Motor Verso 155

Garmin VIRB Ultra 30 – 2 Months Test

After a couple of months testing the Garmin VIRB Ultra 30 here are a few things we learnt about using the camera.

In Camera Stabilisation

The VIRB comes with in camera stabilisation. It isn’t available in all modes, but for example at 1080p at 60 frames you can enable the feature. Having tested his out over time ,it’s is a valuable feature that is able to smooth out most shakes from hand hold filming. The feature can remove around 20% of shake from the camera. Match  that with a steady hand and you can get some really well focused footage.

Lens Correction

Action cameras are known for the famous fish eye look, but that isn’t always desirable to some film makers. Again in some modes, the Garmin VIRB allows you to correct the warped fish eye effect in the camera. This works pretty well and often would be a lengthy process in post production. I was very happy to have a simple tick box to resolve this issue.

G Metrics

This is one of the big selling points when it comes to the Garmin VIRB Ultra 30. The camera is filled with sensors that are able to record the speed, g’s, altitude, heading, plus much more. Once you have these metrics recorded you can do lots of clever things in Garmin VIRB Edit to overlay various dials and gauges on your videos.

One of my favourite features to overlay from a motoring perspective, is the outline of the journey. Getting to show the road as it was driven and how far along it you currently are. It is great for driving videos!

Battery Life

As with any camera it is only as good as the battery life and the Garmin worked very well indeed. You can expect to get just under 2 hours of solid recording from the camera and if you turn the camera on and off you can make it last an entire day. When it does run out, a simple swap only takes a moment and you are back running.

Picture Quality

I’ve never used an action camera that had decent picture quality, but the VIRB with it’s help correct and 12MP sensor, actually does a really good job. Take a look at a sample below. With a small bit of editing I would be convinced these pictures were taken on a DSLR camera.

Video Quality

Without a doubt the video quality of the camera is good. The picture looks nice and sharp and the colours all come out crisp.  Even though the majority of my needs were 1080p recording, it’s good to have the 4K recording available for those fancy shots.

Overall

Overall I’m very impressed with the camera, it does everything I would expect it to and more. The camera is such a solid competitor to the other manufacturers in the game and the feels like a finely polished camera even to a professional film maker.

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