I Tested the Next-Gen 360 Camera

Mrwhosetheboss

yes I'm still testing camera's while sitting in the maldives  Grab the Insta360 X5 now: https://bit.ly/Mrwhosetheboss-X5 - with a FREE replaceable lens kit for a limited-time only!  Filmed at Four Seasons Maldives: https://www.fourseasons.com/maldiveslg/

Transcript

00:00This is the new Insta360 X5. It's probably the single biggest improvement I've ever seen to a

00:05360 degree camera. So I did the only logical thing. I flew 5,000 miles across two time zones

00:11to the Maldives. To find out both why you would ever use something like this if you can just use

00:15your phone to shoot. But also what does this new camera do that the company's existing 360 cameras

00:20couldn't already do? So thanks to Insta for sponsoring and getting a super early access,

00:24let's very literally dive in. So the entire purpose of a 360 degree camera is unlike shooting with your

00:30phone where you have to focus on what you're capturing and if you miss something then too bad.

00:35This captures a 360 degree sphere of video so that you never miss anything and you can decide later

00:40what bits you want to focus on while being able to make this selfie stick completely disappear from

00:44your footage. But that's what 360 cameras have always done. So what is actually new here?

00:49Well if you've paid a lot of attention to the smartphone market these days then you'll probably

00:53be aware that we'd be lucky to get a 20% improvement to one of the camera sensors on them.

00:59Do you know what they've done here? Each camera on the X5 has a 144% larger sensor than the already

01:049 out of 10 rated X4 camera from just last year. Which is such a boost to video quality that the

01:10second you start recording with the thing it's like you're shooting with four different cameras

01:14simultaneously. Because you're capturing all angles at once and now in such high resolution 8k

01:19which Insta360 then processes in 11k using something called super sampling it means each

01:25individual viewpoint is almost the equivalent of a full phone camera's image. Just to be clear

01:29you're capturing all of this in one go in one shot. There is an even bigger perk that comes with this

01:35quality upgrade but we're getting there. Because before that you will almost definitely notice number

01:39seven the audio upgrade. So here's the thing with recording on phones. I think the iPhone to be

01:45honest is a fantastic starting camera and the sound quality is incredible on it. But where it starts

01:49to break down is when you're trying to use it for extreme conditions that it just wasn't designed

01:53for. So let's say for example that I am in about five minutes going to be absolutely pacing it on

01:59this jet ski. The X5 is designed with all of this stuff in mind so it's just naturally going to sound

02:13a lot better. It's partly down to software but it's mostly just that Insta have had the space here to

02:18put in a proper physical multi-layer steel mesh wind guard. But what if you accidentally drop the

02:24thing while you're on your high-speed adventures? Listen, there's no brakes on this bike. Oh god.

02:36Right. I nearly full sended myself into the water. Well one of the key bits of feedback that Insta360

02:42have been getting over the years is lenses are fragile. And so there's been a lot of users saying

02:45I feel like I should play it safe with my camera as opposed to getting the exact shot that I want.

02:50So Insta have tried a bunch of things to address that. Like last year they started including these

02:54free lens guards with the product but this I think is the ultimate solution. With the X5 you can

02:59actually just swap out the lens entirely if anything happens. And you can do it yourself.

03:03Like imagine how crazy it would be if you could do that on your phone. Like just unscrew your lens

03:08and put a new one in if you scratch it or chip it. And that is also paired with even stronger glass

03:13on the lenses themselves. It's not sapphire but it's sapphire level durability now thanks to a new

03:17diamond-like coating process. Literally 100% stronger than on the X4.

03:22And the other side to that durability coin is waterproofing. Insta360 have essentially gone

03:26around the entire design and targeted all the points of vulnerability. Like the USB-C port.

03:31Which means that instead of the previous ability to withstand 10 meter depths this can now handle

03:3615 meters. For context by the way an iPhone 16 Pro Max could survive theoretically about 6 meters.

03:41But you'd also have a bunch of other issues crop up. Like your screen going haywire and saltwater.

03:46Just causing long-term damage internally.

03:50Seeing the progress in battery has been quite insane too. The first 360 camera these guys came

03:55out with the One X had a 60 minute runtime. That then went up to 80. Then all the way to 135.

04:00And now it is sitting at 185 minutes. You do still have to use endurance mode to get to that battery

04:06life. But we are still talking 185 minute runtime while shooting in 360 degree 5.7k quality. Plus

04:13fast charging. Which is not something that you tend to see camera companies focusing on. But

04:17this thing gets up to about 80% in 20 minutes. Now one thing that you can just tell this company's

04:22been thinking about with this generation is how do we design this camera to be appealing to people

04:27for who the only other camera they've ever used is just their phone. Because one new thing they've

04:32added which I think makes things a lot easier on this front is InstaFrame mode. So in the past you

04:36either had to choose. I'm going to shoot in 360 degrees so that I can pick what I'm going to focus on

04:41later and make sure I don't miss anything. Or I'm going to shoot in something like follow me mode

04:45which is a flat video that uses the 360 vision to constantly keep you in the middle of the shot.

04:50The X5 though can shoot what you're seeing right now which is both types of video at the same time

04:55with InstaFrame mode. It's just the most mindless thing. Having both the ability to tune everything

05:00afterwards but also this instant immediately ready to post video at the same time. That's one of the

05:06things that they've done to make things easier this time around. It's not the only thing. Like for

05:10example twist to shoot. While the camera is on the selfie stick two little twists and you can start

05:15and stop recording without even having to touch the thing. Or the Insta360 app. I always thought it

05:20was decently intuitive but it's now more organized. The thumbnails automatically recognize and highlight

05:24people so at a glance you can see even clearer which shot is which and it's also now just way quicker

05:30to export footage straight to your phone's photos library. Plus there is now an Insta360 cloud which

05:35can free up your SD card space immediately and also means your friends and family can jump on and see

05:40what you've shot. All finished off with AI editing and AI effects that just work better. Way higher success

05:46rate of seeing an idea you like, clicking it and then being actually really happy with how that idea

05:51has translated to your footage. But you want to know the best bit? Well it turns out that it's not just

05:55144% bigger image sensors helping out with the image quality this time around. It's also that this camera

06:02has had massive increases in computing power. Literally 140% more power thanks to a triple AI

06:07chip configuration. And that has a whole load of side perks. Like for example if you want to turn

06:12on active HDR mode you can now do that at 60 frames per second instead of 30. Or just generally crisper

06:17details and more natural colors being captured than the previous X4. But do you want to know the single

06:22starkest difference that you get because of this? It's pure video. Video that essentially takes advantage

06:27of the full power available on this camera with AI noise reduction, optimized dynamic range and

06:32this basically erases what I'd consider the final remaining concern that people have had with 360

06:37cameras. Performance has always been good in the day but it's night where you start to notice

06:41frankly a spectacular improvement in noise and general visibility. So long and short of it this is the best

06:48360 camera on the market. Now you don't necessarily need one if you already are recording with a high-end

06:53phone but the advantages of this become more and more clear compared to a phone the more

06:57adventurous you're planning on being. So link below to check out the Insta360 X5.

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