The Best Travel Camera!!!Insta360 One X2
The Best Travel Camera!!! Insta360 One X2
Hi there…. welcome back… I want to share some of my experiences with my Insta360 One X2.
I’ve owned a GoPro hero 6 for a while, and I’ve never used it to its fullest. When I did, I was underwhelmed by its performance, the quality of the video, and the overall user experience. This also includes my lack of skill with the device.
One evening I saw a youtube video about this fantastic new 360 camera from Insta360 One X2.
I was instantly convinced to find it and buy it! Oh, that invisible stick was a magnet feature!
So I’ve owned mine for about a year now… I took it on several trips but was never committed to using it, so it mostly stayed in the bag.
On my recent trip to Cape Town, I left behind my full body camera and took my small form camera (sony zv-1), the GoPro, and the Insta360 One X2. I now needed a plan of knowing what I would use when it didn’t help the experience.
I started the trip with the Sony mounted on a zhiyun M3 gimbal, and the combo is excellent. When I visited Chapman’s peak drive, I wanted to reshoot previous footage I took with my GoPro.
So I took the selfie stick extended the camera out of the van, and recorded on a very sunny day. Have a look at the raw 360 videos on youtube.
360 Video I recently recorded.
Video Quality
The video quality is excellent. Using the different modes, I find the clearness and straight-out device content are better than the GoPro.
I have one observation that periodically irritates me… the center of the video is considerably more clear than the sides; this could be because of the lens distortion, but the blurry part is clear when shifting that area to the center. It could be a consideration for INSTA360 for future software versions. But for now, it isn’t a deal breaker. this is only obvious when viewed on a PC screen and not so be apparent when viewing the completed content on a smaller-screened mobile device.
The Video stabilization is great and the stitching on the camera edges is mostly inconspicuous
Editing after exporting the Content
Insta360 provides a full-featured Mobile phone App for exporting and editing footage from devices. You can do a ton of stuff, and it seems easy to learn. There’s also a social sharing section where other users post their creations. They also have included a reward-type system for posting/sharing.
I wouldn’t say I like editing and doing content on my phone. Also, this could be a problem for people whose phones need to run the app.
There is a Desktop version of the software for Windows and MAC. I use both, and they work well.
Using the Software takes some getting used to. Reframing is an art in itself. You can use GoPro 360 plugins for some video editing software, and I still need to get that working.
Once you get the hang of the keyframes with the reframing … the enthusiasm to use the camera increases.
You soon realize that planning before shooting is a must…
Device Quality
The device quality is excellent!! The camera is well-built and solid. Decently waterproof, and all opening parts have good rubber seals.
Battery Life is perfect; it impressed me.. but get one spare battery.
The device gets hot while filming, so please keep that in mind.
The weakness is those bulging lenses; unless you get a clear protective case, they are exposed while filming. A rubber pouch is proven for when not in use.
Insta360 One X2 –Final Thoughts
The Insta360 One X2 is an excellent 360 camera. I can’t find much fault; the viewing LCD could be bigger… this is fixed in the new model.
It’s easy to use and provides excellent results.
360, super wide angle, and phones are excellent with great color.
Well worth the purchase, new or used. The other alternative could be the new Canon R50 🙂
