The Insta360 X3 is the long awaited successor
of the One X2.
It's also the third major 360 camera release
from Insta360 in mid-2022.
Now before you get swept away
in the flashy marketing videos
and sponsored reviews hyping up the X3,
I wanna share some honest feedback with you guys
about this camera.
A lot has changed since the original One X2,
and a lot has stayed the same.
So prepare to be both amazed and disappointed.
Let's start with some positives, the design.
Compared to the One X2,
while the overall size and shape is similar,
the design has improved in many ways.
The body is thicker and slightly heavier.
The lenses are bigger,
and my favorite feature is the massive touchscreen,
which is so nice and big that you no longer need
to use your phone to operate it.
And with the tap of a button,
you can change the preview from the back lens
to the front lens.
It also vibrates when changing settings,
which is a nice addition.
The massive screen size makes it so easy to navigate
around the menus and change settings,
as well as watching back your 360 photos
and videos with ease.
On one side, you'll find the on/off button
and the quick settings menu,
which gives you quick access
to all of your favorite presets.
The record button is now found at the bottom left,
and the recording light is at the very bottom of the camera,
making it easier to see from multiple angles.
Next to that is the Single Lens Mode button.
We'll get to this feature in a bit.
And on the other side is a USB-C door that is spring-loaded.
Finally gone are the days of the annoying latch
that never opens or closes.
The new design will save you so much frustration.
The battery is in the same place,
and this time we've got a bigger battery, yay.
This one is 1,800 milliamps up from 1,630 of the One X2.
For me, this battery has lasted
between half a day and a day,
if you turn the brightness down a bit on the screen
and only keep the camera on when you're using it.
It also has the microSD card in the same spot as before.
Overall, the design is loads better
and makes the user experience so much better
when recording 360 photos and videos without a smartphone.
Now let's talk about specs.
While the sensor has been upgraded
slightly since the One X2,
unfortunately, the 360 video resolution remains
exactly the same as it's been
for the past four years, at 5.7K.
Many of us were expecting some kind of upgrade
as we were with every one of those releases,
and it hasn't come.
Don't get me wrong, this shots are still amazing.
And with the addition of Active HDR Mode on this camera,
the video quality is enhanced beyond what it was before.
So if you're shooting handheld 360 video shots outside,
expect much better dynamic range.
In mixed lighting, Active HDR does an okay job.
It recovers some of the shadows and highlights,
but don't expect miracles.
If you have too much shadow in your scene,
Active HDR can also cause motion blur,
which hopefully they fix in future firmware updates.
In low light, the X3 does pretty good.
Because of the slightly bigger sensor than the One X2,
it will perform slightly better.
However, putting it side by side with the One RS 1-Inch
and the 1-Inch looks much better
since low light is one of its strengths.
Overall, though, you'll still get decent low-light shots
with the X3.
Active HDR doesn't work well in low light
because it chooses automatic settings.
And like you've seen in one of my previous videos,
it's important to choose manual settings
when shooting at night for best results.
Here's another new thing that they added.
It's called Single Lens Mode,
where you can choose to use one single lens
of the camera at a time to record a static 4K video.
And I found shooting in this mode was super easy,
thanks to the big touch screen,
making the overall workflow faster
than if you were to reframe later in post.
The quality on the spec sheet says 4K.
However, to the naked eye,
I wouldn't say it's the same 4K quality you'd get
from a dedicated 4K action camera.
It is pretty close, though.
Another fun mode they've added with the X3 is Me Mode,
where you set it into Me Mode on the camera.
And essentially, what this does is it reframes
the video toward you.
This will save you reframing in post
if that's your intended angle.
And I really don't mind this mode at all.
I think it's quite cool.
And while not technically a hardware update,
this software update is a really cool concept.
I hope we see this added to the other Insta360 cameras
and not kept exclusively with the X3.
Here's another new thing.
Remember Bullet Time?
There's a new Bullet Time that is 4K Bullet Time.
Here I am using it.
And while this shot is cool,
would I call it 4K?
I mean, technically, it's 4K,
but it doesn't really look 4K, does it?
Another one they've added is 8K 360 timelapse.
And this one is quite cool.
I captured an 8K timelapse
in Federation Square in Melbourne,
and the result turned out really well.
