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The company that was made famous by its dang wheely board cameras is now releasing a dedicated virtual reality camera that potentially will become go-to for making amateur VR porn. Like the earlier GoPro cameras, this camera, called the GoPro Fusion, aims to be the high quality and affordable virtual reality camera for the masses. GoPro’s CEO says “Whether filming for VR or traditional fixed-perspective content, ‘Fusion’ represents the state-of-the-art in a versatile spherical capture.” If GoPro lives up to their promises, this camera may beat the new Gear 360 camera in terms of specs, quality, and features.
Image credit: GoPro
The new GoPro Fusion does both 360 and regular video. That said, 360 video capabilities are what makes the Fusion useful for virtual reality video capture. Having the ability to do non-360 videos is a plus that GoPro is advertising heavily. Its non-360 capture has some interesting editorial features but more on this later. The Fusion camera will have great sensors that can capture 5.2k content. This beats the Gear 360 which is limited to 4K. 5.2k may sound like overkill but when pixels are stretched in a 360 sphere, every bit of clarity counts.
https://youtu.be/PygsKZXpYrI
The extra 1.2k pixels will make Fusion videos at least a fair amount sharper than traditional 4K 360 videos. That said, these extra pixels come at a cost. On the Fusion, Shooting in 5.2k is limited to 30fps. Most of the time, VR video producers shoot for 60 fps. Dipping this far under 60fps often leads to nausea. It remains to be seen how GoPro aims to solve this issue.
The Fusion compared to Gear 360
Image credit: GoPro
Beyond the updated resolution, the Fusion’s image quality should be much better than that of Samsung’s Gear 360. This is because the Fusion fuses six cameras into one unit. CEO Nicholas Woodman says “the ability to capture every angle simultaneously… as though you had six GoPro cameras fused into one.” In contrast, the Gear 360 only has two cameras. In Samsung’s devices, the two cameras are used to film corresponding halves of 360 spheres. Because each camera has to handle 180 degrees on its own, the video image becomes severely stretched. The Fusion’s array of 6 cameras helps mitigate this issue. Consequently, the images that the Fusion captures with six cameras are less stretched with less stitching seams and dead zones.
OverCapture
As a result, GoPro is marketing the Fusion as a device that captures what you need with very little effort. In their product statement, GoPro says: “Imagine never having to worry about framing your subject… ever. Yes, cameras do the heavy lifting already, but it still takes the eye to compose a shot, right? Well, thanks to Fusion, our users will be able to record their moments in all directions and then go back and choose the composition they want. This is referred to as OverCapture or reframing. It’s like having a camera team with you when you shoot capturing your primary and b-roll footage. From there, you have the flexibility in post-production to pick and share all sides of your story in conventional HD.”
If you are an aspiring virtual reality porn director, you may have to wait a bit to get your hands on the Fusion. If interested, you can sign up to learn more about the Fusion here.
Nice upgrades by GoPro with the 5.2k video quality and the 6 camera arrangement for 360 video capture… However, would have loved if they had kept shooting for 60fps instead of 30… Any word on the pricing and availability?
GoPro must think twice about innovations and their relative costs.
I love gopro cameras and I believe if they are going to make one then this would be high quality and affordable. Eagerly looking forward to it.