Anyone here use an Insta 360 or similar? Spec me....

haaammit

haaammit

haaammit

Soldato
Joined
22 Aug 2010
Posts
4,105
Location
On the Wagon-East Angular
Allo - I have an old GoPro 5 that I sometimes use, but it's getting pretty old and flaky. Been thinking about getting an Insta 360 x4 for recording group rides/days out etc. Anyone else use one or something similar? Any other brands/options to look for?

Ta muchly!
 
Yeah I’ve got an x5 and an older x2 I think. They’re really cool bits of kit but you soon notice the quality deteriorate if you zoom in too much. They also require you to do loads of editing with them once you’ve filmed, as you need to frame the shot and then animate it etc if you want. Or you can just put the whole 360 video on YouTube and leave it.

If you’re looking for a quick way of getting footage from a ride I think a chin mounted action cam is easier.
 
Hmmm - whilst I like the idea of a chin mount (I've got one for the Hero 5) I'm not a fan of the mounts that are left behind on the lid, and riding sports bikes, I find if I get tucked there's not a lot to see lol! It's even worse with a chest mount!

Guess I could give it another go. Are the newer action cams lighter? Maybe I should just go for both! Ye, it's not for vlogging or anything like that, just to look back and find funny things that happened on the ride - it's why I thought the 360 may be better as I'm not always watching the others.
 
That makes sense. In that case, you need to consider where you're mounting (and whether your riding is going to get anyone in trouble!).

You're going to need the camera to be above your head if you want to see in front of you and behind you at the same time. Probably your best bet is a long pole sticking up into the air off the back of the bike. Footage ends up looking like a computer game, but it's pretty cool.

I'm exporting an 8k video from the x5 at the moment (which looks like it'll take about 30 mins). The video is 27 minutes long, and comes out at 40GB (the original file size is also 40GB). I'll upload it to YT and send you a link, and you can see what you think in terms of quality.
 
Here's what the x5 footage looks like straight into YT as 360 video.


It looks a bit better if you reframe it yourself (make the angle wider) and upload a non-360/normal video (slightly unfair comparison as the source video is 4k instead of 8k).


YT still compresses the **** out of the video though (zoom to 100% and look at my face for comparison):

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com www.dropbox.com
 
Last edited:
I just bought a DJI Nano for cycling. Impressed with it so far. Shame we've had such crap and dreary weather lately as the footage isn't particularly exciting, even given the Autumn colours about.
 
Slightly fairer comparison here, this is the 8k footage framed to match the youtube version:

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com www.dropbox.com

You'll immediately see how much detail is lost in the road! The double encoding from Insta360 studio to h265, then onto YT has also changed the colours from the source (I clicked 'dolby vision' when I exported, which i think has increased the contrast and upped the vibrancy). The detail still exists in the h265 footage, so YT is definitely killing it.
 
Last edited:
That's really handy - thank you so much. Ye, I think the 360 is going to be a better bet for what I want. Ta for the help! Off to find a used 360 x4!!
Ta
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom