Kandao has fully unveiled the QooCam 3 Ultra, its latest and greatest 360-degree camera, which it hopes will dethrone the Insta360 X4 – and it looks like it could do just that, on paper at least.
The QooCam 3 Ultra is stacked with industry-leading features, including 8K HDR video with 10-bit color depth, plus twin f/1.6 aperture lenses and larger dual 1/1.7-inch sensors, which combined should produce a cleaner image than the X4, especially in low light.
Users can shoot 360-degree video in 8K resolution up to 30fps, 5.7K video up to 60fps, and 4K video up to 120fps, and easily switch to a single-lens mode, meaning the QooCam 3 Ultra essentially doubles up as a regular action camera, especially given that it's waterproof up to 33ft / 10m.
Video capture utilizes Kandao's SuperSteady electronic image stabilization to smooth out on-the-go clips, plus four directional mics for spatial audio capture. Got a Bluetooth mic like the DJI Mic 2 for better audio? There's support for that, though we'll need to confirm exactly which Bluetooth mics are compatible.
The quality of 360-degree videos and photos benefits from 'dynamic stitching' in the QooCam Studio editor, plus there's an invisible selfie stick feature that's pretty much the norm for this type of total-coverage video camera.
There's a wealth of shooting modes too, including long exposure, timelapse and interval shooting, while built-in GPS can tag location data to your content.
The QooCam 3 Ultra isn't just for video. Photographers can capture 360-degree photos up to 96MP in both 14-bit DNG RAW format and JPEG.
Build-wise, the QooCam 3 Ultra is chunkier than the X4, and with its 2,280mAh battery inserted it weighs 11.8oz / 336g. It sports a 2.19-inch touchscreen and comes with 128GB of built-in memory, plus it supports additional microSD storage – and you'll probably need to pick up a memory card given the large 8K video file sizes.
Price-wise, we're told that Kandao's QooCam 3 Ultra will cost $599 / £579 / AU$699 – that's a bit pricier in the US and UK markets than our current favorite 360-degree camera, the Insta360 X4.
All hail the new 360-degree camera king?
We highly rated 2019's QooCam 3, although we felt the editing experience needed refining. Since then, Insta360 has upped the bar with the X4, while GoPro is working on its long-awaited Max 2, meaning the competition is heating up.
Four years after the QooCam 3, Kandao says its latest flagship is refined in every regard, including the editing process. Kandao is also at pains to point out the quality of the QooCam 3 Ultra's 8K capture, saying it's the best around. The sample footage supplied to us by Kandao, some of which we've compiled above, is certainly impressive.
We're currently conducting an in-depth review of the QooCam 3 Ultra to see if these impressive specs translate into real-world performance, so if you're in the market for a pocketable 360-degree camera do look out for that, to find out if the QooCam 3 Ultra is indeed an X4-killer.
