We review the PanoX V2: Capable but is it competitive?

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We Review the PanoX V2: Capable, but Is It Competitive?

I often say that there are no bad cameras on the market today. At this point, that logic begins to apply to 360-degree cameras as well. Although there are no bad cameras – and PanoX V2 included – there are also cameras that may be worth more than your hard-earned money.

And that’s the tricky problem PanoX V2 find yourself. PanoX itself is a sub-brand of Labpano, a manufacturer of high-end 360-degree panoramic cameras. The $399 Panox V2 is PanoX’s first real product in the consumer market. Yes, Labpano had PilotPano before, but it wasn’t really popular. This is another attempt to capture the consumer market dominated by Insta360 and Kandao.

Features and specifications

So how does Panox V2 get rid of the error? It’s certainly a nice camera, with a fairly heavy body thanks to a material that’s a bit soft to the touch. It has a huge 3-inch touchscreen and after leaving PilotPano, it now runs Android. If there is a downside to the body it is that it is not weatherproof. You don’t want to put this near water. That’s a shame, since most other cameras in its class and price range are weatherproof in some way.

It features USB-C charging, and in my tests, I was able to shoot continuous stills/video for about 45 minutes while connecting it to my phone via WiFi. Your mileage may vary depending on what you are doing. The battery cannot be replaced.

As for photos, it can shoot DNG or JPG files at 72MP, and the ½” CMOS sensor is competitive in its class.

However, the video specs are where this camera gets a bit odd. It is capable of recording 8K video but only at 10 frames per second. PanoX representatives say this is primarily for Google Street View purposes, as such low frame rate footage is impractical for serious video work. The built-in GPS would seem to aid in judging its intended use. The camera was primarily marketed as a 5.7K 30fps 360 camera. That was fine before, but this was also the year Insta360 added 8K to the X4 and Kandao had it not long ago with QooCam 8K and will also have it in the near future QooCam 3 Super.

Image quality

For stills, JPG files stitched straight from the camera look pretty great. Better than its closest competitor. Check out the results here:

That’s a good thing, too, because while the camera can shoot DNG files, there’s currently no software from PanoX to stitch those files into something usable. A PanoX representative showed me a 7-year-old child video about manually putting files togetherHowever, in 2024, performing the process manually using third-party software is something most of the target audience using this camera will not want to do.

I tried the JPG-only HDR mode, and while it’s a little better (the photo at the top of the article is an example of HDR), it’s not really meant for moving things because it combines a lot of image. Really, without the ability to easily recover detail, highlights and shadows from DNG images with this camera, its capabilities would be more limited than what the spec sheet would suggest. output for photos.

Video quality, like still images, taken from the camera is quite good. The stitching is almost invisible, the quality is excellent for a 5.7K camera, the colors are vibrant and, to my pleasant surprise, the sound is crisp and clear, as you can hear in the set footage in the clip below. There’s a cool “beta” feature where while you’re filming, the camera can track your face and create a complete 2D file that follows you around. This will be great for vloggers. When it’s over.

In a neat party trick, you can stitch video right on the camera through the menus. I love it. The jury is still out on how much damage this type of heavy video work will cause when it’s done directly on a micro-SD card, but I’d take advantage of the convenience of not needing a power app. phone or desktop computer. Speaking of a desktop app, that brings me to…

Software

It wasn’t until I figured out how to handle DNG files that I discovered there was no desktop app. I looked around the PanoX site and finally, I emailed the representative to ask a question. Although it is in the works, there is no specific time frame for its release.

Sure, there are phone apps that let you do the necessary keyframing, live streaming, and exporting you’d expect from a 360-degree camera, but that’s a basic expectation of any camera. currently.

I don’t usually make the practice of delving into previous software versions, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out some very worrying things regarding larger software issues here.

I received the camera from the company a few months ago and for the first month I was unable to take photos at the highest resolution (12K). The camera will beep and stop, then let me know that the photo could not be taken. Switching from photo to video often results in a black screen and freezes. Sometimes the camera won’t start and sometimes won’t record even 5.7K video.

All of this was fixed in an update at the end of March. The camera now works perfectly, but the reality is, it’s baffling that this camera was released late last year and still has problems. There are such problems and the software package is not complete. What’s even stranger is that it ended up in the hands of a reviewer in that state.

It’s a problem those of us in the tech/photo industry encounter all the time, but to put it mildly, PanoX’s software experience is painful. Again, all the bugs seem to have been eliminated by the latest firmware, but the desktop app is still nowhere to be found.

Conclusion

The PanoX V2 is not a bad camera. JPG image quality is excellent and video works easily. It looks equally good for its resolution. It has a big, beautiful screen and an Android operating system that lets you do most of what you need without the intervention of phone apps.

The problem is the market that PanoX finds. In $309, Kandao QooCam 3 mutilation PanoX V2 for $90, and although it has a smaller, less useful screen, the rest of the specs are nearly identical, and that camera is waterproof and has an app ecosystem for Complete and very mature phone/desktop.

For $100 more, the Insta360 X4 also adds waterproofing and a future-proof 8K video mode. There’s also the nice benefit of great software and interchangeable lens caps.

Put in that context, the $399 PanoX V2 doesn’t make a strong case for optimal value or resolution. What a shame for a camera that itself isn’t a bad camera. It’s not a product that stands out in any field to carve a solid niche for itself.