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The enquiry
- Why you should trust us
- Who should buy this
- How we picked
- How we tested
- What'due south the difference betwixt an action camera and a 360 camera?
- Our pick: GoPro Hero9 Blackness
- Flaws but not dealbreakers
- Upkeep pick: GoPro Hero8 Black
- Upgrade choice: GoPro Hero10 Black
- Also great: Insta360 1 R
- Other good activeness cameras
- Sustainability and action cameras
- The competition
Why yous should trust us
I, Geoff Morrison, wrote the latest version of this guide. In addition to being the editor-at-large for Wirecutter, I'm a tech and travel author and photographer for CNET, Forbes, The New York Times, and more. You can check out my photography on Instagram, and some of my underwater and other adventures on my YouTube aqueduct. As an early adopter of the format, I'm also a longtime user of 360 cameras.
Previous iterations of this guide, including the update that introduced the GoPro Hero8 we withal recommend, were written by Wirecutter editor Ben Keough, who has covered cameras for Wirecutter, Reviewed, and Digital Camera HQ for more than a decade.
Who should buy this
If you spend a lot of time outdoors and want to be able to relive memorable or peculiarly exhilarating moments, an action cam is essential. It can also be an first-class option for vlogging, if you don't want to invest in a more complicated or expensive rig. An activity camera's diminutive size, ruggedness, and wealth of mounting options set it apart from point-and-shoot, DSLR, and video cameras. This makes action cameras uniquely suited to capturing footage from a offset-person (or offset-animal, equally in this video) perspective.
An activeness camera has a very wide-angle lens for capturing as much of the slopes or racetrack every bit possible. Cheap mounts allow you to attach the camera to a helmet (video), spike it to the tip of a surfboard, strap information technology to a hockey stick, or put information technology on a tripod that'due south super close to the action. Nonetheless, unlike a rugged indicate-and-shoot camera, an activeness camera doesn't have an optical zoom lens, so y'all're limited to a single signal of view (though information technology can be cropped to simulate different focal lengths). On the flip side, rugged traditional cameras lack the mounting abilities, wide-angle lens, and compact nature of an action camera. Those models are also typically designed to capture stills starting time and foremost, while video is where action cameras shine.
How nosotros picked
Our ideal activeness photographic camera has the post-obit attributes:
- Excellent video quality: A tiptop-tier action camera records crisp, shine, vibrant video and offers multiple resolutions and frame rates. We're looking for a minimum of 4K resolution at 60 frames per 2nd (4K60), and ideally more than. With more than resolution, not but is the image sharper, but you can also ingather in for meliorate framing, a slight zoom, then on, without the image looking overly soft. The best cameras offering upwardly to 8x slow motion (240 fps) with at to the lowest degree 1080p resolution.
- Effective video stabilization: What good is 4K resolution if your footage is a shaky mess? The best action cameras use either optical or electronic image stabilization to counteract bumpy trails and running pups for about gimbal-like smoothness.
- Rugged design: Given the extreme environments where activeness cameras thrive, they need to be able to handle stuff that would take most cameras out of commission, including sand, dust, h2o, and fifty-fifty serious impacts. We preferred cameras with integrated waterproofing, reinforced glass for the lenses and screens, and other ruggedized features.
- Piece of cake-to-apply controls: The last matter you desire to worry about while skiing a blackness diamond slope, cliff jumping, or rafting the Rio Grande is fiddling with camera settings. An action camera should brand adjusting settings and framing shots as easy equally possible, so you can bask yourself while still getting great footage to share later on. An piece of cake-to-use touchscreen is a must. And having a live-view front end screen so yous can easily get yourself in the frame is ideal. Voice commands aren't required, but a truly great action photographic camera probably has them.
- A removable bombardment: Virtually action cams have like bombardment life—most an hr at their maximum resolution and frame rate, and a bit longer at 1080p. Existence able to swap out for a fresh battery is essential.
- A bevy of mounting options: To get the almost out of your camera, you lot need a few accessories. The ideal action cam is uniform with a wide range of mounts, including both manufacturer-branded mounts and cheaper third-party options. These mounts should be as easy to use as the cameras themselves. (Most action cams now characteristic the standard GoPro-style mountain.)
- Reliable wireless and a good app: Because you'll rarely use your activity camera in front of a calculator, it should easily pair with your phone then that you can off-load and edit footage. The camera'southward dedicated mobile app should be well designed and like shooting fish in a barrel to use, allowing yous to control your camera by remote and edit clips on the wing. Ideally, it also lets y'all cut and create interesting videos without relying on third-party software.
