Insta360 invited me to a hands-on event for its upcoming Luna Pro and Luna Ultra vlogging cameras, during which time I had the opportunity to test the dual-lens Ultra version and speak with the 360 camera manufacturer's co-founder, Max Richter.

I quizzed Max on everything from branching out into a new market dominated by DJI, to what Insta360's competitive advantages are and how a surprising number of Insta360 fans are using their action cams for photography.

There's still a lot we don't know about the Luna cameras ahead of their full unveil, and I'm restricted with what I can share because of a staggered embargo. Nonetheless, my conversation with Max shed a little light on where the innovative camera manufacturer is heading.

Rivalling DJI

Insta360 and DJI are launching new action cameras and compact video cameras at breakneck speed, seemingly leaving the likes of GoPro behind when it comes to innovation, even if GoPro recently announced its trio of Mission 1 cameras.

The 360 camera space is very much dominated by Insta360, who commands almost 70% market share, despite DJI announcing its own Osmo 360, and GoPro, its Max 2.

And the same can be said for DJI and compact vlogging cameras — its Pocket series has sold by the bucketload for years, the latest model being the Pocket 4, with no obvious competition. That was, until the Luna.

I expect the vlogging camera market to be a tough nut to crack for Insta360, but I believe it has the necessary software to give it a go, and now, finally, the hardware with the new Luna Pro and Luna Ultra.

"Luna is a new space for us, because it's going to be the first time and we actually have a real vlogging tool on the market," Max tells me.

"It's going to be seriously considered by prosumers or professional creators. This market category is quite big already, right? But we think there's space that we bring some new things to it. A little bit of competition to it.

"At the same time, though, what we're not going to do is to compete on the price. It's definitely gonna compete more on the on the product itself. It's a higher-end solution. It's not price competition, we really want to compete on the product."

And how will Insta360 compete on product? For one, the Luna seemingly matches the latest DJI Pocket cameras, at least where headline features are concerned.

The single-lens Luna Pro rivals the Pocket 4, while the dual-lens Luna Ultra, which I am testing, squares up to the upcoming Pocket 4P.

Like DJI, both Luna cameras utilize a 1-inch sensor and 10-bit video recording, while the Ultra features a second 3x camera, as the Pocket 4P will. All these cameras are supported with 3-axis gimbal stabilization, too.

And while Insta360 is coming into this space years after DJI, it now has its five-star Mic Pro wireless mic to rival the DJI Mic 3. So far, the Shenzen-based pair looks evenly matched.

Purely matching DJI while not competing on price is clearly not going to cut it, though, especially for an unproven first-generation product. That's where the Luna's neat modular screen gives it the hardware edge.

I've tested the unique feature, and it is truly brilliant. The rotating touchscreen is part of a removable component which also includes the main camera controls; the zoom lever, gimbal joystick, and record button.

You can use the screen to view and control the camera remotely, complete with subject tracking, giving the impression of having a cameraperson. What's more, the unit is fitted with a microphone, meaning you can view, record, track subjects, and present to camera.

That's what 'competing on product' looks like, and this game-changing feature alone could be enough to tempt first-timers and DJI fans to switch.

Powering the hardware

Insta360 is coming into the space fresh, but behind the scenes, it has long made cutting-edge software the foundation of its camera tech, which is crucial, especially in the 360 camera space.

“The new generation of content creators want convenience, ease of use, simple sharing on TikTok, Instagram, and so on, and that’s where Insta360 excels due to the software excellence,” says Max.

"Software is the key reason why you choose our products. Not everybody has the time to go into the mobile app and edit their videos, reframe the moment — that’s an extra step in the workflow that a lot of people are not willing to spend time on. We think AI will ultimately be a solution to that.

“The software or AI can choose the best moment or the best shot, or even be trained to know what is your preference in terms of editing. It’s getting better and better. I recently used it [Insta360's app] for diving videos when I didn’t have time to do a lot of reframing, but it perfectly got me the right frame on the sharks and turtles and on myself, that I couldn’t have done better in this short amount of time.

"On the hardware side, you’re not able to iterate so fast, but on the software side, I think we can play out our advantage; we can move very fast.

"To be honest, I see camera technology going in this direction. In the future, it will be hard to differentiate yourself on the hardware side; you also need to invest in the software, because the software can also balance out a lot of the hardware deficiencies."

I've personally used Insta360's app for videos shot with its 360 cameras, such as the X5, and can testify how much it simplifies the editing process. The same software is being used for the Luna vlogging cameras and might just take out pain points for editing vlogging content.

Max talked up Insta360's software credentials, but in a way, he's also doing the Luna a disservice — my first impressions of the camera itself are very positive, and it's great to see some competition for the DJI Pocket series.

What is currently unknown is pricing — just how uncompetitive will the Luna be? We'll find out soon enough.

Action cams are primarily for video, but how do they fare for photography? It’s an area that leading manufacturers, such as Insta360 and DJI, have been exploring recently with a glut of quirky accessories.

Take the Photography Grip for the Insta360 X5. It transforms my favorite 360 degree action cam into a point-and-shoot — a use case that I wouldn’t necessarily have otherwise considered.

Or how about the optical viewfinder for the Insta360 Go 3S, which is now available in a Retro Bundle? This, again, changes its primary function as a tiny 4K camera into a waist-level stills shooter.

Third-parties are in on the act too — SmallRig makes a cage for the DJI Osmo Action 6, which significantly improves its handling for photography, and our reviewer Sam Kieldsen loved it.

I was curious about these accessories that turn some of the best action cams into point-and-shoots — are they simple novelties, or are they genuinely useful? How suited are action cams really for photography? I had to find out for myself...

Getting a grip

Photography with action cameras is certainly possible, but there’s no doubt that these types of cameras are primarily designed and equipped for video. However, the Insta360 X5 Photography Grip — which costs $49.99 / £47.99 / AU$87.99 and is available in black or white at Insta360's store — certainly improves the camera's handling for photography.

It fixes to the tripod mount on the camera's underside, and connects through the USB-C port — all you need to do is open the X5's USB-C door to 90-degrees and then pull the cover completely off (and find a safe place for it as you'll need it again for regular use!).

The X5's Photography Grip is comfy to hold and features a simple shutter release button. It aids shooting at awkward angles and framing elements such as leading lines, because it’s positioned away from the camera and gives an easy hold to frame shots in vertical and horizontal perspectives.

I especially enjoyed holding the camera vertically with the grip at the top. And given the X5 is fully waterproof (to 16ft / 5m), its lens can be submerged in water too — this very feature enables creative shot such as above and below water simultaneously with the lens half-submerged. (Given the USB-C door needs to be removed to attach the grip, however, you can’t fully submerge the camera with grip because that port is consequently exposed.)

Besides design, many action cameras actually have decent specs for photography; the Insta360 X5 is able to shoot 72MP stills that cover 360-degrees, or 36MP stills in a single lens mode, which was my primary concern with the grip.

Most action cameras have a wide-angle FOV, the X5 even more so. If you want telephoto shots, then action cams aren’t for you, period. However, for scenes that feature a point of interest close to the camera, they can offer truly dynamic perspectives. The X5 specifically has Ultra, Dewarp and Linear options — the latter corrects image distortions and was my top pick for everyday photography.

And the latest action cameras typically major on attractive color science, such as the Insta360 Ace Pro 2 with its Leica-inspired looks (for which there's an Xplorer Grip Pro kit like the one SmallRig makes for DJI, which costs $99 / £99 / AU$180). The X5's range of color profiles, however, are much more limited, but it can shoot in RAW format to make color grading easier after the event. I'd like to see more photography-first features added by a firmware update.

Action cameras are also small and discreet, making them somewhat suited to street photography. So, with its wide-angle perspective, waterproof design and small body, the X5 with grip can actually be a surprisingly powerful every day photography camera. That said, it needs to process photos faster too to be taken seriously as a stills camera.

A niche accessory worth trying?

The Insta360 X5 will still primarily be a video camera for me. The same can be said for the Insta360 Go 3S even with the cutesy optical viewfinder that comes in the new Retro Bundle (and which can be purchased separately if you already own the camera).

However, don’t write these cameras off for photography, especially action cams such as the Ace Pro 2 and DJI Osmo Action 6, which are better equipped for stills. If you want an altogether different use for your action camera, and enjoy shooting a wide perspective with the freedom of a small, lightweight and rugged build, you might just discover a new niche with the help of one of these accessories.

I’m not the only one trying action cameras specifically for photography, with these new accessories; photographer Geit Eero has demonstrated the Xplorer Grip Pro kit in action on Instagram (see above).

Peruse the links above for the best deals on the weird and wonderful world of action cam photography accessories — you might just find a new use for your action cam.

Would you use a GoPro, DJI or Insta360 action camera for photography? Do these accessories sway your thinking? Have your say in the poll and comments below.

If you’re looking to buy a 360-degree action camera, there has never been a better time to take the plunge. There are more options than ever before, catering to every budget. Insta360 has quickly risen to become a household name in this market, and we’ve consistently rated the company’s products among the best 360 cameras available.

The Insta360 X5 is currently top of the list, and in our rave review, we commented on the exceptional image quality the camera can deliver from its large sensor. Meanwhile, in my in-depth review of the brand new Insta360 X4 Air, I was swept away by the blend of price, portability, and professional features.

When two similar cameras are released only a few months apart, it always raises the question of how different they can be and what truly sets them apart in terms of performance. On paper, there isn’t too much to separate the X5 and the X4 Air, other than the headline differences. Having spent the last decade reviewing cameras for my job, I’ve come to realize that this usually means the biggest divergence between two models is in their target audience rather than the absolute specs.

In other words, they aren’t meant to directly compete against each other – no sensible manufacturer would cannibalize their product range intentionally – and instead they aim to complement each other, providing a tailored experience for specific user requirements.

That’s why I was so looking forward to taking these Insta360 siblings together for a spin, to find out exactly who each camera is aimed at, if there is enough of a difference between them under the skin, and which one gives you the greatest value.

1. Insta360 X5 vs Insta360 X4 Air: Build quality and ruggedness

• Both cameras are waterproof to 49ft (15m)
• Insta360 X4 Air weighs 5.8oz / 165g, Insta360 X5 weighs 7oz / 200g
• The X5 is 10.7mm taller than the X4 Air (124.5mm vs 113.8mm)

Despite being around $150 / £190 less expensive than the X5, the ruggedness and design of the X4 Air hold up well under scrutiny. Both cameras are superbly well-constructed, showing no real give in the body material under pressure. When tapped with a finger, the shells give back a dull thud rather than a hollow rattle, which really lends the impression of solidity. That’s more than I can say for many recent mirrorless cameras that you’d pay considerably more to own.

I never thought I’d see the day when I compared an action camera to a Leica rangefinder, but hear me out on this before you scoff into your coffee, as I’m going somewhere with it. While they clearly don’t have the metal feel of, say, a Leica M EV1, with regards to the handling, the X5 and X4 Air give a similar sensation of being crafted from a single piece of material. There are few perceptible joins and seams beyond the accessible battery and USB compartments, and the waterproof rubberized bodies instill serious confidence that your camera would outlast you in a tumble from your mountain bike or skis.

I know the X4 Air is lighter on paper, but I must admit I didn’t notice the difference much out in the field. I had expected there to be more of a size difference too, somewhere between the tiny Insta360 Go Ultra and the X5. I’m not saying being more portable is not welcome, merely that it feels less like a little brother and more like a younger cousin to the X5.

The biggest indicator that both cameras are from the most recent generation is their mutual compatibility with Insta360’s lens replacement system. It’s hard to quantify how reassuring it is to know that you can swap out a damaged lens on-the-go, whereas on previous cameras, a misjudged or poorly timed movement could have ended a shoot before it began. I don’t want to tempt fate, but I have yet to need a new lens, however an inspection of the kit confirms it’s relatively easy to use, at least with some practice.

Impressively, both the X5 and X4 Air are rated as waterproof to 49ft / 15m, a significant upgrade to the original X4 body which was limited to a 10m dive. Although I didn’t get the chance to go diving while I had the cameras, both got significantly wet during a rainstorm while I was out shooting.

I deliberately left them out of my camera bag, after double checking that all of the latches were properly sealed – there's an orange indicator on the various port doors and battery, which disappears when the latches are sealed. As expected, neither camera was upset by the inclement weather and a rub-down with a lens cloth was all that was needed to dry them off.

• Ruggedness winner: draw

2. Insta360 X5 vs Insta360 X4 Air: Performance and usability

• Smaller X4 Air battery limits recording to 88 minutes in 8K, the X5's can run up to 208 minutes for 5.7K
• Both listed 2.5-inch screens, but the X5's is bigger

Other than the overall sensor size, it’s battery life where the biggest compromises of the smaller body of the X4 Air are most noticeable. With a smaller design comes a smaller battery pack, and the example found on the X4 Air has a capacity of 2,010mAh, compared to the X5’s larger 2,400mAh unit. This drastically reduces the operating duration of the X4 Air, limiting it to 88-minutes of 8K recording at 30fps, or 100 minutes at 6K24p.

The 208-minute runtime of the X5, set to 5.7K24p in Endurance Mode, is far more workable for an average day of shooting, and that’s not taking things like air temperature into account – in hot or extremely cold locations, the maximum runtime could be reduced further. While I’d always advise carrying a backup battery when shooting away from home, I found it an absolute requirement when out with the X4 Air. Both cameras charged quickly using a USB-C cable though, assuming you have access to power while out shooting.

Both cameras benefit from being paired with a host smartphone and controlled via the Insta360 app. Not only does a phone screen provide a much better preview image, the larger area also makes it easier to access the various setting controls. There isn’t much to separate the on-camera main LCDs, though if I had to choose, I think the X5’s is sharper to my eye and less mushy. The auto brightness control behaved a little more predictably than the X4 Air, keeping the preview true-to-life more effectively, although I admit I’m being picky here.

If there’s one thing about a camera that will make a good first impression on me out of the box, it’s an efficient menu system. Happily, both Insta360 cameras have a simple and sensible user interface. Features are all grouped together as they should be; a swipe up reveals resolution and frame rate control for movies, a right-left swipe gives access to camera settings, swiping down brings down system settings like screen brightness and gesture control (just like many phones), and playback is found by swiping left-to-right.

This layout is shared between the cameras and is pleasingly functional. Given the larger LCD size of the X5, I did enjoy working on this camera more than on the X4 Air, which I kept paired to app almost all of the time.

• Performance and usability winner: Insta360 X5

3. Insta360 X5 vs Insta360 X4 Air: Image quality

• The Insta360 X5 features an I-log mode
• The Insta360 X4 Air relies on a flat color profile with no log option
• The X5 uses a larger 1/1.28-inch sensor type, the X4 Air features two 1/1.8-inch sensors

The X5 uses larger 1/1.28-inch type sensors, so going into this comparison, I was already expecting a big quality difference between the cameras. It was no surprise that the greatest differences can be seen in low-light footage, where the X5 produces clips that are visibly cleaner and with more definition of finer detail. Colors look more natural and retain a certain ‘pop’ that is missing from X4 Air video at the highest sensitivities.

The X4 Air lacks the dedicated PureVideo Mode of the X5, which Insta360 describes as using “Advanced AI Noise Reduction”. Exactly what’s going on behind the scenes, I’m not certain, but video is noticeably brighter from the X5 without astronomical levels of image noise. That being said, the X4 Air still performed admirably under poor indoor lighting and during the fading light of a landscape at sunset, but with more blocked-up shadow detail.

The dynamic range of both cameras was impressive; their respective combinations of sensor and processor power punch above their weight in high-contrast light. The HDR modes on both models worked well, producing usable clips out-of-camera, although once again, the X4 Air couldn’t quite keep up in the harshest contrast. This is where I missed the I-Log support the most. Being able to have full grading control of footage from the X5 was helpful, and the X4 Air’s Flat Profile didn’t natively capture as much data in highlight areas.

The Auto White Balance systems of both models behaved almost identically, and in a positive way. They weren’t easily confused by brightly colored objects in-frame, and produced natural skin tones. I had to intervene during the sunset seen in the video above, switching to manual so that I could select a custom color temperature to retain the warm tone, but you’d encounter this on many cameras.

Overall, the X5 wins on for pro videography uses

• Image-quality winner: Insta360 X5

4. Insta360 X5 vs Insta360 X4 Air: Sound quality

• Auto Wind Reduction modes are present on both models
• Both cameras are compatible with the first-party Insta360 wireless mic

On the subject of audio, no action camera is going to be able to capture movie-theater quality sound straight in-camera. Still, both the X5 and X4 Air made good attempts, and I couldn’t detect much difference between the sound captured with their built-in mics. Both of them feature on-body wind protection which was about as effective as I could hope for in devices such as these. I’d recommend an external mic like the Insta360 Mic Air Insta360 kindly supplied me with for testing, which makes a significant improvement to audio quality

• Sound-quality winner: Draw

Insta360 X5 vs Insta360 X4 Air: Early verdict

Unlike comparisons between cameras from different brands, I knew this one was going to be a tough call. The Insta360 X5 and X4 Air were brought to market within months of each other, so a lot of the general design elements are shared. I’ll start with the obvious differences...

The X5 noticeably outperformed on image quality. Noise characteristics in fading light, color reproduction, and dynamic range all benefited from the PureVideo Mode that is missing on the X4 Air. Equally, high-end users will appreciate the Log mode support on the larger camera for advanced grading work. In 360 mode, the X5 also provides the option to shoot up to 60fps, while the X4 Air is limited to 50fps.

Footage from the X4 Air was by no means bad, however, and it managed to impress me in some fairly tricky lighting conditions. Yes, there is more noise visible and fine detail does suffer from in-camera noise reduction, but for many users the results will be more than acceptable. Considering the price difference, you’d expect the X5 to lead on professional features and performance in the most extreme conditions.

Portability is an interesting proposition in this case. The X4 Air is smaller and more lightweight than the X5, but it’s marginal, at least in practise. Neither camera is going to weigh you down much, and I’m not sure this metric is one I’d use to choose between them. Given the price difference, I feel it’s more specifications than physical dimensions that the X4 Air goes light on. It’s more of an entry-level camera than a smaller version of the X4 or X5, and if you look at it as such, it’s actually far more impressive.

The X4 Air gives you a lot of features for the money, and it represents a fantastic entry point to the Insta360 ecosystem. The X5, meanwhile, is the best choice for outright image quality and professional features. If I had to pick one, I’d save up for the higher-end X5 to use as my main 360 camera, but if you buy the X4 Air as your first foray into this medium, it will do everything you want it to.

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Insta360 X4 Air: two-minute review

It’s been just over six months since the release of the Insta360 X5, which showed up bang on cue to replace the highly praised X4 from 2024. The TechRadar team loved both of these models, placing them amongst the best 360-degree cameras, and you’ll see quite a few of them around the office. Now, in what may feel like Christmas come early for 360 video devotees, Insta360 has released the X4 Air, a smaller and even more portable package designed to fill a gap in the market.

