How does the Qoocam EGO’s video quality compare to that of a 360 camera or a VR180 camera? I compared the EGO’s video quality to Insta360 One RS and Lenovo Mirage.
Yesterday, Kandao officially released the Qoocam EGO, a 3D camera that surprised many 360 camera users. It is the first non-360 3D camera from a 360 camera company that was known for producing 3D 360 and VR 180 cameras. It seemed that Kandao was stepping backward.
Although Kandao’s move was surprising, I thought that upon reflection, it could make sense. When producing photos and videos for VR headsets, the typical choice is a 360 camera because it enables the user to look anywhere around the video in a VR headset. However, consumer 360 cameras have a catch — because they have a 360 degree field of view, they have fewer pixels per degree and less detail than even a mediocre smartphone.
There are professional 360 cameras that do offer higher resolution but they are large, heavy, often with a complicated workflow, and they cost thousands of dollars.
Compared to these alternatives, Qoocam EGO arguably offers the best of both worlds: it is as detailed as a professional 360 camera, while also being as compact and affordable as a consumer 360 camera. In my review, I said that the Qoocam EGO had better image quality than any consumer 360 camera as of May 2022 and has similar detail as a professional 360 camera (when comparing videos from the same distance and same field of view). However, several viewers said that the EGO’s video quality was disappointing, and some viewers even said it was worse than a 360 camera.
The test
To address doubts about the Qoocam EGO’s video quality, I compared it with a 360 camera and a VR180 camera. For the 360 camera, I chose the popular Insta360 One RS. For the VR180 camera, I used the Lenovo Mirage.
On paper, this might not seem fair to the Qoocam EGO. The Qoocam EGO has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 per eye, while Lenovo Mirage has 4K resolution, and the Insta360 One RS has 5.7k resolution. Although the Mirage and One RS videos have higher nominal resolution, they also have much wider field of view. The Mirage has a 180-degree field of view, while the One RS has a 360 degree field of view. The EGO, on the other hand only has about an 80 degree field of view diagonally, so on paper, the EGO has more pixels per degree.
But of course, we should test this out in the real world to see if this it really does have more detail. To test resolution, I used a bottle with text on it. I took videos of the bottle with the three cameras from the same distance, using the same stand. You can see the drastic difference in field of view between these cameras.
I then zoomed in to the text on the bottle to about the same field of view:
The results are unequivocal. The lowest amount of detail is the Lenovo Mirage, which has a 4K resolution with a 180-degree stereoscopic field of view. Next, the Insta360 One RS has a monoscopic 360 degree field of view, but has a 5.7k resolution which is about two times higher than the resolution of the Lenovo Mirage. (Note: I didn’t test the Insta360 EVO here, but a 5.7K VR180 camera would have similar detail as a monoscopic 360 camera.) The Qoocam EGO has an unremarkable 1080p resolution, but its field of view is much smaller and therefore it has far more pixels per degree and thus far more detail.
I don’t have a lot of experience with professional 360 cameras but I would estimate that Qoocam EGO has about as much detail as a professional 8K 360 camera, for a consumer camera price. The question now is, would VR headset users prefer the EGO’s higher resolution 3D video or would they prefer lower resolution video with a 180 degree or 360 degree field of view? We’ll have to wait and see.
Where to buy:
🌎 Qoocam Ego from Kandao
🌎 Qoocam Ego (white) from B&H Photo
🌎 Qoocam Ego (black) from B&H Photo
Insta360 One RS with free extra battery
Lenovo Mirage (out of stock)
Thanks for using these affiliate links at no extra cost to you so I can do more tests and reviews.
I certainly would rather have the extra resolution than the 360° image that is soft and very disappointing.
Can you share some QOOCAM EGO photos (not the boring bottle ! :o) as link in this page, so we can view them in our headsets ?
Thank you!
Hi Sergio. Yes you can download samples here (for personal viewing only) https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_L3_gEprhcd5VIhPW57Xd1gLlVr2E8Ho?usp=sharing
It makes sense that the level of detail would be higher in the ego but you need to ensure you’re pointing the camera in the correct direction of course due to the narrower field of view. I think it’s really a matter of choosing the right tool for what you’re trying to do.
Do you have any idea what the timeframe is for Kandao to upgrade the stabilisation?
Also I wonder do you know what Insta360 are going to announce on 24th?
Hi Andrew. Sorry for the late reply. Yes you’re right about having to frame actively. Kandao hasn’t said how long it will take them to add stabilization. I actually have doubts about how well they can implement it because the fov is not as wide as VR180. Re May 24, it is Insta360 Sphere https://360rumors.com/insta360-sphere-preview/
I just got the EGO and wow its junk. The photo quality is passable, but video quality is shockingly bad. You can take a photo, then a video and grab a frame of video and its radically worse than the photo. So much so that I ensure you that the demo footage Kandao used in the Ego ad was NOT shot with the EGO camera. Its pretty much right there at 720p quality at the absolute best. No way in hell the demo footage was from the ego, no way. The camera is what I expected from Kandao after getting the complete joke of the 8k camera they sold. Promptly returned that with the same complaint anyone with eyes has in that, ITS NOT IN FOCUS. Thermal defocus issue – after like 20 seconds of it being on. In the USA, they call that, dont sell this piece of junk, but in China, whatever. So, here we are again. Another slice of complete junk. The shutter button is like it has an inch of rubber beneath it, so you cannot feel anything and there is no way you will be taking pics with this that are sharp because you have to crush the camera to hit the shutter and that will shake the camera enough, so you need to use the timer just because you have to. What I wanted to see is how it compared to the other ancient 3d cameras out there like the Fuji 3d w3 and gopro dual hero. Yup, its worse. Just unreal isnt it. You too can release total garbage in the camera industry if you just do what Kandao does and not give a crap about quality at any level. Cameras that came out 8 years ago that you can get used for next to nothing will destroy the quality you can get from this thing. Gopro Dual hero people. Come on. That camera did everything and more than this thing and it did it 8 years ago. Nothing like manual focus, so before you shoot anything, make sure you focus first, then when you have all that done, then you can start shooting – like its 2000. Just unreal. Complete freaking joke.
Looking at a frame grab, it looks like you really are getting about a quarter of the actual resolution in the video frame. I was thinking 1080p isnt going to be enough for video, but this isnt even near that. Its like 640×480 video that has been bumped up to 1920×1080. I am on firmware 1.16.1. This thing is a COMPLETE POS. What did you expect right? They have no business selling consumer grade products. No way in hell the demo videos were shot with the EGO. There is no way. Welcome to china.
I just got the EGO and wow its junk. The photo quality is passable, but video quality is shockingly bad. Complete freaking joke. The quality is about 640×480 for video. There is no way the demo videos were shot with the EGO. Its junk.
Looking at a frame grab, it looks like you really are getting about a quarter of the actual resolution in the video frame. I was thinking 1080p isnt going to be enough for video, but this isnt even near that. Its like 640×480 video that has been bumped up to 1920×1080. I am on firmware 1.16.1. This thing is a COMPLETE POS. What did you expect right? They have no business selling consumer grade products. No way in hell the demo videos were shot with the EGO. There is no way. Welcome to china.
Hi Steve. Just to clarify, have you seen the samples I posted? Are the samples I posted representative of what you’re getting or not? I can guarantee you I used the Ego to shoot my samples.