Vuze VUZE-XR-BLK XR Dual VR Camera VR180 & 360° IN 5.7k - Black

As (at the time of writing 27.06.20) Insta360's Evo has apparently been discontinued, and the 3D mount for their newer One R has yet to launch, the Vuze XR is left as the only option (that I am aware of) for 5.7k VR180 video at a consumer friendly price. The good news is it's a great camera.What I would stress though is that buyers need to have realistic expectations. VR photography is incredibly resource intensive, and compared to conventional 2D stills and video, it may well seem like quality has gone backwards. The Vuze XR is the VR equivalent of a compact camera, it is equipped with 2 Sony IMX-378 Exmor sensors of a type fitted to good quality mobile phone cameras and 2 extreme wide angle circular fisheye lens, all for the price of a budget DSLR or CSC. A significantly better VR camera will come with a 4 figure price tag.The camera feels well made, and the design is both stylish, and somewhat practical. It is possible to hold the camera in such a way as to ensure your fingers don't appear on-screen when shooting VR180, though it is a little awkward and i would definitely recommend using the supplied wrist strap. In 360 mode the handle allows you to hold the camera away from yourself for selfies or above your head where you will be less visible. You can use the Vuze XR app to preview the scene, control the camera, and adjust settings (which has to be done with the app), this works fine for me on both Android and IOS devices. Most of the time though I just use the very simple on camera controls.Once you've taken your photos and or video the next stop is the app, or Vuze VR Studio on the desktop, to render them into formats you can view and share. There is an issue here in that the IOS app has more features than the Android app, which in turn has more features than the desktop software. This is a shame as rendering on PC is a much quicker process.At the end you get the results, unlike some other reviewers I'm impressed, and on my Oculus Go both video and photos look good. While it's not like "being there" the experience still amazes me in way non-immersive content doesn't. Do be aware that the audio is what you would expect from tiny onboard microphones, and as with any kind of filming or photography, you do need to think about what you are doing.A few points that I hope will be helpful:-If possible, don't update the firmware with the app, just download the latest version from the Vuze XR website and put it in the root folder of your Micro SD card.Do make sure you use a V30 Micro SD card.Vuze VR Studio on a Windows PC requires a graphics card with at least 3gb of RAM. I was able to use it with an older GTX 670 with 2gb, but the software did crash frequently.Selfie sticks are pretty much essential for 360 shooting, ironically they actually work to take yourself out of shot too. Do get one designed for 360, mine actually comes from Insta360, but works just fine with the XR.Remember that a conventional tripod will be very obvious in your shot, a selfie stick or monopod, with a tripod stand at the bottom will be far less obtrusive, lighting stands with a 1/4 inch thread at the top work well too.The lenses are easily damaged, this isn't a fault as such, pretty much all 2 lens 360 cameras have this issue.If you don't need VR180 and just want a 360 camera, then while the Vuze XR is still a good option, and can do things like stabilisation, tracking, hyperlapse etc. pretty well, GoPro and Insta360 cameras do seem to have the edge. (Based solely on watching other peoples videos)

The electrically locked lenses would not release into the 3D position. Returned to Amazon and got a refund so I purchased an insta360 EVO which has machanical a release from Amazon and have had no problems. I see Kodak are releasing a 3D 180 / 360 camera and it has a mechanical release too.I purchased 2 insta360 EVO cameras. One failed after a month and took 8 weeks for Insta to return it to me and it still wasn't working and they won't respond to me emails any more. If you by a camera like this for 3D 180, maybe you should superglue it in the mode. Thin cables don't like being bent though 180%

Firstly the good.It's sturdy and feels weighty in hand.It's easy to useit has a reasonable dynamic rangeNow the bad.The lenses scratch REALLY easily.The picture resolution is useless for anything other than social media novelty 360sThe 180 3D mode is only any good under perfect lighting conditions. Trust me if you try to watch a video show in poor lighting on a VR headset the noise is REALLY noticable and makes it almost unwatchable.The grip is too large so your hand is always in shot, they do try to sell a "magic selfie stick" with the product which supposedly fixes this issue but honestly at £400 for a novelty camera this should be included as part of the package.This product will be useful for people going on holiday who don't plan to use the images for anything other than social media posts where people wont see the pictures up close. Could MAYBE be used by people wanting to record basic 3D videos in a perfectly lit studio environment.

My first Amazon review, but wanted to share a few tips to save other perhaps much research time.This camera was bought with the sole purpose of watching back 3d 180 photos and videos via and Oculus Rift.The results once steps below were taken were absolutely mind blowing, I have been waiting for a product such as this for 3 years and to finally have it and have it work as well as it does is mind blowing.To do the above you will need, this assumes shooting in 180 3d.1) Download Vuze software, all images and videos will need to be "Rendered" by the software and saved. You can edit some aspects of the videos, lighten etc. BUT no opportunity to crop or merge clips. So very basic.2) But once you have your rendered files time to create folders on your PC in my pictures and videos under the name '360 Photos' and '360 Videos' drop the files into these folders. You will need to re-name the end of your videos files to _180.mp4 (or _360 etc).3) You will need to download and but "Virtual Desktop" from steam store or Oculus store - I would recommend Oculus store.4) When you open up this application top right will be the 360 tabs to view in VR and your images are there. Don't use folders within the main 360 folders as that can cause problems.5) You will need to change the video or photo view setting - for photos to Dome 180, this in the pictures, in the tab bar just above the tiled photos displayed - this gives you the 3d - for vide its bottom left under tiled videos and you will need the side by side square icon to view 3d videos as 180 vs them duplicated in a messy 360 view.5) The rendered photos can be edited as long as you broadly edit side by side photos the same using a third party photo app.6) Videos once rendered can be edited, cropped (in length, not picture size really), and merged together etc. the trick then is exporting them in an .mp4 fie as .mov files won't work (but try just changing the file name manually to .mp4 as this worked - bit then no sound). Conversion tools to .mp4 compress so much that this isn't great given VR scale playback. You will also need to manually select image size 5760 x 2880 - all other setting sound etc will be typical - this 5760 x 2880 post vuze render process.7) The other purchase was a "Fantaseal Action Camera Grip Mount, Handheld Stabilizer Selfie Stick w/Smartphone Clamp Mount Compatible for Gopro Sony Action Camera and More, Action Cam Handle Grip Micro Movie Shooting System" cheap but brilliant - This as I found when you held the camera my knuckles always appeared in the bottom of the shot - this grip kept your hand safely back out of shot and was more comfortable. Plus you could also then use the phone app as well.8) Don't take photos with the camera pointing down, keep vertical or it will make you feel unwell looking back at them. It catches floor to ceiling so no need to tilt anyway.9) Keep in pouch as very easy to scratch a lens.10) Oculus video will play but not in 3d - 360 fine but really not as good as the virtual desktop app which is strange in my opinion.Other than that I can't rate it high enough......the future and it is here today.....any family photo not taken in 3d vr will look silly 5 years from now! Like photos in an album do today, and a wasted opportunity. Hope this helps.