- Live-streaming/webcam adequacy: Though it'southward not important to all people, the option to live-stream adventures to pop social media platforms is key for vloggers, and definitely a prissy option to have for everyone else. Being able to use the photographic camera as a webcam is also handy.
How we tested
Action cameras are designed for use in all sorts of atmospheric condition. Over the years we've put our examination models through as many challenges as possible to gauge their toughness, video quality, and usability in real-world situations. A good activity cam should respond well to irresolute light, cope well with water and dust, handle vibrations with aplomb, and remain easy to use even when y'all're engaged in strenuous concrete activity.
In our early rounds of testing, we evaluated iv or five action cameras at a time without an established baseline operation. We mounted the cameras to a machine and drove them upwards and downwardly the route to New Mexico's Ski Santa Fe resort at sunset. We carried them on strenuous hikes through the temperate rainforests of Washington's Olympic National Park. Nosotros dunked them in a cold mountain stream and strapped them to dogs and to our heads. Nosotros then downloaded and used each photographic camera's app, tested any advertised additional features, and timed how long it took to run down and charge the batteries.
Our 2020 and 2021 testing was curtailed somewhat past the state of the world, but we were able to take multiple hikes in different sections of Los Angeles'south Santa Monica Mountains and do some underwater testing in Geoff'due south pool. Nosotros also evaluated image and sound quality on several trips to other local parks and scenic vistas. Geoff did some long-term testing with the Hero9 on an extended road trip across the US and on hikes through several national parks. Most recently, we tested the GoPro Hero10 Black, pitting information technology against the Hero9 to discover their subtle and not-too-subtle differences.
In addition to those outings, we spent hours playing with each camera'due south user interface, checked how they'd work as a webcam, and ran downwards the bombardment to estimate their real-world battery life at unlike resolutions.
What's the difference betwixt an action camera and a 360 camera?
Our As well great pick has the ability to morph into a 360 photographic camera. This type of photographic camera is fairly new to the photographic camera world, and often misunderstood. When they commencement arrived on the market, 360 cams offered a unique, if limited, ability to create spherical images that showed everything around them in all directions. These images could be viewed as-is on Facebook, YouTube, and a few other sites, as well as with a VR headset, as though you were continuing where the photographic camera was, looking all around you. (Here's an instance I took during a dive in Barbados. Move or tilt your smartphone to change your viewing angle; on a laptop or desktop, click and drag your mouse to movement around the image.)
These days, however, most 360 cameras are used instead as next-level action cameras. Using an editing characteristic that GoPro calls OverCapture and Insta360 calls FreeCapture, you lot record everything in ultra-high-resolution spherical video. After you're done, y'all edit it down to a traditional 1080p video using whatever angles, pans, and zooms you want. The outcome is a highly stabilized, professional person-looking video, with results impossible to attain with a traditional action cam. As an example, here's the FreeCapture version of the aforementioned dive video shared higher up.
Because they require an actress editing pace, 360 cameras aren't quite as easy to use equally traditional action cameras that let you tape and then upload video to social media almost instantly. If you lot don't heed spending a few actress minutes to go more interesting footage, you have far more than creative opportunities with a 360 photographic camera, which is why we're recommending 1. I've had i in my kit for years and wouldn't leave for any adventure without it.
Our pick: GoPro Hero9 Black
Our pick
GoPro has long been the standard for activeness cameras, and the GoPro Hero9 Black is the best option for most people. Information technology takes everything nosotros liked about its predecessor, the Hero8 Black (our current upkeep choice), and improves on information technology, offering remarkably smooth, ultra-high-resolution videos, impressive image quality, and sharp photos, all in a rugged, like shooting fish in a barrel-to-use body. The bombardment life is also improved over older models, and as usual there are countless accessories to assistance you fit the camera into whatever of your favorite activities. Ultimately, while it'due south not the newest or flashiest GoPro, the Hero9 hits a sweet spot of price, performance, and features.
