Insta360x3 camera

[Mixagon_imp]

Hi folks long time no post but here's my Insta360 x3 experience.

I've been on the fence a long time about buying one of these 360 cameras and watched a lot of you tube vids and finally decided to order the latest 360x3 with the bike kit and lens protector kit and two extra batteries and charger at the great expense of £577

All happy so far and it came well packaged and on time from Amazon.

Kitchen table full of kit and slowly learning the camera features etc. First thing put the lens protectors on because its hard to put the camera down without one lens being in contact with the surface its on and its not stable to stand on its end. The protectors come pre glued and stick on well but with these on the camera pouch and lens cover do not fit as the camera is now to wide

Switch the camera on to learn the menus and play around to find the recording function is locked and needs the 360app on my phone to unlock it ?
Easy I guess so try to download the app to be greeted with the message your 2018 android phone is to old for this app so download button is greyed out.

I did not want or need a new phone but to unlock, update, register and use this camera the app is needed so after much thought decided to buy a 2022 phone for a further £650

The camera is now unlocked, registered and updated and first ride planned with phone mounted on the invisible selfie stick in front of the bike so I can view forward and back and switch between me riding and where I'm going. I didn't set my helmet mic up at this time. I chose 3k not the 5.7k mode to save space on the memory card and tried to view footage on the small camera screen to see the message this needs to be viewed via the phone app. So blue tooth on, paired up and footage was visible ok. Tried to to do some editing via the app but was fiddly but yep could switch fwd & rear views easy but phone and camera got really hot and phone battery went down very quickly.

I always planned on using the free desktop editing studio from 360 so started to download to my desktop pc to be met with message this pc is not suitable with a list of minimum specs showing, mine was a long way short of these and a new pc was in the £1200 price range :huh: Looking at my laptop specs I was closer to the minimum and was hopeful if I upgraded the ram a little it would be ok, so extra ram bought and fitted and the 360 studio was downloaded.

I imported 45 mins of footage to play around with but the studio was very basic and laggy so I struggled but finished with 25 mins of footage to export to desktop, then the message popped up this will take 60 hours to convert and export due to low processing power :huh:
I did think about using a different editor but the 360 footage can only be used on the app or 360 studio and then needs to be converted to mp4 and exported for other viewing and editing. So the camera is fixed to the 360 software it seems until converted by it.

I've now sent the 360 camera back to Amazon for a refund and I would say to anyone thinking of buying one ... do not... unless you have a recent high spec phone and a top of the range gaming spec pc for editing.

I can make very good videos with my old phone and my desktop with windows movie maker so why did I bother with 2 weeks of 360 stress

 

[mvk24_imp]

Yea I have a fancy editing computer for photography and dabled with video from gopros and such but I heard the file sizes and editing was large and complicated with the 360 footage so I have stayed away personally.

Not only is it the undertaking of normal video editing but then also selecting which parts of the 360° view you want to be viewing at that exact time in the video and It just sounded like it would turn into one of those things where I'd have tons of raw footage that I'd never get around to editing and doing anything with.

Just my own reasoning for not going those routes.

I have thought about either setting up a dedicated onboard "dash camera" system for front and rear of my bike. Or getting one of the newer gopros for helmet mount as a "dash camera" set up. I think my gopro is a hero 4 and they have come leaps and bounds since that model.

2014 CB1100, 1981 KZ440 LTD, 1993 Yamaha XJ600 Seca, 1994 Yamaha XJ600 Seca

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Decent video post-editing, let alone 360 camera capability, is always demanding.

Yes, be prepared to engage your creditcard.

 

[Nachodaddy]

Mixagon, thank you for taking the pain for some of us. I am a sucker for this kind of thing, and you saved me a huge amount of trouble.

 

[mvk24_imp]

If it helps I used to use Magix Movie maker exclusively for my video editing.

They had the "automatic" movie maker tools before companies like gopro started using AI to do similar stuff.

You can choose a template and the video files you want. And then it will make a custom "movie" like 30 seconds - 2 minutes or something and then you can manually adjust the clips at each cut.

Made it alot easier for me to just slap something small together for instagram or YouTube out of footage I otherwise wouldn't have had time to do anything with.

I know they added the 360 footage support a few years ago I just haven't turned that computer on go update to the newest version and play around in a long time. Worked good for drone footage and spearfishing footage from my gopro/Olympus TG-4.

2014 CB1100, 1981 KZ440 LTD, 1993 Yamaha XJ600 Seca, 1994 Yamaha XJ600 Seca

 

[Tev62]

I have the 360X2 and the raw files do take some processing power. Large video files crave CPU processing power and the 360's 5.7K imigary is big. I use the 360 camera as a provider of supporting footage that you otherwise might not get on a traditional camera., e.g. filming the rear shock for 2 minutes from a couple of angles as part of a 20 minute video from a standard GoPro. That leaves you with a managable file that is easy and quick to edit. I use a powerful laptop with water-cooling to process the files and it rips through them in no time.

