Kandao is launching Qoocam 3 (update: see hands-on review here) on September 7 at 8am EDT, claiming that it is “approaching 1-inch sensor image quality.” Could the Qoocam 3 really have image quality comparable to Insta360 One RS 1 inch 360? Here’s my analysis:
Qoocam 3 is a new consumer 360 camera by Kandao but they claim that its image quality “approaches” that of the Insta360 1-inch 360, Insta360’s flagship consumer 360 camera that costs almost twice the cost of the popular Insta360 X3. Is that possible?
Qoocam 3 will have an aperture of f/1.6, which is wider than many 360 cameras. It will also have a 1/1.55 inch sensor size, which is about 1.8x larger than a typical 1/2.3 inch sensor.
COMPARISON WITH 1-INCH 360
Kandao claims the Qoocam 3 will have comparable image quality to Insta360’s 1-inch 360 camera insofar as it will have similar light gathering capability.
In terms of surface area, a 1-inch sensor is about 2.25 times larger than the Qoocam 3 sensor, which should give the 1-inch 360 about a 1.2 stop advantage. However, Qoocam 3’s aperture is almost 1 stop wider than the Insta360 1-inch 360’s f/2.2 aperture. This means that Insta360’s 1-inch 360 has only about a 1/5th stop advantage over Qoocam 3 when you consider both aperture and sensor size.
COMPARISON WITH INSTA360 X3
Compared to Insta360 X3, Qoocam 3 will have both a wider aperture and a larger sensor size. Qoocam 3’s aperture is about 1/4th stop wider than Insta360 X3’s f/1.9 aperture. Qoocam 3’s sensor size is about 1.66 times larger than the X3’s 1/2 inch sensor, which is about a 3/4th stop difference. Considering both aperture and sensor size, Qoocam 3 theoretically has a 1-stop advantage over the X3.
LIMITATIONS OF QOOCAM 3’S CLAIM
Although Qoocam 3 does have a larger aperture, it is only an advantage in low light. In bright conditions, there would be enough light for the X3 and 1-inch 360 to shoot at base ISO, so the Qoocam 3’s larger aperture wouldn’t be an advantage in terms of noise or bit depth. On the other hand, it could enable the use of a higher shutter speed at the same ISO, and a higher shutter speed can result in less motion blur, which in some cases may help the video appear a bit sharper.
What do you think of the Qoocam 3 so far? Let me know in the comments.
B&H lists the Qoocam 3 for $75 less than the Insta360 x3. Good to see some competition.
Somewhat disappointed that there’s no 3D option.
That’s a shockingly low price if true! As for 3D, i will test calf and post results.
I am very dubious about QooCam. Bad track record supporting cameras
. Dumped support for my QooCam 8k. Soon after I bought it.
Sorry to hear that. I’ll try to address that in my review.
Kandao can come out with the best ever one shot 360 on the market, it will never interest me. After the way they used consumers to beta test the 8K and then just dumped them when they realised that they could not solve all of the issues the camera had. They started selling the enterprise and stopped support for the 8K, strange thing, the enterprise was almost the same specs as the 8K but twice the price, suppose they had to recoup their investment in the failed 8K project somehow. To me Kandao are an unethical company.
I would say even harsher words about Kandao company … they are scam artists. They released Qoocam Ego 3D camera with a plethora of problems, and the worse issues are in the camera h/w (focus mismatch between left and right lens, one lens never focuses correctly, insane battery drainage even in pseudo-sleep mode, extremely slow camera startup and shutdown, terribly hard to press shutter release button), so even very short period of released f/w upgrades couldn’t fix them. Now Ego owner are completely abandoned. I’ll never buy anything from Kandao!!!
I’m sorry you feel that way about Qoocam Ego. For me, I still like Ego even with these problems. Actually, I had a Fuji W3 and the left and right lens were not perfectly in focus at the same focal distance either. I had two of them and they both had the same issue. But W3 was still very popular with 3D shooters.
You have to remember that most of the 360 reviewers are in the pocket of Kandao, Insta360 etc, this site included. They are not independent and will not bite the hand that feeds.
Hi Bruce. That’s true for most reviewers. But this isn’t my day job. It’s just a hobby. You should see my review video of Qoocam 3 where I spend a large part of it criticizing Qoocam 3: https://360rumors.com/qoocam-3/ Now you know why this is the most trusted resource for 360 shooters.
I get the contempt people are expressing about the way we were sold a faulty design in the 8k, although they gave me a replacement that only bought me some time before that 2nd one went out of focus. It was unacceptable. I can’t help looking forward though to seeing what the qoocam 3 and especially the ultra will look like. The beautiful naturalistic colours in the 8k and the sharpness (while it lasted..) at the stitchline were so far above the likes of the insta360 1 inch. Very disappointed in having to replace my 8k with an insta360. Surely Kandao have sorted the focus problem out on these new cameras?
You hit the nail on the head. The Qoocam 8K really did have excellent image quality but had that blurgate flaw. But they have something that will raise eyebrows in Qoocam 3.
Keep in mind that for equal field of view, a larger sensor and wider aperture will reduce depth of field, making this product MUCH more sensitive to anything that causes focusing errors than its predecessor.
Not a good thing when the previous product was notorious for being nearsighted out of the factory which got worse when the unit heated up and also when the battery swelled due to poor quality control there on either the battery itself or the charging circuit.
yeah if there’s another QooCam with specs and features I like, I’ll wait a while before purchasing as well. I liked my 8K while it was getting updates but the mismatched lens thing never got better.
I’m always a bit surprises that so manu people faced troubles with their qoocam 8k. Without wanting to doubt to experiences, I’d like to share that my qoocam 8k already runs smoothless for 2 years and I’m looking forward to the reviews of the 3 ultra.
Thanks Robert!