The Hero9 has a maximum video resolution of v.3K at 30 fps. This is 5120×2880 pixels—well higher up the 4K resolution used by most action cameras and televisions, which is 3840×2160 pixels. In that location's as well 4K 60 Hz for smoother yet still high-res footage and 1080p240 for ultrasmooth irksome movement. The Hero9'south maximum scrap rate, an important factor that determines how practiced the video looks, is a good for you 100 Mbps even for 5.3K videos. This meets or exceeds what the vast majority of its competition can tape. Still images are higher res than those you'd go out of the Hero8 Black likewise, bumped up to 20 megapixels (or 5184×3888) from that camera'southward 12 megapixels, and roughly matching the still resolution yous'd get from our also-bang-up pick.
What's the point of 5.3K resolution? The first and most obvious reason to capture more than pixels is to tape actress detail, which you can benefit from even when viewing your video on 4K or lower-end TVs and smartphones. Simply put, videos of your adventures will look extra sharp. Second, it allows you to crop into the epitome during recording or editing—a mild zoom, if you will—to improve frame the activity. You could do this with earlier GoPros and other 4K cameras, of course, merely the actress pixels of the Hero9 give you more than room to zoom or ingather without ruining the picture quality by making the image look soft or overly pixelated. Concluding, the actress pixels help with stabilization processing, ane of the Hero9'south most impressive features.
GoPro calls the Hero9's stabilization HyperSmooth 3.0, and it'south noticeably meliorate than the already impressive 2.0 on the Hero8. Walking and running produce virtually no camera shake. It'south not quite like the camera is on rails, but it's very close. There'due south even in-camera horizon leveling, which removes sway and rotation from video of more sprightly activities like snowboarding, surfing, extreme mountain biking, and so on. The optional Max Lens mod, which widens the already-wide 121-caste maximum horizontal field of view to a max of 140 degrees, goes one pace further: You tin can actually rotate the camera fully, upside downward and dorsum over again, and the horizon stays level. This is something 360 cameras have been able to do for a while, but it's a new feature amid traditional action cameras.
Hyperlapses—automatic, stabilized time-lapse movies—are a showcase feature for most activity cameras. The Hero9 Black's TimeWarp 3.0 adds a trick that should assist you make fifty-fifty more interesting videos. With a tap on the screen, yous tin can smoothly dull down the video to real time (that is, "normal" speed) and record audio, whenever you want. It's very slick and professional looking. You lot could, for example, have a hyperlapse walking around a city, tap the screen to record in real time, talk to the camera for a moment, and then speed back upwards.
The Hero9 Blackness's user interface is largely like to that of previous GoPros, and that of the newer Hero10—you swipe from the edges of the screen to open unlike menus and tap the screen to bring upward quick shooting settings. You tin tweak these presets—switching the Cinematic 5K/xxx/Broad mode to 4K/sixty/Linear, for instance—or add your own. It's a welcome addition for switching between shooting modes: Instead of requiring 4 or five taps of the screen, as on the Hero7 Black and earlier GoPros, it takes just two.
The Hero9 too has a slightly different body compared with previous GoPros, and the aforementioned equally the Hero10. While information technology looks similar, it'southward slightly larger in all dimensions. The biggest change is a front-facing, total-color screen. This may seem minor, only it makes it much easier to line up your selfie shots. The lens cover is as well removable, in case you scratch it or want to install the aforementioned Max Lens modernistic. The folding mounting bracket, ane of our favorite features from the Hero8, is thankfully nevertheless here. Similar other GoPros, the Hero9 is waterproof down to 33 feet (or 10 meters) without a housing.
Part of this larger size is to agree a larger battery—i,720 mAh, up from 1,220 mAh. GoPro claims this results in 30% longer recording times. During our battery tests, which involved recording video until the battery ran out, 30% seems about right compared with the Hero8. Performance was like with the Hero10, which uses the same battery every bit the 9.
Though we assume most people are using action cameras primarily for video, these cameras also take photos. The quality of photos we shot with the Hero9 are roughly similar to what y'all'd get from a decent smartphone. The SuperPhoto manner, which blends multiple exposures, offers very good dynamic range. In most situations, the Hero9 volition produce images that wait keen on social media, outdone by only a "existent" camera, had yous been able to bring one with you lot on your gamble. The images are higher resolution compared with previous GoPro pics, only in terms of color and contrast, there isn't as much difference equally there is with video. The Hero10's still images take slightly higher resolution, though the difference isn't every bit noticeable equally that between the Hero8 and Hero9.