I have commented on this before. I went through a long learning curve of turning the camera off unless I really needed that footage. Wading through hours of footage for 10 minutes of content is very taxing on the PC and your own time. Filming in 4K is a waste of time if you are publishing content, no one is watching in 4K on their TV, tablet or phone and YouTube doesn't publish at that resolution. Once I get my 20 minute footage from the regular GoPro you can wizz through all the talky bits and quickly chop out the dead moments. Each time you do it you learn a little more and find a quicker and faster technique on your chosen editing software.

For anyone starting out I would recomend starting with regular GoPros (or equivalent) set at 1080P/60FPS (30FPS is fine too but 60FPS lets you have slow-mo footage without loss of clarity) as a very maximum to start with and completely ignore 360 footage until you can produce content people would watch.

My most successful YouTube video got nearly 250,000 views (less than a year ago) and it was filmed on my iPhone and old GoPro 4. Content is King, not the expense of the kit. The video was a bit of a one off so don't worry, it hasn't gone to my head, I'm no RyanF9.

 

[mvk24_imp]

I have the 360X2 and the raw files do take some processing power. Large video files crave CPU processing power and the 360's 5.7K imigary is big. I use the 360 camera as a provider of supporting footage that you otherwise might not get on a traditional camera., e.g. filming the rear shock for 2 minutes from a couple of angles as part of a 20 minute video from a standard GoPro. That leaves you with a managable file that is easy and quick to edit. I use a powerful laptop with water-cooling to process the files and it rips through them in no time.

I have commented on this before. I went through a long learning curve of turning the camera off unless I really needed that footage. Wading through hours of footage for 10 minutes of content is very taxing on the PC and your own time. Filming in 4K is a waste of time if you are publishing content, no one is watching in 4K on their TV, tablet or phone and YouTube doesn't publish at that resolution. Once I get my 20 minute footage from the regular GoPro you can wizz through all the talky bits and quickly chop out the dead moments. Each time you do it you learn a little more and find a quicker and faster technique on your chosen editing software.

For anyone starting out I would recomend starting with regular GoPros (or equivalent) set at 1080P/60FPS (30FPS is fine too but 60FPS lets you have slow-mo footage without loss of clarity) as a very maximum to start with and completely ignore 360 footage until you can produce content people would watch.

My most successful YouTube video got nearly 250,000 views (less than a year ago) and it was filmed on my iPhone and old GoPro 4. Content is King, not the expense of the kit. The video was a bit of a one off so don't worry, it hasn't gone to my head, I'm no RyanF9.

Water cooled laptop sounds sick lol which one are you using? Or was it a custom build?

And I actually wish there was more 4k content on YouTube cause I will stream 4k videos on my computer or TV with 4k screens but its usually the generic action videos or drone footage type stuff. I haven't uploaded to YouTube in a long time to see if you had a 4k/8k option or not.

2014 CB1100, 1981 KZ440 LTD, 1993 Yamaha XJ600 Seca, 1994 Yamaha XJ600 Seca

 

[Mixagon_imp]

Decent video post-editing, let alone 360 camera capability, is always demanding.

Yes, be prepared to engage your creditcard.

I thought I had done enough research but some things you don't find out till after you have purchased the product. If the item description had details of the equipment you also need I would never have bought the 360 camera. lesson learned the hard way I guess.

 

[Tev62]

I have the 360X2 and the raw files do take some processing power. Large video files crave CPU processing power and the 360's 5.7K imigary is big. I use the 360 camera as a provider of supporting footage that you otherwise might not get on a traditional camera., e.g. filming the rear shock for 2 minutes from a couple of angles as part of a 20 minute video from a standard GoPro. That leaves you with a managable file that is easy and quick to edit. I use a powerful laptop with water-cooling to process the files and it rips through them in no time.

I have commented on this before. I went through a long learning curve of turning the camera off unless I really needed that footage. Wading through hours of footage for 10 minutes of content is very taxing on the PC and your own time. Filming in 4K is a waste of time if you are publishing content, no one is watching in 4K on their TV, tablet or phone and YouTube doesn't publish at that resolution. Once I get my 20 minute footage from the regular GoPro you can wizz through all the talky bits and quickly chop out the dead moments. Each time you do it you learn a little more and find a quicker and faster technique on your chosen editing software.

