There are now so many different types of content producers that especially those who design and manufacture semi-professional equipment have had to come up with a versatile range of products that can help these creative souls capture a wide variety of scenarios.
Among these is the so-called “360” camera, a camera that, with the help of two opposing lenses and smart software, films an entire dome around itself, which gives the wildest fish-eye images. These cameras have found their home at Red Bull, the X Games and elsewhere in the world of extreme sports, but they have also proven to have other uses.
Insta360 is now launching its most ambitious model to date in the form of the X4, which finally eliminates some of the childhood ailments that have plagued the category in the past, namely low resolution and too few actual camera settings.
Let’s start with the specifications. The X4 is a small, elongated camera that is more cumbersome to carry around than, say, an Osmo Action, but thanks to the small case you get with it, it actually feels significantly smaller than the old point-n’-shoot cameras. In other words, it is not that big and heavy. There are replaceable batteries, approx. 135 minutes of recording time from the 2290 mAh battery, and the whole package is waterproof down to 10 metres. So yes, it’s not a cheap camera, but it’s pretty robustly built, and the waterproofness despite so many openings is testament to a pretty smart design.
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The two lenses are 1/2′ f/1.9 CMOS lenses that can shoot in a number of different modes, but what the Insta360 is most proud of is obviously the ability to shoot at 8K/30 frames per second, which which allows for reframing (we’ll get to that) up to 2.7K. Of course, that’s just the beginning, as you can film at up to 5.7K/60 frames per second, slow motion at 4K/100 frames per second and much more – all framed in 16:9 if you so desire.
Of course, the Insta360 still has its own technologies built in, such as FlowState Stabilisation, which may not be a physical gimbal, but it might as well be when you see how stable the footage actually is. There’s also Insta360’s Horizon Lock which, despite shakes, keeps the horizon centered to make it easier to keep track.
It’s the same relatively responsive interface we know from similar products, and it’s pretty seamless to set up settings and make the camera your own. Furthermore, both the smartphone app and the computer software also work great for “fixing” the footage using reframing, a feature that allows you to control a virtual camera lens around the footage if you want to create a pseudo-pan yourself, or just want to see only the left side of what is recorded 360 degrees around the camera. The whole idea of the Insta360 X4 is that it records everything, and then you can choose exactly what you want to see. This works very, very well.
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However, here we run into a bit of a problem, because although the Insta360 X4 is fully functional from the start, there is no internal memory, which means you need an SD card from the start, and there are no accessories at all taken. It’s actually a bit of a fall from grace, because to get anything out of the X4 actually requires some extra equipment. The funnest images are achieved with a small telescopic mount, where the X4 knows how to remove it directly live, so that it appears as if it is floating even in the middle of the recorded room. But this ‘Insta360 Invisible’ isn’t included and you’ll have to shell out £28 for it. The same goes for all mounting hardware, whether it’s for a ski helmet or a cooling helmet – everything has to be bought separately via packages, so it’s recommended to just shell out the money to begin with. Considering that Insta360 has been so good at giving the consumer something extra with the Go 2 and Go 3, it’s disappointing that this isn’t the case here.
That said, the footage is razor sharp, the build quality is sublime, the versatility is first class and the reframing software offers so much flexibility. A 360-degree X-camera isn’t for everyone, but for those who can see the appeal, you’re getting a very nice piece of hardware.