GoPro's smartphone app, Quik (Android and iOS), does a good chore of letting you command your photographic camera and accommodate your captured footage. It'southward equally good as or meliorate than apps from other action cameras, though not as expert as Insta360'southward. Trimming for length and cropping for framing, while handy, are bachelor on most apps. The ability to adjust exposure, dissimilarity, colour, and more is less common—and very welcome here. You can also speed up and wearisome downwards your footage and save private frames as high-resolution still images. It'due south far easier to connect to your photographic camera than about other apps.
It'south non perfect, of course. The Insta360's app has more editing options, for instance, and for some of Quik's more esoteric features y'all need to create a free account. The app can even automatically edit together your footage past calculation music, titles, fades, and filters. Not all devices will be able to output this edited video at more than 1080p. Some will be able to output at 4K, but none will be able to output these app-edited videos at 5.3K. Meet the Flaws but not dealbreakers section below for more info.
The Hero9 Black features vocalism control with a wide range of commands. It works well, fifty-fifty in pretty noisy environments, and recognizes several languages (plus a few regional dialects). Although voice control might non be something you have to apply ofttimes, if you find yourself hang gliding over the Alps or white-knuckling it down a mount bike descent, you'll appreciate the ability to start recording without taking your hands off the handlebars. The Hero9 Black responds to vocalism commands amend than the Insta360, and almost the same equally our previous acme pick, the Hero8 Black, and our upgrade option, the Hero10.
Y'all tin can apply the Hero9 as a webcam, simply since no action camera is really good in low-light situations (non even the Insta360 One R with the 1-inch sensor module), don't expect it to work miracles if your domicile office isn't well lit.
GoPro'due south competitive advantage extends to its system of mounts and other accessories (both first- and tertiary-party options). You can detect famously tough mounts for handlebars, roll bars, surfboards, helmets, tripods, cars, your chest, your head, and fifty-fifty your dog. Some specific Hero9 standouts are the Media Modernistic, the Max Lens Modern, and the Light Modern.
If you desire deject storage for your clips (plus a discount on your camera), yous can subscribe to GoPro, a service formerly called GoPro Plus. For $five per calendar month or $50 per year, yous get unlimited deject storage, no-questions-asked camera replacement (twice a year), and 50% off accessories at GoPro.com.
Flaws but not dealbreakers
GoPro photos and videos have a specific wait. They tend to be somewhat oversaturated and very vibrant. Personally, I similar this look. Some people don't. If y'all prefer to offset with flatter footage and class it yourself, yous tin even so use the Apartment preset and ProTune—GoPro's menu options for creating a custom preset of your saturation, contrast, and other settings preferences. It's something to keep in mind if you're not someone who ordinarily plays with moving picture settings.
Activity cameras use pocket-size image sensors and don't handle depression lite very well. That said, the Hero9 does far better than most. Not quite every bit good as the Insta360 OneR 1-inch, just amend than most.
Similar other GoPros, the Hero9 can run hot. Very hot. Later recording half an hour of 5.3K video, information technology was nearly likewise hot to touch. Even so, this didn't seem to cause any functioning issues. It cools down relatively quickly, but don't expect to put it in your pocket right away. If it's a hot mean solar day, and specially if you're out in the dominicus, expect that the camera will shut down to protect itself when it gets as well hot. Letting it cool, or decreasing the resolution/frame rate volition help minimize this intermission.
The GoPro app doesn't accept quite as many features and tools as that of our also-great pick, the Insta360 Ane R. However, it's close and very skilful overall. In that location is one abrasive quirk, though: After you download a photo or video from the camera, it doesn't actually appear on your phone's photographic camera whorl. You need to relieve it again (under Share) for it to bear witness up anywhere else on your device. It's only one extra step, but it'southward an unnecessary and unintuitive (not to mention frustrating) 1. If you salvage your content to the deject, similar Google Photos or iCloud, they won't be uploaded unless yous do this.
If you lot don't accept a newer, high-finish phone, it likely won't be able to even play dorsum 5.3K videos, or if it can play them, you might not be able to edit them. GoPro has a list of compatible devices. Mostly speaking, iPhone XS serial (and later) phones, and iPad Pros should exist capable. Android devices running Android 10 with at to the lowest degree 4 GB of RAM and either Kirin 9000, Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, Exynos 980, or newer processors should be fine, besides. In my testing I had some problem with 5.3K 30 Hz files on my Pixel four, but no issues with my Pixel v. With 5.3K 60 Hz videos (only bachelor on the Hero10 Black), the Pixel 5 had some issues too. The fault here isn't entirely with GoPro—these are very large, high-resolution files, and near phones simply don't have the processing power and RAM to handle them.
