In-depth analysis of GoPro, Insta360, and DJI’s best-selling action cameras: Which one is more worth buying?
First question:
With camera phones and SLR and mirrorless professional digital cameras, why should you choose an action camera?
The reason is simple. Mobile phones, SLRs and mirrorless cameras cannot replace action cameras.
The reasons are as follows:
From the perspective of portability, action cameras are smaller and more convenient to carry than mobile phones and mirrorless cameras. Judging by function: Action cameras are mainly used to record videos, and the shooting effect is far better than that of mobile phones. And the operation is simpler. From the perspective of the lens, action cameras mainly feature wide angles, which can accommodate more images.
The most important thing is that the action camera is waterproof, dustproof, drop-proof, and explosion-proof, and is suitable for any shooting scene: it can be placed directly under the water to a depth of 10 meters to shoot, and it can be dropped from a height of two to three meters. No problem, it can be taken in stormy weather, and it is very portable. It can be clipped on a backpack, fixed on a bicycle, on your head, chest, etc. anywhere. Moreover, whether action cameras take photos or videos, the picture quality and clarity are better than those of mobile phones. This is mainly because action cameras use better lenses and more advanced autofocus and anti-shake systems.
The second question: Which action cameras are currently worth buying? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each? In fact, there are not many sports camera brands at present, mainly including Insta360, GoPro, DJI, XTU, FeiyuTech and other major brands. Among them, Insta360, GoPro, and DJI are the main brands in action cameras, and users basically choose between these three major brands. So, what are the advantages and disadvantages of Insta360, GoPro, and DJI? As we all know, one of the biggest advantages of action cameras is their excellent anti-shake performance. They can shoot at high speeds or in very bumpy situations to obtain very stable images. Therefore, anti-shake performance is a very important indicator for sports cameras.
From the perspective of anti-shake performance, GoPro has the best performance. The latest model in the GoPro series is GoPro HERO10 Black. In addition to its powerful anti-shake performance, GoPro HERO10 Black is also very waterproof. Shoot directly under 10 meters of water. GoPro HERO10 Black is also equipped with a large-capacity battery of 1720mAh, and the battery life is also very strong. In terms of video formats, GoPro HERO10 Black is also very powerful and can shoot 5.3K/60P and 4K/120P videos.
GoPro HERO10 Black’s anti-shake and photo and video shooting quality are very powerful, and its anti-shake performance exceeds that of DJI and 360. In addition, the battery capacity of GoPro HERO10 Black is also relatively large, and its battery life is far superior to DJI and slightly stronger than Insta360.
However, GoPro HERO10 Black also has an obvious shortcoming, that is, the film is relatively small, only 1/2.3 inches in size. When shooting at night, the noise increases significantly and the picture quality is not very pure.
Another very important indicator of an action camera is image quality, and the main factors that determine image quality are camera quality and film size.
At present, the largest film is DJI Action 2. The film used by DJI Action 2 is a 1/1.7-inch image sensor, which is much larger than Insta360 and GoPro HERO10 Black. This makes the picture quality and video effect of DJI Action 2 better. The high-sensitivity performance of DJI Action 2 is also better. The picture quality of low-light shooting at night is significantly higher than that of GoPro HERO10 Black. This is why many people choose DJI The reason for the DJI Action 2 dual-screen set, and the DJI Action 2 dual-screen set is two action cameras, highlighting its extremely high cost performance.
DJI Action 2 also has shooting capabilities such as time-lapse photography and 8x slow motion. It can shoot videos in 4K/120P specifications. Of course, DJI Action 2 also has its weaknesses and shortcomings. First of all, only the lens module of DJI Action 2 is waterproof, and the external screen requires a waterproof cover. The battery capacity of DJI Action 2 is too small and the battery life is very poor. This is a big problem criticized by many people. However, this problem is easy to solve. You can add a battery base to increase the battery life by more than twice. Third, DJI Action 2 will overheat and crash if it takes a long time to shoot 4k, and its reliability is not very good.
Finally, let’s take a look at Insta360.
The latest model of Insta360 is Insta360 ONE X2. Insta360 ONE X2 also has 10-meter waterproof performance. The anti-shake performance of Insta360 ONE X2 is at the same level as DJI. The image quality of Insta360 ONE X2 is on the same level as that of GoPro HERO10 Black. The battery life of Insta360 ONE X2 is slightly inferior to that of GoPro HERO10 Black, but the battery life of Insta360 ONE X2 far exceeds that of DJI.
Insta360 ONE X2 is a relatively average action camera. Its shortcomings are that the picture quality is not as good as DJI, and the video shooting performance is not as good as GoPro HERO10 Black, or even as good as DJI. GoPro HERO10 Black can only shoot 5.7 K/30P and 4K/50P videos. The maximum photo resolution is only 18.4 million pixels, which is not as good as GoPro HERO10 Black and DJI Action 2.
So if you want to buy an action camera with a built-in anti-shake handle, and pay more attention to image quality, you can choose DJI Pocket 2. DJI Action 2 has a 1/1.7-inch film, which is large. DJI Action 2 has larger film and better image quality. DJI Action 2 is also cheaper and more cost-effective.
Of course, DJI Action 2 also has shortcomings, that is, poor battery life. In addition, it generates heat when shooting 4K videos. This shows that DJI Action 2 still needs to work hard on product performance. It’s not enough to have a large film with good image quality. Good balance performance is the key.