Thanks for you reply! By this link – Only version 1.3, you cant download version 1.4 beta anymore

Hi Mark the new app is available here for Mac and Windows https://gopro.com/en/us/update/fusion

Thanks JW.

> The two cameras on either side choose their own exposure, not a unified one.
Turn the stitch line toward the key light to ensure even exposure.

> The lenses create a strong color shift from red channel to blue channel,
Can you post a sample? I haven’t noticed that tbh.

> The PC Fusion software crashes on anything but the most specific machines and configurations.
I have several PCs, and it seldom crashes on any of them. Mine have Nvidia cards. What kind of graphics cards do you use?

> The Fusion studio software only outputs JPG files.
The Fusion workflow is to edit the unstitched raw files, export as JPG then stitch them. This results in a smooth stitch.

> both the camera and phone get REALLY hot
Hmm I haven’t noticed my phone get really hot. But tbh I seldom use Fusion with my phone.

> The JPG engine in the camera is poorly tuned in terms of color and sharpness
The Fusion app is not that good. But you can adjust color and sharpness on the desktop app. Also FYI, the new app for MAX will also work for Fusion.

There are two BIG issues that I don’t think I have seen mentioned in reviews:

1. The two cameras on either side choose their own exposure, not a unified one. You may get lucky and they both shoot at the same shutter speed and ISO, but I have yet to get this. Often it can be as much as several stops between the two sides. This is just a nightmare for doing stills 360 panoramas. You might have to push the exposure of one side to match the other, which increases noise, and causes mismatched colors after pushing the exposure too much to match the other side. There is never a reason to have a different exposure for either side, especially when there is a big sky in the whole frame. Oh, and they also shoot at different white balance settings, which isn’t as bad as exposure differences, but makes it just that much more annoying to fix.

2. The lenses create a strong color shift from red channel to blue channel, from the center out to the edges of the frame. The center will be warmer than the outer edges by a huge margin in some shots. GoPro JPG files remove this color casting change, but with the RAW files, there is really no easy way to remove this from every shot. It takes a lot of time in Photoshop using radial gradient masks and color correction to get it somewhat good.

Other minor points not often mentioned in reviews:

– RAW photo mode only works in single shot. No RAW for burst or night shooting.
– Single shot mode using RAW takes way too long to save to the cards. It’s time that the camera is locked up and not shooting. Would be nice to buffer images and allow continued operation.
– The PC Fusion software crashes on anything but the most specific machines and configurations. I have three computers, one being pretty beefy. Fusion studio crashes on all of them. Funny thing, is the software works best on my Windows 7 machine, but only crashes when trying to render. I have to use PT GUI to stitch the images.
– The Fusion studio software only outputs JPG files. For landscape photography, I need to do the most of my editing after the stitching is done, which is not good with JPG files. With PT GUI, I can at least export them in a RAW format before going to Photoshop.
– When connected by wifi to my iPhone, both the camera and phone get REALLY hot. My phone especially. Just connecting and doing still images has my phone maxed out and it just rips right through my battery power.
– The JPG engine in the camera is poorly tuned in terms of color and sharpness. I can get vastly better results with just the default settings in Photoshop using the RAW files.

Thanks Rob. Yes that’s right. The Fusion’s mobile workflow is a nonstarter and lacks even basic functions such as exporting a spherical 360 photo or video, so yes if mobile workflow is important to you, then I recommend One X instead of Fusion.
Best regards,
Mic

Thanks Mic – it sounds like the One X is what you’d recommend right now for Android users. Having looked up all the features, it sure looks good.

Hi Rob. Thanks for the feedback. I will revise the article. But to answer your question, the phone app improvements only apply to iPhone thus far. GoPro hasn’t released an updated Android app that would have equivalent features. That’s one reason I don’t recommend it for Android users, particularly when the One X has a much easier workflow and has similar if not better image quality.