Alternately in that location is a desktop GoPro app, if your phone can't handle the resolutions/frame rates you lot want from the camera. Nonetheless it's limited to trimming videos, pulling even so images, and reframing with 360 videos (see GoPro Max in the Contest section beneath). It'due south very bare-bones. It seems GoPro assumes that if you want to exercise whatever elaborate editing with the highest resolutions and frame rates, you'll either take a summit-of-the-line and very new phone, or accept access to desktop video editing software similar Adobe Premiere Pro.
Keep in mind that you lot can skip this step and upload the files from the SD card using your computer to YouTube/Facebook, and so on. This issue is only if you want to edit them.
The Hero9, and its battery, are bigger than the Hero8, so many older accessories and extra batteries are likely not compatible. The mount is the same, however.
Budget selection: GoPro Hero8 Black
Budget pick
If you don't demand cutting-border resolutions and frame rates, but even so desire something that records loftier-quality, stabilized 4K video, the Hero8 Blackness is the best option. With each new release the previous twelvemonth'due south camera gets cheaper, and now the Hero8 Blackness is essentially GoPro'southward entry-level offering. But it was our top pick dorsum in 2019, when information technology was the latest and greatest, and information technology's even so a very skillful camera today. It features stabilized 4K video at 60 fps, TimeWarp hyperlapses, and many of the features nosotros like in the Hero9, including a congenital-in mount.
The 4 major differences between the 8 and ix are the resolution, the stabilization, the battery life, and the front screen. The Hero9 is capable of 5.3K 30 Hz video whereas the eight maxes out at 4K lx Hz. That extra resolution on the nine lets you ingather or zoom in more on videos, and they look a bit more detailed overall. The image quality, dissever from the resolution, is too improve on the ix. The Hero8's stabilization, which GoPro calls HyperSmooth ii.0, doesn't fifty-fifty out the video besides as the HyperSmooth 3.0 and 4.0 used in the following models. The Hero8'due south battery life is also nigh thirty% worse than the 9'south, and that photographic camera'south larger batteries won't fit in the 8.
Last, and perhaps near of import, the Hero8 lacks the forrard-facing full-color screen of the ix. This is one of the 9's most useful features, letting you lot far more hands setup and frame selfie-shots by seeing what'southward being recorded. Instead, the viii offers a monochrome front-facing display that shows battery life, recording fourth dimension, and other vital stats.
In all, the Hero8 Black is a good camera for the toll, only if you tin beget 30% more for the nine, that is a much better camera overall.
Upgrade pick: GoPro Hero10 Black
Upgrade pick
If you want the ultimate activity camera and demand the highest-resolution slow-motion videos, the Hero10 Black is the photographic camera to become. It's the latest and greatest camera from GoPro, and it improves on its predecessor, the Hero9 Black, in several central ways. Withal, the improvements are marginal, and near people—peculiarly those who mostly upload their videos directly to social media without additional editing—likely won't miss them if they opt instead for the significantly less expensive Hero9 Black.
The biggest change is an improvement in frame rates, assuasive you to tape 5.3K video at 60 frames per second, doubling the Hero9 Blackness's 30 fps. Perhaps most usefully, you can at present record 4K at 120 fps, which allows for some ultrasmooth, Ultra Hd irksome-motion videos. Then if you're into fast activeness sports, like snowboarding, surfing, and then on, your videos can wait even more epic. The Hero9 Black, in comparison, could only record 120 fps tedious motion at 2.7K resolution. For really smoothen, 240 fps slo-mo, the x maxes out at two.7K over the 9's 1080p. In other words, the Hero10 Black has a step higher frame rate at every resolution than its predecessor.
Stabilization is also improved. Now called HyperSmooth 4.0, GoPro's revised software stabilization has improved horizon leveling, meaning it can withstand more camera tilt while keeping the image "apartment" and can do so at a wider variety of resolutions and frame rates. If you add the Max Lens Mod, which increases the field of view, you tin can even rotate the camera 360 degrees around its axis while keeping the horizon level. This is something that has been possible for several years with 360 cameras (run into our also-slap-up pick below), but is relatively new with traditional action cams. Only while this is all very cool stuff, for everyday shooting where you're not tilting wildly from side to side or flipping upside down, you'll probably just notice modest improvements in stabilization.