So what it's done is it, essentially,
you're taking a photo every second
and then automatically combine all of those photos
into a high-quality video file,
which is definitely a cool feature
for those that shoot 360 timelapses.
There are some people that do that.
This is a sound test.
I've got two noisy seagulls behind me having a conversation.
But the question is, can you hear me?
Is the audio any different
between the One X2 and the X3?
So yes, the sound is definitely better,
thanks to the four onboard mics
with 48 kilohertz stereo recording.
In terms of 360 video capture,
everything is more or less the same
as it was with the One X2,
such as being waterproof to 33 feet,
having loop recording,
and many of the same internal shooting modes as before.
Now let's talk about photos,
and the X3 comes with, brace yourself,
you may wanna sit down,
it comes with 72-megapixel 360 photos.
When I first heard this, I thought,
"That's it, I'm selling all of my 360 cameras,
and this is going to be my go-to camera for everything."
But then I tested it out.
Here it is in a virtual tour situation,
and it seems pretty decent.
But when I put it side by side
with the One RS 1-Inch and the Theta Z1,
the level of sharpness was nearly identical
despite the other two cameras having less than one third
of the resolution of the X3.
When looking at these side by sides,
I'm struggling to see how this is 72 megapixels.
I'm going to have to keep investigating,
and I'll let you guys know my findings.
When capturing 360 photos outside in bright light,
I guess you could say it looks slightly sharper.
And don't get me wrong, this is the perfect camera
for shooting cool shots for social media.
I've used Insta360 cameras for years and years,
and I've always considered the quality of these cameras
to be good enough for social media.
But I really do find the spec sheet a bit confusing.
The price of the X3 is $449.
Is it worth it?
Yeah, look, it absolutely is.
It's under $500.
And the kinds of content you can shoot
with it will be truly amazing.
And I do see this as a really versatile camera
for so many different kinds of situations.
The reason I'm disappointed, though,
is that it's not that different to the previous One X2
other than a vastly improved design,
which may be worth it for you, might not be,
as well as those extra modes they've added with this camera
and may or may not add to their other cameras.
I'm also confused by the overall release strategy
of Insta360 releasing not just one, two, three 360 cameras
in the last few months.
And it just seems weird to me
that they would all have their own dedicated launch
with their own dedicated marketing videos
with no hint whatsoever
that the next one was coming two months later.
Can you imagine if they released the iPhone 14
with a flashy marketing video
and convinced you to buy that phone,
only to discover two months later
there was an iPhone 14 Pro,
and then two months after that,
out of the blue, iPhone 14 Pro Max.
But no, Apple don't do that.
They announce all of their new products at once
so you can make the choice about which one is best for you.
And to me, it just seems odd that they would make cameras
that are so similar overall and release them separately,
knowing that they're appealing more
or less to the same audience.
Because, look, I do think the X3 is the right camera
for many of you.
If you're looking to spend less than $500,
you want cool content for social media,
you wanna shoot both flat and reframed content
and all of the cool stuff that Insta360 cameras do,
but some of you already bought the One RS
or the One RS 1-Inch a couple of months ago,
so now it's harder to justify upgrading.
So if you're into 360 content
and you haven't upgraded your camera for a while,
then I would totally consider upgrading to this.
But if you have upgraded recently, don't change.
The One RS 1-Inch is a better 360 camera,
and I would consider this
if you prefer quality over anything else.
For me, the X3 stands out mostly for usability
and being an all-in-one camera
that fits easily in your pocket.
The touch screen is awesome.
The new features are awesome.
But overall, it's not that much of an improvement
over what we already had.
I'll link the X3 and the other cameras I mentioned
in this video down below.
And you will definitely wanna stay tuned
for my upcoming video comparing the X3 with the 1-Inch,
as well as the One RS and the original One X2
because I do think there will be some key differences
between these cameras
that will influence your buying decision.
Also, it's still early days with the X3
so the issues I discussed in this video may get solutions
as new firmware updates roll out.
And I'll be sure to keep you posted
if and when that happens.
I hope this video was helpful.
If you have any questions about the X3, let me know below.
And if you're looking for inspiration
while you ponder your 360 camera purchase,
watch this video to get 30
of my most creative 360 video shots.