I am definitely getting this as a present for my wife. It is payback time towards the pink Vivitar Vivcam camera she gave me in the 90s. Had been waiting for the "correct" camera to return the favor and the GoPro Fusion fits the bill nicely :)
I've owned nearly every 360 camera and I just reviewed the Fusion. I agree it's sooo frustrating to use but if you can power through it shoots the best 360 video of any camera right now. Gopro really suck at making apps though.
I have Gopro Fusion and I fully agree 1000% with all comments in this review. It's not product ready for sale !!! There is even no timer for taking photos! Software is below comments. Why to generate previews for hours every time app crash ?? Even worse. Finally after months of delays they released GoPro app for android and ... it doesn't work on most popular phones around the world. To get tesults as advertised you need Adobe Premiere because it's only way to do nice transitions with keyframes ... so add extra $$$$$ to final price Don't buy !!! Save money and your time.
Maciej Piotrowski It is definitely an interesting device for professionals for whom the 700 bucks is a tax write-off and who have the computing power, and storage space but while they will sell a lot to those who just look at the cool factor, most of the casual users will end up disappointed or frustrated. As with the Karma drone, they can kill a product by producing unnecessary bad publicity. In the days of the Hero 3 they had no competition and so could afford to make mistakes like this. In a newer era when there are lots of alternatives they have to lift their game and not release problem products too early no matter how impatient and desperate their CEO is for a new big seller. I hope they fix it quickly as I want this one to remain available long term as it fits in with my existing GoPro ecosystem.
artistjoh definitely it's not professional camera. And money or computer power is not an issue for me. Simply it's not finished product sent for market . Typical GoPro... I hope they will bankrupt and somebody will buy them and fix software issues. Today I tried to use Quick on my computer first time ... nightmare !!! On Ipad it runs 10x faster !
Maciej Piotrowski I didn't say it was a professional camera. No GoPro is a professional camera in that they are extremely limited in what they can do. However Professionals use all sorts of cameras that are not really professional cameras including GoPro's. However, the point I was making was that in a professional production I might be prepared to work within the limitations of a device like the Fusion in order to get some offbeat B-roll and that compared to the high prices I pay for professional gear the Fusion is cheap whereas for a casual user not making money from video production, and for whom the Fusion might be their main camera it is ridiculously limited in what it can do and is absurdly high priced for those people. Sadly too many people get sucked into the "cool factor" and shell out big dollars for a camera that is unsuitable for anything more than a few seconds or so of footage in a larger production. On top of that there are the software issues that come from prematurely rushing it out the door due to mismanagement by a desperate CEO. Unlike you I wish the company survives and continues to develop new products but in order for that to happen it may require the departure of Nick Woodman. His inability to understand that products need to work properly before release is having a catastrophic effect on the company in a competitive market.
The camera quality is far from professional. Its crap. I made a virutal tour of my garden with it. Very unhappy with the results. Images at the sides are not sharp. Its a waste of your money. I wouldnt buy it till gopro releases a good cam.
I forgot what you liked about the GoPro Fusion ... Solid review ! I'm using version 1.8 thinking its a pain ! A mic jack is on my list also. I did notice if your using your phone for over capture editing you can try sitting in a swivel chair and use it to pan around. Why does 60 gigs of video on the memory cards turn into 197 gigs when I load it on my computer...someone needs to rethink that algorithm.
Thank you for an honest review. It occurs to me that one can never put it down without its box. Tones are extremely magenta; it looks like you got serious sunburn in Morocco.
I just hate that so many reviews are about the price because now (2019) it's $299. I just bought it plus the 360 One X (now the more expensive between the two) and am having a hard time finding videos that aren't factoring in the initial price.
IF YOUR WATCHING THIS JUNE 2019 ITS ON SALE FOR $299! The updates for this thing have changed the game! And its leading competitor, 360 ONE x is still $419
John Miller Don't knock old GoPro's. The Hero 4 Black is a superb camera. Still using mine and would happily buy another. As an old time film guy I am quite accustomed to not seeing the footage until later in the studio. Having said that, I also love the Hero 6 and will be getting the Fusion later in the year. For professional production having some different looking B-roll is an advantage but I can't imagined how this would be a good choice for those who need it as a main camera. An old GoPro and using it as a B camera facing a different direction is a much more practical choice for most people in most situations and the resulting edits swapping between cameras will be more entertaining long term than the artificial look of extreme fisheye which only works well in very small doses and is likely to end up being a passing fad. Looks cool the first time you see it, but it gets annoying when over-used.
Clearly a well done review. After looking at all the reviews on this and other 360 cameras, especially The 360 Guy's review, I bought the Fusion and the Yi. It appears that Tony doesn't have any experience with the Yi, as it makes the Fusion look like gold for Mac users. I am extremely happy with the Fusion and accept the slow stitching process and take it for what it provides me. As a filmmaker, the Fusion gives me so many new ways to tell stories, that it is hard for me to put down and get back to work.
This camera is awesome. One added benefit is that because it's so clunky and niche, I can save money and not buy it...but I can still enjoy watching the footage of others. So yeah, it's a camera that you want OTHERS to own so they can do the work and just show you the finished product. In that way, great.
Ive got the fusion and i have to say, its definately a prosumer product because of the price and work-flow. But MY GOD this fusion changes the game and is SO much fun haha. At the end of the day isnt that what photogrophy and videogrophy all about?
