InstaVR will soon be announcing a technical partnership with Insta360. In the meantime, if you purchase an Insta360 ONE X through this link, you’ll receive a free invisible selfie stick with purchase of the ONE X.
What is the Insta360 One X?
Insta360 is one of our favorite 360-degree makers. Their Insta360 Pro (and now Insta360 Pro 2), with six fisheye lenses capable of capturing 8K video, is one of the top professional cameras on the market. Read our InstaVR Interviews page, and you’ll find everyone from top VR agencies to Chili’s Restaurants using the camera for filming exceptional VR experiences.
Last month, Insta360 started shipping their new One X camera. Billed as a consumer camera, it costs only $400 USD, but truly is a good fit for some of our clients that aren’t quite ready to make the investment in a Insta360 Pro yet. The Insta360 One X competes with the likes of the Ricoh Theta V, Samsung Gear 360, Nikon KeyMission, GoPro Fusion and Garmin Virb — and from our perspective, is better than them.
The One X is the successor to the Insta360 One. That camera is/was a nice complement to the Insta360 Pro, though with obvious comparative technical limitations (ie only 2 fisheye lenses). It works well for filming in tight locations, capturing video on the fly, or strapping to a headset for POV shots.
The Insta360 One X does a few things differently than the One. For instance, it has an LCD screen telling you things like battery life remaining and what resolution and fps you’re capturing in. Clearly, you’ll likely be using the mobile phone app for initiating filming and taking pictures, but having this info handy on-camera is a nice bonus.
From a functional perspective, the camera can capture 5.7K/30fps or 4k/50fps. That’s a noticeable improvement over consumer competitors like the Ricoh Theta V, which only offers 4K/30fps. And the consensus is the new One X picks up better detail and color than its predecessor, as well as performing better in low light, a problem that has historically plagued lower end 360 cameras.
The camera comes equipped with a number of stabilization features which might be of interest if you’re taking action shots. You can read more about those here.
The One X retains a nice intuitive design and easy portability. And did we mention there’s also an additional dive case that let’s you go up to 30 Meters under water with the camera and helps offset light refraction?
Should you buy an Insta360 One X?
Yes!
At $400 USD, the camera is priced about on par with the competition, while offering superior tech specs and functionality. For our clients looking for a lower cost alternative to the Insta360 Pro, the One X will likely exceed your expectations. Surely some of the 360-degree camera competition will offer lower prices to clear out inventory this holiday season… but if you’re using your camera for business purposes, spend a little more money to invest in the Insta360 One X.
We especially like the One X for:
- Clients that do a lot of action or outdoor photography, and need a portable camera (ie tourism/hospitality companies)
- Clients building their first VR application for distribution (great ease of use, cost, etc)
- Clients looking to upgrade from older versions of Ricoh Theta & Samsung Gear 360
How do you make apps for the Insta360 One X?
It’s easy to make apps using the Insta360 One X + InstaVR. The camera captures in the standard formats we require (stereoscopic or monoscopic JPG/PNG and mp4). It also offers in-camera stitching, so the images are ready to use in InstaVR once transferred to your laptop via USB or WiFi.
From download to your laptop, app authoring using InstaVR is simple. Just sign up for a Free account with us, view our Tutorial in your Console, attend one of our Live Trainings (Thursdays at 10am EST at https://join.me/instavrandrew), or read on of our handy guides:
– InstaVR Authoring Guide, with publishing info for iOS/Android
– Gear VR authoring & publishing guide
– Oculus Go publishing guide
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to use the chat button in the lower right hand corner of your screen. Good luck with your Insta360 One X and we look forward to helping you create amazing apps with it!
(Images on this page copyright of Insta360)
