How I Review Action Cameras

I really love reviewing action cameras, but it's a lot of work.

First, you have to match camera settings that are all buried in different menus. Then, you have to make mounts that can hold the cameras at similar angles. Lastly, you have to do something that is visually exciting or interesting. It is a lot to juggle, but it always makes for a fun day trekking around outside.

This review took me up Kaaterskill Mountain, brought me down long roads in New York State, put me on my slack line (and pulling ticks off myself) in an oddly empty park, and got me on a really nice bike ride through Prospect Park.

This is a rig I built to film the action cameras with the Nikon Z6 III. It required the head of my travel tripod, one strong arm, one cine arm, a dual mounting plate, and two 1/4"-20 to action cam mounts. 😅

I did all of this to test out Insta360's new Ace Pro 2, and to put it head to head against the previous version and DJI's Osmo Action 5 Pro. I ultimately came to the conclusion that you can get very similar results from either system, but that DJI's camera is more "pro" because of its 10-bit color abilities.

But what I was actually thinking about for most of this review process are my complicated feelings toward Insta360, especially after the company offered to pay me for this video (I said no). A few years ago the company started paying creators a lot of money for "reviews" of its products. I heard rumors of folks receiving tens of thousands of dollars for a single video! But that money came with caveats. Creators had to only speak positively about the products, Insta360 got to watch the videos before they went live, and for some folks the content even needed to be approved by the company before it could be posted.

In simple terms, these "reviews" were just ads. And there were sooooo many of them that any real reviews got buried by the algorithm. But once these practices came to light, they brought about a lot of great conversation around disclosures. So here is mine when it comes to reviews:

• First, I do not believe that any review can actually be unbiased if the company of the product you are reviewing is paying you. There is simply no way! Which is why a company cannot buy a review from me. If I say I am reviewing a product it has in no way been "approved" by the company, I have not been paid to create the video for the company, and I have no obligations to say anything.

• Second, if I am on a trip that has been paid for by the company of a product I am reviewing you will know. I don't love to take these trips in the first place, but sometimes access to a device or information relies on going. Do know that I think heavily about taking these sorts of trips before saying yes.

• Lastly, my relationship with you is the tops for me. And if there is anything I can be doing to better that relationship, please let me know!

With that out of the way, here are some bts stats about this video. I shot 333GB of footage and for the first time ever most of the broll is from the iPhone 16 Pro. This camera system continues to grow on me, and I am at a point where I trust its video output a whole lot. The edit took me five days and there was an intro, unboxing, and disclosure section that didn't end up making the cut. I shot it at my kitchen table and it just felt too slow and unnecessary. But here it is for your viewing pleasure, let me know if you think it should have stayed:

https://youtu.be/ZK4m0QybTJM

My next video will likely be about either the Pixel Buds Pro 2, the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, or the tech I use everyday. Drop a comment about what you want to see!

I appreciate you, becca 🚀