Viewing the X4 Air side-by-side with the X5 – or the X4 for that matter – there are some fairly noticeable differences. Firstly, given the name, it’s no surprise to find that the X4 Air is smaller and more lightweight. If the X4 could fit easily into your coat pocket, the X4 Air can find a home in the pocket of your jeans, making it possible to travel through busy locations and be ready to capture video on the go without being noticed.

Despite the shrunken proportions, the body of the X4 Air retains the solid feel of the X4, and I was confident that the camera would fare better than I would in the city center rainstorm I was caught in during my testing.

The camera is quick and easy to set up and use, even if you have limited experience with videography or 360 capture. The screen is a little fiddly to use, given its small size, but this can be remedied by pairing the X4 Air with your smartphone and using the feature-packed Insta360 app to control the camera remotely. All of the menus are easy to navigate, and I had the camera customized to my requirements in no time.

The dual sensors in the X4 Air are smaller than those in the X5, but larger than the 1/2-inch units on the X4. I was greatly impressed by the dynamic range and noise performance of these chips in high-contrast and low-light settings. Colors were still punchy and shadows clean, despite the X4 Air not having the PureVideo Mode seen on the X5. The 8K footage looked fantastic straight out of the camera, and reframing using the app or Insta360 Studio desktop software was quick and easy.

There might not be enough reasons for X4 users to switch to the X4 Air, but assessed by itself, the camera is a great 360 shooting machine that made me fall back in love with the format. If you’re an avid explorer, or even a pro videographer looking to capture some more exciting angles, the X4 Air is a solid choice.

Insta360 X4 Air specs

Insta360 X4 Air: Price and availability

• Launched worldwide on October 28 2025
• Standard edition costs $399.99 / £359 / AU$639.99
• Starter Bundle available for $439 / £389 / AU$699.99

The Insta360 X4 Air was released on October 28 and is priced $399.99 / £359 / AU$639.99, which is quite a bit below the price of the X4 / X5 at launch ($499.99 / £499 and $549 / £519 respectively). Considering that the X4 Air is technically an update to the X4, this seems a fair price to pay for the larger sensor and access to the replacement lens system.

Beyond the standard bundle above, Insta360 is also offering the X4 Air in a Starter Bundle, which includes the camera, a 114cm Invisible Selfie Stick, Lens Cap, and an extra battery which, given the limited battery life, is definitely a useful backup. This option can be picked up for $439 / £389 / AU$699.99, which is good value to get you up and running.

• Price score: 4.5/5

Insta360 X4 Air: Design

• 45 x 112 x 35mm in size, 5.8oz / 165g in weight
• Waterproof to 49ft / 15m
• 2.5-inch screen, USB-C 3.0 input and microSD card slot

If you’ve used an Insta360 camera before, you’ll fall right into step with the X4 Air. It shares much of the design philosophy with its stablemates, just in a smaller package. Let’s not forget that the Insta360 X4 is by no means a large piece of equipment, so I was initially concerned that by minimizing the body further it would result in some impractical control layout compromises. However, the changes that have been made are sensible ones, and feel more like refinements of the X4’s layout than unappealing but necessary drawbacks.

The front of the X4 Air looks simple, and not unlike a compact smartphone, albeit with an oversized camera lens. The area is dominated by the 2.5-inch touchscreen, and below that a single round button that's assigned to shutter triggering by default. This replaces the dual-control design of the X4 and X5, giving the X4 Air a more streamlined feel.

I actually think I prefer having one large shutter button in the bottom-center of the camera body to the X4’s smaller shutter control at the bottom-left. During testing, I found it easier to find and press the large button without looking, a minor advantage to many prospective users, perhaps, but as a regular street and travel photographer, being able to get a camera up and running immediately as I pull it out of its case is something I’ve come to appreciate greatly.

As you’d hope for in an action camera, the build quality is robust, and capable of withstanding a few knocks and scrapes. Despite the reduced weight, the X4 Air doesn’t feel noticeably flimsier than the X4, another area I was concerned about, although I suppose Insta360 could only change the construction integrity so far before the camera stopped being fit for purpose.

I really like the textured grip pattern adorning the sides of recent Insta360 cameras. It gives the impression of solidity, and makes them feel like true tools made for outdoor use. On paper, I know action cams are often waterproof, but I often still have trust issues with submerging a valuable piece of technology; the X4 Air will go a long way to easing your nerves if you're like me.

Another major upgrade over the standard X4 is the replaceable lens system. New to the latest generation of Insta360 cameras, the ability to easily swap out a cracked or scratched lens for a new one yourself, without having to send the whole camera away for an off-site repair, saves both money and time. It’s a very neat concept that frees you to take a few more risks with your camera, placing it in some more extreme positions for exciting angles, for example, with less concern that you are about to write off your Insta360 completely. It’s a multi-step process that requires some practice to do confidently, but the additional $29.99 (£29.99) cost for a replacement kit is good value for the peace of mind it provides.

The X4 Air weighs exactly the same as an iPhone Air – surely no mistake on Insta360's part from a marketing point of view. At 165g, it’s not going to add a perceptible amount of extra load to your camera bag, and can even be transported in a coat pocket with ease when heading out for a day of exploring. Due to its size, I found myself taking the X4 Air with me everywhere, on the off chance a shooting opportunity presented itself.

• Design score:4.5/5

Insta360 X4 Air: Performance

• Quick focusing
• Intuitive reframing
• Disappointing 88-minute battery life

I was a little slow to embrace 360 video shooting, probably because I was put off by how fiddly I thought processing and editing footage would be (I’ve had some bad experiences creating virtual tours for assignments, which left me traumatized, obviously). Right from the off, working with the Insta360 X4 Air via the mobile app was a breeze, however. Once you go through the usual activation and connection processes, which require Bluetooth for two-way communication between your smartphone and the camera, you can use the phone screen to preview the scene in far more clarity than on the camera monitor.

It’s easy to pair your devices, and preview clips and images stored in the camera roll, while there's also the option to download files to your phone for editing. It is possible to work on files stored on your memory card mounted in the X4 Air, but this can slow down processing considerably. The app interface is fairly user-friendly, although some of the more advanced functions could feel a bit overwhelming to beginners.

In use, the X4 Air is highly responsive, being quick to start up and begin shooting. The audible ‘beep’ as the camera boots up is quite loud out of the box, potentially drawing some unwanted attention in quieter environments such as a museum or church; you can adjust the volume once the camera is on, although even after I'd muted it the tone still sounded on startup, which maybe have been an issue with my sample unit.

The touchscreen is nicely sensitive, and I experienced little to no lag when swiping to reframe 360-degree footage while recording. Admittedly, the preview image isn’t the highest quality you can find on a camera; it looks comparatively low-resolution if you’re accustomed to using a recent phone screen or interchangeable lens camera. Equally, the small size means tapping icons on-screen is a challenge if, like me, you have hands that are on the large side. This is why I’d recommend using your X4 Air paired to a phone instead, where practical.

The stated battery life of 88 minutes isn’t especially impressive, so carrying multiple replacements is a good idea if you’re away from home for any length of time. The charging time is fast though, meaning it’s easy to top up on power during a short coffee break at a cafe using the supplied USB-C cable. In my review sample, I found the USB connection quite loose, and some jiggling was required to ensure stable charging.

I did notice the X4 Air’s body heated up quite rapidly, even when not recording. I liked that the screen switches off automatically when not in use, to save battery, but keeping the camera on and at the ready for shooting means it still gets warm in the hand. It’s nothing extreme, but I do wonder how the camera would perform over extended shooting times in hot environments.

The camera is quick to focus, although again I’d recommend using a connected phone screen for assessing critical sharpness. The on-camera screen is too small for you to be completely confident that you have the subject in focus, although with such a deep depth of field at this focal length and given the smaller sensor, you don’t have to worry too much about obvious back-focusing.

• Performance score: 4.5/5

Insta360 X4 Air: Image quality

• New dual 1/1.8-inch sensors
• Can record 8K 30fps or 6K 50fps video or 72MP photos (360-degree)
• No PureVideo mode for low-light

With a sensor more than 1.6x smaller than the Insta360 X5's, you would expect a tradeoff in absolute image quality. Smaller pixels are the necessary compromise that allows the X4 Air’s diminutive size, and if you buy one, you’re likely doing so because a manageable size and weight are your top priorities. Considering the compact proportions of the camera body, Insta360 has done well to optimize the internal engineering, and the sensor is actually larger than the chip used in the X4 by almost a millimeter.

I jumped in at the deep end when testing the X4 Air, taking it to the low-light conditions of a Christmas-themed market at a local garden center. Despite the limited ambient light, footage was clean and detailed. Straight out of the camera there was very little discernible noise in shadow areas, and the image seemed sharp, free from the excessive mushiness that is the tell-tale sign of harsh in-camera noise reduction. Colors were also vibrant without being unnatural.

I genuinely think the video was superior in this area to that from my older semi-professional APS-C format DSLR cameras, which either made colors flat and dull in high-ISO footage, or wildly overcompensated by making them glow like a Tim Burton movie. This clip was quickly edited in the Insta360 Studio desktop app, which comes supplied with royalty-free music for social media use.

The dynamic range was perfectly acceptable, and while highlights tended to clip quickly in high-contrast lighting, the X4 Air did a good job of capturing shadow detail. I loved that a Log mode is available on the X5: I-Log produces a much flatter profile, allowing for more advanced color grading during post-processing while retaining more shadow and highlight data. This worked well, and although Netflix is unlikely to certify the camera any time soon, it does open up a wealth of cinematic styling opportunities. While this is not available on the X4 Air, there is a flat profile in its place, which isn't quite the same, but serves a similar function. Edited footage still offered more scope for color control than clips with pre-applied contrast and color profiles.

Meanwhile, the Active HDR mode and Adaptive Tone setting are highly effective at preserving highlights. It’s worth mentioning that HDR shooting isn’t possible above 30fps. The frame rate is also limited to 50fps rather than the higher 60p available on the X4.

Shooting outside in good light produced the best results. The automatic white balance system also copes well in direct sunlight, although taking full control over the color temperature is possible through the menu, giving you more consistency between clips. This gives 360 footage a truly immersive and life-like feel, perfect for capturing the essence of a location while traveling.

• Image quality score: 4.5/5

Insta360 X4 Air: testing scorecard

Should I buy the Insta360 X4 Air?

Buy it if...

You value portability above all else
There may not be much of a reason to switch from another recent Insta360 camera model, but if you regularly travel and want to be discreet in how you shoot, the X4 Air is a truly pocket-friendly video camera.

You need 8K video
Arguably, 8K is overkill for many users, but it does open up cropping and reframing possibilities. Getting 8K capability in such a portable package is great for high-end videography purposes on the go.

You're new to 360 video
The reduced price point compared to the X4 and X5 means the X4 Air represents an affordable entry point into the Insta360 system. You get many of the same great features, but with less investment, making it a good choice to test the water and see if this type of videography is your thing.

Don't buy it if...

You just bought an Insta360 X5
....unless you want both! While I wouldn't necessarily say the X4 Air is worth changing to if you already own an X5, which is the higher-end model, you might still consider owning both if you're a 360 fanatic and want a smaller backup body.

You want maximum image quality
While the image quality is impressive, the X5 has the larger sensor and benefits from PureVideo mode for low-light and night shooting. For professional use, you might value absolute image integrity over diminutive size.

Also consider

How I tested the Insta360 X5

• I tested a full production model running release firmware over several days
• I use the camera both mounted on an invisible selfie stick and handheld
• I recorded videos in varying lighting conditions, both indoors and outside

Having reviewed action cameras on and off for several years, I went into this test with high expectations. I spent roughly a week using the Insta360 X4 Air alongside an X5 for the purposes of a comparison. I shot footage on both cameras under the same conditions to evaluate how each camera handled noise and tonal range, then examined both out-of-camera footage and color-graded I-Log clips to evaluate image quality.

• First reviewed October 2025

• The GoPro Max 2 gets an official launch date
• It's arriving along with another camera on September 23
• We've seen plenty of leaks for the new model

It's been a long wait for the GoPro Max 2, because the original GoPro Max 360-degree camera launched all the way back in 2019. Now we know that the device will be launched on Tuesday, September 23, along with another new GoPro camera.

Head to the official GoPro social media channels to see the announcement of a launch date, and a teaser of what's coming. One of the cameras we can see in the teaser matches up with official images of the GoPro Max 2 that have already been released.

It's not so clear what the second camera in the teaser image is. According to New Camera (via Notebookcheck), it's the GoPro Lit Hero, a budget 4K action camera – so it's not, as might have been expected, the GoPro Hero 14 Black.

It seems the new model is a successor to the GoPro Hero that launched last September, with the addition of some bright LED lights on the front of the device. You can see these are featured in the teaser clip that GoPro has posted.

Specs appeal

While we count down the hours until Tuesday, well-known tipster Igor Bogdanov has been posting a ton of spec and image leaks for the GoPro Max 2, adding to information that's previously made its way out into the world.

We're apparently getting an 8K video resolution with the new GoPro Max 2, with 10-bit color and slow motion modes available. Video stabilization features are also mentioned, along with a 29-megapixel camera sensor.

The GoPro Max 2 is said to have a total of six built-in microphones for 360-degree stereo sound, with waterproofing up to five meters without any additional housing. There's going to be support for Bluetooth microphones for audio recording too.

Add in all the images as well, and this upcoming GoPro camera has now been comprehensively leaked. Everything gets underway at 6am PT / 9am ET / 2pm BST / 11pm AEST, and we will of course bring you all the news as it breaks.

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• What we want to see from the GoPro Max 2
• GoPro unveils a much cheaper 360-degree camera

After years owning the 360 camera space with some of the best 360 cameras, most recently the X5, Insta360 finally has some proper competition with the arrival of the DJI Osmo 360. They could soon be joined by the GoPro Max 2 too (if GoPro does indeed bring its long-awaited 360 camera to market).

DJI has a slightly different take on the format to Insta360, delivering what it says are several industry firsts, most notably twin 1-inch sensors. The immediate question, therefore, is which model is best? Can the Osmo 360 dethrone our current favorite, the X5?

You can learn more about DJI's first 360 camera in our in-depth Osmo 360 review. We also have a hands-on versus feature on the way, for which we're pitting the Osmo 360 against the Insta360 X5 in several scenarios to see which model comes out on top.

For now, let's look at how the Osmo 360 and X5 compare based on the specs and features in seven key areas.

1. Sensors

• DJI Osmo 360: twin 1/1.1-inch square sensors with 2.4μm pixel size
• Insta360 X5: twin 1/1.28-inch sensors with 1.2μm pixel size

The headline feature of the DJI Osmo 360 is its twin sensors, specifically made for 360 capture. They're square format, meaning less wasted pixels than on a traditional rectangular sensor like the one the X5 uses, given that 360 cameras only use the central portion of the sensor.

The sensors are effectively 1-inch in size, which means they're the largest of their kind, and each pixel on the Osmo 360's sensors is twice the size of those in the X5. Still, before the Osmo 360, the X5's sensors were the largest, being bigger than the X4's, so it's hardly a slam dunk for DJI.

The advantage of larger pixels is, in theory, cleaner image quality, especially in low light, and a wider dynamic range, which is helpful in bright sunny conditions. Both cameras can shoot HDR video though, so expect plenty of detail in highlights and shadows with either camera.

2. Image quality

• DJI Osmo 360: 8K up to 50fps, 10-bit, 120MP stills
• Insta360 X5: 8K up to 30fps, 8-bit, 72MP stills

Both cameras shoot 8K video at their best; however the Osmo 360 offers frame rates up to 50fps, while the X5 tops out at 30fps. Stop the resolution down to 5.7K and frame rates even out, while at 4K both cameras can shoot 4x slow-motion video.

In addition to the benefits of its larger sensors we can expect richer color from the Osmo 360, because it can record 10-bit color depth, whereas the X5 is limited to 8-bit color depth. It also offers DJI's D-Log flat color profile – a popular profile for serious filmmakers wanting the most amount of tonal detail, who don't mind putting in time in the editing suite.

For 360 photography, the Osmo 360 shoots stills up to 120MP, while the X5 can record up to 72MP. Clearly, DJI's stills pack more detail.

The specs favor DJI, then, but we're currently conducting extensive tests with both cameras to see which comes out on top in real-world use.

3. Battery

• DJI Osmo 360: 1,910mAh battery
• Insta360 X5: 2,400mAh battery (an 'Ultra' 2,800mAh battery is also available)

At 1,910mAh, the Osmo 360's battery has a lower capacity than the X5's. However, DJI says its 360 camera is the first of its kind able to shoot 8K 30fps video continuously for up to 100 minutes.

Insta360 delivered an X5 firmware update, however, and one of the upgrades is improved battery life – it's Endurance Mode is now available for 8K recording, and increases battery life to “just under two hours” of continuous recording.

There are often plenty of caveats to actual battery performance, and often the reality is less than what the makers claim, especially for action cameras.

That said, Insta360 also launched a new 'Ultra' battery for the X5 alongside that firmware update, which costs $49.99 / £44.99 (Australia pricing TBC). With its 2,800mAh capacity, battery life is improved by another 17%.

Each brand claims better battery life than the other – our upcoming real-world tests will reveal which is best.

4. Storage

• DJI Osmo 360: micro SD plus 105GB internal
• Insta360 X5: micro SD

Both cameras record to micro SD card, and are compatible with large-capacity cards for hours of 8K recording. However, the Osmo 360 also features 105GB of built-in storage, and two convenient ways to record media is a win for DJI.

5. Accessories

• DJI Osmo 360: DJI Mic 2 / Mic Mini wireless mic, numerous mounts
• Insta360 X5: Mic Air compatible, plentiful mounts and selfie stick options

Both Insta360 and DJI have had their skin in the action camera game for years, and each already has a wide range of accessories and mounts that can be used with their 360 cameras in various scenarios, whether that's for biking, in-car action, or for selfies.

Until recently, DJI had the upper hand for audio recording, with its class-leading wireless mics. The Osmo 360 is directly compatible with the Mic 2 and Mic Mini. Yes, you can mix and match brands for wireless audio, but direct compatibility is all the more convenient.

However, Insta360 recently launched its own wireless mic, the Mic Air. While not quite the mic that DJI's Mic 2 is, Insta360's mic, like DJI's, can be paired wirelessly and through Bluetooth within its respective eco system.

Insta360 is yet to launch a mic with the features of DJI's Mic 2, though, so DJI still has the edge in this respect.

6. Price and availability

• DJI Osmo 360: from £409.99 / AU$759; not yet available in the US
• Insta360 X5: from $549.99 / £519.99 / AU$929.99

So, the Omso 360 seemingly has the advantage on all of the above – on specs alone at least. However, at launch there's good news and bad news regarding the Osmo 360. The bad news is that it isn’t directly available at launch in the US*. The good news is that, where you can buy it, it costs less than the X5, starting at £409.99 in the UK and AU$759 in Australia. That price is for the Standard Combo, while the Adventure Combo costs £539.99 / AU$989.