Great review man. Recently purchased the fusion (on sale) and had it for all of an hour and after seeing this video I immediately returned it. For a few bucks more I ended up getting the Hero 6 with Karma drone package. Much happier now.
another great video, thanks,guys! I use the insta360 one for lots of my youtube videos - yes it only shoots 4k, but I can easily and very very quick edit videos on my iPhone. Even if they are 35minutes long. I was so amazed by this fact, that I recommend this camera to everybody. The Windows and Mac software also runs very smooth and pretty fast (both support GPU rendering). It has a tripod mount and is tiny compared to the GoPro - even with aditional water housing (there is a profile for shooting with that). From my point of view, it is more about great software these days, because nobody wants to waste time.
Nice review. The Fusion is totally worth working through the issues though.. it's the best all around 360 camera available in 2018. And i speak as someone whose channel is dedicated to them and who has used them all extensively- 360 is still new and definitely has a long way to go, however believe it or not the Fusion has the least amount of flaws of all the 360 cameras. I have a review of it on my channel- feel free to check it out for another perspective :)
LIFE in 360 Yes.... but for most people on this planet, waiting 3 days to generate 40 mins isn’t worth working through. That is a deal breaker right there and then. For action people, $700 disposable action cam with buggy software isn’t worth buying. This is not to mention its weight and unreliability. So I wonder, who is this camera for?
LIFE in 360, which I wonder would be few and far between. As a matter of fact have you ever mentioned that on your channel. Perhaps do an unbiased post production timeline? For most people, we won’t get much higher than this guy’s laptop. And you are doing your viewers a disservice by misleading them into believing their computer can have your computer or this guy’s Alienware performance. That would put most people on hold when thinking of buying Fusion.
Honestly, i donno why spend 600-700 or 1-4k on a camera gear and then buy 500 money pc to process the material? If u are serious on photography / videography u should also be serious about your "support" gear. That means proper computer. Im receiving mine fusion tomorrow and i will see how it goes but i doubt it takes 3 days in any case.
Good honest review. Hope the VR recording improves of the next few years as the concept looks amazing. As somebody who spends most of there time in the mountains it would be immense to film and share so people who would'nt or couldnt normally be able to visit such locations can experience it in VR. Will be the norm in a few more years I think.
The footage looks great! The GoPro color produces accurately white balanced video in all kinds of lighting conditions. It gets the exposure right too which is really tricky, as well.
The Garmin Virb is a better alternative. Lenses can be replaced (I have 2 backups) and 5.7k footage is acceptable if you have a compatible editor (FCXP works).
Thanks for saving me the trouble, I am not saying that it’s probably not an amazing piece of equipment but you answered my questions and I found that it’s not right for me in several areas that you specifically covered.
It's worth checking out the Yi 360 VR camera as an alternative. It has some of the same limitations as the GoPro (protruding lenses, long stitch times, poor microphone quality, no built-in preview screen) and is unfortunately a little bigger, but it costs a lot less ($399) and has better resolution on paper (5.7k vs 5.2k) as well as at least nominally better ergonomics (and it only uses a single SD card which you can plug into a card reader to download to the PC). I don't have a GoPro Fusion to compare with it to see which makes a better image post-stitching, but I've been very pleasantly surprised by the Yi (I'm planning a review of it sometime after finishing my Winter travels (I stupidly left it at home when I took off)). Oh, also battery life is poor, but it uses the same batteries as the Yi 4k+ action camera so they are small and third-party spares are cheap on Amazon. www.yitechnology.com/yi-360-vr-camera
Hi, thanks for your video and I wish I have seen this earlier. I just got my new Fusion last week for$399 plus tax including 2 x 32GB SanDisk Extreme memory cards. I cannot even put the FUSION program on my Mobile with 128Gb of memory and not even on my Windows 10 PC. Now I understand why GoPro placed the 360º camera half price. I have read that it takes time to download the footage but not like this. I have also bought last month the GoPro Hero 7 Black edition and works fine and it also goes extreme hot after 15 minutes of usage. Thanks again for your honest review. I'm going to subscribe to your channel because reviews should be just like this straight forward and saying the good and the cons.
A lot of this is old news. Things have changed for one. I just bought a Fusion for $199.00 plus the 2 required Micro SD cards $30.00. There is the IOS app with the new over capture feature that does a great job. See other videos on how to make the Fusion app for Mac/Pc speed up workflow and rendering time. Video quality is great! How you hold the selfie stick makes a difference. You can’t fix dumb so putting an exposed lens on a light top heavy selfie/tripod stick is operator error. If you need a 1/4” tripod mount GoPro makes the converter. I would hate losing $700.00 thank God I waited for a deal and time for GoPro to make some firmware and software improvements. Use it smartly and it works fine.
There are a couple of things that can help the process but it is still a pain in the butt. Bring in the footage onto the computer first then process it will shorten the workflow ,but only by a little bit and you can use the app to change the camera settings. Plus GoPro will replace the camera for 5 bucks a month subscription to their repair program. I am sure that is where they are making the money. 😊
When the 360 cameras came out I envisioned how I would use one. Boating, fishing, travel, scenic locations, sports, ect. Then I got one and immediately realized that 50% of the image was behind you and not interesting. I struggled to find a situation that the camera would shine in. Then I took some kids out on my boat for their first fishing adventure. What a great concept, capture their first fish without having to assist and fumble with the camera. Wasn't 5 minutes that I had the camera out that it got knocked into the lake. I realized my true feelings on 360 cameras when I really didn't care it was gone. Its a cool concept but I don't think its quite the time for it just yet.
