Qoocam 3 Ultra 1-Month Review: Lens Guard, Stabilization & Overheating Fixes + 8K Reframe Tutorial
the new king of 360 The Qoocam 3 Ultra just got even better with some major updates remember those issue from my original review well they are history now stabilization issue on drones and motorbikes gone no lens guard now there's one that is not only better but also cheaper overheating issue not anymore it can run in 8K continuously forever and that is just the tips of the iceberg they have added a true 10bit HLG curve for all your colorist out there and a LUT generator for those who just want out the box Vivid color in app or desktop Studio a new 96 megapixel DNG Timelapse mode with programmable shutter speed ramping for holy grail day to night Timelapse at ISO 100 and Milky Way Starlapse a new exposure clipping indicator for highlight protection and they even fix the audio level issue reframing in Qoocam software is a pain well it still is but don't worry I'm going to show you how to reframe 8K Ultra footage like a pro using Insta360 Studio yep the most powerful free editing software for 360 Framing and just when you thought it couldn't get any better I have got some extra to share including sweet discount code if you miss the early bird price so strap in and let's dive into this killer new features before we dive in let's talk about Kandao Qoocam series it's not a household name and if you have been on internet you have probably seen some mix opinions when you think of 360 camera you likely only know one brand right here the Insta360 great camera like the X4 right here super popular in the consumer world but if you move up to the prosumer and even professional level Kandao is the company create some very interesting professional grade solution ever watch The Flash by Warner Brothers and DC Comics starring Ezra Miller as Barry Allen and Michael Keaton as Batman in the behind the scenes footage you can spot Barry stun double wearing a scorpion rig with a Kandao Qoocam 8K Enterprise attached at the end that is just one example on how creatively you can use 360 cameras in Film Production and Kandao Qoocam is right in the middle of it even they don't didn't realize it until now because of this video so if multi-million dollar movie are using Qoocam for virtual production Kandao is clearly doing something right they are making something that professional love and now we have got the third generation of their Pro level 360 camera the Qooca 3 Ultra just so you know this is not a sponsor video I'm going to be brutally honest in this review so let's start with the biggest update of all the introduction of the lens guard just like the Insta360 right here the Qoocam 3 Ultra now support lens guard but unlik the X4 the purchase of the Qoocam 3 Ultra doesn't include a free lens guard. It cost you $21.99 sure it's not free but it's still cheaper than the insta 360 premium lens card now let's compare the image quality with and without the lens guard spoiler alert you wouldn't be able to tell the differences next we are comparing the Qoocam 3 Ultra lens protector against the premium lens guard and the standard free lens guard of the Insta360 X4 we will be testing lens flare and stitching quality when it comes to flare resistant and lens quality the Qoocam 3 Ultra lens protector is better than the Insta360 X4 honestly the premium lens guard from the X4 is basically useless don't waste your money on it you can clearly see the lens reflection right here on the standard lens guard you don't really see the reflection but there's pretty bad Vailing flare that affect the image quality on the other hand the Qoocam 3 Ultra give you some pretty cinematic Sun bouquet that is totally usable now let's talk about stitching they are all pretty bad at it which is why I never used lens guard for 360 video but if you absolutely must the premium lens guard deliver the worst result the Qoocam 3 Ultra right here once again pull ahead with just a very minor Distortion so there you have it the new Qoocam 3 Ultra lens protector lens guard is impressive and a great addition for extra piece of mind and for the Insta360 stick with the standard lens guard right here and don't bother with the premium lens guard since we have got all the camera lined up right here let's dive into the image quality comparison one more time wow they all look pretty similar now what happened well Insta360 X4 recently have a firmware update that adjust its image quality right after I released my first Qoocam 3 Ultra review if you are an Insta360 X4 owner you'll be happy to know that your camera just got a boost in image quality especially at 8K 30 frame per second I'm all about fairness here so I got to give Insta360 a big thumb up for continuously to improve the image quality of the flagship camera right here see competition is great for Consumer my job here is to push all this manufacturer to do better for you the consumer I serve you not the camera company so help Kimchi out by subscribing this Channel and support Fair evidence-based camera review on YouTube speaking of kimchi if you really zoom in you will still see a lot more detail in the Qoocam 3 Ultra but then we noticed a big issue with the Qoocam in 8 bit regular mode clipping highlights and losing detail in Auto exposure you can see on the wall right here if you own the Qoocam 3 Ultra avoid using 8 bit mode instead shoot in HDR or hlg 10 bit mode and with the current firmware set your EV to minor one to avoid clipping highlights write that tips down right now when done right in post shooting in HDR is like capturing in mini raw video you can adjust exposure and highlight situation in your favor eding software when delivering this in REC709 color space as you can see here you can't do much with the Insta360 X4 8K footage but with the Qoocam you can make adjustment without introducing banding or compression artifacts and that is the power of 10bit HDR video in action and if you're unsure how check out my original tutorial right here now if you look at the video scope you will notice this time is the X4 that is blowing out the Qoocam 3 in 10 bit dynamic range boost mode has way more highlight head room than the X4 and same goes with the Shadows you will also notice the