I'm sorry to say, there is no way to get through to support. The issue seems to be a general limitation, something that isn't advertised But looking further into it (Without any help from you), it appears that the quality reduction is because the image is being heavily cropped with lens mode activated. Look at this
https://youtu.be/ZVxi3n_2RXI. It illustrates what the lens and mode are doing to the images. Work around, turn Max mode off and use RAW with lens still on. Then edit the Circular image. Surely, a indication should be on the lens and mode - using this will reduce image quality - because that is precisely what it does.
What I find strange, is why you guys can not read the posts and attempt to trouble shoot, rather than jumping to a script of updating firmware or giving information about updates that is just not accurate. Surely this forum would benefit from GoPro hardware experts. After all, it's probably better to hear the "no, the camera can't do that or will never do that". Rather than, update the firmware or speak to a support which is frankly impossible to get through, to.
I only post this so it can possibly help others and partly do your job for you!