"I'M A HUMAN BEING" This is by far my favorite camera review ever. I was almost ready to buy this camera, but I was on the fence, because of several of the things you mentioned. I know this camera has had updates, and you can use proxies etc etc. But I think it's officially not the 360 camera for me. Love your videos Tony and Chelsea!
Hello, I have 8 months experience with Garmin Virb 360. Although the image quality is ??, I would say all the artefacts of GoPro are resolved by Garmin. Worth a detailed review :)
Thank you for reviewing this camera. I saw it in the store just the other day and was wondering about it. After this review, I believe it is safe to say I won't be picking one up.
Hey Tony Can you do a review of the Insta 360 One Please i am tossed between the awesome Footage that the Fusion makes and the Not so good Video of the Insta360 i have see a side by side comparrison of the video between the two camera and the Fusion Hands down has the Clearest cleanest video but i need your opinion of the insta 360 One before i pull the trigger Thanks in advance best regards, Rick
I had my debit card in my hand watching this, ready to buy online, just need to see a review praising the Fusion to justify the buying. After watching this video, I snapped out of a spell and I put the card back in my wallet. Thank you!
A lot reviewers has pointed out that the camera doesn't fully support USB 3.1 but the extraction and rendering will go back and forth between the computer and the 2 SD cards for 4 times to finish. So the not so fast USB port is the nightmare that causes the slowness. Pop both cards out, copy everything out of it to your SSD and work from there, it will be as much as 4 times faster. Though not that much considering that it takes nearly 4 days... hhhhhh
Even carefully following their instructions I found that copying the SD card contents often resulted in failed renders.... Bugs I didn't even mention in the software.
Very real review. Appreciate it. Love the footage, hate the software/hardware. Granted, the protruding lenses is par for the 360 cam course. Still stuck with MiSphere for now. Oh and yes... I have that darn RANDOM GoPro VR player thing popping up in Premiere!
Really, really wanted to use the GoPro Fusion on a recent trip to the Galapagos Islands and Ecuador rainforest. Could NOT get the unit to record any still photos or videos without a complete lockup requiring a hard reset (press powerbutton 12+ secs). Video link of viewfinder to iPad-Pro and to configure unit setup worked just fine. The GoPro App was buggy as others have mentioned but used standalone still locked up the unit when any media recording attempted. Troubleshooting tried - updated to latest firmware v1.80 without issues, GoPro Support suggested trying approved SanDisk Extreme microSD's: these worked no better. Tried other microSD cards - all had same failure symptoms. OK - nothing is 100% perfect, especially electronics and GoPro Support did offer to RMA the unit, but only offered a "refurbished" GoPro replacement for my "new" purchase. So returning it to Amazon for a full refund. I will consider purchasing a new GoPro Fusion after more reviews demonstrate the QC issues have improved. My primary concern is that GoPro manufacturing QC should reasonably been expected to have detected my symptom: "no media files can be written to microSD memory by the video output processor". As this RUclips review demonstrates, if you get a fully functioning Fusion 360, it is an impressive device. I hope upper management at GoPro listens and spends a tiny bit more on manufacturing QC processes ... if they expect their personal stock option grants to move above strike price.
Excellent so you’ve sold me on the device_ Great footage as I am understanding correctly what you’ve communicated it is best to keep the videos down to say in one minute in order to avoid post production problems and then of course since I’m going to be shooting only photographs I’m pretty cool with the software handle the complications but I do appreciate your professionalism and your video it was quite useful and helpful I hope you find a camera that you Will be happy with and/or I hope I go pro comes up with some ↩️↩️updates ↩️↩️that will illuminate post production situation
Since 360 cameras seem to be here for now, will you consider doing a review of the best video/image quality cameras out there? It seems that they all have very poor image quality. Just about all the video footage I have seen is grainy and very soft. I looked at the Insta 360 One which has great software reviews and it has even worse image quality.
Note that you can't really put lens filters, protectors, etc. on while filming because these lenses literally capture over half a hemisphere of video in order to stitch properly; that's why they have to protrude a bit. The exposed nature of lenses on a 360 camera is just the nature of the beast. (The right way to deal with this issue is to have more easily replaceable lenses)
I find the quality of the stitching excellent. It is as if the camera has vanished completely and is floating next to you. However I find it disappointing that the software is still garbage. I got the Session about 3 years ago and the studio software would crash all the time.
Loving your honest review, you have me laughing about the render times. Might need a render farm for that I just wanna clarify you do get gopro accessory mounts with tripod screws, and they are rather cheap via amazon or ebay
hey man, great video! as my budget is a bit tight, I bought the fusion for 1/2 the price of Max even though I watched ur video.. Ive been using it for a few weeks now. so far so good, I have an IMac 2019 with tons of memory so it's all good for me, it renders my videos fairly quickly (2-3 mins for each minute roughly) and then I move them on to FCPX 10.4 for editing I cannot complain. but i imagine it can be very frustrating if running the software using a basic or limited computer, i've heard that for some people, the files can take hrs to render just like you said. BTW. the camera takes about 5hrs to charge OMG, not sure if it's normal but again as you mentioned, some improvements were required back then and voilat Max is here at $799...(ill buy it when it's 300) anyways, just thought I should add my 20c here. take care!