That price is super-impressive when you consider the twin 1-inch sensors (and built-in storage) on board. As for the US, I asked a DJI Spokesperson about Osmo 360 pricing and availability and they said: "The Osmo 360 will launch globally on Thursday, July 31, at 8AM ET, but it will not be available for sale immediately in the U.S. market through official DJI channels. We currently do not have an estimated timeline for when it will be available, but we will keep you posted when we do."

It's a similar story with DJI's most recent drone, the Mavic 4 Pro, which hasn't launched in the US. The picture for DJI in the US looks bleak.

*Update – Pre-orders are now open for the Adventure Combo for $699 at B&H Photo in the US.

7. Lenses and design

• DJI Osmo 360: 184g, 2-inch screen, fixed lenses, lens protectors available
• Insta360 X5: 200g, 2.5-inch screen, replaceable lenses

DJI's Osmo 360 design is squarer than the X5's, with the latter being taller and squeezing in a larger 2.5-inch touchscreen. At 184g, the Osmo 360 is about 10% lighter than the X5, but no one is really going to notice the difference in weight, even if it is mightly impressive how light DJI has made the Osmo 360 considering the features on board.

Both cameras come supplied with a rubber lens guard to keep the lenses safe when not in use, plus clear lens protectors for the times that the lenses are at risk of damage during use, such as when shooting extreme sports.

Those clear lens protectors can compromise image quality, though, introducing flare and softness. For best quality, you're better shooting without them, even if that means the bulbous lenses are at risk.

The X5 has a feature unique to 360 cameras – replaceable lenses. You can buy spare lenses and, should you damage the original ones, swap them out for new ones. The DJI Osmo 360, like every other 360 camera, doesn't offer this.

DJI Osmo 360 vs Insta360 X5: key specs

DJI Osmo 360 vs Insta360 X5: Early verdict

The specs favor the DJI Osmo 360 over the Insta360 X5 in multiple areas; its sensors are larger, it can shoot 10-bit video and higher resolution stills, plus it's part of DJI's eco system which includes the best wireless mics available.

There are aspects of the Insta360 X5's design and performance that win out of the Osmo 360, not least of which are its replaceable lenses and stellar battery life.

On specs alone, the Osmo 360 has the overall edge, plus it costs less in regions where it is available. But what matters most is the actual user experience and, honestly, 360 cameras that can't be measured by a bunch of numbers, rather what they do in real scenarios.

We're currently conducting an in-depth comparison tests between the two models, and the early results are much closer than we expected. If you're looking to buy a 360 camera, I highly recommend waiting for those results, coming soon.

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• Antigravity is incubated by Insta360
• A world-first 360 drone with 'immersive flight' is set for August launch
• It'll shoot 8K video and weigh less than 250g

Insta360 and DJI are entering each other's worlds this week, with Insta360 today unveiling Antigravity – a 360-degree drone years in the making – and DJI set to launch its first 360 camera on July 31. Pass me the popcorn.

Antigravity's philosophy is simple: 360 immersive flight with the world's first 360 drone. And the project has a leg up given that it is incubated by Insta360 – the world's leading 360 camera maker.

Details are thin on the ground; we know the upcoming drone will introduce 'several world-firsts in drone design', that it is set for an August launch; that it'll shoot 8K video; and that it will weigh less than 250g, which makes it accessible to beginner and expert pilots alike.

If the first 360 drone is effectively a flying Insta360 X5, then we're in for a treat, especially with the dynamic videos that could be created using 360-degree footage, in addition to the new kind of flying experience.

Antigravity's two-page press release is filled with lofty promises. "Incubated by Insta360 in collaboration with third parties, Antigravity develops powerful 360 drones that are immersive, creator-ready, and easy for anyone to fly – whether capturing family moments, weekend adventures, or creative projects," the press release reads.

"Its mission is to make drone flight more inclusive, expressive, and fun. By combining 360 capture with intuitive control systems, Antigravity is pioneering a new category of aerial exploration and storytelling."

Leaked prototype

Antigravity's press release centers on its brand vision, with little by way of product info. However, we've seemingly caught a first glimpse of the upcoming drone in a leaked video shared by Insta360 tipster @Quadro_News on X (formerly Twitter).

We don't yet know the name of the new drone that is "set to revolutionize the industry", but the 360 drone prototype appears to have twin cameras for complete 360-degree coverage – one that faces directly up, the other directly down.

There's also twin sensors on the front of the drone, which are presumably for object sensing – that's a handy flight safety feature.

We don't yet know if or how the upcoming 360 drone will shoot 360 footage without the propellors in the shot, nor how the drone will be controlled beyond what Antigravity calls "intuitive control systems" – that could mean any or all of a mobile app, remote controller or headset.

A propellor-less view will be crucial to the whole experience – and looking at the tall design that we've seen in prototypes, it could allow for that. Still, all will be revealed in the coming weeks, as the new Antigravity drone will be unveiled in August.

It's certainly an altogether different kind of drone to what you'll find in DJI's portfolio, and potentially one of the biggest shake ups in the drone market for years. I reckon combining 360 camera and drone worlds into a single product makes total sense, if carried out effectively.

Antigravity wants to "own" the 360 drone space. If its first product is a success, I'd expect a ticking clock on that ownership – especially with DJI's track record and how it's about to enter the 360 camera space.

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• A GoPro Max 2 prototype is up for sale
• The early version is missing a screen
• A full launch for the camera is expected soon

The wait for a successor to the GoPro Max has been a long one – the 360-degree camera launched all the way back in 2019 – but a new leak gives us more evidence that a successor is finally on the verge of being introduced.

As spotted by Notebookcheck and a thread on Reddit, a prototype for the GoPro Max 2 has now appeared on a Chinese marketplace. One of the main giveaways that it's a prototype is that it doesn't have a screen, which the actual model will do.

We do get a look at the Folding Fingers mounting system that's present on other recent GoPro cameras, and at some of the inside components: the size of the heatsinks suggests this is a camera that might run quite hot.

The leak also gives us a good look at the size and the position of one of the front cameras. We'll have to wait and see how the image and video quality holds up against the Insta360 X5 and the upcoming DJI Osmo 360.

A long time coming

Considering this is clearly a prototype of the GoPro Max 2, we're somewhat limited in terms of what we can take away about the final version of the upcoming camera, but it's still an interesting leak that reveals some of what Google has been working on.

Our hopes were raised with an official GoPro Max 2 trailer at the start of the month, but we haven't heard anything from GoPro since about this camera. Presumably, a full unveiling can't be too far away now.

We did get some tweaks to the original GoPro Max back in February, but not the full refresh we've been waiting for. GoPro has gone on record as saying there have been production delays over the years, pushing back the GoPro Max 2 launch further and further.

Hopefully there's not too much longer to wait now –and we'd expect the 360-degree camera to go straight into our list of the best GoPros. As soon as GoPro says anything else officially, we will of course let you know.

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• DJI's first 360 camera will be unveiled on July 31 at 8AM EDT (1PM UK, 10PM AEST)
• Teaser shows a square imaging sensor, which is an optimized 1-inch type
• YouTuber accidentally posts in-depth review, which has since been removed

DJI is set to enter another action camera frontier with its first 360 camera, the Osmo 360.

Following a string of leaks, which most recently revealed the Osmo 360's packaging with a number of specs that includes 8K video and 120MP stills, plus Australia pricing, we now have official word of when to expect the Osmo 360 – the launch is set for July 31 at 8AM EDT (1PM UK, 10PM AEST).

It's set to take on the Insta360 X5 as one of the best 360 cameras. For example, the previously leaked packaging details a larger sensor for "1-inch 360 imaging... when capturing 360 content, Osmo 360's CMOS sensor features an imaging area equivalent to that of a 1-inch CMOS sensor."

Exactly what the above meant was somewhat of a mystery until the teaser dropped, as it reveals the sensor is a square aspect, presumably optimized for 360-degree image capture (see teaser, below).

We could pore over previous leaks once more to build a picture of the Osmo 360 ahead of next week's launch; however, we don't need to. A YouTuber accidentally posted a 15 minute review, which includes comparisons against the Insta360 X5.

The video has since been removed, but not before eagle-eyed DJI tipsters have captured and shared it, as you can see below.

DJI and Insta360 set for another round in the ring

DJI appears hellbent on conquering the action camera market, offering stiff competition to GoPro. Meanwhile, Insta360 has long surpassed GoPro – the action camera OG – as the 360 camera market leader.

And even with the GoPro Max 2 officially en route, it looks like Insta360 now has staunch competition elsewhere, from DJI.

The leaked 15-minute video has been removed, but not before being spotted and shared by @gelon1983 on X (formerly Twitter) and then serial DJI leaker @QuadroNews.

In the video, we can see the Osmo 360 has a GoPro Max-like design which is a little squarer than the stick-like design of the X5, while it weighs just 6.5oz / 184g – around 10% lighter than the Insta360 X5.

It looks like there will be a bundle which includes additional batteries and a three-battery charging case, while USB-C seemingly supports fast 30W charging.

The optimized square sensor can record 8K video with 10-bit color depth and DJI's flat D-Log color profile, whereas the X5 is limited to 8-bit color depth. The combination of larger sensor and greater color depth should result in a more natural looking image.

There are several side-by-side sample videos shot with the Osmo 360 and X5 in the video, demonstrating the difference in picture quality.

We also get a run-through of some of the Osmo 360's features, including 128GB internal storage, a single lens mode, plus DJI's new 360 editing suite.

One area where the X5 has the upper hand, especially for gung-ho users, is that its lenses can be fully replaced in the event of damage, whereas the Osmo 360's – like any other 360 camera – are fixed.

For more details, feel free to check out the leaked video. We can now expect a flood of Osmo 360 content on July 31, at which point the 360 camera market will really get interesting.

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• A new packaging leak for the DJI Osmo 360 has revealed its potential specs
• The leak suggests it will shoot 8K/30p video and offer 10-bit color depth
• It could also cost slightly less than the Insta360 X5

This year's battle of the 360 cameras is heating up nicely – and a new leak for one of the main contenders, the DJI Osmo 360, has just given us a solid glimpse of how it might compare to the class-leading Insta360 X5.

The packaging leak, first shared by the reliable Quadro_News on X (below), shows what appears to be the final retail packaging for DJI's debut 360 camera. And that box handily includes a list of Osmo 360 specs, which appear (on paper, at least) to be slightly better than the current top dog in our guide to the best 360 cameras.

Despite the size of this leak, one of the most important specs – sensor size – remains unclear. The back of the box says the Osmo 360 is capable of "1-inch 360 imaging." But further down, the small print says "when capturing 360 content, Osmo 360's CMOS sensor features an imaging area equivalent to that of a 1-inch CMOS sensor."

Precisely what this means isn't yet clear. Previous leaks have suggested that the Osmo 360 could have square sensors, which might explain DJI's "equivalent to" language for the imaging area. Either way, we'll likely have to wait for the official launch to get confirmation.

The rest of the leaked specs compare well to the Insta360 X5 (see table below). The Osmo 360 will seemingly be capable of 10-bit color depth – if so, it could offer greater editing flexibility than its Insta360 rival.

There's also the promise of 120MP stills and a claimed battery life that looks strong when you consider it's quoted for 8K/30p video shooting.

How about price? As @JasperEllens noted separately on X, the leaked Osmo 360 box was seen in an Australian store, so its pricing (starting at AU$759 for the standard bundle) is for that region. Exactly how that will convert for the US and UK remains to be seen, but in theory it compares well to the Insta360 X5.

The X5 starts at $550 / £520 for its standard bundle, which doesn't include accessories like an extra battery, charging case, selfie stick, or lens guards that all come in the Essentials bundle. If we use the Osmo 360's Australian pricing as a guide, it should start at somewhere around the $500 / £500 mark.

How do the Osmo 360 and X5 compare?

There's obviously a lot more to 360 cameras than just their specs. Software is particularly important to the experience, as editing is essential when you need to turn 360-degree videos into traditional 'flat' ones.

But based on the leaked specs and pricing, DJI certainly seems to be entering the 360 space competitively. That isn't surprising – Insta360 has dominated 360 cameras for years ,and its latest fifth-generation flagship is excellent, so the Osmo 360 will need to be a strong start for DJI.

If it does edge out the Insta360 X5 in some areas (10-bit recording, stronger low-light performance) for a slightly lower price tag, that'll be good news for anyone who's looking to buy a 360 camera. And potentially bad news for GoPro, whose Max 2 is now imminent.

Insta360 certainly seems to be on the defensive, recently launching a big, battery-boosting firmware update for its flagship camera, alongside some new accessories and a new BMW Motorrad Edition of the X5 for motorcyclists. Let the 360 camera battle commence.

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• Akaso 360 price starts at $199.99 / £199.99 / AUS329.99 – a record low for 360 cameras
• It was launched worldwide on July 7, 2025
• Prime Day deals for rival models crash the party

Insta360 may have cornered the 360 camera market in recent times, but it's under threat from a rumored DJI Osmo 360 and now a surprise entry to the market, the new Akaso 360.

Akaso is a proven alternative to leading action camera brands such as GoPro, Insta360 and DJI, with an impressive lineup of low-cost models. Now it has entered the 360 camera space with the Akaso 360, and it's super impressive for the money – check out our in-depth Akaso 360 review.

The all-new 360 camera shoots crisp 5.7K video with total 360 degree coverage through its twin lenses, complete with the software smarts we've come to expect from the best 360 cameras, such as seamless stitching and selfie stick removal.

Perhaps what's most impressive, though, is the price point at which the Akaso 360 enters the market – it's so much cheaper than any other current model.

Lowering the bar for 360 camera prices, but is the Akaso 360 the best value?

The launch price for the Akaso 360 starts at just $199.99 / £199.99 / AUS329.99 for the Standard Combo, or $249.99 / £249.99 / AU$399.99 for the Creator Combo, which adds two additional batteries, a battery charging case and a 120cm selfie stick. It's available at Amazon US and Amazon UK, or directly from the Akaso store.

For price, no other 360 camera comes close – the Insta360 X5 is well over double, while the GoPro Max (2025) is around $150 / £150 / AU$200 more (and that's following a new price point from the original Max model from 2019, which was a similar price to the X5).

But just because the Akaso 360 is the cheapest model available, should you get it?

The comparison between the Akaso 360 and Insta360 X5 is hardly fair – the latter is the best 360 camera on the market, and it beats Akaso's model in almost every respect, including its 8K video and low light image quality.

The X5's twin lenses can be swapped out in case of damage too, with cheap replacement lenses available. In the long run, this feature alone could make it better value than any other 360 camera. After all, break a lens while recording with any other model, which is a likely eventuality for filming outdoor pursuits, and the whole camera needs a pricey repair or replacing. Not so with the X5.

For features and performance, however, I think the older Insta360 X3 is the closest Akaso 360 rival.

It doesn't help Akaso's cause that it unveiled its first 360 camera during Prime Day week, at a time when there are huge price cuts for the X3. You can get the Insta360 X3 for $249.99 at Amazon US (original price $449.99), or £259.99 at Amazon UK (original price £459.99) or at the Insta360 store for the same price, with other bundles available.

The X3 is still a little pricier, then, but I think it has the edge over the Akaso 360 in two ways. First, it's waterproof up to 33ft / 10m, while Akaso's model is not, and second, the X3 also shoots HDR video.

If your wallet stretches that little bit further, the X3 deal is superb value. Otherwise, the cameras are pretty similar, and if the two points above don't put you off Akaso's new model, then a full-price Akaso 360 is still excellent value. It's a super impressive 360 camera for the money.

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• Insta360 X5 vs Insta360 X4: which 8K 360-degree action camera is best for you?
• Best 360 camera 2025: our top rated choices for capturing every angle

• The A1 is the third Ricoh Theta model, after the Z1 and X versions
• It promises the best build quality of the three, and 8K timelapse recording
• Available for preorder in June 2025, price TBC

Ricoh says it has completed its 360 camera lineup after announcing the new Ricoh360 Theta A1, which is the premium pick of three models, following the Z1 and X iterations.

While it can record 360-degree images, it's best not to think of the Theta A1 as a direct Insta360 X5 / GoPro Max rival, but more as a decent alternative to some of the best timelapse cameras, primarily designed for professional use cases, but with complete 360-degree coverage.

For one, the Theta A1 is waterproof, rustproof, and is housed in an extreme temperature-resistant casing. It also has a long-lasting battery life and is equipped with a range of video codecs designed for long-term recording, minimizing file sizes and power consumption.

Its image-making skills include 60MP stills, 8K video at a maximum 10fps and down to 2fps with data rates as low as 8Mbps, plus 2K and 4K live streaming.

Unlike other Theta models, the Theta A1 doesn't have a touch display, which makes it trickier to handle for on-the-move recording. Coupled with its modest frame rates, it's firmly planted in the professional field; essentially, the Theta A1 is designed to carry out long-term recording on location, including timelapses on construction sites.

In the product announcement, Ricoh has outlined three professional environment use cases for the Theta A1's 360-degree skills: promotion and communication, progress monitoring and remote inspection, and documentation and auditing.

In plain speak, these applications cover everything from visual tours, interactive floorplans, regular capture of construction sites or industrial facilities for plan compliance checks, plus insurance, quality control, and maintenance with complete 360-degree coverage.

Like other Theta models, the A1 is compatible with the Ricoh360 app, which offers functions such as remote shooting, cloud storage, plus footage edits and sharing.

What's not clear yet is the Theta A1's price or availability. Ricoh touts pre-orders for later this month, with pricing to follow. For context, the Theta Z1 costs $1,150 / £1,150, while the Theta X for consumers is $600 / £750. Expect the Theta A1 to come in north of the Z1.

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• More DJI Osmo 360 images have leaked online
• The 360-degree camera could launch in July
• It's said to be similar to the Insta360 X5 in specs

Rumors around a 360-degree camera from DJI have been swirling since October, and now we have some fresh leaks that supposedly give us a look at the DJI Osmo 360 – as well as hinting at some of the specifications it'll bring with it.

Tipster @GAtamer (via Notebookcheck) has posted some pictures of the DJI Osmo 360, showing off the compact camera, the two lenses on the front and back of the device, the small integrated touchscreen, and what looks like an accessory mount.

According to the same source, the specs of the DJI Osmo 360 are going to be "almost the same as the X5", referring of course to the Insta360 X5 that launched in April – another 360-degree camera that the DJI Osmo 360 will be challenging head on.

Have a read through our Insta360 X5 review and you'll see it's a very, very good 8K camera indeed – one we awarded five stars to. The two cameras have 1.28-inch sensors inside, bigger than those in the X4, so it seems we can expect something similar from DJI.

Coming soon?

The @GAtamer post was actually a follow-up to another image leaked by @Quadro_News, which seems to show the DJI Osmo 360 in some kind of packaging. Again, we can see one of the camera lenses and the shape of the upcoming gadget.

That's just about all we can glean from these latest DJI Osmo 360 leaks, and we don't get any information here about a launch date or potential pricing. It seems likely that the camera will be appearing sooner rather than later, however.