The Hero10's new, faster GP2 processor is the magic behind HyperSmooth 4.0 and the higher available frame rates. Its power tin can exist felt throughout the camera's user interface. If yous've used a Hero9 Blackness before, you'll observe the x switches faster between menus, swipes more fluidly between clips, and just generally feels smoother. The Hero9 wasn't exactly sluggish in this regard, simply the comeback is noticeable during day-to-day use.
There are some other improvements, too. Still images are now 23 megapixels—a 3-megapixel spring over the Hero9's 20. The difference in resolution isn't that noticeable, simply does allow for extra leeway when cropping. Recording video in low lite is besides a petty better than it was with the Hero9, mostly in terms of better dissonance reduction (less "graininess"). The low-light video from the Insta360 One R 1-inch mod is a trivial noisier but far brighter, which makes information technology more than usable overall. That's all to say that the Hero10 looks "smoother" in low lite, but the 1 R lets you meet more in dark environments. All the same, don't await nifty depression-light performance from whatsoever activity camera, even the Ane R.
If you shoot a lot of videos, the Hero10 will permit you transfer them to your phone using USB-C, which is much faster than sending clips to your mobile device wirelessly every bit is the only option with the Hero9. The lens cover is at present hydrophobic, every bit in information technology resists water sticking to it, which should minimize drops of water on the lens during activities similar surfing.
Because the bodies are basically identical, any mounts or mods you may have for the Hero9 will work with the Hero10. Accessories for older GoPros like the Hero8 Black may not be uniform, even so, since the two most recent GoPros are slightly larger in all dimensions.
One thing to go along in heed, the Hero10 has the same heat bug as the Hero9. At maximum resolutions/frame rates the camera gets very hot and can shut down while recording long videos. If you need to record long, continuous videos, all-time to choose a lower resolution and/or frame charge per unit.
When information technology comes down to information technology, the Hero10 is absolutely an improvement over the 9 in simply near every manner. However, it's also a lot more expensive compared with the already-expensive Hero9. Subjectively speaking, I'd say it's a 10% improvement for a 20% increase in price. That said, if you just desire to get the best traditional action cam out there and don't care about the toll, the Hero10 is definitely the style to become.
Too great: Insta360 1 R
Also cracking
Insta360 One R
The most versatile activity camera
With a modular design that allows for unlike lenses and sensors, including a 360-degree spherical video option, the One R offers more creative choices than our picks from GoPro.
Ownership Options
If you lot want to brand videos that offer different angles or perspectives, or in different lighting atmospheric condition, from a traditional action camera, the Insta360 One R offers multiple lens and sensor options to allow for greater creativity. Depending on which version you lot buy, and which lenses you pick, you'll have a wider range of creative opportunities than y'all would with the GoPro Hero9, or even the newer Hero10. For case, the Expert Edition comes with a 1-inch sensor mod that allows y'all to capture high-quality v.3K video that's as good as, and sometimes better than, that of the GoPro Hero9. You also become the dual-lens 360 mod with 5.7K resolution, with which you lot can create ultrasmooth, highly stabilized 1080p videos with professional-looking pans and zooms.
Merely the One R is more expensive than the Hero9 and Hero10—the aforementioned Good Edition retails for $680 compared with the Hero9's list price of $400 and Hero10 at $500—and swapping between lens mods takes a few minutes and tin can be a fleck fiddly. For the all-time videos and photos, yous'll need to edit your footage, but thankfully Insta360's mobile and desktop apps are first-class—easier to use than GoPro's with regard to the one-time, and providing significantly more than functionality in the case of the latter.
In nigh configurations there are three main pieces: an approximately one-inch square "brain" with a touchscreen, a microSD card slot, and a USB-C connection. This connects to the lens module, for which you can choose from a i-inch sensor, a wide-angle 4K, or a dual-lens 360. Holding these together is the battery.
For the best flick quality, the 1-inch modernistic, as its proper name suggests, has a large i-inch sensor, far bigger than the one in the Hero9. This, paired with a Leica lens, gives the One R better low-light operation than other activeness cameras, including our top and upgrade picks from GoPro. In other situations, image quality is similar to, and sometimes meliorate, than what y'all'd get from the Hero9 Blackness, a testament to that camera's engineering. The 1-inch modern gets you five.3K video at 30 fps, 4K60, and 1080p at 120 fps. For a scrap less money, you can get the 4K wide-angle modernistic instead. Information technology maxes out at 4K60 but offers 1080p at 200 fps. Hither'due south a video I made in Zion National Park, shot with the 4K wide-angle modernistic and edited with Insta360'southward app (though I added the music separately).