For anyone starting out I would recomend starting with regular GoPros (or equivalent) set at 1080P/60FPS (30FPS is fine too but 60FPS lets you have slow-mo footage without loss of clarity) as a very maximum to start with and completely ignore 360 footage until you can produce content people would watch.

My most successful YouTube video got nearly 250,000 views (less than a year ago) and it was filmed on my iPhone and old GoPro 4. Content is King, not the expense of the kit. The video was a bit of a one off so don't worry, it hasn't gone to my head, I'm no RyanF9.

Water cooled laptop sounds sick lol which one are you using? Or was it a custom build?

And I actually wish there was more 4k content on YouTube cause I will stream 4k videos on my computer or TV with 4k screens but its usually the generic action videos or drone footage type stuff. I haven't uploaded to YouTube in a long time to see if you had a 4k/8k option or not.

2014 CB1100, 1981 KZ440 LTD, 1993 Yamaha XJ600 Seca, 1994 Yamaha XJ600 Seca

Yes, custom build. The memory doesn't look much but it is well in excess of anything that will use it, adding more would be a waste. It's all CPU. Note I have a very decent graphics card, only certain video editing software can auto see this and optimise itself to use it. My Adobe Premier Elements could not and that is when I switched to the free DaVinci resolve which picks up on it straightaway and uses its processing power.

Chassis & Display Recoil Series: 16" Matte QHD 240Hz sRGB 100% LED Widescreen (2560x1600)

Processor (CPU) Intel CoreTM i9 24 Core Processor 13900HX (5.4GHz Turbo)

Memory (RAM) 32GB Corsair 4800MHz SODIMM DDR5 (2 x 16GB)

Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 - 8.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX 12.1

Liquid Series Laptop Cooling PCS Liquid Series Laptop Cooler

1st M.2 SSD Drive 2TB SAMSUNG 990 PRO M.2, PCIe 4.0 NVMe (up to 7450MB/R,6900MB/W)

 

[mvk24_imp]

I have the 360X2 and the raw files do take some processing power. Large video files crave CPU processing power and the 360's 5.7K imigary is big. I use the 360 camera as a provider of supporting footage that you otherwise might not get on a traditional camera., e.g. filming the rear shock for 2 minutes from a couple of angles as part of a 20 minute video from a standard GoPro. That leaves you with a managable file that is easy and quick to edit. I use a powerful laptop with water-cooling to process the files and it rips through them in no time.

I have commented on this before. I went through a long learning curve of turning the camera off unless I really needed that footage. Wading through hours of footage for 10 minutes of content is very taxing on the PC and your own time. Filming in 4K is a waste of time if you are publishing content, no one is watching in 4K on their TV, tablet or phone and YouTube doesn't publish at that resolution. Once I get my 20 minute footage from the regular GoPro you can wizz through all the talky bits and quickly chop out the dead moments. Each time you do it you learn a little more and find a quicker and faster technique on your chosen editing software.

For anyone starting out I would recomend starting with regular GoPros (or equivalent) set at 1080P/60FPS (30FPS is fine too but 60FPS lets you have slow-mo footage without loss of clarity) as a very maximum to start with and completely ignore 360 footage until you can produce content people would watch.

My most successful YouTube video got nearly 250,000 views (less than a year ago) and it was filmed on my iPhone and old GoPro 4. Content is King, not the expense of the kit. The video was a bit of a one off so don't worry, it hasn't gone to my head, I'm no RyanF9.

Water cooled laptop sounds sick lol which one are you using? Or was it a custom build?

And I actually wish there was more 4k content on YouTube cause I will stream 4k videos on my computer or TV with 4k screens but its usually the generic action videos or drone footage type stuff. I haven't uploaded to YouTube in a long time to see if you had a 4k/8k option or not.

2014 CB1100, 1981 KZ440 LTD, 1993 Yamaha XJ600 Seca, 1994 Yamaha XJ600 Seca

Yes, custom build. The memory doesn't look much but it is well in excess of anything that will use it, adding more would be a waste. It's all CPU. Note I have a very decent graphics card, only certain video editing software can auto see this and optimise itself to use it. My Adobe Premier Elements could not and that is when I switched to the free DaVinci resolve which picks up on it straightaway and uses its processing power.

Chassis & Display Recoil Series: 16" Matte QHD 240Hz sRGB 100% LED Widescreen (2560x1600)

Processor (CPU) Intel CoreTM i9 24 Core Processor 13900HX (5.4GHz Turbo)

Memory (RAM) 32GB Corsair 4800MHz SODIMM DDR5 (2 x 16GB)

Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 - 8.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX 12.1

Liquid Series Laptop Cooling PCS Liquid Series Laptop Cooler

1st M.2 SSD Drive 2TB SAMSUNG 990 PRO M.2, PCIe 4.0 NVMe (up to 7450MB/R,6900MB/W)

Yes, custom build. The memory doesn't look much but it is well in excess of anything that will use it, adding more would be a waste. It's all CPU. Note I have a very decent graphics card, only certain video editing software can auto see this and optimise itself to use it. My Adobe Premier Elements could not and that is when I switched to the free DaVinci resolve which picks up on it straightaway and uses its processing power.

