INSTA360: What they don't tell you
Awesome shots, but process time is a bear and very easy to scratch
I’m Jeff and welcome to my Photo Meets Tech + Travel newsletter. This edition is free, but as always, we’d love to see your support with a paid subscription, which provides access to our archives and other good things.
You’ve no doubt heard the hype about the Insta360 X series of cameras and most recently, the newly released X4.
Many YouTubers went overboard, calling the camera “perfect,” “insane,” and that “it will blow your mind,” or words to that effect. They said this on sponsored videos, which put their opinions in question. Was the X4 really as great as they claimed?
Well….
I’ve been working with Insta360 cameras for several years, and am truly knocked out by some of the wild effects you can produce. I finally got my hands onto the X4, and I can tell you flat out that it is indeed an improvement over the previous X3, with higher resolution.
But, if you’re new to Insta360 world, what people usually don’t tell you, is how much work you’ll have to put in with the cameras to get great shots. Unlike a GoPro, iPhone or any camera, what you see on the screen afterwards, and what becomes the final product are two different things. You need to spend a lot of time with (Insta360’s free) software to produce the images.
Before I move on, know that I have no sponsorship arrangement with the company, although Insta360 did send me the X4 for review, and company officials take my calls to answer questions. (Thank you Michael!)
The Insta360 concept produces awesome, wild shots you couldn’t get otherwise. It has two lenses, and photographs everything it sees frontwards and backwards. I’ve used it to get shots of me dangling from a San Francisco cable car and what the cable car saw in front of me at the same time. I get images of me walking down the street, or driving down the road, simply by holding the camera on a selfie stick above me or to my side.
That selfie stick is “invisible.” The software geniuses at Insta360 have designed a way to magically erase the stick from every shot. For a hot air balloon in Temecula, 2,500 feet in the air, (in the above shot) I was holding the camera as I took the shot. On the Selfie Stick. Which you can’t see.
I couldn’t have gotten this shot with any other brand of camera, save a drone, had I been flying it to capture us in the hot air balloon basket.
As for the software, you can use the free Insta360 Studio on desktop or the mobile phone app to do your edits. If you go mobile, like on the GoPro, you can connect your phone and app and import footage wirelessly from the camera.
I prefer the desktop app, and seeing the image on a larger screen.
The mobile app does offer a lot of guidance, and tips for how to get crazy things you’ve probably never even considered under the Shot Lab. How to clone yourself, swap skies and more. Check out my video on it directly below.
I’ve only had the X4 for a little while, but overall, when a paid critic says this is “the best 360 camera ever,” well, yeah, of course. It’s double the resolution than before. And who else is making 360 cameras? (Very few.)
It’s advertised as 8K, but reality alert: since there are two cameras, on both sides, you’re actually looking at 4K, before your crop, and you will be cropping. Once you apply it, my best guess is you end up with 2K to 1080p at best. And even then, let’s be frank–while the footage is awesome, it just isn’t that sharp.
I was very impressed with the audio. I’m holding this baby 10 feet from the balloon, in the wind, and it still picked up our conversation. Amazing. (Check the lead video and you’ll hear why I was so impressed.)
On the downside though, these lenses scratch really easily. My X3 is scratched and you can see the lines in the video. So if you buy one, be careful. Be sure to spring for the extra lens guards and lens cover.
This is a fun little camera for special things like balloon flights and cable car rides. But do know that most of the time, the footage is extremely warped, and you’ll spend a lot of time in post trying to fix it.
Pricing: The X4 is $500 and you’ll need a selfie stick with it. The cheapo model is $25, and the 10 foot model is $100. The previous model is $400.
My bottom line: yes, you can shoot it and frame it later, but again, you will need to put in the effort in editing to perfect the shot. The resolution on the new camera is better, but just not as good as what you’re getting on a GoPro or your iPhone. The camera isn’t as versatile as a GoPro, because the Insta360 is so susceptible to scratches. But that said, in special cases, if you’re very careful, you’ll get awesome shots that you couldn’t get otherwise. Hot air balloon, cable cars, skiing, cycling, you name it.
Have fun!
iPhone camera lighting: SnapGrip
On this week’s live show we gave away the new SnapGrip Lite kit, a fun $110 iPhone accessory that brings a traditional camera feel to your iPhone and offers an accessory light that can give you a lot more illumination than the built-in flash.
Charge the device, “snap” the “grip” over the MagSafe magnetic connector on the front of your phone, pair the device to Bluetooth, and now you can snap the shutter or start recording videos with a dedicated shutter button, just like we have on big cameras. You have a grip to hold the phone a little steadier, and, for the bonus win, you get an additional battery from the Grip to give you additional juice when the iPhone battery starts to run low.
The little light is available as a stand-alone accessory for $39.99, a ring light that snaps over the MagSafe. For a selfie, you twist the light around to give you a side view, which frankly doesn’t offer much illumuniation. It’s better in indoors situations than outside. Where it will help is for those beloved food shots all of us take. With the light on the other side of the camera, you have a cool tool to add some light to the food, and if you want to get creative, you can pull it out of the MagSafe connector for some side or top lighting.
Stay tuned to the Live show for more giveaways!
Tripod/Selfie Stick with Bluetooth
Longtime readers know that I never leave home without Insta360’s “Invisible” $25 Selfie Stick/Tripod, which I use to steady my iPhone for video shots, and double as a way to mount the camera and interview folks in a diner booth at a cafe. But what about bluetooth, many people have asked, to snap the shot remotely?
My pal Rich DeMuro, in his Substack newsletter today, touts just such a device, a combo stick/tripod with bluetooth, and like the Insta360 model, it too sells for around $25. I haven’t tried it, but know that it’s an option for you. (I’ll be ordering one—I’ll let you know my verdict soon.)
Photowalks Meetups
From Annie’s Cafe of Temecula to Portland Head Light in Maine, and Yellowstone National Park, we love meeting up with newsletter subscribers out in the real world. Jerry and Arthur both saw the fine print about where we were traveling to in my posts and reached out, via e-mail and the direct messaging here on Substack. Kim just happened to recognize my voice as I walked by in Yellowstone—small world, huh?
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It’s such a great thrill to have this direct connection with readers—I love it, and encourage everyone to get in touch, whether that be on the road or for a local L.A. shoot. As for my travels, I’m staying put (so I think) through July, as I’ll be busy editing the episodes from Park City, Bozeman, Victor, ID and Barcelona.
But then you never know.
Feel free to use the CHAT feature here on Substack for direct messages, send me an e-mail (photowalkstv@gmail.com) hit me up on Facebook—you name it. I’d love to hear from you.
Thanks as always for taking the time to check out the newsletter. Have a great weekend!
Jeff