X4 struggle with high detail area like the tree behind me or kimchi fur while the Qoocam 3 Ultra handle fine detail really well to make exposure settings easier on set Qoocam has introduced a professional feature usually only found on prosumer camera the clipping indicator you can turn on right here this feature is a game changer for nailing the correct exposure Outdoors especially in 10 bit HDR mode I wish insta360 had something like this hey what's up everybody so me and kimchi right now I'm carrying like a baby uh so me and kimchi right now is outside uh under the hot Califoria sun and kimchi love to run around in backyard but what we doing right now is an overheating test in a real world scenario so that's what you should do right using a 360 camera capture outside environment uh with your loved one right here my love one right here let you out uh yeah capture he ran away uh so capture 360 video in the outside under the sun and then we want to see the camera which one will be overheat first and then fail to capture the thing we want so this is the overhead test so let's see uh we also have a heat gun right here will give me like a redar display to see where is the hot coming out from the camera body and what is the exact temperature message right there a abnormal detective uh Qoocam still running 25 minutes all right let me try to roll the camera again on Insta see can roll it can roll okay so after overheat Insta can still roll uh but let's check the temperature hold on a second okay so temperature wise the Insta360 is about 126 it went down a little bit because it did shut down the Qoocam is at 126 it went up a little bit 126 uh but it's it's always under 130 Fahrenheit for the insta uh sorry for the Qoocam for the insta is going back up again 129 see if we can get overheat soon again it's shut down right there you see it Insta360 is 137 so when it hit 140 Insta360 just shut down so even it's down right now is 136 uh Qoocam is 131 so Insta when it hit 140 Fahrenheit it just shut down no matter what uh Qoocam still going so now you get the overheat test so I just kept the camera rolling until the battery was completely drained it never stopped recording and the temperature stay below 140 this is a professional camera with some professional feature continuously recording without interruption and it get even better with the latest firmware update you can now record your 8K 360 video directly onto an external SSD via a USBC connection so if that USBC also provide Power you have got yourself the best 8K surveillance camera right off the Box pretty impressive right so in my original review I point out the jello issue when mounting the Qoocam 3 Ultra on a drone or a motorbike the good new is they heard our feedback and fix it check out the before and after on the exact same 360 fpv Drone footage right here as you can see the Qoocam 3 Ultra stabilization is now Rock Solid officially making it the new on the sky I can't wait to land a job that led us to do some aerial 360 video with the ultra and hey if you got an opportunity hire us kimchi will be the pilot both the insta360 X4 and Qoocam 3 Ultra has a video timelapse mode and while they are great probably good enough for social media sharing if you want to create impressive 360 timelapse for the Apple Vision Pro or the Met Quest 3 you will need something better higher quality and that's is when Interval photo mode comes in which is what professional timelapse photographers use while the X4 kind of ignore this entire group of pro level photographers Qoocam on the other hand does not with the new firmware update you can now set the max shutter speed all the way up to 15 seconds this allow for very low ISO long exposure Timelapse like this here is a Quick tutorial on how to set up a day to tonight holy grail 360 timelapse first go to intervals mode switch to auto mode and set your target EV I usually like to set it to minor one EV just to avoid blowing out the highlights again use the clipping indicator and check your frame in full 360 next go to the shutter speed Max setting and set the shutter speed to at least 1 second for capturing this beautiful light trail you see right here if you want to do Milky Way starlapse make sure to set it all the way to 15 seconds set it to DNG only to save storage space and set your interval to 5 second or higher to give the camera enough time to finish capturing and saving that 200 megabit dng file and as you can see here the iso is always at its lowest 100 and here is how this Auto modes work first it let the shutter speed go up all the way to the max like 1 second right here and then the iso will increase to meet the EV requirement if you set it to minor one EV the iso will always stay at 100 giving you the absolute lowest noise timelapse that will blows people's mind try out and let's know the result in the comment section down below there is one problem if you use an SD card instead of internal storage and this is actually the issue with the Insta360 X4 as well the speed of saving that 96 megapixel dng is not fast enough on a Micro SD card you can never have two to 3 second interval capture with a 1 second or longer shutter time well the Qoocam 3 Ultra has a very very fast internal storage to remove this problem just don't use the SD card if you need more than 100 GB of storage since the dng file are Big around 200 mb per image you can even connect an external SSD as a storage as you see right here we have external power and external storage for longterm capture this is the professional solution I wish Insta360 X4 can have the funny thing is the SD car write speed is the limitation of the X4 8K not really the sensor ability so I hope the next generation of the 1 RS 1-inch Leica 8K 360 camera will take notes and finally give us an internal SSD class storage one more thing I want to mention in term of timelapse you can reduce the resolution to 8K 24 megapixel dng and have HDR dynamic range boost timelapse this give you 14 stop of dynamic range great for capturing sunrise and sunset make sure you turn on the Dr boost and see this label right here I usually prefer higher dynamic range over higher resolution I can easily fix resolution with Topaz Photo AI but AI cannot fix blow out