The results are amazing. You just have to organise a Die Hard-esque heist of a render farm in order to get the video sorted. Mr. Tacorgi: You want render time? What kind of terrorists are you?? Hans Über: *Chuckles* Who said we were terrorists. *More chuckles*
I took 60 minutes of footage on mine and it only took 10 minutes to stitch together, mind you I had to borrow the SUNWAY super computer in China’s National Super computing Center in Wuxi but I got it done. Lesson of the story make, make sure your computer runs at 93.01 Petflops a second and you should be alright
yes you can see the footage and what your recording real time. Via the go pro app. Very simple really. we get it tony, you don't like it. But please learn the correct techniques to use it. Thanks
lots of downfalls, but that quality and stabilization and stitching are so impressive to me, I came looking for reviews because I saw an insta story and couldnt wrap my head around how they were getting the shots
For me, if I had $700 as disposable income, and I wanted to use loads of processing power, instead of purchasing this for nifty B cam footage, I would probably purchase another Canon 5D Mark II to load with Magic Lantern and shoot more RAW video footage that *also* is a pain for processing but looks exquisite once you get the hang of it and have the time for it. Also, I run Linux and do own servers for my idiosyncratic computing needs.
Anyway .... I saw the ski video's from Jon Olsson. EPIC!!! It doesn't really matter what you have to do to get those shots. It's definitely a future ..... can't wait until consumer technologie catches up.
GoPro is about to go out of business. Seems like they took a risk rushing this to market. Too bad. I hope they fix this and can get the price down because I'd like them to succeed too.
How fast can a 20 sec video be stitched when cards are in the camera, compared to cards in a PC card reader, compared to copying files with a reader to a PC and than doing the stitching with all files on PCs SSD? Not a laptop but a proper PC. Thank you.
Wow, if that is Tony rooting for GoPro, I’d hate to see what he’s like when he’s not rooting for a camera company ;-) Just want to say thank you for saving me a not inconsiderable sum of cash, I love the idea of Fusion and was sorely tempted until I watched this.
You lost me when you started complaining about the big glass elements sticking out. Those are called The lenses and they have to stick out more than everything else or else they can't do their job, since it is to get >180 FOV each. The only way to successfully hide the glass from the outside world requires more lenses which substantially complicates stitching, the workflow and cost.
You mentioned that when the GoPro fell down, it fell on the lens, which is the most delicate part. I think the engineers who design these cameras never have to use them. They design everything based on engineering theory, not on first hand experience.
To be fair, pretty much any 360 camera made up by two cameras back to back is going to have this problem. Any kind of lens hood around the lenses is going to create a huge ring, most likely black, around the middle of the 360 image. Even on SLR/DSLR/Mirrorless cameras, super wide angle lenses have this problem as well. Because the front lens element bulges so far out, you almost never can attach any kind of filter to the front of the lens. And if you do succeed in attaching some kind of lens hood, chances are good it's going to show up around the perimeter of the picture.
![GoPro Fusion - In-Depth Review [4K]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/y8H3VQr7L7Q/mqdefault.jpg)
This review was apparently not brought to you my GoPro. Nice honest comments.... how all reviews should be.
Frustrated Tony is my favourite Tony.
Jordan @ TCSTV
More like passive-agressive Tony :P
I am definitely getting this as a present for my wife. It is payback time towards the pink Vivitar Vivcam camera she gave me in the 90s. Had been waiting for the "correct" camera to return the favor and the GoPro Fusion fits the bill nicely :)
Just remember to buy a nice couch first. :)
I'll pray for you...and watch the obituaries.
Robert Ford, Jr. Hahaha!
I'm guessing your sitting in front of your computer editing your wife's GoPro Fusion footage thinking up a better plan for next time.
I saw another vid which recommends rendering the clips by sticking the sd straight in the laptop/computer or cut and copy the foder in your desktop.
I've owned nearly every 360 camera and I just reviewed the Fusion. I agree it's sooo frustrating to use but if you can power through it shoots the best 360 video of any camera right now. Gopro really suck at making apps though.
if you had to choose either the Yi 360 VR or the fusion which would it be, regardless of cost, just day to day having to live with it?
I have Gopro Fusion and I fully agree 1000% with all comments in this review. It's not product ready for sale !!! There is even no timer for taking photos! Software is below comments. Why to generate previews for hours every time app crash ?? Even worse. Finally after months of delays they released GoPro app for android and ... it doesn't work on most popular phones around the world. To get tesults as advertised you need Adobe Premiere because it's only way to do nice transitions with keyframes ... so add extra $$$$$ to final price
Don't buy !!! Save money and your time.
Maciej Piotrowski It is definitely an interesting device for professionals for whom the 700 bucks is a tax write-off and who have the computing power, and storage space but while they will sell a lot to those who just look at the cool factor, most of the casual users will end up disappointed or frustrated. As with the Karma drone, they can kill a product by producing unnecessary bad publicity. In the days of the Hero 3 they had no competition and so could afford to make mistakes like this. In a newer era when there are lots of alternatives they have to lift their game and not release problem products too early no matter how impatient and desperate their CEO is for a new big seller. I hope they fix it quickly as I want this one to remain available long term as it fits in with my existing GoPro ecosystem.
artistjoh definitely it's not professional camera. And money or computer power is not an issue for me. Simply it's not finished product sent for market . Typical GoPro... I hope they will bankrupt and somebody will buy them and fix software issues. Today I tried to use Quick on my computer first time ... nightmare !!! On Ipad it runs 10x faster !
