Insta360 X3 Review

When it comes to 360 cameras, there are only a few companies that come to mind. One of which is Insta360. And with the company’s latest X3 camera, they’re continuing to innovate in the 360 camera space.

Design & Hardware

The Insta360 X3 (now sans One in the name) shares a lot of design similarities with its One X2 counterpart.

On one side of the camera, you have one of the lenses along with its 2.29-inch touchscreen along with buttons for recording/taking photos and a button for switching between lenses (i.e Single-Lens Mode or 360 Mode).

Insta360 X3

On the opposite side of the camera is the other lens along with Insta360 X3 branding and a LED indicator light.

On the side of the camera, you’ll find the battery and microSD card slot and the cover for the USB-C port.

There’s also a power button and a Quick Button to switch between different shooting presets. The bottom of the camera features a tripod mount to easily attach to different mounts. The sides of the camera also feature a rugged texture that makes it easier to grip when capturing videos.

The Insta360 X3 is also waterproof up to 33ft/10m without any additional case, this makes the camera a cool action camera alternative.

The battery in the Insta360 X3 is 1,800 mAh which should help let you shoot for longer. One thing to note is that the battery for the camera has its cover attached to it, this is so the Insta360 X3 has a better waterproof seal. Thankfully, you can still remove the battery and swap it for another one or put the battery in a charging cradle (sold separately).

With the Insta360 X3, you can shoot 360 videos at the following resolutions and frame rates:

5.7K: 5760*2880@30/25/24fps
4K: 3840×1920@60/50/30/25/24fps
3K: 3008×1504@100fps

For shooting with just a single lens, you can shoot at the following resolutions:

4K@30/25/24fps
3.6K@60/50/30/25/24fps
2.7K@60/50/30/25/24fps
1080p@60/50/30/25/24fps

The camera can also shoot 72MP and 18MP photos as well as Timelapse videos and Active HDR video. The Bullet Time video now shoots at 4K@120fps, and 3K@180fps.

Like previous Insta360 cameras, the X3 has the company’s FlowState stabilization which helps smooth out the video.

The Insta360 X3 is available now from the company’s website for $599 CAD for just the camera. There are also plenty of accessories and bundles for the Insta360 X3 that add items like a microSD card, lens cover, selfie stick or other mounts.

Camera Image & Video Quality

As previously mentioned, the Insta360 X3 can shoot up to 5.7K 360 video at up to 30fps. It would have been nice if the 5.7K resolution could shoot 60fps but hopefully, that’s in the works for the next camera.

Videos that were taken on the Insta360 X3 look good and especially smooth thanks to the company’s FlowState Stabilization. There’s lots of detail that can be seen and a pop of colour.

Software

Navigating around the camera’s interface is fairly straightforward and it’s even easier with the larger touchscreen. You can swipe one direction to get to settings and another to change resolutions.

The companion app for the Insta360 X3 is fairly straightforward as well. It’s separated into a few tabs, Explore, Album, Camera, Tutorials and Settings. Explore shows you an Instagram-like feed of other Insta360 camera users. Album is where all your imported media lives and where you can edit your videos

Insta360 X3 App

Camera is where you would see your camera’s viewfinder remotely. Stories are where you can cut and edit your footage to then edit for your social media feeds. And settings are pretty self-explanatory.

One of the coolest parts of using the Insta360 app (either on mobile or desktop) is being able to edit your footage back and change where the camera is pointing. You can choose different pivot points, so different subjects could be in the frame at a time.

Once you’re done editing your 360 footage in the app, you can export your video either as a flat video or a 360 video. The resolution of the exported video will vary depending on what video resolution you captured the footage in.