images and dynamic range problem that is an extra tip just for you don't forget to hit the like button and follow on Instagram as well quick capture was missing feature on Qoocam 3 but is now available on Qoocam 3 Ultra in addition the startup time of Cam 3 Ultra is much faster than the insta360 X4 than to the open AI Android system so even though the X4 battery lasts way longer the Qoocam 3 Ultra can be shut down and start up immediately for quick capture this make it actually more energy effective than the X4 so don't Focus just on specs practical use is very important and I am glad Qoocam 3 Ultra can leverage Smart Energy Management to overcome it short battery runtime problem remember when I mentioned the audio clipping problem in my original review well they have fixed that by introducing a microphone gang feature I recommend sticking with the standard setting but does that mean mean the internal audio is good now unfortunately no we've gotten another issue Fan noise take a listen uh so me and kimchi right now is outside uh under the hot sun under the hot California sun and kimchi love to run around in backyard but what we doing right now is an overheating test yeah it's pretty bad the fan does a great job to keep the camera cool doing outdoor shooting but it really mess up your audio fortunately they have listened to feedback and now they let you to adjust fan setting just to be aware if you set it to silent recording the camera will overheat and shut down so you will have to decide what is more important to you clean audio or recording limit so the Qoocam mobile app it sucks I never use it personally but to be fair I don't use the AI power Insta360 app for reframing neither all this app solution limit your output resolution which defeat the home purpose of having an 8K camera no series Creator use a mobile phone or even an iPad for reframe they use a real computer and edit it in 8K I have already make a very indepth reframing tutorial on DaVinci Resolve 19 which work perfectly with the Qoocam 3 Ultra as well as the Insta360 X4 you can check it out right here but if you don't want want to pay for Davnici Resolve Studio you can use the free and very very powerful Insta360 Studio to reframe wait for it, Qoocam 3 Ultra footage ready to save some money here's how it works first if you are not familiar with insta 360 Studio here is the indepth tutorial that covers all the hidden feature it's one of the best on the internet and I highly recommend you to check it out to get Qoocam 3 Ultra footage working in Insta360 Studio you will first need to stitch your Ultra 8K footage in h265 instead of proRES that's because Insta360 360 studio just like capcut is an HEVC friendly editor you can still use ProRes but you wouldn't get a real time playback now go to Insta360 Studio and create a new project drag in all your Stitch Qoocam 3 Ultra footage here you can use AI deep tracking key frame animation velocity between key frame Insta360 mega View retiming and speed ramping and even 360 video transition and guess what it play back in real time on my Mac how cool is that let's add some text animation to our reframe video pick a music track and Export it for social media sharing the reason why I can do research like this and help you to save money is because my video unsponsored I can do whatever I want and teach you the best tool for the job but kimchi and I can't keep bringing you this cool knowledge without your support so please subscribe give us a thumb up and follow us on Instagram and Tik Tok what yep we just use the qoolam 3 Ultra as a controller to play the latest black myths game on Steam pretty dope right this isn't just showing you how powerful the processor are on the Qoocam 3 Ultra it is also a peak into the possibilities of a camera that built on an open Android system remember the RICOH Theta Z1 and the Theta X right here they also have an open system that let developers build API for Enterprise level application like VR live streaming and first respond capturing well you can do all that and more on the Qoocam 3 Ultra development platform we installed the steam link on the camera to play video game but if you know how to code you can take it so much further think virtual tour enterprise level application or remote camera app for the Meta Quest 3 speaking of VR here's something important the Qoocam 3 Ultra right here captures standard 30 Fram per second 8K video which sync perfectly with the refresh rate of all VR headset the Insta360 right here on the other hand use a 29.97 FPS Cinema level standard great for traditional 2D social media content but not as ideal for VR just one more example of how this camera are aiming at an entirely different audience so don't ask me if you should get this camera or that camera it really depends on you your application and your budget they are two different camera with two entirely different Focus for example the Qoocam 3 Ultra right here can capture 4K 60 frame per second per Lens 180 video and with an upcoming firmware release it will enable 5.7K per Lens 180 video if you grab two of these bad boys together you can build yourself a 10K VR 180 camera for the Apple Vision Pro with HDR support for about $1,000 pretty nuts right but you do need to be a DIY user to figure this out everyone love saving money right if I could hook you up with a discount code and a free give for this new camera I absolutely would but unfortunately this camera is like flying off the shell because it's just that good don't worry though I'm doing everything I can leveraging my YouTube following to negotiate some deals on your behalf with the resellers and the manufacturer if I succeed you will find the discount code in the video description down below so keep an eyes out on the Pinned comment and the description there's a lot more tutorial coming on the Qoocam 3 Ultra including my 10K VR 180 build live streaming GPS Google Street View capture dng HDR workflow on Apple Vision Pro on this channel if you are looking for the full 30 minute indepth review of the Qoocam 3 Ultra check out this video right here and for a 360 experience capture with the Qoocam 3 Ultra check out right here kimchi and I will see you in the next tutorial ciao
2024-09-06 05:39
