GoPro - MAX2

Thank you all very much for the responses! Without a doubt, I think the Max 2 is a great option for me. I don't edit in Adobe Premiere, mainly for my videos I use my cell phone and occasionally the PC but it is not my profession, just a hobby. In terms of form factor, it seems to me by far the best, and at night it is not going to be my use. Diving is not a use for me either, although I know that I cannot use it (at least for the moment) in case I ever do snorkeling or some underwater activity, but I think that as a color and image it is the best. I will definitely choose Max 2. Thank you so much!

Gopro max or max2 or insta360. The 360 cameras are awesome as hell for snowboarding.

What settings are you shooting in? Have you made adjustments beyond the default resolution / bitrate / sharpening / ISO? I'm very impressed by the quality, because I adjust the setting to my environment to get maximum performance from the camera

I regularly record for longer than 30 minutes with my Max2 and have never encountered overheating. But then again, my activities all have lots of airflow (motorcycles, paragliding, etc), and I always keep the front heatsink facing into the wind. If you do the same, you'll be fine

Dat ben ik niet met je eens. De lenzen van de Max 2 zijn in seconden te vervangen en dat is bij de X5 niet het geval. Dat is nog een gedoe omdat je daarvoor een kit van Insta360 nodig hebt. Ik heb mijn X5 net weggedaan. Osmo360 is veel beter.

I have the 13 and max2. Prefer the hero 13 and I love it. Better than what I thought. Love the auto editing thru GoPro as well.

This video is not an accurate representation of what the camera is capable of. If this is truly straight out of the box, it wasn't shot in 8K; doesn't use high bitrate; isn't set up for the filming environment; etc. Filming inside of a dark car interior is not what this camera is meant for. It's an action camera, meant for action environments like this: [https://www.reddit.com/r/gopro/comments/1nogriq/max2s\_image\_quality\_is\_insanely\_good/](https://www.reddit.com/r/gopro/comments/1nogriq/max2s_image_quality_is_insanely_good/)

Basically that it's a really good camera, except in low light iirc. There's more nuance than that though, one of the big things he did criticise was Go Pros desktop software. I'd recommend OP just watch his (and as many others as possible) review.

Plenty of clouds in the sky here, and the quality is outstanding [https://www.reddit.com/r/gopro/comments/1nogriq/max2s\_image\_quality\_is\_insanely\_good/](https://www.reddit.com/r/gopro/comments/1nogriq/max2s_image_quality_is_insanely_good/)

Weinig mensen filmen 's avonds en 's nachts. Ik heb mijn X5 met GPS Remote zojuist verkocht. Ik vind de Osmo360 veel beter, ook in low light. En ik ga ook de Max 2 kopen. Dus nee, ben het niet met je eens. De X6 zal geen spannende verbetering zijn. Tussen X4 en X5 marginale verschillen net als daarvoor.

I have both GoPro and Insta360 cameras. The work flow on Insta360 is terrible by comparison. Not aware of any "motion sensing stop/start recording" on an Insta360. A sound trigger is not the same as voice commands. A sound trigger is Db based, so it's got many purposes when capturing wildlife for example. You don't need a PC or to do scripting to "change between" (not even sure that that means). All can be set up with a simple QR code via the QRcontrol app available for iOS and Android. You CAN however create advanced scripts on a PC if you want that option (but it's not required). Please, let's see you create a GPS based timelapse (instead of time based) on an Insta360. Heck, grab and X2... try powering it off with the app. Blow outs are bad for you? Great, install the GoPro labs firmware and adjust the exposure dampening. Do the same on the Insta360.. oh wait.. Tell you what, lets create a custom log curve for editing on the Insta360... oh wait.. Well surely you can set which audio channels to use or mute right?