Maciej Piotrowski I didn't say it was a professional camera. No GoPro is a professional camera in that they are extremely limited in what they can do. However Professionals use all sorts of cameras that are not really professional cameras including GoPro's. However, the point I was making was that in a professional production I might be prepared to work within the limitations of a device like the Fusion in order to get some offbeat B-roll and that compared to the high prices I pay for professional gear the Fusion is cheap whereas for a casual user not making money from video production, and for whom the Fusion might be their main camera it is ridiculously limited in what it can do and is absurdly high priced for those people. Sadly too many people get sucked into the "cool factor" and shell out big dollars for a camera that is unsuitable for anything more than a few seconds or so of footage in a larger production. On top of that there are the software issues that come from prematurely rushing it out the door due to mismanagement by a desperate CEO. Unlike you I wish the company survives and continues to develop new products but in order for that to happen it may require the departure of Nick Woodman. His inability to understand that products need to work properly before release is having a catastrophic effect on the company in a competitive market.
The camera quality is far from professional. Its crap. I made a virutal tour of my garden with it. Very unhappy with the results. Images at the sides are not sharp. Its a waste of your money. I wouldnt buy it till gopro releases a good cam.
Lmao! “I’m a human being”. Best line in this review.
Chris Featherstone He’a not though. Total robot
thats something a robot would say, trying to convince me that he is a human
I found the ui to be quite easy to use... I use linux aswell so felt personally attacked by this
6:50
I forgot what you liked about the GoPro Fusion ... Solid review ! I'm using version 1.8 thinking its a pain ! A mic jack is on my list also. I did notice if your using your phone for over capture editing you can try sitting in a swivel chair and use it to pan around. Why does 60 gigs of video on the memory cards turn into 197 gigs when I load it on my computer...someone needs to rethink that algorithm.
Chelsea’s stretched face was the best part 😂😂
Thank you for an honest review. It occurs to me that one can never put it down without its box. Tones are extremely magenta; it looks like you got serious sunburn in Morocco.
I like The idea of this GoPro. So much potential. Maybe in a couple of years...
in a couple years GoPro will be out of business!
I just hate that so many reviews are about the price because now (2019) it's $299. I just bought it plus the 360 One X (now the more expensive between the two) and am having a hard time finding videos that aren't factoring in the initial price.
IF YOUR WATCHING THIS JUNE 2019 ITS ON SALE FOR $299! The updates for this thing have changed the game! And its leading competitor, 360 ONE x is still $419
As a Linux user, GoPro's menus are terrible.
So it's cheaper and easier to buy a bunch of old GoPros, stick them together to a 3d printed housing and stitch the footage later. Got it.
yea but that is much bigger and u have to buy older gopros in order to pay the same price
John Miller better result though ;)
Have fun with that! LOL
John Miller Don't knock old GoPro's. The Hero 4 Black is a superb camera. Still using mine and would happily buy another. As an old time film guy I am quite accustomed to not seeing the footage until later in the studio. Having said that, I also love the Hero 6 and will be getting the Fusion later in the year. For professional production having some different looking B-roll is an advantage but I can't imagined how this would be a good choice for those who need it as a main camera. An old GoPro and using it as a B camera facing a different direction is a much more practical choice for most people in most situations and the resulting edits swapping between cameras will be more entertaining long term than the artificial look of extreme fisheye which only works well in very small doses and is likely to end up being a passing fad. Looks cool the first time you see it, but it gets annoying when over-used.
Clearly a well done review. After looking at all the reviews on this and other 360 cameras, especially The 360 Guy's review, I bought the Fusion and the Yi. It appears that Tony doesn't have any experience with the Yi, as it makes the Fusion look like gold for Mac users. I am extremely happy with the Fusion and accept the slow stitching process and take it for what it provides me. As a filmmaker, the Fusion gives me so many new ways to tell stories, that it is hard for me to put down and get back to work.
I just bought the camera today and I think you’ve convinced me to return it immediately. Thank you for the honest review
This camera is awesome. One added benefit is that because it's so clunky and niche, I can save money and not buy it...but I can still enjoy watching the footage of others. So yeah, it's a camera that you want OTHERS to own so they can do the work and just show you the finished product. In that way, great.
I made a virtual tour of my garden with it and the image quality sucks. Unsharp at the sides. I sent it back. Its a waste of my money.
Ive got the fusion and i have to say, its definately a prosumer product because of the price and work-flow. But MY GOD this fusion changes the game and is SO much fun haha. At the end of the day isnt that what photogrophy and videogrophy all about?
Honest, real world, and nothing held back. Just how I like my reviews.
Great review man. Recently purchased the fusion (on sale) and had it for all of an hour and after seeing this video I immediately returned it. For a few bucks more I ended up getting the Hero 6 with Karma drone package. Much happier now.
Uh, is it too late to return your Karma? You might want to look up reviews of that one, too...
Even when he rages, Tony remains chill.
another great video, thanks,guys!
I use the insta360 one for lots of my youtube videos - yes it only shoots 4k, but I can easily and very very quick edit videos on my iPhone. Even if they are 35minutes long. I was so amazed by this fact, that I recommend this camera to everybody. The Windows and Mac software also runs very smooth and pretty fast (both support GPU rendering). It has a tripod mount and is tiny compared to the GoPro - even with aditional water housing (there is a profile for shooting with that).
From my point of view, it is more about great software these days, because nobody wants to waste time.
Nice review. The Fusion is totally worth working through the issues though.. it's the best all around 360 camera available in 2018. And i speak as someone whose channel is dedicated to them and who has used them all extensively- 360 is still new and definitely has a long way to go, however believe it or not the Fusion has the least amount of flaws of all the 360 cameras. I have a review of it on my channel- feel free to check it out for another perspective :)
LIFE in 360 Yes.... but for most people on this planet, waiting 3 days to generate 40 mins isn’t worth working through. That is a deal breaker right there and then.