Chassis & Display Recoil Series: 16" Matte QHD 240Hz sRGB 100% LED Widescreen (2560x1600)

Processor (CPU) Intel

CoreTM i9 24 Core Processor 13900HX (5.4GHz Turbo)

Memory (RAM) 32GB Corsair 4800MHz SODIMM DDR5 (2 x 16GB)

Graphics Card NVIDIA

GeForce

RTX 4070 - 8.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX

12.1

Liquid Series

Laptop Cooling PCS Liquid Series

Laptop Cooler

1st M.2 SSD Drive 2TB SAMSUNG 990 PRO M.2, PCIe 4.0 NVMe (up to 7450MB/R,6900MB/W) Very nice setup

2014 CB1100, 1981 KZ440 LTD, 1993 Yamaha XJ600 Seca, 1994 Yamaha XJ600 Seca

 

[satchit]

I've been thinking about whether this camera with the selfie stick could be used as a 360 dash cam.
I'm not interested in creating content - but as a dash cam was wondering if the 360 camera could be the one solution which monitors all directions. Would only need to pull out content if an incident occurred.
Mixagon/Tev62, would this camera be overkill to use as a dashcam?

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

I don't see why not.

I reckon still a lot of memory and battery power (if not wired in) would be consumed.

Can't say for sure, but would the lens distortion detract from the finer image details of a critical event?

 

[Tev62]

I've been thinking about whether this camera with the selfie stick could be used as a 360 dash cam.
I'm not interested in creating content - but as a dash cam was wondering if the 360 camera could be the one solution which monitors all directions. Would only need to pull out content if an incident occurred.
Mixagon/Tev62, would this camera be overkill to use as a dashcam?

So you would need to mount it over your head for a full uninterrupted 360 image, perhaps a pole off the rear rack. You would have to have a remote power pack or wire off the bike as they are heavy on power. The X3 would support 18hours of footage at its standard 360 resolution when you fit the maximum 1TB card which will be a little dear. You cannot lower that resolution so fitting smaller 128GB cards would be a bit limiting. You might perhaps be able to roll footage and overwrite on a full card, that is something I have not tried. That is common on a Go Pro.

So yes, doable but I would say an expensive solution compared to some of the dedicated front/rear mounted dedicated systems.

 

[Mixagon_imp]

I've been thinking about whether this camera with the selfie stick could be used as a 360 dash cam.
I'm not interested in creating content - but as a dash cam was wondering if the 360 camera could be the one solution which monitors all directions. Would only need to pull out content if an incident occurred.
Mixagon/Tev62, would this camera be overkill to use as a dashcam?

I think I saw a 15 min loop recording feature in the settings so that would cut down on memory space needed.
I would just get 2 cheapish car dash cams and mount front and rear and wire them in.

 

[satchit]

Thank you for your responses.

How long does the battery normally last? My commute would not be more than 30 minutes one way. Recharging the battery as needed before I ride was what I would plan on doing - just wondering if there is some sort of a quick release over their selfie stick for it to be convenient.

I've tried the gopro with a chin mount - but the price difference between this and the gopro isn't that much. Not such a big fan of the front and back motorcycle dashcam - those are usually limited to 1080p.

 

[Mixagon_imp]

Battery life depends on which settings your using if full 5.7k (I think that's the highest) then you may just get 30 mins. I used the lower 360 setting which I think was 3k and I got 60 mins from the battery, I also bought 2 spare batteries with charging dock for three batteries for longer trips.
I only used mine once and struggled with the settings so used auto on the 3k mode but the footage was very poor imo. The greens were very blue and blue verges and trees don't look right.You may be able to sort this though.
The selfie stick screws on to the bike mount so easy to remove.

 

[Tev62]

Thank you for your responses.

How long does the battery normally last? My commute would not be more than 30 minutes one way. Recharging the battery as needed before I ride was what I would plan on doing - just wondering if there is some sort of a quick release over their selfie stick for it to be convenient.

I've tried the gopro with a chin mount - but the price difference between this and the gopro isn't that much. Not such a big fan of the front and back motorcycle dashcam - those are usually limited to 1080p.

You would get 30 minutes out of it. On the 360X2 it films in 5.7K resolution but you only get 1080P out of it when you choose your "desired view". But you can make as many desired views as you wish. e.g. the same crash from five angles.