Well, I've took my GoPro Fusion out for a test run in the pool, and I must say, its okay, not great, but brilliant, not magnificent, but excellent, but okay... Confused? Here, let me explain...
First off, the actual camera... Well, its lovely, it really is, smaller then I thought, which was nice, lovely 'heavy for its size' feel to it, the materials are lovely in the hand, one of them "If it feels like quality, it probably is", overall, easy to navigate through the menus, the camera itself I cannot really fault, but there is a but.
Now as you probably know, I wanted the camera for scuba diving, and this is where it falls, the picture quality isn't great under the surface, and the stitching is terrible, like, in your face terrible. On their promotional videos, they have an underwater shot which looks lovely, proper GoPro quality, and, its a lie... They might of took it with a Fusion, but they've neglected to mention that it was probably housed in a big arsed plastic bubble, because as I've just learnt, how light acts, and enters the curved len's in water makes the quality drop right off, pretty much how our eyes work, and this upsets the stitching process too... Physics is the problem. In air, the quality is really good mind, unfortunately, its a fact there is more wrecked ships and fish under the sea then in the sky, so as you can imagine, I'm pretty disappointed on that front.
There is no official housing for it, which is odd, so the limit is 5m depth, I thought you'd be able to get at least a half decent chinese one, like I got for my normal GoPro which works great BTW, but the ones they are selling apparently are piss poor (£50 worth of piss poor) and the clasp that shuts and makes it air tight tends to snap after a few goes, you would think GoPro would try and make something so it boasts the quality up and you could take it deeper, seems they've just thought... The users will have to deal with it, THE END!!! :/
The software that it comes with... Fusion Studio, erm, aye, it does a basic job, downloads the videos from the camera, pick a few settings, then renders it to one 360 video (VR or Overcapture)... But in my opinion, its about as much of a studio as is a greasy spoon burger van is a restaurant. Then there's the codecs, they are a mess really, especially the 360 audio codec, its got one of the biggest memory leaks I've ever seen... You simply cannot use it for a video of a half decent length, because if you do, Windows suspends Fusion Studio and then shuts it down, usually around the 2% stitching mark with my 8gig, though apparently its not long after when you have 16gig sitting in your machine)... Absolutely useless, so, you are really stuck with stereo sound!
Fusion VR Player, again, works, but, codec problems, some work, some dont!
Now if you want to edit your exported videos, like adding transitions, music, commentary etc etc then the only choice you have is Adobes Premier Pro, pay monthly, GoPro provide plugins for it, which is nice... I have subscribed to it and figured out how to export for youTube 360 videos, but I haven't done any real editing with it as of yet.
Honestly, the hardware side, it is lovely, and I cannot really blame GoPro for the borked physics underwater, that's nature, though I can blame them for putting over that you will get just as good quality under the waves as above it, that's sly. The software, it feels like it was just knocked together by me if I'm honest, monkey at a type writer affair! That's the biggest shame really, if they had their codecs actually working together properly, and updated that horrible memory leak, then I could forgive them, but, its bare, some basic editing features would cheer it right up... It's up to version 3.0.5, and I'm guessing the only things that have changed since version 1.1 is that they've edited code comments as the same problems seem to be still in there now.
So, looks like I'll have to leave it on the boat taking nice 360 videos of the sea while I'm down at the bottom! :(
And there we are, not bad, but not great, out of of 5 I'd give it a 3, if you only plan to use it out of the water, then, a 4 would be about right, I'm being a little bit biased I think (But I wouldn't of bought it if I knew the quality wasn't there), though you would still knock a point off for the bundled software.
Anyway, here is the 360 video, works a treat on desktop, on mobile you probably will have to go through the youTube app for 360 controls, it's slightly edited, notice at the start the quality and stitching is excellent, then watch when in the water, its like a different camera:-
https://youtu.be/n9OQ6bMH-Gk
Dabz
Shite, I've uploaded the wrong one [unedited version]! :D
What a divvy! :)
Reuploaded!
Dabz
That looks awesome Dabz, great work.
Thanks fella... I'm going to stick with it for now, but I'll be keep my eyes open for one that's more diver friendly and doesnt required a huge see through bauble!
New one in the pool... Picture gallery thingy:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evZNYhBJog0
Turned out alright that one too! :)
Dabz
Good idea putting some music, it helps keep the pace of the 360 slideshow.
The lady in red sitting on the edge at 0:27 is kinda cute bro, you should have an affair with her.
Yeah, the music cheers it up a bit! :D
Lol, well, see the bloke on the first photo, thats her other half! :D hehehe
She is canny craic though, takes no crap, lol, they are a canny couple, always bickering, but in a fun way, get plenty of laughs from them! :)
Dabz
He he, looks pretty cool in VR ;D - next video should be a close call with a great white shark :P
the 360 was way cool once I'd discovered it :o
Yep the 360 view makes it far more interesting. 8)
Cheers for checking it out fella's! ;)
I'm still not overly impressed with the quality underwater compared to my other GoPro, but for what it does above it, well, you cannot knock it really... And, I thought I'd have a bit of a mare with Premier Pro, but when you have a decent stretch of spare time, its actually a nice bit of kit when you start to unfold it and I did enjoy building that little video in it... Still got loads to learn and that, but, yeah, I'm happy with the setup overall! :)
Oh aye, I've had it playing in my Go as well, lol, loses a bit of quality there, but thats to be expected really!
Dabz
Quote from: Dabz on September 11, 2019, 19:03:50
I'm still not overly impressed with the quality underwater compared to my other GoPro,
I was wondering about that myself. Apparently, it has more to do with the case than with the camera itself. There are 3rd party cases you can use which greatly improves the quality. Such as https://youtu.be/u7Gdr5jLCJ4
Yeah, I spied that, and it does indeed raise the quality up... They are £200 each, but the cost isnt the issue, I'll still be just as limited as the default 5m limitation the fusion has because most of the time, I'll be going deeper then its limit of 10m, the general idea if you can is to plan your dive by going deep first, then work your way back up... I'll be heading down x3 the bubbles depth, your average dive when away gets to a depth x2 of that even.
Dont get me wrong, brilliant accessory, but I'm thinking its geared towards snorkel or reef diving, if I want 360 at that depth, I'll either have to wait till something comes along within a decent price (£500) that can go deeper or go all out and buy a proper bit of kit which, pfffft, I've never checked the price on anything like that.
Still, who doesnt like a 360 picture of a boat! :D
Dabz