Insta360 X3: Revolutionizing 360 Video Quality – Review and Features Breakdown

Insta360. This tiny camera has one amazing feature that makes it the most versatile one I’ve ever used.

How It Works
Action and 360 cameras have been around for years, and I’ve tried a few here and there. But when Insta360 asked me to check out their latest model, the X3, I was excited to give it a go. Here’s how it works:

The X3 has two 1/2-inch high-res sensors positioned back-to-back. Each sensor captures a super wide-angle video that covers just over 180 degrees. There’s a slight overlap where the two views meet, and the camera automatically stitches them together into one seamless shot.

The best part? It knows where the camera is mounted, so it can remove the selfie stick from the footage. And because it understands its size, it even removes itself from the shot! Basically, it creates an invisible 360-degree video experience, which is pretty cool.

Features
But honestly, the “how it works” part is just the start. What really blows me away is what it lets you do. Here’s the fun part: You pair it with your phone, and you can see exactly what the camera sees. As I move, the camera stays focused on me.

They call it “FlowState Stabilization.” It uses AI to find the horizon and keep it level while locking onto a target within the 360-degree frame. The result? Super smooth and stable footage, no matter what you’re filming.

Now you’re really starting to see just how powerful this camera is. This isn’t just about shooting spherical video. What you’re working with is a whole sphere of video, and you can pick any part of it to focus on and use. That’s what makes this the most versatile camera I’ve ever seen.

The X3 is the latest model that shoots this way. It comes with a new 1/2-inch sensor and can shoot 5.7K 360 video with HDR, or even 8K time lapses if you want to get fancy. It also has a 2.3-inch touchscreen made of tempered glass, and it’s waterproof up to 33 feet with an IPX8 rating. Plus, it has a removable 1800mAh battery inside.

But what really sets Insta360 apart is the way it constantly records a full 360-degree sphere of video. Picture this: you’re holding a ball of 360-degree video and you can point it wherever you want. This opens up a ton of creative possibilities.

Let me show you some cool things you can do with it, from the simple stuff to the truly mind-blowing shots.

Me Mode
You’ve probably seen this one before. You can hold the camera on a selfie stick, and it automatically tracks you, keeping you in focus. It’s wild because it looks like the camera is floating in front of you. If you move it around above your head, it even gives you a drone-like shot. Essentially, it’s just stitching out the selfie stick and turning it into a regular widescreen video from an awesome perspective.

GTA Mode
Then there’s what I like to call “GTA Mode.” This one involves mounting the selfie stick to a vehicle, so it looks like the camera is floating off the back. Thanks to the tracking, you get this insane first-person view of a car driving down the street. You’ve probably seen shots like this all over Instagram.

First Person Mode
But my favorite? It’s called First Person Mode. Let me show you what that looks like.

First Person Mode

So, I’m definitely planning to use this a lot more on the auto-focused channel we’ve just launched. Honestly, holding a phone in one hand while driving with the other? Not the safest thing in the world.

With First Person mode, all you have to do is strap the camera to your head or, yeah, hold it in your mouth. Then you just focus on the part of the sphere that’s facing forward. That’s it! You get this super cool, wide-angle view of everything I’m seeing while driving, and it’s out of the way and super practical.

Fun fact: the other side of the sphere looks like this. Some people even call it Nose Mode—maybe you’ve seen clips like this floating around online.

But probably the craziest thing I’ve seen in this software is called Bullet Time. It’s literally just swinging the camera around your head on a string.

Insta360 even makes a special cord just for this. It has a 1/4-20 screw at the end, so you can attach the camera and start swinging it around in slow motion. It creates some seriously awesome footage, kind of like an advanced selfie that shows off everything around you in 360 degrees.

It’s a pretty advanced system, but it’s super capable. And the wildest part is that everything gets edited directly on your phone through the Insta360 app.

So, it’s actually pretty accessible. I’ve been talking about starting a YouTube channel using just your phone, and with this setup, you can do everything with just the camera and one app. Plus, the render times are quick, too!

So, when you play back a clip shot on this camera and ask it to track something, it does it faster than real time, which is pretty cool. You can even do a full Sky Swap on a video in just a few seconds. The app analyzes the whole clip and does a really convincing job with the Sky Swap.

Honestly, it’s much faster than any Adobe software or motion graphics tool I’ve tried. The best part is, you can do almost any effect you want right within the app.

Whether it’s something complex like Bullet Time or something simple like reframing, it all works really smoothly. You can move around the video sphere with keyframing, or use your phone’s gyroscope to adjust your shot and point at different angles. It’s super intuitive.

What’s really awesome is that you always have the full sphere of video to play with. You can create a custom video from whatever angles you want, and do it all pretty quickly. It gives you a lot of room to get creative.

So, all you need is this $449 camera, the app on your phone, and a selfie stick. That’s it. The whole system. I’m definitely going to add this to my gear for the auto-focused channel.

There are also a few accessories available. One is a reader accessory, so you don’t have to remove the battery to get to the microSD card—you can just plug it directly into your phone and grab the files.

There’s also a mic jack accessory. You connect it via USB-C, and it lets you plug in an external mic. These accessories add a little extra production value to a camera that’s already pretty solid on its own.

Final Thoughts
There are some cool features here too, like Loop Recording, which records every 30 minutes and can easily work as a dash cam.

As for any downsides, the only thing I noticed with a 360 setup like this—especially with the back-to-back cameras—is that if you place the subject right on the seam, where the two cameras meet, you might get some distortion, especially if the subject is close. But honestly, it’s not hard to avoid. You just need to adjust the angle a bit to keep the subject somewhere within the sphere, and it works fine.

But honestly, this is the most versatile camera I’ve ever used. I’ve barely scratched the surface of the creativity people bring to these things. My Instagram feed is full of wild shots—people tossing it around for fake drone shots or even throwing it off a cliff next to someone diving into the water, capturing everything from the dive to the camera falling into the water. Just crazy stuff.

For me, I’m excited to bring it into my own projects—think first-person driving shots or even some cool selfie stick moments outside the car. There’s so much room for creative possibilities.