Just a few days ago we got word that the DJI Osmo 360 would be launching in July 2025, so there's not that much longer to wait. We have already seen leaked images of the camera, which match the pictures that have just shown up.

We've also heard that a super-small DJI Osmo Nano could be launched alongside the DJI Osmo 360. If these new devices are as good as the cameras in the current range, including the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro, then there's a lot to look forward to.

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• We see the inside and the outside of the camera
• The launch of the device is in doubt

The Insta360 X5 has only just arrived on the scene, but it seems we might get another flagship 360-degree camera very soon: dozens of images of the DJI Osmo 360 have now leaked, together with its instruction manual.

These leaks come from @Quadro_News and @hakasushi (via Notebookcheck), and give us a very detailed look at both the outside and the inside of the camera. The pictures seem to be from Federal Communications Commission (FCC) testing in the US.

We first heard about the DJI Osmo 360 arriving at the FCC back in October, so this compact 360-degree camera has been a long time coming. We then saw further leaked images appear online in February, apparently showing the camera with the DJI Osmo Action 6.

The most recent leak around this camera came in March, when we got another unofficial shot of the DJI Osmo 360, together with the news that it could well have a 1/1.3-inch image sensor for capturing high-resolution photos and videos.

Will we ever see it?

We don't actually learn too much from the latest leak, though the instruction manual does mention a 1,950 mAh battery. There's also confirmation that the camera will have an on-board touchscreen, and work with the DJI Mimo app.

However, tipster @JasperEllens suggests we may not actually see the DJI Osmo 360 after all. He points to a lack of retailer leaks and ongoing uncertainty over tariffs in the US as reasons why DJI might have put this particular product on pause.

It would be a shame if DJI wasn't able to give the likes of the Insta360 X5 and the GoPro Max some extra competition, but times are tough for hardware companies right now – we know that the GoPro Max 2 has also seen several issues and delays.

Everything considered, DJI would be forgiven for concentrating on making the best drones in the business, rather than any new action cameras. However, these leaks show that the DJI Osmo 360 is a long way down its development road, so we'll have to wait and see.

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Like your action camera series upgraded regularly? Insta360 shows how it’s done with the Insta360 X5.

GoPro took almost six years to bring us its second GoPro Max (and that was just a tweak of the original). Yet just a year on from the Insta360 X4, the new Insta360 X5 arguably introduces even more dramatic generational changes than the GoPro upgrade.

These include larger sensors, uprated water resistance, a new mount style and AI-assisted low-light video capture. As night shooting is the biggest weak spot of all action cameras, let alone 360-degree ones, this Insta360 X5 feature could be a big deal for many prospective buyers.

Is the Insta360 X5 really worth upgrading for current Insta360 X4 owners, though? And is shopping around for a deal on the older model still a sensible idea? Let’s compare the two generations, area-by-area, to get to the bottom of those questions and more.

1. Price and availability

• Insta360 X5 launched at $549.99 / £519.99 / AU$929.99
• Insta360 X4 costs $499.99 / £499.99 / AU$879.99, but is often available for less

The Insta360 X5 was announced in April 2025, exactly a year after the April 2024 launch of the Insta360 X4.

There was not a huge leap in cost between the generations, but there was an increase. The Insta360 X4 launched at $499.99 / £499.99 / AU$879.99, the X5 at $549.99 / £519.99 / AU$929.99.

While it’s a smaller jump than the $100 rise between the Insta350 X3 and X4, we can’t ignore that GoPro’s Max is “just” $349. That is a less dynamic and impressive camera, at least spec-wise, than the Insta360 X5. But it sure does pile on the pressure for Insta360 to deliver.

The good news is that if you shop around, the year-old X4 can be had for more like $425 / £425. Without that discount, the X5 is an easy recommendation, but with it, the choice is harder.

2. Design

• Insta360 X5: 49ft / 15m waterproofing, magnetic mount, fully replaceable lenses
• Insta360 X4: 33ft / 10m waterproofing, screw-in mount, screw-on lens guards

The Insta360 X5 does not represent a radical redesign of the blueprint that gave us the Insta360 X4. These are roughly stick-shaped cameras that suit life at the end of the selfie stick-style mount.

You can hold them almost like an old-school phone to operate, and they have a couple of interface buttons below the 2.5-inch touchscreen.

The differences in the weight and dimensions of the X5 and X4 are so fractional you be hard-pressed to notice them even while having both cameras in hand; 46 × 124.5 × 38.2mm are the Insta360 X5’s measurements, 46 x 123.6 x 37.6mm for the X4. And the X4 is just 3g heavier at 203g, according to the official specs. There’s really nothing in it.

Once impactful change: where you can use screw-on lens guards to help avoid scratching the outer lens glass of the Insta360 X4, the outer glass element itself is replaceable in the Insta360 X5. You can use lens guards in the new camera too, so it’s effectively another level of insurance for poor tech choices and general clumsiness.

And replacement lenses are not horribly expensive either, at $29.99 / £29.99 a pop (still more than double the cost of a single lens guard, though).

The mounting system on the bottom of the Insta360 X5 is new too. It adopts the popular magnetic mount style, secured with additional clips, rather than the more traditional screw mount of the Insta360 X4.

Water resistance improves as well, from 33ft / 10m to 49ft / 15m, although Insta360’s diving case is still recommended if you’ll take the Insta360 X5 any real distance under the surface.

3. Sensor and Image Quality

• Insta360 X5; twin 1/1.28-inch sensors. PureVideo introduced, triple processor chips
• Insta360 X4; smaller 1/2-inch sensors, dual processors

The Insta360 X5 has much larger camera sensors than the X4. Each side gets a, so far unspecified, 1/1.28-inch sensor, far larger than the 1/2-inch sensors used in the Insta360 X4.

Despite Insta360 using a larger still 1-inch sensor Insta360 One RS (no longer available), this shift in sensor size between X series models should still be enough to ensure significantly higher native light sensitivity and lower noise. And that’s despite a slight downshift in lens aperture, from f/1.9 to f/2.0 across these two generations.

As is so often the case these days, though, the actual results you’ll see will be as much guided by software as hardware and optics.

The Insta360 X5 introduces a PureVideo mode, new to this series. Insta360 first coined this term in 2024 with the Ace Pro 2. It refers to a mode that uses AI smarts to improve low-light image quality.

We’re promised dramatic improvements in noise and dynamic range, at up to 30 frames per second. And Insta360 suggests using it instead of the Active HDR mode when shooting at night. The Insta360 X5 brings this tech to 360-degree video, at up to 8K resolution.

Sensor resolution has not changed, though. The Insta360 X4 and X5 have a maximum 360-degree photo resolution of 72MP, telling us the 8K 360 video is actually simmered down from 11K’s worth of image data.

Insta360 is keen to highlight how these X5 improvements are only possible thanks to the camera’s Triple AI Chip processor array. But the 140% boost to power is actually the same number used last year surrounding the fanfare about the Insta360 X4 and its 5nm AI processor. With no tester benchmarks to analyse these claims, let’s just assume Insta360 likes the number 140.

4. Shooting Modes

• Insta360 X5: Active HDR now in 5.7K up to 60fps, new InstaFrame captures flat and 360 degree video simultaneously, no I-log color profile
• Insta360 X4: Active HDR now in 5.7K up to 30fps, I-log color profile

If you’re hoping for some huge jump in the ceiling in terms of the resolution or frame rate with the Insta360 X5, you may be disappointed.

The top mode is still 8K resolution, at 30 frames per second using the 360-degree view. Max frame rate jumps to 60fps at 5.7K, just like the previous generation.

At 4K resolution the peak frame rate jumps from 100fps in the Insta360 X4 to 120fps in the X5, but we wouldn’t count that as a top reason to upgrade.

4K at 60 frames per second is the top mode in either camera when shooting in “single camera” view, which is more like that of a standard action camera. And Active HDR is available in both cameras, although the top mode is 5.7K 30p in the older camera, up to 5.7K 60p in the Insta360 X5.

As much as anything else, these somewhat minor gains are indicative of quite how aggressive the Insta360 X4 was when it arrived in 2024.

There is a significant usability upgrade, though, in InstaFrame. This captures a “flat” video and a 360-degree one simultaneously, so you no longer need to choose between having a clip you can share easily, and one that provides more scope when you get to the edit.

The Insta360 X5 also gets the I-log mode that was in the X3 but not, curiously enough, in the X4. However, many found the older camera’s “flat” color mode made a reasonable substitute in practical terms.

5. Battery life

• Insta360 X5: 2,400mAh battery, 87 minutes for 8K, 185 minute record time in 'Endurance' mode, 35 minute charge time
• Insta360 X4: 2,290mAh battery, 75 minutes for 8K, 135 minutes for 5.7K just like the X5, 55 minute charge time

Insta360 has slightly increased the capacity of the X-series’s battery in the Insta360 X5. It has 2,400mAh instead os 2,290mAh in the last generation.

That’s just under a five per cent increase — nothing major. But the actual increase in runtimes is far greater than that in certain modes.

At 8K 30p you can expect the Insta360 X5 to run for 87 minutes, compared to 75 in the Insta360 X4. That’s a 17 per cent increase, according to Insta360’s lab-style testing.

However, the quoted time for shooting at 5.7K (30fps) is actually exactly the same between generations, a solid 135 minutes.

You may also see 185 minutes quoted for the new model while researching, taking it above that catchy three-hour mark. This is for the “endurance” mode, at 24fps, 5.7K resolution.

Charging speeds are far better in the newer generation too. Insta360 says you can reach 100% in 35 minutes, compared to 55 minutes in the Insta360 X4. That’s going to come in handy if you end up out in the field, waiting for a battery to fill up from a battery pack.

Early verdict

The Insta360 X5 proves annual upgrades don’t have to be piecemeal iterative affairs. While the camera looks a lot like the Insta360 X4 and doesn’t have any new higher resolutions to boast about, it does bring an array of upgrades that coalesce into an impressive whole.

It’s a tougher camera you can use with less care, if that’s how you roll. The Insta360 X5’s footage will hold up a better at night too, as long as you use the right mode.

And larger sensor size means visual noise should be at least a little less apparent in the Insta360 X5, when you move between brighter and less bright environments. It’s something we see all the time in action cameras when shooting in and out of tree cover, even on a bright day.

Is the Insta360 X5 a must-upgrade for X4 owners? We don’t think so, at least for most folks. There’s plenty of life left in the older model, which after all only came out in April 2024 and is now regularly discounted.

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• The X5 is an update of the X4 with a bigger sensor, better build quality and longer battery life
• We're still waiting for DJI's rumored 360 camera, plus the GoPro Max 2
• The Insta360 X5 standard version costs $549.99 / £519.99 / AU$929.99

Our favorite 360-degree camera by a long shot just got even better with a decent, if iterative update.

The new Insta360 X5 comes a year after the X4, armed with improved low-light image quality and refined video modes, plus very welcome design tweaks including fully replaceable lenses – check out our X5 first impressions.

The X5 steals a march on DJI's rumored 360-degree camera plus the yet-to-be announced GoPro Max 2, the release of which has been stalled by GoPro for years.

It might not be a huge upgrade, but the X5 is better than the X4 where it matters most, and further extends Insta360's dominance in the 360 camera space – and it only costs a fraction more than the X4 did at launch.

The Insta360 X5 Standard Version costs $549.99 / £519.99 / AU$929.99, while the Essentials Bundle costs $659.99 / £609.99 / AU$1,109.99 and includes an extra battery, fast charge case, 114cm invisible selfie stick, standard lens guards, lens cap and carry case.

Let's take a look at what's new in 2025's model.

The X5's updates will go a long way improving real-world use

Top of the X5 upgrades list is the all-new and larger twin 1/1.28-inch sensors and triple 'AI' chips (versus the twin chips in the X4), which should deliver much better low-light video quality, and we're all for those improvements.

The X4's smaller sensor and 8K resolution are pushed to their limits in every scenario other than optimum brightness, but the X5, complete with its PureVideo mode, appears to be an altogether more versatile 360 camera.

Active HDR video in 5.7K resolution is now available at up to 60fps, whereas previously the resolution and frame rates were more limited – and that's something we noticed in our X4 review.

Build quality has also been improved, with tougher, fully replaceable lenses that are sure to be a hit with demanding users. 360 cameras have bulbous twin lenses that are at risk of damage – but here they can be swapped out in the event of any mishaps.

We also get a magnetic mount on the camera's underside a la GoPro, which makes moving the camera between mounts all the easier and quicker.

Waterproofing has been upped to 49ft / 15m, plus there's a higher-capacity battery for longer record times – now up to three hours for 5.7K, an approximately 40% increase from the X4. The X5's battery can also be charged to 80% via USB-C in just 20 minutes.

A built-in wind guard with wind-reduction mode improves in-camera audio quality, while a new wireless mic accessory is designed to easily pair with the X5, and makes it a viable option as a vlogging camera – in fact, the X5 could be your one-stop action and vlogging camera.

Crucially, it looks like the editing process for 360-degree videos has been refined, with new features and tools in Insta360's app. These include the new InstaFrame mode, which simultaneously records a flat video with auto frame (including AI subject-detection skills) to keep your subject at the center of the action for video output, with no editing needed, plus a 360-degree version of the video which can be kept as back up for further edits, should you wish. Stats from the likes of Apple Watch and Garmin devices can be overlaid, too.

And those sizable video files can be automatically backed up to the cloud using the Insta360+ Cloud Service, with Basic 200GB, Pro 1TB and Premium 2TYB subscription options – prices are on the Insta360 website.

We think Insta360 has delivered some sensible updates over the X4 that should make the X5 the more versatile camera to shoot, edit and upload with. We'll follow up our hands-on first impressions with an in-depth review shortly – spoiler alert if it wasn't already obvious – the X5 is the new 360-degree camera to beat.

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• A leaked image seemingly shows the DJI Osmo 360 alongside the Insta360 X4
• The lens looks bigger than the X4's, suggesting a different sensor size
• Its design has more in common with the GoPro Max, whose successor is delayed

DJI looks set to muscle in on the 360-degree camera space, if a string of rumors and a recently-leaked image are anything to go by.

Tireless DJI-leaker @hakasushi shared said image of the rumored DJI Osmo 360 on X (formerly Twitter), in which it sits alongside the Insta360 X4 – which is the best 360 degree camera currently available – and DJI's Osmo Action 5 Pro action camera (see below).

Based on the image, @hakasushi makes one observation about the rumored Osmo 360 – its lens diameter appears to be wider than the X4's. This likely means that the Osmo 360 has a larger image sensor.

Based on track records, this comes as no surprise. DJI's Osmo Action 5 Pro prioritizes sensor size over resolution, with the aim of better low light image quality than GoPro Hero 13 Black and Insta360 Ace Pro 2 rivals, among other benefits.

Size matters

Wishful thinking would point to the rumored Osmo 360's sensor being a much larger 1-inch size – the same type found in the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 vlogging camera.

However, we wouldn't be surprised if DJI utilizes the same 1/1.3-inch sensor as the Action 5 Pro in its potential 360-degree camera – that's still bigger than the 1/2-inch type used by the Insta360 X4, even if it's a fair bit smaller than a 1-inch sensor.

The leaked image, if authentic, also confirms that DJI has identified the square-like form factor similar to the GoPro Max as preferable over the stick-like profile of the Insta360 X4 – and that's bad news for GoPro whose Max 2 has been hit by numerous delays and is yet to be released.

Each design is better suited to different users. The square-like design is probably better for extreme sports as it's less likely to get in the way, while the stick-like factor is arguably better for vlogging.

DJI is on a roll, and launching its first 360-degree camera would be a welcome shake up in a space dominated by Insta360 – we expect it to be a different prospect to the X4.

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• GoPro refreshes the Max 360-degree camera with modest hardware updates
• New 360 modes added to GoPro's Quik app, including object tracking
• A big price drop lowers the list price to $349.99 / £349.99 / AU$599.95

GoPro has announced a 360-degree camera, but it's not the Max 2 that we've been waiting years for. No, it's a refreshed Max with a couple of hardware tweaks – and a very welcome price drop.

The new camera has an upgraded mounting system for compatibility with all 1/4-20 tripod mounts, plus GoPro's latest Enduro battery for improved battery life – and that all that's new. However, the 'new' Max comes with a sizable price drop, with a new list price of $349.99 / £349.99 / AU$599.95.

It has the same image-making skills as the original Max, including 5.6K video from its twin lenses with complete 360-degree coverage. However, GoPro has improved its Quik app for the Max with new 360-degree features, including a neat-looking AI-powered object tracking that keeps your selected subject in the center of the action.

We haven't tried the new modes in the app yet, but 360-degree video edits can be a time sink, so any smart features that simplify the process are welcome.

Refreshing a five-year-old camera with minor hardware tweaks, amid the backdrop of a much delayed successor, feels like a puzzling decision on the part of GoPro. So what are we to make of the Max relaunch?

Will we ever see the GoPro Max 2?

The biggest news here is the price drop compared to the original Max – a drop of around a third. GoPro's hand was forced here, because its dated Max camera previously cost the same as the superior-in-every-way Insta360 X4 – the best 360-degree camera available with powerful features including 8K video.

We're keen to give the improved Quik app a spin – in addition to smart object tracking, it also offers keyframing to set precise views, CameraFX for cinematic camera movements, smooth auto transitions between clips, edits to single clips, and a frame-grab tool for exporting stills from your video clips. Combined, these new skills could provide an Insta360-beating editing experience.

However, refreshing the Max only serves to heighten the question – where is the Max 2? It's been delayed time and again, and we're wondering if it will ever materialize.

I'm still hoping that we'll see GoPro's all-new and improved 360-degree camera in 2025 – and at this point it will need to be a big upgrade, with 8K video and more in order to effectively rival Insta360's X4. The leading action camera maker typically saves its most exciting launches for September, so that could be a realistic scenario – we'll be sure to share any Max 2 updates as and when we get them.

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• GoPro execs announced the news in an earnings call
• We were hoping to see it before the end of 2024

We've been waiting a long time for the GoPro Max 2, and it seems we're going to have to wait some more: in the company's latest quarterly earnings call, CEO Nicholas Woodman announced the 360-degree camera would be arriving in 2025.

GoPro originally told us the Max 2 device was "in the works" way back in September 2023, and then in May 2024 we got the estimate of a Q4 2024 launch window – which pointed towards an appearance in October, November, or December.

Now the GoPro Max 2 launch date has slipped again, though we haven't got much information over what's happened. Last time the "development process" was blamed, so presumably it's taking much longer to get this camera finished than GoPro first estimated.

Let's not forget that the first GoPro Max launched in October 2019 – and our GoPro Max review will tell you we were impressed with what it had to offer – and that means it's now been a wait of over five years for a successor.

What to expect

To put this delay in perspective, since the GoPro Max first showed up, Insta360 has launched four iterations of its own 360-degree camera. The most recent is this year's Insta360 X4, and as you can see from our Insta360 X4 review, it's a great camera.