For action people, $700 disposable action cam with buggy software isn’t worth buying. This is not to mention its weight and unreliability.
So I wonder, who is this camera for?
VTC Drone for me, 40 minutes of footage takes about 2 hours. Who is this camera for? People with a computer fast enough to handle 5.2k footage.
LIFE in 360, which I wonder would be few and far between. As a matter of fact have you ever mentioned that on your channel. Perhaps do an unbiased post production timeline? For most people, we won’t get much higher than this guy’s laptop. And you are doing your viewers a disservice by misleading them into believing their computer can have your computer or this guy’s Alienware performance.
That would put most people on hold when thinking of buying Fusion.
LIFE in 360 what is your system? want these too :)
Honestly, i donno why spend 600-700 or 1-4k on a camera gear and then buy 500 money pc to process the material? If u are serious on photography / videography u should also be serious about your "support" gear. That means proper computer. Im receiving mine fusion tomorrow and i will see how it goes but i doubt it takes 3 days in any case.
Good honest review. Hope the VR recording improves of the next few years as the concept looks amazing. As somebody who spends most of there time in the mountains it would be immense to film and share so people who would'nt or couldnt normally be able to visit such locations can experience it in VR. Will be the norm in a few more years I think.
Thank you for always being so honest. Have you tried the Insta360 One?
Hope some third party cases or protectors will come out for this. I'm looking at getting this for specialty shots for pro use.
The footage looks great! The GoPro color produces accurately white balanced video in all kinds of lighting conditions. It gets the exposure right too which is really tricky, as well.
You should try out the Garmin Virb 360. The replaceable lens protectors should give the camera more than one outing.
Greetings from Latvia! Thank's for honest review!
The Garmin Virb is a better alternative. Lenses can be replaced (I have 2 backups) and 5.7k footage is acceptable if you have a compatible editor (FCXP works).
Thanks for saving me the trouble, I am not saying that it’s probably not an amazing piece of equipment but you answered my questions and I found that it’s not right for me in several areas that you specifically covered.
It's worth checking out the Yi 360 VR camera as an alternative.
It has some of the same limitations as the GoPro (protruding lenses, long stitch times, poor microphone quality, no built-in preview screen) and is unfortunately a little bigger, but it costs a lot less ($399) and has better resolution on paper (5.7k vs 5.2k) as well as at least nominally better ergonomics (and it only uses a single SD card which you can plug into a card reader to download to the PC).
I don't have a GoPro Fusion to compare with it to see which makes a better image post-stitching, but I've been very pleasantly surprised by the Yi (I'm planning a review of it sometime after finishing my Winter travels (I stupidly left it at home when I took off)).
Oh, also battery life is poor, but it uses the same batteries as the Yi 4k+ action camera so they are small and third-party spares are cheap on Amazon.
www.yitechnology.com/yi-360-vr-camera
I use the Dell XPS 9560 along with it and it works fine.
Agreed, the Fusion seems like a premature release at best. Got potential, but I'll wait for ver. 2 or 3.
Thanks for this - I was thinking of getting one, but I'll wait until they get things fixed.
Same here. I sent mine back and will wait for a good one.
Great review for this particular item. I would rather not have the headache for this. Great job Tony
Hi, thanks for your video and I wish I have seen this earlier. I just got my new Fusion last week for$399 plus tax including 2 x 32GB SanDisk Extreme memory cards. I cannot even put the FUSION program on my Mobile with 128Gb of memory and not even on my Windows 10 PC. Now I understand why GoPro placed the 360º camera half price. I have read that it takes time to download the footage but not like this. I have also bought last month the GoPro Hero 7 Black edition and works fine and it also goes extreme hot after 15 minutes of usage. Thanks again for your honest review. I'm going to subscribe to your channel because reviews should be just like this straight forward and saying the good and the cons.
Thank you so much for the funniest review I have seen in a long time. Watching it for a third time. Cheers from Aus.
A lot of this is old news. Things have changed for one. I just bought a Fusion for $199.00 plus the 2 required Micro SD cards $30.00. There is the IOS app with the new over capture feature that does a great job. See other videos on how to make the Fusion app for Mac/Pc speed up workflow and rendering time. Video quality is great! How you hold the selfie stick makes a difference. You can’t fix dumb so putting an exposed lens on a light top heavy selfie/tripod stick is operator error. If you need a 1/4” tripod mount GoPro makes the converter. I would hate losing $700.00 thank God I waited for a deal and time for GoPro to make some firmware and software improvements. Use it smartly and it works fine.
There are a couple of things that can help the process but it is still a pain in the butt. Bring in the footage onto the computer first then process it will shorten the workflow ,but only by a little bit and you can use the app to change the camera settings. Plus GoPro will replace the camera for 5 bucks a month subscription to their repair program. I am sure that is where they are making the money. 😊
When the 360 cameras came out I envisioned how I would use one. Boating, fishing, travel, scenic locations, sports, ect. Then I got one and immediately realized that 50% of the image was behind you and not interesting. I struggled to find a situation that the camera would shine in. Then I took some kids out on my boat for their first fishing adventure. What a great concept, capture their first fish without having to assist and fumble with the camera. Wasn't 5 minutes that I had the camera out that it got knocked into the lake. I realized my true feelings on 360 cameras when I really didn't care it was gone. Its a cool concept but I don't think its quite the time for it just yet.
candid review. Great job. u talked me out of it. the lens being potentially damaged and no real way to protect it is huge
Nice intro.... thanks for being unbiased on this review. Unfortunately, I bought Fusion before seing your vlog.
