Does the GoPro Fusion Give You the Best Action Photography Experience Ever?

The GoPro Hero series of action cameras have been the talk of the town ever since their release. In this age of vlogging everything from adventurous experiences to long bike rides across scenic valleys, action cameras have gone from being a social media personality’s tool to a must-have for every travel and photography enthusiast. The GoPro Hero series has been raved about all over social media, making every launch in this series highly anticipated and closely scrutinised. Naturally, when the Fusion was launched, we could not wait to try it out and find out whether it was worth the hype, especially given its hefty price tag.

Design: Its primary purpose being action photography, the Fusion is thoughtfully designed for convenient grip, much like the others in the series. The body is coasted in a type of thick rubber, probably to help with waterproofing the device. The material gives some traction in your hands, so you have less chances of dropping it. The size is smaller than a DSLR but it is not entirely weightless. The little weight, in our opinion, adds to the premium feel. Being a 360 camera that too from the company which is considered the pioneer of the action camera segment, we expect no less.

Configuration: The Fusion has the standard GoPro mount which you can slide out. It also comes with adhesive mounts and a very useful mini tripod/selfie stick. If you are hoping to use your Fusion with your existing selfie stick/tripod then you’ll probably need to buy an adapter. It is an 18 MP camera, so you can expect some great stills from it. It is waterproof up to an impressive 16 feet and is also shockproof, so you can be rest assured that the Fusion will do a flawless job at capturing all your outdoor adventures, no matter how wild they are. It comes with an Overcapture mode to convert a 360n video into a flat video, and has a great desktop software with very good stabilisation. It has a 360- degree Audio, which only adds to the videography experience.

Performance: This is the real deal. And the Fusion does not disappoint. The video quality is simply flawless with 5.2k at 30fps thanks to its advanced optics, and the details in the video are going to give every other 360 camera a run for its money. Even when zooming in there is minimal loss of quality and even in the distance you can pick up distinctive colours and details. Stabilisation in the Overcapture mode is the most impressive we have ever seen. As far as battery life is concerned, it holds up good for a decent hour and a half. The still photographs look great and vibrant on phone screens, but if you view them on larger screens, they tend to get a little blurry around the edges. This is one of the shortcomings of this otherwise excellent fusion camera, the other one being the user-unfriendly video software.

On the whole, we are quite impressed with the GoPro Fusion. If you are looking for a premium quality 360 camera mainly for videos, this is definitely worth the investment.