Being able to match Insta360 is going to be a serious challenge for GoPro. We've not heard too much about the GoPro Max 2 so far – apart from its launch date being pushed back and back – but it will apparently come with an upgraded cooling solution.

There should also be some upgrades in terms of video capture quality: the GoPro Max can shoot video at resolutions up to 5.6k. The price should be interesting too, as the first model launched at a cost of $499.99 / £479.99 / AU$799.95.

We're holding on to older comments from Nicholas Woodman that the 360-degree camera is going to be "worth the wait". Perhaps when it eventually does appear, it'll be fantastic enough to make us forget the delays we had along the way.

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The great DJI vs GoPro battle looks likely to enter a new chapter soon, with regulatory filings recently revealing that a new DJI Osmo 360 is en route. And now some new mockups of the 360 camera suggest it could be a major headache for the delayed GoPro Max 2.

While the discovery of a DJI Osmo 360 filing from the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) gave us our first hint of the camera's existence, the fan-made renders (based on schematics) show why it could be a powerful GoPro and Insta360 alternative.

For example, on X (formerly Twitter) @hakasushi, who has previously made precise size comparisons of unreleased DJI drones, created the images below based on leaked schematics, showing how similar the DJI Osmo 360 could look to the still-unreleased GoPro Max 2. A size comparison also shows how it might compare to the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro and Insta360 X4.

That size difference suggests the DJI Osmo 360 could have more in common with GoPro's Max cameras, than the more elongated approach of the five-star X4. It also means DJI's 360 camera could go for a landscape screen below its two lenses, with its microphone, power button and battery compartment on the side.

It's early days for Osmo 360 rumors, but the image below was also given the nod of approval by the biggest DJI leaker, @Quadro_News, on X (formerly Twitter). DJI also loves nothing better than squaring up directly to GoPro, as it did with its Osmo action cameras – so expect to see the latest round in that tussle kick off soon.

With FCC filings typically arriving a few weeks before an official launch, DJI's first 360 camera could be with us before Christmas.

Where is the GoPro Max 2?

We were already starting to fear for the GoPro Max 2 before these DJI Osmo 360 leaks. The original GoPro Max landed way back in October 2019, but then in September 2023 GoPro confirmed in an earnings call that a successor was finally "in the works". Fast forward another year, and there's still no sign of it.

Since then, Insta360 has become the undoubted king of 360-degree action cams. The benefit of models like the Insta360 X4 is that you can film in all directions at once, without the headache of framing your shot, and then 'direct' your video in software afterwards.

This also opens up all kinds of creative effects, making the best 360 cameras some of the most fun you can shoot with. The question is whether DJI can nail the software side of 360 cameras – which includes stitching and complex editing – in its first attempt with the Osmo 360.

History would suggest that's unlikely, which means Insta360 will be confident of retaining its title, given it's been making these action cameras for several years. But DJI isn't afraid of iterating quickly and having another major player in the space will be good news for consumers – particularly if GoPro continues to stand on the sidelines.

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• Is the GoPro Enduro battery an essential upgrade for your Hero action cam?

Not content with tussling with GoPro in the action camera space, DJI is reportedly preparing to launch its first-ever 360-degree camera to take on Insta360.

@JasperEllens on X (formerly Twitter) leaked a US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) filing that seemingly certifies the DJI Osmo 360 (see below), which would almost certainly be a handheld 360-degree camera to rival the five star-rated Insta360 X4.

Given that GoPro has repeatedly delayed the launch of the Max 2, the successor to the now five-year-old GoPro Max, we need another X4 rival besides the decent Kandao QooCam Ultra 3, and DJI could surprisingly steal a march on GoPro here.

Given its track record, DJI disrupting the Insta360-dominated market would be an exciting move. It's Osmo Action 5 Pro is the latest in a line of action cams that are compelling GoPro alternatives, while the Osmo Pocket 3 instantly became our favorite vlogging camera. If DJI was to work the same magic with a 360-degree camera, it could be onto another winner.

No details of the camera have been leaked yet, but based on DJI's previous action-cam and pocket camera products, what could we expect from its rumored Osmo 360?

Will DJI get it right first time?

If we take the action camera space as an example, the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro, GoPro Hero 13 Black and Insta360 Ace Pro (with a rumored Ace Pro 2 successor imminent) are jostling for top spot, each with distinct features to set them apart.

Compared to its rivals, DJI's Osmo Action 5 Pro has the lowest-resolution video at just 4K, but a bigger sensor which means better low-light performance. Its screens are brighter too, and its build quality is superb, including class-leading waterproofing and battery life.

While DJI may be making more progress with its flagship series of action cameras than GoPro, 360-degree cameras are a whole other proposition, and getting it right first time, and producing a serious rival to Insta360's cameras, will take some doing. DJI usually eschews high-resolution video in favor of better low-light performance, but that won't cut it in this space.

360-degree cameras utilize twin lenses with a wide field of view, and extra resolution gives greater flexibility when editing your 360-degree videos to focus in on key action areas. DJI will need 5.3K video at the very least to compete with the 8K-wielding Insta360 X4 and Kandao QooCam Ultra 3 360-degree cameras.

However, even those cameras will recommend you drop resolution down to 5.3K when shooting in low light to preserve image quality, while their smaller sensors can struggle to retain detail in highlights and shadows even in good light unless you select the HDR mode.

DJI could double down on 5.3K video quality by equipping its rumored Osmo 360 with a larger image sensor than its rivals. It could also use its considerable image stabilization know-how to deliver a rival-beating system.

To succeed in this space, DJI will also need to develop a user-friendly app for editing 360-degree videos and photos. Pain-free editing is paramount for such a camera.

I'm not surprised that DJI looks set to enter the 360-degree camera space – it's a logical next step for the innovative brand, and I hope the Osmo 360 (and new app) can deliver the goods at the first time of asking.

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• Kandao QooCam 3 Ultra review: the best 8K 360-degree camera?
• Best 360 camera 2024: the finest choices for capturing every angle

Kandao has fully unveiled the QooCam 3 Ultra, its latest and greatest 360-degree camera, which it hopes will dethrone the Insta360 X4 – and it looks like it could do just that, on paper at least. 

The QooCam 3 Ultra is stacked with industry-leading features, including 8K HDR video with 10-bit color depth, plus twin f/1.6 aperture lenses and larger dual 1/1.7-inch sensors, which combined should produce a cleaner image than the X4, especially in low light. 

Users can shoot 360-degree video in 8K resolution up to 30fps, 5.7K video up to 60fps, and 4K video up to 120fps, and easily switch to a single-lens mode, meaning the QooCam 3 Ultra essentially doubles up as a regular action camera, especially given that it's waterproof up to 33ft / 10m. 

Video capture utilizes Kandao's SuperSteady electronic image stabilization to smooth out on-the-go clips, plus four directional mics for spatial audio capture. Got a Bluetooth mic like the DJI Mic 2 for better audio? There's support for that, though we'll need to confirm exactly which Bluetooth mics are compatible. 

The quality of 360-degree videos and photos benefits from 'dynamic stitching' in the QooCam Studio editor, plus there's an invisible selfie stick feature that's pretty much the norm for this type of total-coverage video camera. 

There's a wealth of shooting modes too, including long exposure, timelapse and interval shooting, while built-in GPS can tag location data to your content.

The QooCam 3 Ultra isn't just for video. Photographers can capture 360-degree photos up to 96MP in both 14-bit DNG RAW format and JPEG.

Build-wise, the QooCam 3 Ultra is chunkier than the X4, and with its 2,280mAh battery inserted it weighs 11.8oz / 336g. It sports a 2.19-inch touchscreen and comes with 128GB of built-in memory, plus it supports additional microSD storage – and you'll probably need to pick up a memory card given the large 8K video file sizes. 

Price-wise, we're told that Kandao's QooCam 3 Ultra will cost $599 / £579 / AU$699 – that's a bit pricier in the US and UK markets than our current favorite 360-degree camera, the Insta360 X4.

All hail the new 360-degree camera king?

We highly rated 2019's QooCam 3, although we felt the editing experience needed refining. Since then, Insta360 has upped the bar with the X4, while GoPro is working on its long-awaited Max 2, meaning the competition is heating up. 

Four years after the QooCam 3, Kandao says its latest flagship is refined in every regard, including the editing process. Kandao is also at pains to point out the quality of the QooCam 3 Ultra's 8K capture, saying it's the best around. The sample footage supplied to us by Kandao, some of which we've compiled above, is certainly impressive.

We're currently conducting an in-depth review of the QooCam 3 Ultra to see if these impressive specs translate into real-world performance, so if you're in the market for a pocketable 360-degree camera do look out for that, to find out if the QooCam 3 Ultra is indeed an X4-killer. 

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During GoPro's quarterly earning call shared on May 8, CEO Nick Woodman delivered good and bad news for GoPro fans: he confirmed that all-new products are in the works for 2026, but the Max 2 is hit with delays. 

The public announcement makes for a potentially uncomfortable year for GoPro, especially with the new Insta360 X4 upping the 360-degree camera game. In our Insta360 X4 review, we gave the 8K equipped shooter a five-star rating and it now looks like it'll remain at the top of the 360-degree pile 2024 until at least Q4 2024 – the latest estimate for when the Max 2 will launch.

Speaking about GoPro's plans for the next three years, which includes expanding the range of products, Nick Woodman said: "Due to the development process taking longer than expected, the launch of our new entry-level camera will push from Q2 to Q3 in 2024, and our new 360 camera will push to late Q4."

It'll mark five years between the GoPro Max – which was launched in October 2019 – and the GoPro Max 2, a period in which Insta360 has launched four iterations of its own flagship 360-degree that culminated in 2024's X4 model. 

If you're keen on a new 360-degree camera now, the X4 is the one to get. We'll have to wait a little longer than expected to see if the Max 2, due for launch at the end of 2024, can challenge Insta360's flagship. 

The announcement also piqued our curiosity with talk of all-new GoPro cameras and the action camera specialist's widest ever product portfolio, tipped for 2026. 

Brighter days ahead for GoPro?

In his quarterly earning address – you can read the full transcript of on The Motley Fool – GoPro's CEO Nick Woodman said: "In 2026, we expect to have in market the broadest, most differentiated line-up in our history. We're developing a full spectrum of specialized, diversified products to serve consumers' capture needs in more convenient and enjoyable ways than ever before at price points ranging from entry level through professional.

"Rather than compete in a digital imaging market with me-too products, we intend to grow GoPro with fun and exciting alternative capture solutions that enable consumers and professionals in unique value-added ways. We see a long runway of totally new specialized products that can merge with our software solutions to establish GoPro as the world's leading alternative capture company."

Those new products look likely to feature in tech-enabled motorcycle helmets since GoPro acquired Forcite Helmet Systems in February 2024, and which is part of a $6 billion motor cycle helmet industry. Tipped for a 2025 release, we could be seeing GoPro camera tech in motor cycle helmets.

Letting our imaginations run further loose to speculate what other new GoPro action cameras could hit the shelves later in 2026, we naturally look at what GoPro doesn't have in its action camera line-up already – an Insta360 Go 3 rival for instance. However, if true to his word, GoPro will not be going down the "me-too" products route, so we'll have to wait to see what's in store. 

There's a make or break feeling about the next two years for GoPro, and we're rooting for it to deliver exciting new products to market and become the force it was once again. 

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Insta360 X4: two-minute review

The best handheld 360-degree camera just got better with the latest iteration, the Insta360 X4. It builds on the X3, most notably bumping up the video resolution from 5.7K to 8K – and when we're talking about such a wide field of view from twin ultra-wide lenses, resolution matters.

8K video up to 30fps trickles down improved capabilities at lower resolutions, too, with 5.7K video up to 60fps and 4K video up to 100fps. The single-lens mode also gets a bump in frame rate, with 4K up to 60fps.

Video can be shot in a standard mode with choice of standard, vivid and flat color profiles, plus there's a HDR video option for increasing perceivable detail in bright highlights and dark shadows – something the X4's small 1/2-inch and high-resolution sensor otherwise struggles with.

With its improved capabilities, the X4 feels like a more versatile pocket camera. Like the X3 it offers neat video modes you don't get on the best camera phones, like a 360-degree field of view that enables a shoot-first reframe later way of shooting, and creative effects such as Bullet Time and hyperlapse, but it now also feels like a highly capable action camera, BTS and vlogging tool, and – particularly for motorcyclists – dash cam.

Video modes are supported by superb image stabilization that smooths out the shakes in your action footage, plus 360-degree horizon lock, which levels your edited footage when the camera rolls with the action.

Insta360's clever ‘invisible’ selfie stick allows you to film everything around you from a third-person view, whether it's mounted to bike handlebars or in the hand, while the extra-long selfie stick can give you a drone-like perspective. This is also a fully waterproof camera up to 33ft / 10m, so most experiences are covered.

We get a lovely new 2.5-inch touchscreen with tough Corning Gorilla Glass and simple interface, while a beefier battery has been squeezed into a body that’s roughly the same size as before, albeit around 10% heavier, and gives a huge bump in battery life.

The most capable rivals, such as the GoPro Max, Kandao Qoocam 8K, and Ricoh Theta X, are either dated or pricier – or both – and until they’re replaced, the X4 is 2024's unrivaled 360-degree camera, and could be the one extra pocket camera in addition to your smartphone that you choose for getaways, gatherings, and events. It handles superbly, and captures the kind of video footage you simply can't yet shoot with a phone.

Insta360 X4: price and availability

• Launched worldwide in April 2024
• Costs $499/ £499 / AU$879

The Insta360 X4 is available worldwide now following its April 16 announcement, and costs $499.99 / £499.99 / AU$879.99 – that's roughly a 10% markup from 2022's X3. Given inflation and the new camera’s improved capabilities, that price increase seems fair, although the X3 has fallen in price since its release, and will likely drop in price further following the X4’s launch, and is a compelling cost-effective alternative.

There are a host of optional accessories in the Insta360 ecosystem, including various selfie sticks (one of which is designed to enable you to capture ‘bullet time’ effects), mounts, and an underwater housing. In the box you get the X4's new detachable lens protectors (replacement protectors are available separately), while you'll need a microSD memory card to store photos and videos. The X4 is also available in various bundles that come with different accessories – visit the Insta360 store to see all the accessories on offer.

• Price score 4.5/5

Insta360 X4: design

• Slightly bigger and heavier than the X3
• Similar X3 design includes large touchscreen and 1/4-inch threaded port for a selfie stick
• Waterproof up to 10M
• New screw-on lens guards

The stick-like design of the Insta360 X4 is very similar to the X3, and that's a good thing, because the X3 is one of the most user-friendly 360-degree cameras available. Its grippy exterior is easy to hold, or you can attach one of Insta360's invisible selfie sticks using the threaded mount point on the bottom.

Twin bulbous ultra-wide lenses cover the entire 360-degree field of view – these are the part of the X4 that really needs protecting, and to that end the camera comes with ultra-light clear lens protectors that can be screwed on and off, whereas the X3 uses non-reusable sticky lens guards.

Build quality is superb: the camera is fully waterproof up to 33ft / 10m, with all ports rubber sealed (though I haven’t had the opportunity to test the waterproofing out properly, yet). You’ll know if the seals aren't fully locked, thereby compromising waterproofing, as the orange coloring inside the catch will be visible – a neat bit of design.

You get a USB-C port for connecting and charging the camera, plus a hefty 2,290mAh battery that can record for up to 135 minutes – that's a huge increase from the 81 minutes provided by the X3's 1,800mAh battery.

The X4 records onto microSD memory cards, and naturally, because of the waterproof design, the card slot is inside the camera's battery compartment rather than directly accessible outside, as is the case on the less-robust and action-averse DJI Osmo Pocket 3.

There's a slight increase in size from the X3, though it’s barely noticeable, plus a 10% increase in weight – the X4 weighs in at 7.16oz / 203g, and feels reassuringly solid for its diminutive size.

There are four direct physical controls around the camera: robust power and quick menu buttons on the side, plus shooting mode and record buttons under the generous 2.29-inch touchscreen. Most of the action happens through the responsive touchscreen.

By default the customizable options displayed on screen for quick access include the shooting mode and resolution settings, the lens, plus the lens perspective. At a push you can switch between viewing 360-degree footage from the front or rear lens (in the single-lens mode, this option selects the lens you're recording with).

The user interface is simple and quick to navigate, though a little keen to go idle – I've needed to reopen the menu many times to confirm video mode selections.

Physical controls are hard to access when the camera is out of reach on a selfie stick, and that's where voice and gesture controls come in. You can command the X4 to start and stop video recording – which proved super-handy when I had it mounted three meters above my head on the extra-large selfie stick, while a peace sign gesture will trigger the timer for taking photos. The mixture of audible and visual commands covers you in most scenarios, including underwater.

There's more to dig into by swiping the touchscreen. Flicking from right to left reveals exposure settings including color profile, while swiping left to right opens up your photo and video gallery for playback, and during playback you can swipe the screen to move around the 360-degree perspective.

Swiping down from the top of the screen opens up the main menu, through which you can activate and deactivate a number of controls such as gesture and voice commands, and connect to compatible Bluetooth-equipped devices such as headphones and remotes. You can also adjust the screen brightness here.

Explanatory on-screen text appears for most of the operational controls and shooting modes, which is super-handy when you’re getting started, especially for getting the most out of the shooting modes.

The X4 is designed to be used in vertical orientation, and as such your handling and viewing experience is largely in the 9:16 ratio and hardly sizeable. You can record in horizontal format using the single-lens mode, and there’s also a multi-aspect FreeMe mode where you can choose the aspect ratio, but overall the user experience is geared to content creators and mobile users familiar with the vertical format.

During recording, the X4 can get warm quickly, especially in the power-hungry high-resolution video modes. If you're using the X4 for shooting action, your movement will go some way to cooling the camera down, but if you're recording while largely stationary or in particularly warm environments, things can get moderately warm.

Overall, the X4 handles superbly for users of all experience levels and abilities.

• Design score: 5/5

Insta360 X4: features and performance

• Huge 135-minutes of recording time 
• Especially capable image stabilization
• Intuitive mobile editor
• Decent range of shooting modes

As already noted, the X4 has significantly better battery life than the X3, a camera that was already one of the best of its kind. The new 2290mAh battery betters the X3's 1800mAh unit, providing up to 135 minutes of recording time – that's 67% longer than the X3's 81 minutes.

To conserve power, the camera automatically switches off the display after recording for a certain time, which is necessary especially when you're recording videos over a long period, such as timelapses. Ultimately, I've been able to use the X4 heavily over the course of a day and still have juice left, and you can also charge the camera on the go via USB-C.

Aside from a sluggish startup time – you have to wait 2-3 seconds after pressing the ‘on’ button before you’re able to record – the X4 is a responsive camera in every way. Voice and gesture commands are fairly reliable, with the tally lamp confirming you're in business.

Insta360's FlowState image stabilization is superb. The ultra-wide perspective of the lenses provides plenty of latitude for applying stabilization, and also for the 360-degree Horizon Lock, which can level your footage when the camera is moving at all angles.