Unpopular opinion maybe, but gopro puts out great quality underwater footage. It depends what you're using it for and what you want to film though. I'd encourage you to go look up recent gopro 4k underwater footage and you'd be surprised how crisp and sharp the images are, even without additional lights or gear. If you're looking for close up macro shots it's not the best (although it can still take great stills or you can also simply extract a still from 4k footage). I can't count the number of times I've seen people commenting on amazing shots here and asking what camera was used, only to be surprised that it was actually just a still frame from a gopro video. Is it the best for making professional quality prints or video? Probably not. Does it put out great quality non-professional video for a vacation diver? Absolutely. If you're okay with the quality of iphone videos, you'll likely be okay with the quality of gopro videos. The most important thing if you're filming video is image stabilization, which gopro is best of class at for non-professionals. There's nothing worse than shaky cam footage underwater and it's really good at producing smooth footage even for beginners. If you want to up your gopro game, you can still do it on a budget by adding a good tray (don't buy a handle) and two lights. I use a backscatter tray with 2x Orcatorch D710Vs. It's very decent and hard to beat at the price range. Sky's the limit on price if you want to look at more premium options. The best part is that I can fit it all in a regular sized backpack, which is something you can't do with nearly any other underwater camera options. I'm, also not worried about it getting banged around as they're built like tanks. Lastly there's a huge market of used gopros too if you really want to buy something on a budget.

I've had almost every GoPro since the GP4. Just got the Max2, but in all honesty, I think my favorite is the 13 black.

The real answer you are looking for is the GoPro Hero 2024 (maybe it's called the LIT Hero now) it's super simple, cheap (compared to normal GoPro) shoots video, exports to phone/pc and is much lighter/smaller than the others. Edit: MAX2 is the best camera. Not best bang for buck.

Because the daylight image quality of Max2 is miles beyond what an X3 is capable of (and even beyond an X5). Max2 has the best daylight image quality of any 360 camera in this price range. That's what people are paying for. If I want to film in a dark car interior, I'm not using *any* action camera. I'm using something with an adjustable aperture

Different use cases, I guess. I've never used an action cam indoors, and also never recorded voices / needed a mic. So for me those drawbacks are small.

Well lets see. Higher "True 8K" resolution compared to the competition which is upscaled 7.3K and 7.5K (approx). Still cheaper than the competition. Ease of use and workflow compared to the Insta360 software (seriously, logging into their app is more like logging into a social media site and the layout of the controls and workflow is a mess). Better form factor. Replaceable lenses that don't require special tools or calibration. Better color space. However the #1 reason people should buy the Max 2 over the competition? The GoPro Labs firmware. The features that firmware unlocks (motion detection, sound triggers, gps speed triggers, owner information, custom color curves, overlays, increasing bit rates, disabling mics, increasing gain on mics, the ability to run more complex scripts for custom filming condition needs and much much more). This is something that the competition can't even touch. So honestly, if you're a casual social media user uploading to Instagram or TikTok, then yeah, you may be better off using the competition. But if you're a professional film maker or content creator who wants the very best image possible with the highest resolution and the ability to customize the camera for your exact filming needs... then you choose the Max 2.

I just watched Hugh's comparison video again. In good lighting, the osmo360 looks best out of the box. It's a little bit artificially sharpened to make it look clearer, which I dont mind. When you add sharpening in post, the Max2 does look better than the osmo360. It doesn't make up for the small sensor though. I dont think I've ever filmed a 360 video at night, but a larger sensor does make a difference in daytime situations. The osmo360 is so much better than the max2 and the X5 in those situations. As I said before, if the insta360 would upgrade to 10 bit, they win. If gopro would upgrade to a larger sensor, they win. If DJI would add replaceable lenses, they win. The DJI and Gopro editing softwares need to improve also.

De Max 2 is veel beter vind ik. Kleuren zijn mooier, heeft een echte 8k sensor en geen upscale zoals de X5 en Osmo360 en de beelden zijn gedetailleerder zonder overscherpte. Als je 's avonds en 's nachts filmt dan presteren de X5 en Osmo360 (met name deze) beter. Voor mij is dat niet boeiend. Ik heb mijn X5 na aankoop vd Osmo360 weg gedaan.

This footage is with an early hardware model that didn't have audio tuning. So, these clips are more examples of the image quality, not the audio quality. What low light tests are you referring to? My low light shots look great https://preview.redd.it/bjtyt9d24xqf1.jpeg?width=4096&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7a5b3f6f1fa925d72329527bb60d17422c07ff47