You can postal service the 360 photospheres as-is, if you lot want, but information technology's far more common now to edit these into traditional 1080p videos featuring the nearly interesting sections of that sphere—something that's not possible with a traditional action photographic camera. The big do good to this technique is that you don't need to worry about missing something cool happening exterior your field of view, because your field of view contains literally everything that happens around the camera.
Imagine you're skiing downwardly a slope with your friend. With a traditional action cam, you lot'd have to cull whether to tape them, record yourself, or record where you're going. (Or apply multiple action cameras pointing in dissimilar directions.) With a 360 camera, you're recording everything happening around y'all at the same time. So when you become dorsum to the guild, you can edit a single video that features the near epic parts of your run, their wipeout, your expression at their wipeout, and more, all with ane camera. Even better, the stabilization with the 360 mod is fifty-fifty smoother than the Hero9 Black's HyperSmooth iii.0 or the Hero10'due south four.0, with professional-looking object-tracking pans that are possible with but a few taps in the app. Ane little hitch is that although the app automatically stabilizes your footage, you exercise need to edit it before y'all post. This isn't hard or particularly time consuming, just information technology is slower than the shoot-it-and-mail-information technology speed possible with the GoPro.
Another trick that the I R with the 360 modern has up its sleeve (and the Hero9 and 10 Black doesn't) is that like most 360 cameras, it can "delete" any selfie stick from your footage. This effectively makes information technology await like you take a drone following you around. You can e'er position a traditional action camera so that the selfie stick isn't in the shot, but with the One R, everything is in the shot except for the selfie stick, always. (For more, cheque out my "Should You Get a 360 Camera or an Action Photographic camera?" YouTube video.)
There are several bundles bachelor for the 1 R, each with different lens mods included. The Expert Edition, which comes with the 1-inch and 360 mods, is our pick. You lot'll get five.3K video that's equally proficient equally, if not better than, what you lot'd become with the Hero9, plus everything a 360 camera can offer. The one (somewhat major) matter you lot lose is the extreme slow movement possible with the Hero9. That camera can exercise 1080p at 240 fps, whereas the 1-inch mod on the 1 R maxes out at 120. That's probably not a huge deal for most people.
Alternatively, there's the Trio Edition, which includes the 1-inch, 360, and the 4K wide-bending modern. The 4K mod offers prototype quality on a par with 2019'southward Hero8 Blackness, but it can do 200 fps slow-motion video. It also offers a slightly wider field of view compared with the 1-inch. The Trio Edition is more expensive, of course, than the Adept Edition (which lacks the 4K mod) and nosotros don't recall most people will need the 4K wide-angle modernistic if they have access to the better image quality of the 1-inch modern.
In a broad sense, having the 1-inch and 360 mods is like getting the Hero9 or Hero 10 Black plus a 360 camera, while the 4K and 360 mods (aka the Twin Edition) are closer to the Hero7 or 8 Black plus a 360 camera.
If you like the thought of a 360 photographic camera just don't need the I R'southward modular pattern, check out the Insta360 One X2 in the Competition section below. It offers similar image quality and stabilization, but for less money and with a slightly easier-to-utilize design.
Other good activity cameras
If y'all want a tiny camera that can fit anywhere or that you lot tin habiliment easily on your clothes: The Insta360 Get two is a tiny, tiny, admittedly tiny action camera—no bigger than your thumb. It's magnetic, letting you lot attach it not just to anything metal, but to small pendant mounts you can hide under your shirt. Information technology records stabilized video up to 1440p and performs far amend than you'd expect for the size. And that size is truly game-changing, letting you squeeze the photographic camera into places no GoPro could fit, like on the front of a model railroad train. It'south non quite as rugged or as versatile as a "full-size" action cam, but if you're looking for something a bit unlike, you record lots of first-person POV videos, or you desire something that can fit in whatsoever pocket to capture spur-of-the-moment adventures, it's great.
If y'all want the versatility of a 360 camera simply don't need the modular I R: The Insta360 One X2 has a fairly rugged body in a candy bar shape that makes it easy to use and carry. The overall prototype quality is excellent, and battery life and usability is much improve than earlier 360 cameras. It, along with Insta360's excellent app, opens up a wide range of creative photo and video options. Compared with the Ane R, the image quality is slightly improve, it's meliorate able to remove selfie sticks, and it'south faster to set up and employ. If y'all already have an activeness photographic camera and want the creativity of a 360, this is the better, and less expensive, option.