There are also plenty of shooting modes to have fun with – and having fun is one of the huge draws of the X4. I shot plenty of Bullet Time effect videos with the help of accessories supplied by Insta360 for this review – you attach the selfie stick to a mini tripod that doubles up as a handle, and then swing the selfie stick with attached X4 over your head – the technique takes a little practice.

Bullet Time shoots at 120fps, which marries up with the fast speed at which you swing the camera above your head to produce a 360 rotation with you at the center of the action.

Hyperlapse is designed for speed ramps when you're on the move – a fun effect for showing off new places – while timelapse is designed more for when the camera is stationary, such as capturing the transition from golden hour to nighttime.

Single-lens modes include the MeMode, with subject tracking that automatically keeps you (selfies) or your subject at the center of the action. FreeFrame is super-handy, too, providing an adjustable aspect ratio, so you can decide if you'd rather have a horizontal or vertical aspect for social later on.

There are too many modes to fully unpack here – suffice to say the Insta360 X4 combines a plethora of fun shooting modes with a simple user experience.

• Features and performance: 5/5

Insta360 X4: image and video quality

• 8K 360-degree video up to 30fps, with flat color profile and both H.265 and H.264 codecs
• Single-lens 4K video up 60fps 
• Slow-motion 100fps now in 4K

The Insta360 X4's headline feature is its 8K video recording, a bump from the 5.7K resolution of the X3. Given the particularly wide field of view of the twin lenses, the extra resolution gives you much greater flexibility when editing your 360-degree videos to focus in on key action areas, and detail looks nice and crisp from what I've seen so far.

There's also a greater range of frame rates, and you can record slow-motion video up to 100fps in 4K (the X3 recorded 100fps in 3K), and the single-lens mode can now shoot in 60fps where the X3 was limited to 30fps. This increased flexibility enables you to mix up the feel of your shots, and also makes you feel like the X4 is a competent standard action camera, especially with modes like FreeFrame, which enables you to mix up aspect ratios. 

The X4 isn't just a video camera, and can record 360-degree photos up to 72MP and 18MP HDR photos. Switch to the single-lens mode and photo resolution is 36MP, and there's an easy to set gesture-controlled timer for any photo mode, giving you time to get ready for your close-up.

The high-resolution 1/2-inch sensor is pushed to the limit indoors, and indeed in bright sunlight, especially when you consider that the X4 records everything around you, from bright sky to deep shadows.

As such, it's worth thinking through which video modes you'll use for scenes. HDR video captures more detail in bright highlights and deep shadows, with the downside being footage that looks visibly processed rather than natural. A decent alternative for those who don't mind editing is shooting in the Flat color profile, and then grading the footage afterwards. 

Like with most small-sensor cameras, the X4's image quality is crispest in bright light, while the camera and Insta360's software is working hard to reduce noise in low light.

First of all, you also get an on-screen recommendation to lower video resolution from 8K to 5.7K if the camera detects you're shooting in low light. Low light images look fairly clean after being processed through Insta360's mobile and desktop editors, albeit a little smudgy as a result of noise reduction.

However, I don't think the X4 is any worse than the X3 in low light, nor indeed any other 360-degree cameras. And given the added versatility gained with more pixels and higher-resolution video, the choice to go 8K is a resounding success.

• Image and video quality: 4.5/5

Insta360 X4: Sample videos

Insta360 X4: Test scorecard

Should I buy the Insta360 X4?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Insta360 X4: Also consider

If our Insta360 X4 review has inspired you to think about other options, here are two more cameras to consider…

How we tested the Insta360 X4

• Sporadic use over a few weeks
• Bike rides and vlogging in various lighting conditions
• Bullet time, hyperlapse, and regular video recording using a variety of color profiles and resolutions

We had our hands on the Insta360 X4 for several weeks before its official launch. Sadly we've not used it for the kind of adrenaline-filled extreme sports that you see in the launch videos, although it's still had extensive real-world testing. 

We've run it in 8K capture for long periods to test its power and stamina, used it for vlogging on the move, and for moderate sports such as road biking and running. We've tried out the various video resolutions, color profiles and HDR video capture to see how the small 8K sensor copes in bright and low light. 

The various video modes have been played with too, including bullet time and hyperlapse, plus we've taken still photos in the various options. 

First reviewed April 2024

Insta360 has unveiled the new 8K video-equipped Insta360 X4, a fourth-generation model that's set to replace its predecessor, the Insta360 X3, at the top of our list of the best 360 cameras thanks to a raft of significant upgrades.

2024 is set to be a bumper year for 360-degree cameras, a market which in the last few years has been dominated by Insta360. In addition to the Insta360 X4, GoPro has a GoPro Max successor in the works, and Canon is poised to launch an intriguing 360-degree / 180-degree 3D Powershot concept, which we saw in the flesh recently – and the gauntlet has been well and truly laid down by the Insta360 X4.

It's the company's first 360-degree camera that's capable of shooting 8K video (though not the first camera of its kind – we already have the excellent, if dated and less convenient, Kandao Qoocam 8K), and it arrives packing some welcome updates, notably much improved battery life.

Read our Insta360 X4 review.

Utilizing two 180-degree (approx) cameras, the X4 is capable of a shoot first, edit later workflow, because you know that everything around you will be in the frame, and thanks to the new camera's increased resolution, in greater detail. The single-lens mode can now shoot 4K video up to 60fps, too. 

Throw in the X4's waterproof credentials up to 33ft / 10m (without the need for an additional housing), Insta360's excellent FlowState image stabilization, and 360-degree horizon lock, and the X4 effectively doubles up as one of the best action cameras. It could be the only additional camera that vloggers and adrenaline junkies need in addition to one of the best camera phones. 

It also has useful credentials for motorcyclists, who can position the camera freely with one of Insta360's mounts, control the camera hands-free from a compatible Bluetooth headset, and capture their journeys automatically with Auto Dash mode and loop recording, effectively turning the X4 into one of the best dash cams for motorcyclists.

The Insta360 X4 is available worldwide now, and costs $499.99 / £499.99 / AU$879.99 – that's a small, and entirely reasonable given the upgrades, mark-up of around 10% over 2022's X3. A host of optional accessories are available too, including various selfies sticks (one of which is designed to enable you to capture  'bullet-time' effects) and mounts. Check out the Insta360 store for all the available X4 kits.

We've already had our hands on Insta360's latest camera, and you can discover more in our hands-on X4 review. What we'll also say here is that there's more to this fourth-gen model than its headline 8K video resolution, invisible selfie stick effect, and smart video modes.

There's significantly better battery life, with up to 135 minutes of record time, plus smart-gesture and voice-control functions. You also get removable screw-on lens guards to protect those bulbous and easily damaged twin lenses, where the X3 used non-removable sticky lens guards.

Crucially, Insta360 also offers one of the more intuitive mobile editing platforms for your 360-degree footage. In addition to Quick Edit where users can reframe their footage manually to focus on the action, there's an AI Edit mode that recommends how to frame the footage based on the action with just a tap. 

In short, the X4 is about as user-friendly as 360 cameras come, and will sit pretty in our best 360-degree action cams guide for the foreseeable future. That increased resolution in particular reaps greater versatility, and GoPro is going to have to come up with something pretty special with the upcoming Max 2. 

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The best 360 cameras can help you capture unique shots that aren't possible with any other camera, including your phone – and now some Insta360 leaks (plus an official launch event) suggest we could soon get an 8K successor to our favorite all-rounder, the Insta360 One X3.

Insta360 has announced on its blog that it's hosting an event in New York City on April 16 at 9am EDT (2pm BST / 11pm AEST). The event's tagline is 'The 8K era is here – our next camera' and you can watch the trailer below.

The announcement doesn't give much else away, but some new leaks from the ever-reliable @Quadro_News on X (formerly Twitter) have filled in some of the gaps. The images suggest an Insta360 One X4 is en route with a slightly bigger design and some useful spec upgrades.

According to @Quadro_News, the One X4 will be able to shoot 360-degree video in 8K/30p or 5.7K/60p resolution. That would be a very helpful upgrade on the One X3, which topped out at 5.7K/30p, as it'd give you more resolution for punching into the best part of the frame.

If the leaks are accurate, the One X4 could also get a larger capacity battery (2,290mAh, up from 1,800mAh) and retain the handy tripod mount on the base of the camera. One other detail from the leaks is that the One X4 should have a similar price to its predecessor, apparently around $530 (around £425 / AU$820). 

The One X3 landed for $449/ £459 / AU$799 in September 2022, but is now available for much less than that. If the Insta360 One X3 continues to be available for those lower prices, the question for many could be whether the current model offers better value than its successor – that's something we'll be able to answer for sure if the One X4 does indeed launch in a few days.

Should you wait for the GoPro Max 2?

Insta360 has dominated 360 cameras for the past few years, but last year GoPro said that a GoPro Max 2 (or at least a successor to the Max) was finally "in the works". It's been tumbleweed since then, so we still don't know when GoPro's rival to the One X3 (or rumored X4) might land.

Insta360 has been steadily refining its 360-degree cameras and software since the original One landed back in 2017, so that could give it an advantage. The One X4's rumored 8K resolution would also be a big bonus, as one of the disadvantages of cropping into the footage of 360 cameras is a drop in image quality.

But while Insta360's Studio desktop and mobile software has improved a lot and now serves up a pretty user-friendly experience, editing your 360-degree videos can still be time-consuming. The benefit of 360 cameras is capturing everything around you so you don't miss the action, but the flipside is having to then direct the camera in post-production towards those highlights.

It yet isn't clear if GoPro has made any strides towards fixing this for the Max 2 (if that's what it'll be called), but some GoPro patent applications in 2022 described a processor that has a "context component" that's capable of analyzing a scene and automatically adjust the "viewing window" and final framing of the video accordingly.

Patents applications don't give us any real conclusions, but it'll certainly be interesting to see what 360 camera innovations GoPro can produce given it's been almost five years since the original Max. As it stands, Insta360 remains the king of 360 cameras, and the rumored One X4 is an exciting new option, so we'll definitely be tuning into Insta360's launch on April 16.

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Canon PowerShot is making an unlikely comeback. First, after years of inactivity, Canon surprised us in May (2023) with a new vlogging compact camera – the Powershot V10. Now it looks like the camera giant was just getting started, and is already showing off a fascinating PowerShot V concept. 

The camera in question was on show at Photo Next Show 2023 last week in Japan, pictured in multiple angles by show attendees and shared via Twitter accounts @wistaria_ and Ichiro Uematsu. 

It's exterior is similar to the PowerShot V10, but this time with twin back-to-back lenses, with the rear lens able to fold out to the front thanks to a hinged design. We’ve seen a design like this before in the Insta360 Evo – an all-in-one 180-degree 3D VR and 360-degree camera and one of the best 360-degree cameras available. 

Canon and the VR space

We don’t have any technical data for the new PowerShot concept, but based on the pictures it looks like the camera packs twin front and rear-facing fisheye lenses that each have a 180-degree (approximately) field of view; and that a hinge can swivel the rear lens out to the front.

In one configuration, the front and rear-facing fisheye lenses cover 360 degrees, while in a second setup, the rear camera sits alongside the front camera to form a stereoscopic camera that can record 180-degree 3D VR images, à la Insta360 Evo.

Canon is courting the VR space. Last year it launched a twin fisheye lens for 180-degree 3D VR that was primarily partnered with its full-frame mirrorless camera the EOS R5. The two lenses record to the left and right half of the EOS R5’s sensor, making two 4K images one for each eye of a VR headset, taken from the camera’s 8K video resolution.

If the concept camera costs around the same as the V10, we’d be surprised if it has a high-resolution sensor and 8K video recording. It’ll probably be the same 1-in sensor with 4K video as the V10, delivering a Full HD output for each eye. It could feature twin 4K-enabled sensors, but that seems unlikely given the design. 

It would be great if each eye could enjoy 4K video either through a single 8K sensor or twin 4K sensors, but a 3D VR image in Full HD is most likely. Let’s wait and see. 

A new direction for Canon?

Canon’s apparent compact camera strategy makes a lot of sense: do cameras differently. The V10 takes on the Sony ZV-1 as one of the best vlogging cameras with an all-out vlogging design that strikes the right note, even if the technology inside is a little dated. 

And there’s no way that regular point-and-shoot PowerShot compact cameras can compete with today’s smartphones, but a twin fisheye lens camera for mixed reality photos and videos you don’t have to strap to your face like the Apple Vision Pro? That’s a more viable alternative to what smartphones can offer in 2023. 

There have also been rumors via Gizmochina about Canon collaborating with a smartphone manufacturer, too. In May 2022 Xiaomi and Leica announced their long-term partnership for mobile imaging and we’ve seen some mighty impressive Xiaomi cameras ever since, like in the Xiaomi 12S Ultra. 

We don’t know which smartphone giant is cuddling up with Canon, or how that partnership will develop but it would mark a forward-thinking collaborative step for the traditionally closed-off camera giant. 

Two-minute review

The Insta 360 Flow is a solid four in one for your smartphone. It’s a selfie stick, small tripod, mini power bank and a basic gimbal – and that’s before you even pair your phone with Insta360's app.

Once you do, you can enable smart tracking features that turn your Android or iOS device into a camera person, as well as a nifty panorama-taking, montage-making gadget.

The control system takes a little getting used to, and the Flow’s range isn’t best-in-class, and big phones with bulky cases may also be a challenge for its slimline phone grip.

Provided it can handle your smartphone case and you’re comfortable with its limitations, the Insta360 Flow combines powerful features for casual and enthusiast smartphone videographers alike.

So between performing well at the basics and adding thoughtful touches like the built-in cold shoe and extending tripod legs to the mix, matched with its relatively compact size, the Insta360 Flow is a mighty offering if you’re on the market for an affordable all-in-one smartphone camera companion.

Price and availability

• Launched in March 2023
• $159 / £145 / AU$239 list price for standalone kit 
• Three different kits available in all

Available in three packages, the Insta360 Flow can be picked up in the Standalone Kit, a Creator Kit, and a Pro Tripod kit.

If you buy it standalone, you’ll get the Flow, a USB-C cable, a smartphone clamp, and a grip for the trunk of the Flow itself, as well as a bag to put it all in.  It’ll set you back by $159 / £145 / AU$239 – and for most, this kit would absolutely suffice.

If you fancy upgrading your carry case to transparent plastic, picking up a lanyard, and more importantly, getting a USB-C powered fill light, the Creator Kit’s for you, costing $209 / £199 / AU$319.

The final package is the Pro Tripod kit. While the Insta360 has an extendable tripod that pops out of the base, it also has a standard tripod thread mount. The Pro Tripod kit ships with a wider, more solid tripod than the extending legs of the Flow, which screws into the bottom of the grip, and costs $192.98 / £179.98 / AU$283.

• Price: 4/5

Design

• Weighs 369g
• Compact when folded
• Compatible with big and small phones

The Insta360 Flow is a very compact gimbal system considering just how multi-functional it is.

While it isn’t as light as the featherweight 309g DJI OM 6, at 369g, the Flow is still manageable.

The system trunk rotates when folded – not locking in place – but it’s a relatively solid, sturdy closed system that you can chuck in a bag without worrying something might bend and snap.

Unfurl the Flow fully, and what sets it apart from its main competition are the extending tripod legs, which in-part help justify the extra weight nicely.

The trunk of the Flow has a round control panel with a joystick in the center, a trigger on the other side, and a USB-C port on the side so you can power up the gimbal.

The arm has a transparent plastic cover for some fun-looking, exposed circuit boards, a bit of branding, and that all-important cold-shoe mount.

At the top of the arm, there’s also a USB-C port for charging your phone, or powering the fill light in the Creator Kit, as well as a magnetic mounting point.

If you haven’t used a mobile gimbal before, the first couple of times you open it out, the Insta360 Flow might seem a little fiddly, but it’s easy to get the hang of, and once you’re confident in its folding mechanism, it feels at least as robust and natural to set up as the best competition.

The metal clamp that lives on your smartphone is also worth touching on. We used it across a range of phones, from a super-wide Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra inside a Mous case, through to a compact Asus Zenfone 9, and its spring-loaded mechanism handled both extremes like a champ. What might be a challenge are large phone cases.

The saving graces of the Insta360 Flow are the soft rubberised grip cover that sheathes over the trunk of the gimbal and its extending base. Without these, holding the Flow is awkward, given how slim and short it is. Add the grip and extend the base, though, and even big hands should be able to maneuver the Flow without any awkward gripping.

• Design 4/5

Features

• Smartphone stabilizer with active tracking through app
• 2900mAh battery with power bank functionality
• Mobile tripod and selfie stick

The first feature worth talking about is the Insta360 Flow’s main function – being a gimbal.

Just like the DJI OM 6, it has three-axis stabilization, and while it covers different angles of pan, roll, and tilt, the range is virtually identical across both gimbals – 330º panning and rolling, and 180º tilting.

For anyone picking up the Flow primarily as a gimbal, therefore, it’s well matched by the direct competition from DJI, but stabilizing isn’t its strongest feature given the more limited range than more single-function options. Where the Flow does excel, though, is in its multifunction.

While the DJI OM 6 features a modest 1000mAh battery, the Insta360 Flow’s is a much higher-capacity 2900mAh.

This isn’t just a boon for long shoots, it also means as a power bank, the Flow can seriously boost battery life, especially when matched with a small phone like an iPhone 14 or SE. 

The Insta360 Flow’s selfie stick arm extends from the Flow by 187.6mm, which isn’t quite as far-reaching as some competition, including the OM 6. It does, nevertheless, add some handy utility to the experience that goes beyond just selfies.

In addition to its battery, the Flow’s extending legs are a key point of differentiation and perform a two-fold function. The first has been covered – they add extra length to the Flow’s trunk, making it easier to grip. The second function of the legs is much more apparent – they become a tripod – perfect when shooting on a surface with the tracking feature in the Insta360 app, or using your phone as a webcam.

While the legs aren’t super-sturdy, especially when the Flow’s arm is fully extended, they can still hold a phone stable for steady footage and long-exposure photography provided your surface isn’t too wobbly.

Through the Insta360 app, the Flow flexes more than just hardware, bringing excellent subject tracking to the fore, as well as manual photography, multi-shot panorama, Timelapse, TimeShift (hyperlapse), and our favorite feature, Live Mode. This lets you use the gimbal’s smart tracking in other apps, whether you’re on a WhatsApp call, in a Zoom meeting or just filming on the native camera application. When paired with a phone like the Xperia 1 V, with its mighty manual camera apps, therefore, it’s a fantastic counterpart to eke out even more from your kit.

As a result, even if some of the Insta360 Flow's features aren't class-leading, as a package, its full feature-set is exceptional.

• Features: 4.5/5

Performance

• Three-axis stabilization isn't best-in-class
• Multi-function features outclass the competition
• Third-party subject tracking through the Insta360 app

We had a great time testing the Insta360 Flow out. Before you even fire up the application, all its hardware features are powerful standalone, especially once you realize that the extending legs make it much easier to hold one-handed.

The fiddliest thing about the gimbal is definitely changing modes. The round control panel has a bunch of inputs – buttons, a jog dial for zoom, and a touch-sensitive ring, as well as a joystick. It’s this touch-sensitive ring that we struggled with.

The touch ring switches between Follow, Pan Follow, and First Person View, as well as Auto mode, so we didn’t have to interact with it too much – but it’s definitely the control system’s weak point.

The jog dial to control zoom seems like Insta360’s direct response to DJI’s rotating toggle on the OM 6, and it isn’t quite as refined but still does the job. Insta360 has a handy list of compatible phones on-site, and most phones we matched it with were able to directly access multi-camera system zoom using the Flow’s controls, which is impressive.

We also found getting to grips with the familiar trigger, joystick, and buttons a breeze – super intuitive for seasoned gimbal users, and not too jarring for novices we asked to give it a whirl.

How good video capture when using the Insta360 Flow is will largely depend on your phone, but there’s no doubt the gimbal system does a good job of boosting stabilization while simultaneously adding handy features to the mix.

We generally weren't fans of capturing content using the Insta360 app. It’s clumsier than native apps, which is little wonder, because it isn’t purpose-built for each camera system it’s paired with. What we did love, though, was the fact Insta360’s Live mode which works across iOS and Android expands some of the gimbal’s core functionality – tracking – beyond the Flow’s app, matching it with the much better native camera apps. It's just a shame that in our testing, this was locked to portrait orientation.

If you’re wondering which setup to get, we’d suggest most folks opt for the original bundle. The Creator Kit fill light is handy, but isn’t a must-have, and the gimbal’s legs make the tripod kit seem a bit redundant. Most would be better off picking up a specific tripod or mini pod that fits their needs rather than go with the one bundled in that kit.

Irrespective of which kit you go for, though, we can definitely recommend Insta360’s smart, powerful mobile gimbal, even if its controls can be a little fiddly and its stabilizing isn't best-in-class.

The DJI Osmo Mobile 6 is the Insta360 Flow’s main competition, but so too are the OM 4 and 5 for anyone who doesn’t mind last-gen tech. In fact, while the OM 4 is a much bulkier package, it offers a superior range and power bank functionality, making it a smart alternative for anyone who doesn’t mind a little extra heft.

• Performance: 4/5

Also consider

Testing scorecard

The Insta360 Flow is official, taking on DJI’s OM series and going after smartphone vloggers who want to smooth out their handheld footage or capture hands-free content.

Positioned as the world’s most advanced AI-tracking smartphone stabilizer, the Insta360 Flow works in conjunction with its smartphone app, available for iOS or Android, to combine 3-axis hardware stabilization with smart software features like subject tracking.

The Insta360 Flow itself looks similar to the DJI OM 6, consisting of a grip with a joystick, and a flip-out arm that holds the phone, and then extends to create a modest selfie stick for a wider shot and more shooting versatility in general.

In its Creator Kit, the gimbal also packs a USB-C LED light that plugs into the Insta360 Flow to brighten up scenes, and when it isn’t plugged in, you can connect your phone to the USB-C port on the Flow's arm for on-the-go power from the onboard 2900mAh battery.

What’s novel about the Flow is the rotating dial around the buttons that toggles zoom, and the touch-sensitive interaction around the joystick to switch between stabilization modes. Its design is also standout, featuring a combination of white plastic and a transparent section along its arm for some Nothing Phone (1) type see-through style.

Insta360 also promises live tracking in apps like FaceTime on iOS, and live streaming to services like Facebook and YouTube, as well as 360-degree photo capture and time-lapse features.

Priced at $159 / £145 / AU$239, the Insta360 Flow matches DJI’s OM 6 pricing, making it one of the most premium smartphone gimbals around. For anyone after a more complete system, Insta360 has also launched a creator kit, which combines the gimbal with a USB-C light, a soft-touch Grip Cover, a Type-C to lightning cable, and a carry bag, and can be had for $209 / £199 / AU $319.

Analysis: All-in-one pocketable camera person

After spending a day with the Flow, and having used the DJI OM-series in the past, Insta360’s inclusion of an extending set of tripod legs within its mobile gimbal is a stroke of genius. 

This makes it an all-in-one camera person in your pocket without the need to piece together multiple elements for it to be self-standing. And if you need a more stable, wide base, there’s also a tripod thread so you can easily mount it.

The inclusion of a cold shoe mount also means you can capture with upgraded audio, so whether you want to hook up a DJI Mic or Rode Wireless Go 2, your smartphone’s mediocre mics won’t hold your vlogs back.

You can see the gimbal in action in Insta360's video above, and check back for our full review in the coming weeks. And if you're not sold on the Flow, or just want to see what other mobile gimbals are out there before picking one up, check out our guide to the best phone gimbal out now.

Two-minute review

The Insta360 X3 is a great all-rounder action camera. Its strength clearly lies as a 360-degree video shooter, although it can capture decent 4K footage with a standard action camera field of view, too, beating the GoPro Max for single-lens clarity. That said, if you mostly shoot single lens videos, dedicated offerings from DJI, Insta360 and GoPro in our best action cameras guide fare better. 

You can use a Insta360 X3 mounted to bike handlebars or a helmet, or you can just hold it and shoot video as you would with a phone. Handheld use is the part Insta360 X3 nails better than a GoPro, which feel like they should be attached to a selfie stick at the very least. The Insta360 X3 also has major usability benefits over any Insta360 camera released to date, mostly thanks to the unusually good screen. 

Insta360 has also nailed one of the most important parts of the pocket 360-camera workflow – editing your footage is a blast, and only takes a few minutes for shorter clips once you have a grip on the fairly intuitive and wide-ranging tools.

Sure, there are some problems. You can’t view all kinds of clips from the camera itself. It takes a beat to start capturing video, and some elements of the image processing aren’t at the same level as GoPro’s. 

However, the Insta360 X3 is one of the best options if you want an action camera that can “do it all”. But is it worth the upgrade for Insta360 X2 owners? We think there’s plenty of life left in that older camera, and the main improvements are a much larger screen and a great new Active HDR mode that avoids blown highlights like a pro. 

Price and availability

• Launched in September 2022
• $449/ £459 / AU$799 RRP
• Seven different kits available

The Insta360 X3 was released in September 2022, two years after the Insta360 X2. It costs $449 / £459 / $799AU, making it just slightly more expensive than its predecessor was at launch. It costs slightly less than the GoPro Max, although you can generally now find that dated camera for less online, while the Ricoh Theta X seems extortionate by comparison. 

Insta360 also offers a bunch of kits for different mounting scenarios — adding in a bunch of accessories. Kits include the Get-Set Kit for $496 / £510 / AU$800 that includes an invisible selfie stick, a 64GB memory card and a lens a cap. Others available include the Snow Kit, Motorcycle Kit, Bike Kit, Bullet Time Kit, Ultimate Kit and Virtual Tour Kit and more details can be found on the Insta360 store. 

• Price: 4.5/5

Design

• Large, clear display
• Includes a 1/4-inch threaded port for a selfie stick
• 10M water resistance

The Insta360 X3 is an upright, stick-like camera, just like its predecessor. There’s a threaded mount point on the bottom, should you want to attach a selfie stick. 

It fits comfortably in the hand, despite the lack of room for any ergonomic grip contouring. And for those interested in the materials used, the sides are plastic with a diamond embossed texture, for extra grip. The front and back are soft touch plastic. No surfaces have the rubberised feel of a GoPro, but the parts you end up worrying about are the glass areas. 

That’s the display glass and, much more important, the lenses. The fear factor is unavoidable with 360-degree cameras, so you might want to buy a lens cover (not included with the standard bundle) or Insta360’s accidental damage insurance. There are no removable, replaceable outer lens elements here. 

Back to the fun stuff, the Insta360 X3 feels right at home in your hand. Just below the screen are buttons that start capturing video and flip between front and rear lens views. In action these are a bit like the navigation keys on an Android phone. Very handy. 

The Insta360 X3 has four physical buttons: two up front, two on the side. But it is largely a touch-led interface, and one that uses a couple of gestures you will need to bed into. 

Flick right and you reach the shooting mode screen. But flick right from the very end of the display and the Insta360 X3 brings up your captured clips instead. It’s the one quirk of the Insta360 interface: needing to disambiguate between horizontal swipes and similar swipes that begin at the screen’s end. 

Once you’re accustomed to that, the Insta360 X3 is largely a breeze. And it looks clear on the 2.6-inch screen. 

The Insta360 X3’s screen is probably the single most important design upgrade here. The modular cameras have tiny little square screens, while in the Insta360 One X2 there is a small round porthole instead. This camera’s portrait aspect screen seems huge in comparison, and is also larger than the GoPro Max’s display. 

You do need to manually max out the brightness to make it hold up in bright sunlight, but it gets roughly as bright as the GoPro Max’s own. The large screen is better for previewing the picture than the last gen model, and makes navigating around the menu system easier. Its interface also just looks a lot glossier and more high-end. 

The style of the Insta360 X3’s screen is geared more at influencers and content creators than the classic action camera audience, though. It’s an upright screen, offering the framing you’ll typically see in videos shared on social networks. The orientation doesn’t auto-rotate if you turn the camera around either. 

However, look a little deeper and you’ll realize this is an entirely sensible move. Holding the camera sideways is only going to bring your fingers closer to the lenses if you’re rolling without a stick. And when you shoot in the single-lens mode, the only drawback when shooting at 16:9 is the preview image is smaller. 

If you are desperate for that full-screen preview, you can get the Insta360 X3 to shoot in 9:16 instead and turn the camera on its side. 

The Insta360 X3 has double the water resistance of the GoPro Max, at 10m/33ft, and matches the GoPro Hero 11 Black. Those planning to dive at anything like a depth of 10m should get the Insta360 Dive Case, though. The additional pressures involved when moving through water means anything below fairly surface-level capture is a bit risky. 

Insta360 achieves the X3’s water resistance using single layer rubber seals around the charging socket and the battery, which pops out when you release its two fastening sliders on the side. 

Our review period did not, unfortunately, coincide with any trips to the beach. Walking and running around with the Insta360 X3, we noticed it does tend to get warm pretty quickly. But not uncomfortably so. We saw no overheating messages after filming constantly for 45 minutes at 5.7K.

• Design 4.5/5

Features and performance

• Stabilization smooths out action a treat
• Powerful editor for modes like timelapse
• Slow start up time

The Insta360 X3 uses an 1800maH battery, notably higher capacity than the 1600mAh of the GoPro Max. Insta360 claims this can last 81 minutes in the 360-degree, 5.7K resolution mode. 

After 15 minutes the Insta360 X3 dropped from 100% to 87%, suggesting it could actually last a lot longer than 81 minutes. However, following 45 minutes of capture it was at 49% battery, closer to the claim. 

What we have here is somewhat non-linear battery reporting. The Insta360 X3 holds onto a 100% charge reading for a little too long, a popular tactic in consumer electronics. It’s not helpful in a more tool-like gadget such as this, but may change over the weeks as the battery settles (and more firmware updates arrive). And the important part: Insta360’s 81 minute battery life rating is not a work of fiction. 

Stabilization used to be one of the classic action camera battlegrounds. It still is at the low-end, but discussing it in Insta360 cameras has now become quite boring. Its FlowState stabilization has been excellent for ages now, and continues to be so. The Insta360 X3 is great for sporty use, or extreme sports use, as long as you don’t mind the way its tall shape will stick up from the mount a bit. 

The 360-degree view means there’s basically infinite scope for stabilization, and the Insta360 X3 has horizon leveling to make this effectively automatic. You can also switch on a feature called Direction Lock when editing your clips, which counters any twisting of the camera so it appears as though you were holding the X3 straight the whole time. 

The Insta360 X3 has a built-in TimeShift mode, which is a form of Timelapse shooting designed to let you use the camera handheld. It doesn’t have the smarts of GoPro’s version, which can automatically shift the footage’s speed up and down based on whether there’s anything interesting going on in the scene. But it’s a quick way to make sped-up clips. 

We do think you get better results by shooting at standard speed and turbo-charging footage in the edit, as Insta360 offers good-looking motion blur and better control over the speed of playback. 

There are parts for Insta360 to address in a future camera or, fingers crossed, a software update. The Insta360 X3 takes a solid couple of seconds to actually start recording clips, and the GoPro Max feels instantaneous by comparison. 

Like most Insta360 launches, we’ve also come across a few bugs. It has frozen on a few occasions, and one low-light mode clip was rendered unreadable for some reason. However, these mostly cropped up when handling footage after a shoot, not actually during capture. 

The Insta360 X3 also has several interesting modes we’ve not discussed yet. Me Mode is one of the neatest. This leverages the slight overlap of the lenses’ vision to produce a flat clip in which a stick used to mount the camera becomes invisible. You’ll still see your arm holding it, of course, but it’s great for no-fuss dramatic shots. Insta360 uses someone jumping into the sea, and snowboarding, as a couple of examples. 

You can capture stills at up to 72MP resolution, in the 360-degree mode. Again, this process is quite slow, but the results are solid — if not as impressive as those of a good phone when trying to capture a more ordinary field of view. 

Insta360’s editing tools are fun and fairly easy to use as well. We tried both the phone app and Insta360 Studio on Mac for this review, and their tool sets are largely similar. 

When re-framing 360-degree footage, you set key frames along the timeline, and Insta360’s software generates smooth transitions between them. You pinch and drag the view in the phone app to perfect each of these key frames, but rotational control is kept separate. This can initially seem a bit confusing, but does make key frame manipulation feel simpler than GoPro’s more free-wheeling approach.

We found the process fastest on a laptop, as mouse control just feels that bit more precise than on a phone-size touchscreen. 360-degree edited clips are set at 1080p when exporting from the phone app or Insta360 Studio, which may seem too limited when maximum res is 5.7K.  However, we saw little obvious benefit after manually changing this to 4K resolution in the desktop Insta360 Studio software. And if you’re looking to produce remotely normal-looking videos, you’re not going to be using all of that raw 5.7K information anyway. 

There’s also a plug-in for Adobe Premiere Pro, but we haven’t tried this as part of the review.

• Features and performance: 4.5/5

Image and video quality

• Active HDR deals with blown out highlights
• Strong 360-degree image quality with limited cropping
• Single-lens videos look better than the GoPro Max

The Insta360 X3 has two 48-megapixel cameras with 1/2-inch sensors and f/1.9 aperture lenses. These are larger and higher-res than the 17MP, 1/2.3-inch sensors of the GoPro Max, and those of the One X2. 

However, these numbers aren’t really aspects to focus on, beyond the one key mode they may help to enable. This is 4K video when shooting with a single lens, rather than in the 360 mode. 

Single lens videos require zero editing – you can pull the resulting MP4 files straight off the camera, ready to go. Its sharpness is significantly better than the single lens mode of the GoPro Max, which is limited to 1080p. Sure, there’s a 1440p mode in the GoPro, but this is 4:3 capture, meaning it’s the same quality as 1080p, just with a taller frame. 

So, are single lens videos a match for those in single lens cameras from GoPro and Insta360? Not even close. We only had the GoPro Hero 9 Black for direct comparison, but that older model has prettier color and much better detail at 4K, particularly out of the center of the frame. These flat videos become quite muggy and basic-looking at the corners of the shot, and look much more like 1080p captures than 4K. 

This was always going to be the case. The Insta360 X3 lenses have to capture a full 180 degrees, the GoPro Hero 9 Black’s do not, and this mode crops into their view substantially. Don’t buy the X3 if 360-degree capture is a “nice to have” extra. 4K flat videos are also limited to 30fps, with 60fps available at a lower-quality 2.7K resolution. 

360-degree video is the main event, and here the Insta360 X3 and GoPro Max find a form of parity. The X3 shoots 360 clips at up to 5.7K resolution, 30 frames per second. Insta360’s secret weapon is Active HDR, which you don’t get in GoPro cameras. This doesn’t affect the frame rate either. 

Action cameras have a bad habit of leaving video clips with odd-looking gradients in skies as the frame errs closer to the sun. Or leaving very significant blown out areas in clouds on bright days. It’s because the small sensors of these cameras have relatively low dynamic range. The Insta360 X3’s HDR mode all but fixes this, at least compared to the standard shooting mode, by merging two exposures per frame. 

Sometimes the results are quite brilliant, and give you loads more highlight detail to play with in the edit. It’s extremely useful when you’re shooting outdoors, or when there’s partial tree cover up top – one of the tricky parts of shooting 360 video is the exposure level is not just judged on what’s in front of you, but your entire surroundings. 

You won’t want to use HDR 24/7, though. It’s no good for low light conditions, because it restricts the exposure time for each frame. And while it has real image quality benefits, I’ve noticed more aberrations in HDR clips, like very obvious noise in a plain blue sky towards the side of the frame — even on a sunny day. 

HDR also has a color character that reminds us of the earlier 2013-2015 days of phone HDR, sometimes leading to unnatural-looking tonality and a slight flattening of contrast. However, this can be fixed in video editing software. Insta360’s own software offers a couple of color and clarity boosting options. I haven’t noticed any ghosting in Active HDR, though, which is the classic issue of HDR video where combined frames are shot sequentially, leading to “afterimage” doubling of moving subjects. 

GoPro currently only offers tone mapping, which is nowhere near as powerful as “active” HDR. But when you get a bit more ambitious with your 360-degree editing, you can’t avoid the slight deficiencies of Insta360’s image processing. 

Zoom in significantly and fine detail can become unconvincing. Tight textures like gravel, tree leaves and the patina of old walls get filled in with too many unnatural-looking straight and horizontal patterns. GoPro tends to avoid these, instead often looking softer, but more natural. 

This is an effect of Insta360’s sharpening, which can be dramatically reduced by simply dropping it down from the standard “high” setting. But it’s a balance. If you want to edit down to a field of view less than 180 degrees, footage does become quite soft-looking with no sharpening at all. 

Night shooting is, as in most other action cameras, quite poor. The larger sensors bring a slightly improvement over the Insta360 One X2, but not a dramatic one. However, there is a timelapse style night mode that dramatically improves results, called StarLapse. You’ll need to use a tripod for it, but it can be perfect for YouTuber-style B-roll footage. 

• Image and video quality: 4/5

Also consider

Testing scorecard

There was a time when 360-degree cameras seemed like a gimmick that'd never catch on; poor image quality and limited software were just two of the reasons why they seemed destined for fad status. But thanks to the likes of Insta360, the best 360 cameras are now some of the most versatile cameras you can buy. And if you've just received or bought one, you may be wondering how to get the best from it.

We've put together this guide to help you do just that. The key advantage of 360 cameras – being able to 'reframe' your videos during editing after they've been shot – is now pretty accessible and intuitive, thanks to the software and apps available from Insta360 and GoPro. 'Reframing' means choosing a video's camera angle or field of view after you've got back home.

