Giving action cameras another try

A couple of years ago I bought a GoPro, after many years of not having one. They always seemed kind of inelegant to me in terms of their engineering, especially the battery compartment. The thing that I've done the most with it is time lapse videos, for hurricanes coming through, and departing cruise ports and such. I have some looking underwater on a beach. I let Simon go nuts with it on a cruise last year, and was deeply disappointed with the results in low light. It might have been better if I turned off the image stabilization, which definitely made it worse.

I was really intrigued by the Insta360 GO and GO 2, because of the size. When the GO 3 came out last month, I was even more intrigued. Admittedly, some video people that I follow influenced me. It seems like it wouldn't be "as good" because it doesn't quite reach a 4K resolution, but the size and durability of the tiny camera is crazy. From an engineering standpoint, it's interesting and elegant and cool. It uses magnets and you can orient it in any direction, and the waterproof part of the camera snaps right out of the body and you can put it on your clothes or on a hat with included accessories.

Of course, the engineering is one thing, but it has to make good video. The outdoor video that the YouTuber's made looks pretty amazing. Low light isn't great, but it does appear to be better than the GoPro. I've done a little testing, and it definitely is better. But what's really encouraging is that it has a flat color profile, and the full manual control is solid with better menus. I can use the GoPro mounting accessories, too.

I'll admit, this is kind of an impulse buy. I'm guilty of getting dopamine hits from new gadgets. What I'm expecting is that, on our forthcoming trip, having a tiny camera is the camera that you have. We'll see.