Insta360 X5 8K 360 Action Camera

[Tev62]

I wholeheartedly wish you well on your purchases rdprdp01 and what it brings you, have fun! They are an amazing bit of kit. I have been running an older 360 X2 for many years now and a mixture on GoPros, currently on the Hero 13, I have learnt a good many things over the years, some observations.

Taking long video of a ride is something you are unlikely ever to watch yourself. That 3 hour ride will take 3 hours to watch again, you won't (well if you do I'd argue you are wasting your life). Start the video when you have something spefic that you want to capture, stop it when passed. A two to five minute video of the best highlight on a three hour ride is much better, you and others will watch. The 360 is excellent of currating these short videos automatically on the phone with minimal input as I am sure you have already found out.

A long video of your ride is of little interest to almost everyone else on the planet. I'm 63 now, I remember being 10 and my older brother coming back from his holidays for a 150 picture slide show on a projector. "Here is me in Greece by the pool, here's me by the Sea and here I'm eating an Ice Cream". Beam me up Scotty, please! My Mother, Father and five brothers and sisters dreaded it when he turned up with all the kit. It is the same for all your onboard video, nobody cares to watch long video of someone else's experience.

If you are making a video that you want people to watch you must have a subject or purpose. The only way to do this is to talk on the video about the subject (any subject that takes your fancy), avoid or cut out lengthy pauses. Avoid the mistake in thinking that the stunning scenery by itself with no chat is something others will enjoy. The camera flattens all, wonderous mountain ranges and steep roads never come out as spectacular and as impressive as you experience them.

If you are going to edit 360 footage on your PC rather than short curated clips on your phone you will need very decent processing power to handle the large files at a reasonable pace. Editing large 360 footage is very CPU intensive and takes a long time too. Three hours of footage will take an absolute age to produce your custom 2D image. Again, keep to short 360 files and straight to the point, take the image for a specific reason.

My old X2 records to a resolution of 5.7K (in 360 mode) but the 2D output, which is the ulimate output of any 360 camera, only does so to 1080P (because you only use a portion of your 360 recording). I don't get too hung up on video resolution, the majority of people watch videos on mobile devices and tablets, you don't need 4K output, it will never come out as such on a phone or a tablet. Even 1080P comes out perfectly well on large 60" TV's. Keeping the output down to 1080P makes life an awful lot easier.

I would argue a GoPro / DJI or any other 2D camera mounted to the helmet is infinitely better at capturing a ride, will easily record audio, a tough take for a 360 on a pole, and be a whole lot less hassle editing. You import your 2D directly into your editing package and work away rather than having to pre-edit like you would on the 360.

The 3D cameras are fun, versatile making an awesome and a powerful tool when used right. Good luck with your recordings!