Philip Bloom’s Ultimate Action Camera Comparison

Earlier today videographer Philip Bloom published an extensive look at several action cameras (as well as several 360 cameras). He explores the differences between the cameras in terms of image quality as well as stabilizer, functionality as well as codecs and more.

When the DJI Osmo Action was announced only recently we published a pretty extensive comparison between it and the GoPro Hero 7 Black. Bloom took the whole idea further and added a bunch of other cameras to this mix to give viewers a wider perspective.

Bloom points out something important that we also mentioned on our previous coverage of the new Osmo Action  and that is that at least for the moment you can’t change the amount of sharpening of the picture (you can do this with the GoPro) and that can be an issue because you can add sharpness in post if you like but it is much harder to remove it.

As for stabilization, the new software rocksteady on the new Osmo Action is fantastic and is better than the GoPro although Bloom does mention a piece of software called reelsteadygo that uses the gyro data from the GoPro to stabilize the footage and it looks pretty awesome.

Bloom also looked at a number of 360 cameras to see if they can somehow be used (to some degree) for what he is using action cameras for (walking around/driving etc.). For the most part not really since the resolution on any specific part of the image is typically not high enough although the Insta36O Pro 2 with its 8K shooting is getting closer (but it is heavy).

At the end of the day, it is hard to choose and each camera has its one set of strong points and weak points and you need to decide for yourself which is more relevant for you.

Here are the cameras used/mentioned in Bloom’s video and their prices:

  • Insta360 one X – $400.
  • DJI Osmo Action – $349.
  • DJI Osmo Pocket – $325.
  • GoPro Hero 7 Black: – $382.
  • Insta36O Pro 2 – $5000.
  • Sony FDRX3000 – $348.

You can find many more photography gear announcements and new products on our photography gear section here on LensVid.

Iddo Genuth
Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.

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