Gift idea | Insta360 X3: a spectacular camera

Producing traditional video sequences with a 360° camera, what a funny idea! But when you see what the Insta360 X3 can do, you can’t help but be excited.

We regularly talk to you about the cameras of Insta360, whose X model experienced its third update during the fall. Quite logically baptized X3, it succeeds the One X2 (and loses the One prefix in passing).

Egg of Columbus

Its operating principle is worthy of the egg of Columbus. By filming at 360°, the camera records everything that happens around it, which makes the notion of framing the scene unnecessary. This is done after shooting by “cutting” around the subject being filmed a rectangular area, in Full HD for example.

The operation is done through the companion application, available on mobile (iOS, Android) or computer (Windows, macOS). All you have to do is tell the AI ​​what the central subject of the sequence is for it to follow it.

© Insta360

Along the way, it can compensate for vibrations in order to stabilize the sequence, or even modify the point of view according to the user’s wishes. As you will have understood, its possibilities are immense.

Like its big sister the One X2, the Insta360 X3 is comfortable for capturing sports footage. It differs from it essentially by the presence of a large touch screen which facilitates its use and by the use of 1/2 inch sensors of 48 Mpxl. Larger and more defined, they allow the X3 to produce better low-light images. Another welcome novelty: the Active HDR mode gives the possibility of improving the reproduction of the details of a high-contrast scene.

Insta360 has provided many accessories to make the X3 a versatile product. For example, you can get a bicycle handlebar mount, a diving case to make the camera waterproof to 50 meters (10 meters without the case) or adhesive lens protectors (the glass lenses of the lens remain weak).

Shoot Lab

The companion app is a key part of the X3. It has greatly evolved over the years and now offers a simple and intuitive interface. There is of course manual editing, where you choose the point of view yourself. It is completed with FlashCut and ShootLab modes. The first automatically creates a thematic clip (travel, bike ride, sports, etc.) from your footage.

Much more sophisticated, ShootLab allows the creation of spectacular sequences that a simple user could never have hoped to achieve a few years ago. This is for example the case of Bullet Time, made famous by the film MatrixClone Loop where the same subject can appear several times, or even the impressive Sky Swap which replaces the sky of a landscape with another video.

31 ShootLab modes are available when we picked up the X3. They all work on the same principle: a video tutorial explains how to film the sequences needed to produce the effect. Once the footage is in the box, the AI ​​picks it up, selects the relevant clips, then puts it all together and creates the special effects.

Regardless of the editing mode chosen, the application manages to make the pole on which the camera is fixed invisible. We can thus simulate the flight over a crowd using its extended version (optional) which can reach a wingspan of 3 meters!

The quality of the images produced by the X3 is excellent, and it does not have to be ashamed in the face of the tenors of the category. So why deprive yourself of it?