When I first heard about the Insta360 One X and later the One X2, I wasn't really sure
what all the fuss was about and I didn't think it was something that I would ever use in
my films.
Well, it turns out that I was wrong.
If you're new to the channel, my name is Jeff Pelletier and I’m a trail runner and filmmaker
and for years now I've relied almost exclusively on a GoPro as my only action camera for all
my adventure films.
So in this video I'm going to explain how the Insta360 One X2 has found a place in my
storytelling toolbox.
But I’ll also explain some of the camera's limitations.
As a disclosure, this camera was sent to me by Insta360 to review which I was allowed
to keep but they did not see this video before I published it nor do they have any input
into what I would say.
In fact, I think they've probably forgotten I had it given that it's taken me almost a
year to create this review.
But I wanted to make sure that I’d really put it to the test before giving you my opinion
on it.
Now my first real introduction to this camera was by my friend Gary Robbins who uses it
pretty much exclusively for his videos, and for him I think it works really well.
He was looking for something quick and easy to use for filming videos like a series that
he calls ‘Mountain Monologues and Downhill Dialogues’ where he talks about his training
and gives helpful tips all while out on a run.
But for the kind of films that I make, I always found that a 360 camera just presented too
many limitations.
Its resolution, the field of view, and the post-production workflow, just to name a few.
But I think I was looking at the camera in the wrong way.
-These lenses scratch so easily.
When it comes to photography and videography using something like a DSLR or a mirrorless
camera, there really is no such thing as the perfect lens.
You might need to use a zoom lens for travel, for example, where you prefer something light
and with a fairly big range in terms of focal length.
Most of us would then use a prime lens for, say, portraits when shooting stills or for
interviews when shooting a documentary, since these tend to be a little bit sharper and
faster.
But you then want a much longer lens for shooting something like wildlife.
And of course, there's a time and a place for a much wider lens as well.
And this is what I mean when I talk about ‘focal length’ or ‘field of view’.
It’s a question of how narrow or how wide your lens is.
And that's where the Insta360 One X2 comes in for me.
It’s essentially like having one more very specialized lens in my storytelling toolbox.
But the limitations of this camera are very real and just like how you wouldn't start
by purchasing only a really long or really wide lens for a mirrorless camera, I also
don't think it's really possible to get away with telling stories only with a 360 camera.
But to really explain what I think the camera is good at, I want to start by explaining
these limitations in more detail.
The first is the camera's resolution.
The Insta360 One X2 films at a maximum of 5.7k resolution which, on the surface, sounds
really good, even slightly better than the maximum resolution of 5.3k on the GoPro Hero
10.
In both cases, that resolution is technically a little higher than I actually need, since
I edit and publish my films in 4k.
Although, it is nice to always have a little extra in case you need to reframe a shot.
The thing to remember though is that a 360 camera spreads this resolution out over a
360 degree field of view.
That's because a 360 camera is capturing all around you all the time.
Up, down, in front, and behind.
This gives you tremendous flexibility in post-production because you can really just stick the camera
up in the air without having to worry about which direction it's pointing.
And later, using the Insta360 Studio App, you can then choose and reframe your shot.
I’ll sometimes output multiple versions of the same shot with one pointing maybe forward
and one looking back down at me or even off to the side or behind me.
I can then edit these together into a bit of a sequence, giving me what we'd refer to
in the industry as additional ‘coverage’, all from a single shot.
But each of these angles will only use a fraction of that original 5.7k resolution, unless I
use the ‘little planet’ effect, in which case it's using every pixel.
I’ll usually frame my shots pretty narrowly though, bringing the resolution down to something
closer to 1080p.
Now compare this to the GoPro which allows you to change the field of view in-camera.
‘Ill typically use a linear field of view for filming distortion-free landscape shots
and I’ll switch to a wider field of view only for filming sort of selfie angles, like
when I'm talking to the camera.
Using a more narrow field of view does mean that I'm not using the full sensor of the
GoPro, but at least it's recording that shot at full 4k resolution and at full bitrate.
To get that same linear field of view on the Insta 360 One X2, again I'm back to maybe
around a 1080p image, once I output the final composition from the insta360 Studio App,
which for many filmmakers may be just fine.
But it would definitely be great if the Insta360 One X2 was available with something closer
to an 8k sensor, leaving me with a bit more of a buffer.
When it comes to post-production, the Insta360 One X2 does offer a lot of extra flexibility,
as I mentioned before, but this comes at a huge price in terms of time.
I need to first spend time reframing each clip in the Insta360 Studio app and then outputting
them to either h.264 or ProRes files to import into my editing software, which can take a
lot of time if you're on a slower machine.
There is a plug-in available for Adobe users from GoPro that was designed for the GoPro
360 Max camera which works with the Insta360 One X2 in both Premiere and After Effects,
but in my experience it's very processor heavy and it creates for some really long render
times when you're outputting your final video, so I definitely recommend processing your
360 videos first.
And this also means that you'll be increasing your file storage requirements, since you're
probably going to want to keep a copy of those original 360 files as well as the outputs
from the Insta360 Studio software.
Now compare this to when working with GoPro files where, again, I'm personally in the
habit of changing my focal length in-camera, so there's no additional work required before
editing the video files, at least not on my machine.
On my Mac Mini M1, I'm able to work with the h.265 files from my GoPro natively in Davinci
Resolve just fine.
Having said that, when working on older Macs, you would get better performance by first
transcoding your GoPro footage to ProRes as well, meaning your file storage requirements
might end up being about the same as those from the Insta360 One X2.
Now there are also some other artifacts and issues when filming with a 360 camera that
you don't get from regular action cameras.
The first is the seam that can sometimes appear when the shot from the front and rear lenses
are stitched together.
The Insta360 One X can be recalibrated to help avoid this but it's still sometimes noticeable
because of lens flare which can distort the image from whichever lens is facing directly
into the sun or another bright light source, but this is less of an issue when filming
in more consistent lighting, like on a cloudy day.
With a GoPro, it's sometimes possible to sort of shade the lens with your hand when the
sun is just outside of your frame as I often find myself doing.
I also find that the footage from a 360 camera is just a little bit muddier and grainier,
especially in low light, and there tends to be additional compression artifacts near the
edges of the frame where the lens correction is being done in post and the pixels are sort
of being stretched out.
And while the microphone on the Insta360 One X2 is actually surprisingly good and it does
a decent job of reducing wind noise, it is noticeably quieter than the GoPro.
I think mainly because it's just further away from your face when it's extended out on the
pole so it can pick up a lot more of the ambient sound in the environment.
You've probably heard the expression that to a hammer everything, looks like a nail.
But sometimes what you really need is a screwdriver or more specifically one invented by a Canadian,
the Robertson head screwdriver.
And similarly, there are cases where the Insta360 One X2 is by far the best tool for the job
and other times when it's not.
First of all, only a 360 camera will “auto-magically” remove the selfie stick like the Insta360
One X2 or the GoPro 360 max does.
This allows you to get some really interesting shots without the distraction of a big pole,
and it can even allow you to capture shots that some in your audience will think must
have been filmed with a drone.
And that extra wide field of view is by far the best way to accentuate those ridges and
make them look even more dramatic than they do in real life.
And while a GoPro on a selfie stick in a super wide field of view can get pretty close, it
won't remove the selfie stick from the shot.
The stabilization on the Insta360 One X2 is pretty incredible, and that's thanks in part
to the flow state stabilization that the Insta360 Studio software uses when it renders the files,
but also just because of how wide the lens is.
And the wider the field of view, the more stable a shot tends to be on any camera.
I also just love that extra wide angle to provide an additional perspective when running
through different types of terrain.
Even outside of ridges and mountains it can help to accentuate the vastness of flat terrain
as well, and take it from me, trying to film these with a regular lens on a GoPro usually
just results in a mostly empty frame.
The key here though I find is to use these shots in moderation.
It’s a lot like drone footage, and personally I find videos shot entirely with a drone to
be pretty boring, and it's hard to tell an actual story using only a drone.
In my opinion, the best way to use a drone is very sparingly for dramatic effect.
A properly placed drone sequence can not only help to demonstrate scale and perspective
in a landscape but it can also elicit an emotional response.
But beyond that, it can just be too much of a good thing.
Using a 360 camera in moderation and only to supplement a film also helps to reduce
some of those limitations that I mentioned earlier.
Having only a handful of shots to process in Insta360 Studio is a lot less work than
the hundreds of shots that I might otherwise have if I tried to film an entire adventure
with this camera, and I find I can get away with upscaling the odd lower resolution shot
from the insta 360 One X2 when placed alongside other higher resolution footage in a 4k timeline.
But for all of these reasons I don't think I would recommend using a 360 camera as a
direct replacement for something like a GoPro, and I probably wouldn't use it heavily for
shots that you could get otherwise with a regular action camera which will give you
a much better quality image, with better sound, and with a lot less post processing required.
So that's how I use the Insta360 One X2 now.
I've got my GoPro hero 10 which is my primary go to action camera.
I've then got the insta 360 Go 2 for the odd scene where I know I want to film hands-free
POV shots.
I've got my mirrorless camera and my drone which I mostly use for before and after adventures,
as well as for videos like this.
And then I've got my insta 360 One X2 for films that I know would really benefit from
that extra wide point of view.
And I hope you'd agree that including these shots and some of the films that I've produced
in the last year has really helped me to tell more engaging stories and to bring some of
these dramatic landscapes to life.
So how about you, do you think that the Insta 360 One X2 would be a good addition to your
storytelling toolbox?
Or do you think you could get away with using this as your primary action camera?
Tell me about it in the comments below and give this video a like if you found it helpful.
And speaking of dramatic landscapes, my video series from my recent adventure in Namibia
is almost ready and it will feature shots from the Insta 360 One X2 as well, so be sure
to subscribe to be notified of that.