Sustainability and activity cameras
The best mode to be an environmentally conscious action camera user is to extend the life of your camera. Since they're designed to be rugged, action cameras tin concluding quite a while. If you're happy with your camera'due south resolution, frame rates, and features, this means yous should be able to employ it for many years with only a new battery hither and in that location. And if you have one that yet works but want to upgrade for one reason or some other, consider gifting your old camera to friends, family, or perhaps selling information technology online (though don't await much for it). If its new possessor is less enervating than you are, information technology could have a long, useful second life.
If you don't accept anyone to requite an older activeness cam to and don't want to become through the hassle of putting it on eBay or Craigslist, you can recycle it at your local Best Purchase. They claim that they work "with electronics recyclers that adhere to the highest guidelines and standards" and that this choosiness "assures customers that the products we are given for recycling practise non finish up in landfills and that all hazardous materials are disposed of properly, and in accordance with our recycling standards."
GoPro makes three of our 4 picks, and we've noted some minor but meaningful nods toward eco-friendliness on the company'due south part in contempo years. For 1 thing, GoPro no longer uses plastic in their packaging, instead wrapping a sturdy camera case with a piece of cardboard. Insta360'southward packaging is more often than not cardboard as well, with a bit more single-employ plastic than GoPro. Other brands use far more single-use plastic in their packaging. GoPro has likewise made the lens cover on its recent cameras replaceable, which ways you don't need to replace an unabridged camera if merely the cover gets damaged.
The contest
The DJI Osmo Action is an aging alternative to the GoPro Hero cameras. Video quality is cracking, like to the GoPro Hero8. Information technology too sports 4K lx Hz with stabilization, which was roughly as constructive equally first-generation HyperSmooth in our tests. The Osmo Action also has something the Hero8 Black doesn't: a forepart-facing, full-color display for vlogging. On the downside, its mics aren't as clear, its app isn't as full featured, its menus aren't equally intuitive, the default colour output isn't as punchy, and the range of accessories isn't as various. Honestly, at that place'due south nothing incorrect with the Osmo Action, but there'due south besides aught that sets information technology apart for most people. If yous just aren't a fan of GoPro cameras, definitely option it upward. Otherwise, for almost situations the Hero8 Black is slightly superior.
The DJI Activeness 2 is a tiny, merely rugged, action camera meant to fit where well-nigh action cameras can't. It's virtually one.5-inches tall and broad, and little over 0.86-inches deep. Despite that diminutive size, information technology sports an OLED screen, 4K 120 Hz resolution, and an ultra-wide 155-caste lens. It's also magnetic, assuasive for some creative mounting options, like existence able to hang from your chest via a lightweight, magnetic necklace.
The Action 2 is modular, then you lot can add similar-sized modules like a battery pack, a forepart-facing screen, and more.
While undeniably interesting, as of this writing DJI'due south app is not bachelor on the Google Play Shop and at that place is no estimate when it volition return. You can download the latest version from DJI'southward website, simply bypassing Android's security features to do this is non something we can recommend for the boilerplate user. Until the app returns to the Play Store, we can't recommend this camera.
If you are on iOS, don't care well-nigh bypassing Google Play Store, and want a wearable action cam that'southward a chip more rugged and has meliorate video quality than Insta360's Go 2 (recommended in the Other good activeness cameras section in a higher place), the Activeness 2 is worth checking out.
The GoPro Max is the brand'due south 360 photographic camera. Overall, it's very good. The photos and videos direct from the camera are a picayune more than colorful and punchier than those of the One R or the 1 X2. Since you always demand to edit 360 photos and videos anyway, this isn't quite every bit much of a benefit compared with traditional action cameras. You tin practise more with Insta360's app, so either the Ane R or the One X2 are better options if you're interested in a 360 camera.
We opted not to exam Sony'southward pint-size RX0 II activeness camera. Though it has some exciting features, including a huge i-inch sensor, information technology's not really a straight competitor to traditional action cams, or even the Insta360 One R. While the RX0 II offers 4K recording and stabilization, reviews suggest it's crippled by issues with bombardment drain and overheating. And it's far more expensive than typical action cameras.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-action-camera/
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