Kandao steps up to Insta360 with the new QooCam 3 Ultra 8K 360 camera

Kandao has announced the new QooCam 3 Ultra ($499). An upgrade of the original QooCam 3 ($349), the new “Ultra” is an 8K 360-degree camera that the company clearly hopes to challenge the Insta360 X4 ($499.99).

It features an IP68 waterproof and dustproof rating, a bright f/1.6 aperture on its two camera modules, and shoots 96-megapixel still images. It also offers a built-in GPS, 10-bit colour depth HEVC video, and dual 1/1.7″ sensors.

QooCam 3 Ultra – Priced to compete with Insta360 X4

At the moment, both the new QooCam 3 Ultra and the Insta360 X4 share the same $499 price tag. In the case of the Kandao, though, this is just a temporary early-bird price. Once the early ordering session ends on August 10th, it goes up to $599.

This sets it at a higher price point than the Insta360 X4, but it does offer some advantages over the X4. For a start, it features a built-in GPS. You can record GPS with the Insta360 X4 using your smartphone or the Insta360 GPS Preview Remote – an extra $150 purchase.

It also sports larger sensors, at 1/1.7″ vs the X4’s 1/2″ sensors. This means that, in theory at least, they should feature better low ISO performance. These sensors also allow the creation of 96-megapixel 360-stills. The Insta360 X4 tops out at 72 megapixels.

Of course, the X4 has its advantages, too. It’s a taller, more slender form factor with the two lenses aligned directly opposite each other. The QooCam 3 Ultra, like the QooCam 3, features offset sensors on each side of the unit, which can potentially present alignment issues for certain shooting scenarios.

10-bit colour, high ISO performance, and 128GB built-in storage

The Kandao QooCam 3 Ultra allows for 10-bit HEVC video recording. To get 10-bit video out of Insta360, you have to set up to the Insta360 Titan ($15,278). All of Insta360’s pocketable cameras only record 8-bit footage. This means that, on paper, the QooCam 3 Ultra should offer more versatility than the X4 for those who want to edit their footage in applications such as DaVinci Resolve or Premiere Pro.

Looking at the footage right out of the camera, the differences may not be immediately apparent, but once you get into editing and start colour-correcting to match shots, the issues of 8-bit footage, particularly shadow noise, start to appear sooner.

Samples on the Kandao website show sample footage from the QooCam 3 Ultra alongside footage from “another 8K camera”. This could be Kandao’s own QooCam 8K ($599), released in 2019, but it could also potentially be the Insta360 X4.

The company doesn’t specify which, but either way, the low-light footage shown does look quite good. We’ll have to see if real-world tests are as good once it gets into people’s hands. I wouldn’t mind putting this side-by-side against the Insta360 X4 and ONE RS 1″ 360 Leica Edition at some point to see how they compare first-hand.

One potentially invaluable feature from looking at some of the Insta360 groups, is that the QooCam 3 Ultra features 128GB internal storage. So, if you forget your memory cards, it’s no big deal. However, it does have a microSD card slot for when you need more than 128GB, or if you just want to transfer using a card reader instead of a USB cable.

Kandao doesn’t specify the maximum capacity supported by the microSD card slot, but Insta360 supports up to 1TB microSD cards in the Insta360 ONE R, ONE RS, ONE X2, X3 and X4, so I would hope we’ll get the same here.

Price and Availability

The Kandao QooCam 3 Ultra is available to pre-order now for $499. Items are expected to ship starting August 10th, when the price goes up to $599.