its powerful, easy-to-use mobile editing app. But don't worry. With 8K in 10-bit color depth, you'll be better off learning DaVinci Resolve and how to edit like a pro. And that's what this channel is all about. DaVinci Resolve has the most advanced animation and 360 reframe system. I'll cover more on that in my next tutorial. So, who is this camera for? I use it a lot as my B-camera or behind-the-scenes camera for my professional immersive filmmaking work. By the way, this immersive puppy experience shot on
the new Canon is coming soon on Apple Vision Pro. Stay tuned for that release if you're a fan of puppies. We help raise money for a non-profit called 'For the Win Project'. Check it out if you want to help children. For virtual tour creators, this camera is a
no-brainer. The 14K 360 photo quality is so impressive; you can easily make your money back by selling more luxury houses. For immersive 360 filmmakers looking to get into Apple Vision Pro, this is also a great camera. With the native visionOS player app, Kandao XR,
already on the App Store, your captured footage can be pushed directly there. The HDR will look amazing once you figure out how to work with Dolby Vision. This camera is designed to replace the Qoocam 8K Enterprise. So, if you're planning to do 8K 360 livestreams, this can be a great upgrade or addition to your existing setup. While Kandao hasn't explicitly mentioned a multi-camera switching solution for livestreams,
it would be nice. Keep submitting those feature requests so Kandao can address your needs. For social media creators or action sports users, I’m not so sure. This camera might be overkill for that, especially since the stabilization isn't as good as the X4 and it's too heavy to mount on a helmet. However, the 5.7K 60fps super-sampling is nice, so it's a tough call. Kandao is not a company that releases a camera and then moves on. The Kandao Qoocam 8K recently got an update unlocking 5.7K 60fps mode,
even after more than four years. That says a lot about their commitment to their users. Now, the review is done, I'm shipping my pre-production unit back and pre-ordering my production unit. This video is not sponsored. But you can support my next video by joining our Patreon or buying Kimchi a vegan dog treat. No! I don't want vegan! Give me chicken! Our next video here is about another new VR camera. It's an exciting year
to be an immersive or spatial filmmaker. Arm yourself with knowledge and keep creating, my friends. I'll see you next time!
2024-08-01 17:02