"I'M A HUMAN BEING" This is by far my favorite camera review ever. I was almost ready to buy this camera, but I was on the fence, because of several of the things you mentioned. I know this camera has had updates, and you can use proxies etc etc. But I think it's officially not the 360 camera for me. Love your videos Tony and Chelsea!
I own the Yi 360 VR and it's about a 3rd of the price. It has limitations but it's still fantastic quality.
A very honest and candid review. You just saved me $700. Thank you.
Hello, I have 8 months experience with Garmin Virb 360. Although the image quality is ??, I would say all the artefacts of GoPro are resolved by Garmin. Worth a detailed review :)
Thank you for reviewing this camera. I saw it in the store just the other day and was wondering about it. After this review, I believe it is safe to say I won't be picking one up.
Hey! I use linux and I'm not super smart!
Hey Tony
Can you do a review of the Insta 360 One Please
i am tossed between the awesome Footage that the Fusion makes
and the Not so good Video of the Insta360
i have see a side by side comparrison of the video between the two camera and the Fusion Hands down has the Clearest cleanest video
but i need your opinion of the insta 360 One before i pull the trigger
Thanks in advance
best regards, Rick
I had my debit card in my hand watching this, ready to buy online, just need to see a review praising the Fusion to justify the buying. After watching this video, I snapped out of a spell and I put the card back in my wallet. Thank you!
Then what would you recommend
Ordering one immediately. Sounds incredible!
A lot reviewers has pointed out that the camera doesn't fully support USB 3.1 but the extraction and rendering will go back and forth between the computer and the 2 SD cards for 4 times to finish. So the not so fast USB port is the nightmare that causes the slowness. Pop both cards out, copy everything out of it to your SSD and work from there, it will be as much as 4 times faster. Though not that much considering that it takes nearly 4 days... hhhhhh
Even carefully following their instructions I found that copying the SD card contents often resulted in failed renders.... Bugs I didn't even mention in the software.
This was an awesome review. I was thinking about buying it. But ill wait a bit more for the 2
Very real review. Appreciate it. Love the footage, hate the software/hardware. Granted, the protruding lenses is par for the 360 cam course.
Still stuck with MiSphere for now. Oh and yes... I have that darn RANDOM GoPro VR player thing popping up in Premiere!
Really, really wanted to use the GoPro Fusion on a recent trip to the
Galapagos Islands and Ecuador rainforest. Could NOT get the unit to
record any still photos or videos without a complete lockup requiring a
hard reset (press powerbutton 12+ secs). Video link of viewfinder to
iPad-Pro and to configure unit setup worked just fine. The GoPro App
was buggy as others have mentioned but used standalone still locked up
the unit when any media recording attempted.
Troubleshooting tried - updated to latest firmware v1.80 without issues,
GoPro Support suggested trying approved SanDisk Extreme microSD's:
these worked no better. Tried other microSD cards - all had same
failure symptoms. OK - nothing is 100% perfect, especially electronics
and GoPro Support did offer to RMA the unit, but only offered a
"refurbished" GoPro replacement for my "new" purchase.
So returning it to Amazon for a full refund. I will consider purchasing
a new GoPro Fusion after more reviews demonstrate the QC issues have
improved. My primary concern is that GoPro manufacturing QC should
reasonably been expected to have detected my symptom: "no media files
can be written to microSD memory by the video output processor". As
this RUclips review demonstrates, if you get a fully functioning Fusion
360, it is an impressive device. I hope upper management at GoPro
listens and spends a tiny bit more on manufacturing QC processes ... if
they expect their personal stock option grants to move above strike
price.
Plus, it's on a selfie stick. We all know how much you LOVE those!
..Joe
cases available with lense protection from ebay. good quality aluminum cases for $55
Excellent so you’ve sold me on the device_ Great footage as I am understanding correctly what you’ve communicated it is best to keep the videos down to say in one minute in order to avoid post production problems and then of course since I’m going to be shooting only photographs I’m pretty cool with the software handle the complications but I do appreciate your professionalism and your video it was quite useful and helpful I hope you find a camera that you Will be happy with and/or I hope I go pro comes up with some ↩️↩️updates ↩️↩️that will illuminate post production situation
I suggest you look at the Xiaomi Mijia Mi Sphere 360. In some ways it's actually better than the Fusion and it's $200 on Gearbest.
You could try the YI 360 VR that records in 5.7 K at 30 fps and it costs 350 buck but the price drops often.
Since 360 cameras seem to be here for now, will you consider doing a review of the best video/image quality cameras out there? It seems that they all have very poor image quality. Just about all the video footage I have seen is grainy and very soft. I looked at the Insta 360 One which has great software reviews and it has even worse image quality.
Note that you can't really put lens filters, protectors, etc. on while filming because these lenses literally capture over half a hemisphere of video in order to stitch properly; that's why they have to protrude a bit. The exposed nature of lenses on a 360 camera is just the nature of the beast. (The right way to deal with this issue is to have more easily replaceable lenses)
I find the quality of the stitching excellent. It is as if the camera has vanished completely and is floating next to you. However I find it disappointing that the software is still garbage. I got the Session about 3 years ago and the studio software would crash all the time.