Exporting to equirectangular is mainly necessary when working with third-party tools. Ideally, more apps should start supporting alternative projections that are much more efficient, such as EAC (Equal Area Cubemaps). It's very unlikely that cameras will adopt equirectangular for native 360 video capture, since it is highly inefficient and leaves no flexibility to improve stitching quality or apply stabilization in post. For example, the GoPro MAX2 uses EAC encoding, which is about 25% more efficient than equirectangular. Even dual fisheye is more efficient because it retains all the overlap data. A 5760×3840 EAC file, for instance, carries the same effective resolution as a 7680×3840 equirectangular file. Another issue is decodability. Large equirectangular videos are harder to decode, which is why most source 360 videos are delivered as dual track. This makes them much easier for phones and computers to handle. You can read more about this in our article: https://gopro.com/en/us/news/max-tech-specs-stitching-resolution?srsltid=AfmBOoqVQ84Kvu9JUesOlepaoH3pNeYvHt5xCjaWNCZ0gbxToaW1qCnH As for Final Cut Pro, we worked with Apple early on to add 360 support to FCPX, which is amazing. However a plugin would be the best way to handle it. We added command line access to the GoPro Player on Mac in hopes the community would be interested in making their workflows easier. We typically get a lot of request for plugins for Resolve, and Adobe but as a FCPX user I hear you.

I think the X5 is still the best 360 camera overall. The replaceable lens system looks better on the max 2, but only 5m waterproof.. no diving case and poor low light performance are a bit disappointing. It's a bit of an ecosystem war now, I think it will seduce existing gopro users just like the dji osmo 360 will seduce it's userbase because of shared accessories and services.

Because in non low light situations the colour and quality of the max 2 is a lot better. So if you don't need low light capabilities then the max 2 is the way to go

On what budget and for what application? You can always spend ~$15,000 for an Insta360 Titan if you're mounting it on a tripod. For action cameras in this form-factor and price range, Max2 is the latest & greatest. Osmo360 has larger sensors, but the lenses aren't replaceable, which is a bit of a non-starter for action environments

Don't forget you can also shoot in a Log profile and color grade your footage (if you're into that). This will give you the highest possible quality. 8K, 30fps, high bitrate, 10-bit color, GP-Log, low sharpening, low denoise, max ISO 400... from there, soon you can use GoPro Labs firmware to crank the bitrate to 300 mbps, use the GoPro Rec 709 LUT to convert the color space, grade the footage however you like, and so-forth. But even today, I find the quality quite good. But I'm not viewing in VR applications

Then don't buy one lol. The rest of us will enjoy the best image quality on the market for now

As others said any GoPro from 11-13 (I would even say starting with Gpro 9) would work. I would also recommend the gorpox Max (360) great for something like shark cage where you can re-fesme the video later....just keep in mind 360 is a pia dealing with file sizes and whatever you do don't scratch the lenses

You have to read between the lines here and for fans of GoPro it is pretty scary... 1. the company is badly, badly bleeding money. 2. major sources like Bloomberg and others say bankruptcy in less than 12 months is likely (and they said that months ago already). 3. large layoffs have occurred multiple times over the last several years including earlier this year. the company is far and away the smallest now making action cameras like this and has a vastly smaller R&D budget compared to DJI and Insta360. 4. Max 2 is arriving 6 years after Max 1 and more than a year later than promised by GoPro initially yet lacks a sensor that delivers better low light performance and dynamic range that their competitors have had for multiple years now. It arrives with the smallest screen, no OLED, and lack of critical obviously needed accessories like a dive case. This isn't because they don't know how important those features are or that they wanted to keep the camera small (like their PR is trying to spin it) but because they can't afford to release a camera with better specs. 5. The new mobile software for editing Max 2 footage is decent but still lacks many, many of the features provided by similar software provided by Insta360 and GoPro has NOT updated the desktop software at all which continues to lack such basic features as auto keying of subjects in 360 footage. It's a mess. Why is this? They simply don't have the R&D personnel and budget to develop both mobile and desktop software at the same time. 6. The lack of a new flagship Hero 14 is because they 1) can't afford to release a new one right now on their shoestring finances and lack of R&D and 2) they know they can't continue to release "flagship" cameras with tiny sensors and try to pretend they are competent competing with the likes of the DJI Action 6 Pro or Insta360 Ace Pro 3 coming soon. I wish GoPro the best, but not only is there no flagship Hero this year... I'm genuinely concerned there will never be another flagship Hero again.

It's an action camera, if you are filming action that you're participating in, you won't have overheating issues. If you leave the camera static though with no airflow, it will overheat. Just back from Florida, did hour long drives without any issues. Left it sitting in the sun recording without any aifrlow, and it overheating in 14 minutes (that's in 8K 30FPS, High Bitrate). So yeah, action no problem, but not a static filming camera for sure.