The exposed lenses is an issue, agreed. But at this time the price is 299.00 making the cons of this camera worth dealing with
Check out the Insta360 One X. We switched.
Loving your honest review, you have me laughing about the render times. Might need a render farm for that
I just wanna clarify you do get gopro accessory mounts with tripod screws, and they are rather cheap
via amazon or ebay
Thank you. This is very useful! Up to 10 minutes ago I though my Garmin VIRB 360 sucked... hmm... Keep it up!
Hopefully that price falls. The Samsung Gear 360 (which is pretty comparable) was $350 upon release in 2016. Now it is priced under $70, brand new.
hey man, great video! as my budget is a bit tight, I bought the fusion for 1/2 the price of Max even though I watched ur video.. Ive been using it for a few weeks now. so far so good, I have an IMac 2019 with tons of memory so it's all good for me, it renders my videos fairly quickly (2-3 mins for each minute roughly) and then I move them on to FCPX 10.4 for editing I cannot complain. but i imagine it can be very frustrating if running the software using a basic or limited computer, i've heard that for some people, the files can take hrs to render just like you said. BTW. the camera takes about 5hrs to charge OMG, not sure if it's normal but again as you mentioned, some improvements were required back then and voilat Max is here at $799...(ill buy it when it's 300) anyways, just thought I should add my 20c here. take care!
The results are amazing. You just have to organise a Die Hard-esque heist of a render farm in order to get the video sorted.
Mr. Tacorgi: You want render time? What kind of terrorists are you??
Hans Über: *Chuckles* Who said we were terrorists. *More chuckles*
BOOM!! A complete honest review!! SUBSCRIBED!!
I heard about that company called GoPro! They were pretty popular back in their days!
Will you do a comparison against the cheaper, higher res, 1/4" tripod mountable YI 360 VR?
Such an honest review, I really appreciate this!
What is the best action camera on the market? That is also usable not like this GoPro fusion.
“I’m a human being!” Hahahahaha. Loved Mad Tony.
I took 60 minutes of footage on mine and it only took 10 minutes to stitch together, mind you I had to borrow the SUNWAY super computer in China’s National Super computing Center in Wuxi but I got it done. Lesson of the story make, make sure your computer runs at 93.01 Petflops a second and you should be alright
yes you can see the footage and what your recording real time. Via the go pro app. Very simple really. we get it tony, you don't like it. But please learn the correct techniques to use it. Thanks
I specifically discussed the use of the app.
lots of downfalls, but that quality and stabilization and stitching are so impressive to me, I came looking for reviews because I saw an insta story and couldnt wrap my head around how they were getting the shots
For me, if I had $700 as disposable income, and I wanted to use loads of processing power, instead of purchasing this for nifty B cam footage, I would probably purchase another Canon 5D Mark II to load with Magic Lantern and shoot more RAW video footage that *also* is a pain for processing but looks exquisite once you get the hang of it and have the time for it. Also, I run Linux and do own servers for my idiosyncratic computing needs.
Tyler Barton discretionary
super helpful, thanks for being a pro and honest
Anyway .... I saw the ski video's from Jon Olsson. EPIC!!! It doesn't really matter what you have to do to get those shots. It's definitely a future ..... can't wait until consumer technologie catches up.
GoPro is about to go out of business. Seems like they took a risk rushing this to market. Too bad. I hope they fix this and can get the price down because I'd like them to succeed too.
I'll get the cheap Chinese $80,- alternative that will inevitably release in year or two from now.
Is this the end of GoPro?
How fast can a 20 sec video be stitched when cards are in the camera, compared to cards in a PC card reader, compared to copying files with a reader to a PC and than doing the stitching with all files on PCs SSD? Not a laptop but a proper PC. Thank you.
How is the still image quality sir?
What about that HUUUGE distortion!? Isn`t that an issue for you?
I’m curious to know if the Garmin 360 VIRB has similar issues...
Thank you for honest review!
Haha good stuff Tony. That first section on the good things went by super fast! Definitely needs some work... Not cool GoPro😬. Great video
This is why renting one so if I damaged it then they replace it
thank you so much for saving me a lot of time, headaches, and money!
$700 Disposable Camera 😂, I’ma Definitely buy that!!
Yea thanks for honest review , used GoPro a lot , especially for diving, but this is not for me ....
Wow, if that is Tony rooting for GoPro, I’d hate to see what he’s like when he’s not rooting for a camera company ;-)
Just want to say thank you for saving me a not inconsiderable sum of cash, I love the idea of Fusion and was sorely tempted until I watched this.
As an ex-linux user I have to agree with your "roast."
You lost me when you started complaining about the big glass elements sticking out. Those are called The lenses and they have to stick out more than everything else or else they can't do their job, since it is to get >180 FOV each. The only way to successfully hide the glass from the outside world requires more lenses which substantially complicates stitching, the workflow and cost.
You mentioned that when the GoPro fell down, it fell on the lens, which is the most delicate part. I think the engineers who design these cameras never have to use them. They design everything based on engineering theory, not on first hand experience.
To be fair, pretty much any 360 camera made up by two cameras back to back is going to have this problem.
Any kind of lens hood around the lenses is going to create a huge ring, most likely black, around the middle of the 360 image.
Even on SLR/DSLR/Mirrorless cameras, super wide angle lenses have this problem as well. Because the front lens element bulges so far out, you almost never can attach any kind of filter to the front of the lens. And if you do succeed in attaching some kind of lens hood, chances are good it's going to show up around the perimeter of the picture.
Thank you, Bill.