But something that's less clear is how to maximize the image quality produced by these little cameras. Our tips below are a handy starter pack for anyone who's new to 360-degree cameras. Covering all the basics from how to hold a 360 camera to the best times to shoot, they also include more advanced pointers like plug-ins you can use to get more fluid movement in your videos.

While 360-degree video image quality isn’t quite as high as the best action cameras, these cameras do open up lots of creative and fun possibilities that aren't available anywhere else, even smartphones. And there are many ways you can make sure your 360 footage is the best it can be at the point of capture. Here's how to do exactly that...

1. Shoot on bright sunny days

Just like phone cameras, drones and action cameras, 360-degree cameras have small sensors. This means the video they capture always looks much more vibrant when shot on bright and sunny days. You can, of course, shoot around golden hour for softer and warmer light that will look fantastic, but shooting on dull overcast days will often result in lackluster video footage.

This goes against the grain of what you might call ‘standard’ video and photography, where softer light around golden hour is often preferable. But you have to play to the strengths of the kit you’re using – and for 360-degree cameras, that means brighter conditions are best. This is often ideal, because it’s more likely that you’ll use a 360 cameras on days out or holidays when the weather is typically good.

One of the challenges in these conditions is moving between bright light and shadow, which can play havoc with exposure if you’re shooting in manual mode. Shooting in manual mode is generally recommended for video, but there are downsides for 360 cameras. For example, when you expose for direct sun the shadows will clip, while exposing for shadows and highlights can see the mid-tones blow out and lose detail.

If you find yourself moving between darker and brighter areas or the light is changeable, it’s best to set exposure to 'Auto' to allow the camera to adjust accordingly and maintain correct exposure. Some cameras will also allow you to lock the white balance when shooting in Auto – if this is possible with your camera, it'll ensure color balance remains consistent despite shutter speed and sometimes ISO changing.

2. Change the default settings

Shooting in manual mode is usually the best option for video because it maintains consistency by having all settings locked. This avoids changes in shutter speed, ISO and white balance. That said, if you're moving through light and dark areas, 'auto exposure' with the white balance locked (if possible) is also a workable option.

One way to get a quick link to the correct settings for the conditions is to set the camera to Auto and then to Manual, which for most cameras keeps the Auto settings in place. Just make sure that ISO is set to 100, white balance to Daylight or 5500K, and that shutter speed is ideally double the frame-rate of the video.

For instance, if you're shooting at 30fps, the ideal shutter speed is 1/60 sec. The slight problem here is that few 360-degree cameras have ND (neutral density) filters to achieve the correct shutter speed for capturing natural movement, so in reality you’ll often have to shoot at a slightly faster shutter speed.

It's also best to make sure that video is set to the highest resolution possible. For example, for the Insta360 RS camera and 360 Lens we used above, that's 5.7K. Other important settings to change from the defaults are the Color Profile, Sharpening and Stabilization. 

Set the Color Profile to Standard rather than Vivid for more natural colors, and Sharpness to Low, because High and even Standard settings apply too much sharpening that degrades image quality. Some cameras only apply stabilization in-camera, while others apply it in the camera editing software, so it’s safest to turn this on in-camera to be sure it’s applied.

3. Walk smoothly with bent knees

Electronic image stabilization (EIS) in modern action cameras and 360-degree cameras is nothing short of incredible these days. Jerky movements can be ironed out perfectly, but one thing that can’t always be removed by EIS is the up-and-down bobbing that occurs when we walk. This can ruin otherwise perfect footage, but it’s also one of the easiest problems to overcome simply by adjusting the way you walk.

When shooting video handheld using a 360-degree camera, or even when using a gimbal, it’s best to walk with bent knees to keep the camera level and as steady as possible. 

The easiest way to describe how to walk is to imagine that you’re carrying two full glasses of water where the aim is to avoid the water spilling over the rims of the glasses. In this situation, you instinctively walk with bent knees and keep the glasses level, and this is the way that you should walk when shooting video handheld.

In public, you can feel self-conscious walking like this and you may get an odd look or two, but it’s worth it for the smooth and fluid video you’ll capture. Admittedly, it’s one of the harder points to remember when shooting, but the more you do it, the more instinctive it will become – you'll immediately see the benefits of doing so.

4. Lean on handy plug-ins

In an ideal world, you’d always be able to shoot using the 180-degree rule where the shutter speed of the camera is set to double the frame rate of the video. But with a wide field of view, many 360-degree cameras unfortunately don’t have ND filters available to help control that shutter speed. This means you’ll often be shooting at faster shutter speeds than the 'ideal' and the result is that movement will look unnatural and much more jerky than in the real world.

There’s little you can do about this at the shooting stage, but there is a video editing software plugin called ReelSmart Motion Blur ($109, around £90 / AU$164) that can be used to add blur to video footage that has been captured at fast shutter speeds. ReelSmart Motion Blur is available for Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro, Davinci Resolve Studio and many other software programs. Unfortunately, it isn't yet available for Adobe Premiere Elements, iMovie or other basic video editing software.

The advantage of ReelSmart Motion Blur is that it adds natural-looking blur to footage to provide a much more pleasing, and indeed natural look. And since keeping shutter speed under control with a 360-degree can be so difficult, an albeit pricey plugin is money well spent if you plan to shoot lots of 360-degree video. This software can also be useful for action cam footage if you don’t have ND filters, as well as adding motion blur to any video footage that needs it. You can even use it to remove motion blur if you need to.

5. Use a selfie stick

Selfie sticks aren't just for tourists. Whatever your feelings about the handheld monopods, they’re incredibly useful accessories – and for 360-degree cameras, they're an essential creative tool that helps you capture and create a variety of camera movements and effects. 

Many 360-degree cameras render the selfie stick invisible, so you can capture videos of yourself walking without the stick being visible. And if you’re creative with how you hold the stick, such as resting it between your arms and a wall, or carrying something else with the end of the stick beneath it, it looks like a floating camera is following you around.

The creative possibilities are also endless. You can pull the camera through objects to add dynamic interest. The ability to shoot from a variety of viewpoints with the selfie stick extended, from the ground to overhead, is also super-handy. You can, for example, turn it into a drone by holding it high above your head, mimic a crane lift, spin around and much more. A photo accessory that’s often frowned upon is actually a 360-degree videographer’s best friend.

6. Make sure your subject is facing one of the cameras

360-degree cameras typically use two lenses to capture the view, with the two videos stitched together automatically in reframing software. You’ll notice that when you download footage, you’ll have two video files for every clip you shoot. The reason for making sure one of the lenses is facing the subject is that the stitch line can look a little strange – this can make a central subject look narrower than it should, with the middle of the frame being slightly distorted. 

This is important for all shots, but more so for those where you’re filming yourself or a group of people around you, because the result looks slightly strange in the centre of the video. You can see this in the example video below, where the stitch line is obvious in the centre of the footage.

If you forget to position one of the lenses to face the subject, there’s nothing you can do during reframing or when editing clips together, except to change the direction of the camera – which defeats the purpose of shooting a specific subject.

If you do forget and the video is important, don’t worry about it and reframe the footage as you would normally. It’s always better to have something that’s not perfect than not have it at all, and it will motivate you to take extra care with lens direction in the future.

7. Reframing your videos

The magic of 360-degree video happens at the editing stage, when you load the footage into the camera manufacturer’s software to reframe it. Some video editing programs, including Adobe Premiere Pro and Cyberlink Power Director, can handle 360 video natively, while other might require a plugin from the camera manufacturer, if one is available. 

But for most people, using the dedicated phone or desktop app from the likes of Insta360 is the quickest and easiest way to reframe footage. The clips can then be exported in 1080p or 4K in 16:9 format and edited together in standard video editing software.

Reframing is where you load the footage into the reframing software – here we used Insta360 Studio 2022. With this type of software, you can select the camera angle, change the field-of-view, add camera movements like spins and rolls and retime clips. This is achieved using keyframes where the field-of-view, distortion and camera angle (using pan, tilt and roll adjustments) can be adjusted. And with Insta360 cameras, stabilization can be applied in the software. 

The way you shoot is still important, because good footage always provides a better result than poor footage. But the beauty of all this is that it’s in the editing where you can reveal the true potential of what you’ve captured. Not to mention, you can edit a single clip in multiple ways, opening up almost endless creative possibilities.

Logitech has revealed its new Logic of Work platform, a line of products and services geared towards improving collaboration and engagement between those working from home and those in the office.

The new launches include Sight, a 315-degree camera placed at the center of a conference table that can intelligently shift focus on individuals. It's is designed to be used in conjunction with Logitech's Rally Bar range of forward-facing cameras, connected via an ethernet cable and controlled through the CollabOS video conferencing software. 

Other competitors already offer full 360-degree cameras for this purpose, but Logitech argues that these can distort perspective and still prohibit inclusion within a hybrid working environment. The company maintains that their multi-camera setup offers a more effective solution.

AI Director

At the heart of Sight is what Logitech dubs the AI director, which allows the camera to automatically shift focus onto those that are speaking around the table. The seven in-built microphones feature acoustic beams which calculate the time of attack of speech sounds to know who is talking when, and then adjusts the camera to capture them face on.

Sight can be fixed in place via a clamp, in a grommet, or elsewhere in your floor space thanks to the optional tripod. It also has a sliding lens cap to give you peace of mind from prying eyes when no meetings are taking place. 

At a launch event in London attended by TechRadar Pro, Logitech was open about its R&D process, detailing the failed attempts leading up the development of the Sight. One of these made “uncanny valley” avatars of the people in the room, but thankfully this was scraped.

Other products

Another product part of this new vector for the company is Scribe, a camera that goes above a whiteboard and digitally converts scribbles in real time, resulting in tidy representations for others to see. 

In addition to business, education was also highlighted as a new focus for Logitech, with the company believing that hybrid arrangements will soon be commonplace in schools and universities as well. The company’s Crayon, designed for the new range of iPads, is aimed at students of all age groups, offering a more competitively priced alternative to the Apple Pencil.

The Crayon and Scribe are both available now, and the Sight is expected to arrive summer 2023 with a price of $1,999/ £1,745. 

• Check out our best webcams for business

Insta360 has made some of the most fun and interesting cameras of the past few years – and the new Insta360 X3 is no different. In fact, it might just be the most versatile action cam (or camera) you can buy right now.

Like its Insta360 One X2 predecessor, the X3 is a 360-degree camera with two super-wide lenses that capture everything around you, allowing you to 'reframe' the footage into a standard movie later. But a host of upgrades mean it's also now much more usable as a traditional action camera in 'single-lens' mode.

One of our biggest gripes with the Insta360 One X2 was that it could only shoot in 1080p resolution when using one lens. But on the X3 you can now shoot in 4K resolution in this 'single-lens' mode, making it more like having two cameras in one.

The main appeal of the X3, though, are its versatile 360-degree modes. It brings some upgrades here too, including a new 1/2-inch sensor (a step up from the 1/2.3-inch one on the X2) plus a new 'Active HDR' mode. While its predecessor did offer an HDR video mode, this seems to use extra processing to help minimize ghosting and boost stabilization.

The X3 doesn't deliver a resolution boost for its 360-degree footage (that's still capped at 5.7K/30p) and its video bit-rate is still 120Mbps. But there are upgrades for its slow-motion modes, with the X3 capable of shooting at 4K/120p or 3K/180p. The equivalent mode on the one X2 topped out at only 3K/100p.

The X3 is likely to be a big hit with social media creators too, because its wide-angle footage can be easily turned into a 4:5 Instagram post of a 9:16 TikTok video without any major quality loss. Its larger 2.29-inch screen also looks like a boon for usability, compared to the X2's small circular display.

It's hard to think of another camera that has a list of shooting modes as long as the Insta360 X3, which is waterproof to 10m and available to buy now for $449. It can do invisible selfie stick effects, 8K timelapses, 72MP photos, looping dash cam videos, and much more in the 'Shot Lab' found in its companion app. But the big question is how smoothly these all work in reality...

Reality check

The main issues we've had with Insta360 cameras in the past, particularly immediately after launch, are relatively minor software bugs. During our brief time with the Insta360 X3 so far, this appears to be the case again.

When editing in the Android app, for example, our 360-degree video has sometimes automatically started panning to the right (unless we switched on direction lock). Downloading some footage like Starlapses to our phones has also proved tricky, with the process stalling indefinitely.

Insta360 is looking into these issues and they're very likely pre-release bugs that'll get ironed out eventually in firmware. We're also impressed with the X3 overall, particularly its new screen and the sheer range of shooting modes on offer.

Naturally, it's mainly designed for producing unique social media clips and won't trouble the best video cameras for outright video quality. But it's also more flexible than pretty much any camera we can think of, from GoPros to smartphones and full-frame beasts.

360 cameras have steadily grown from niche beginnings to become powerful tools in the arsenals of all kinds of creators. One TechRadar writer even successfully used a 360 camera as their wedding videographer, to complement their human snapper.

Their unique benefit is being able to decide where the camera is pointing in the scene after your video has been shot. We'll let you know whether the Insta360 X3 is indeed the best 360 camera you can buy in our full review very soon.

Have you ever wanted to capture awe-inspiring FPV aerial videos, but without having to learn to fly the notoriously difficult-to-fly and easy-to-crash drones? I know the feeling, which is why I was very keen to test the Insta360 Sphere – a 360-degree camera that lets you easily shoot and create FPV-style video with a standard drone. 

I’ve long been interested in FPV (first person view) drones, but have shied away from their common self-build format – I’m terrible at soldering, and that’s before I put in many hours of flight practice. I have recently begun training with a beginner’s training FPV drone and a computer simulator, but I have a long way to go. So, for now, the Sphere is an attractive way to achieve a similar style of video.

The advantage of the Sphere is that anyone with one of the two compatible drones (the DJI Air 2S and Mavic Air 2) can, irrespective of flying experience, capture simple footage that can be edited using keyframes to add visually exciting rolls, turns and flips to change the camera direction during editing. Editing is the most important element of the process, although some planning is required when capturing video.

The Sphere is available in two kits and is more expensive than regular drone accessories, but this is to be expected given it’s a camera. The Standalone kit costs $423 / £440 / AU$749 and includes the Sphere camera, two sticky lens guards, two lens caps, one battery, a charging cable, a lens cloth and landing mat. The Memory Card Kit costs $440 / £456 / €529 / AU$768 and includes all of the above alongside a 64GB microSD card. But how good are they in practice? I took one for a spin to find out.

How does it work?

The Sphere is designed to attach to the DJI Mavic Air 2 or Air 2S without interfering with the drone’s GPS or downward-facing sensors. Its unique trick is that the positions of the cameras also make your drone invisible, so you’re free to enjoy an unobscured 360-degree view of the world. The downward-facing camera lens does extend beyond the bottom of the drone, so you have to attach the included sticky lens protectors and use the special landing mat that’s also included.

With standard drones, video capture usually requires you to plan your maneuvers in so that the flight patterns you use create visual interest. You might mimic a crane camera lift, shoot a reveal flying backwards, or orbit the subject. But with the Sphere, you simply need to fly the drone slowly and smoothly so that special camera effects can be added during editing.

With the Sphere, you simply fly up, over, down, under and around the subject. The most important thing is that you have a strong subject such as a tree or structure to focus on so you can then use keyframing to add FPV-style effects during editing. Of course, you have to fly within the rules, so choosing a suitable location and subject to fly around isn’t always as easy as it sounds.

One of the hardest things to get used to is that at the point of shooting you don’t feel you’ve captured exciting footage. Flight patterns are slow and simple, but the 360-degree video shot at 5K provides almost infinite possibilities for reframing the footage in clips, and that’s where the magic happens.

Key player

Editing footage down into manageable clips can be achieved in Insta360's phone app or using the Insta360 Studio desktop app. 

The main disadvantage here is that you can’t then edit the clips together in either app to make a single video; you need to export the clips and edit them together in Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro or DaVinci Resolve. There are plugins available for the former two options that allow you to edit 360-degree footage within these programs; I use DaVinci Resolve, so I was unable to test or take advantage of this feature.

Insta360 Studio was, for me, the best place to edit my longer whole flight videos into manageable clips where keyframes could be added. Keyframes are the, well, key to creating stunning FPV-style camera effects where you have control over view type, pan angle, tilt angle, roll angle, field of view and distortion. This may not sound like much, but these controls alone allow you to create rolls, flips, turns and change camera direction. 

With a little practice, keyframes work exceptionally well. But it does take a little time to get used to how they work and how to get the best from them. One of the advantages of the footage is that you can create multiple edits of the same footage that looks completely different, because you can select any camera angle within the 360-degree field of view.

The Sphere uses dual 7.2mm f/2 cameras that can capture video in 5K at 30/25/24fps, 4K at 50/30fps and 3K at 100fps. It can even capture stills in raw, but since the Wi-Fi connection between your phone and the camera is dropped at around 10m, this is all but useless. 

The best way to shoot is to connect the app to the camera, begin filming video, take off, fly around for a few minutes, land, reconnect the phone to stop recording and repeat until you have several clips of a few minutes in duration. For this reason, I found it easiest to shoot in 'Auto' because I could let the camera deal with changes in exposure during flights, although I did try shooting in manual and with consistent lighting it was no problem.

Turbulence ahead

The Insta360 Sphere is a fantastic accessory for expanding the creative potential of a standard camera drone, but like most things it isn't without a few downsides. 

The most obvious issue is that the Sphere is currently only compatible with two drone models, so you’re completely stuck if you don’t own a DJI Mavic Air 2 or 2S. Perhaps more models will be catered for now the design has been launched – I've asked Insta360 if this might be the case, and will update this story when I hear back.

Editing the clips in the Insta360 Studio desktop app is much better than the phone app because you often have much more computing power on a desktop or laptop, not to mention a larger and more comfortable screen to work with. The problem is that the phone app includes more editing features, such as templates to create an inception-style Horizon Flip, Sky Transition or Dolly Zoom, which are currently unavailable in the desktop version.

The other issue with the phone app is that you have a small screen and editing is slow and glitchy when viewing footage over the Wi-Fi connection that connects the phone app to the Sphere. You can download footage over the Wi-Fi connection for smoother editing, but when I tried this the Sphere’s battery ran out before the download was completed, so it failed.

New perspectives

The Insta360 Sphere is without doubt an interesting and exciting drone accessory that could be a precursor for where drone camera technology is heading in the future. Image quality is good rather than amazing, but the Sphere does make it possible for anyone to create immersive FPV-style video footage fairly easily, and that’s what it’s designed to do.

It's a fantastic accessory if you’d like to capture and create FPV-style video footage without having to learn how to fly FPV, which experts say takes upwards of 50 hours of flight practice. You just have to remember that the Sphere connects to a standard Mavic Air 2 or Air 2S and requires slow, smooth and simple flight to capture the base footage required for adding the visual effects during editing.

Would I buy one? I am tempted because of the creative possibilities the Sphere opens up while I get to grips with flying real FPV drones. In terms of price, the Sphere isn’t cheap, but its pricing does fall in line with other 360-degree cameras, so it’s not a great surprise for it to come in at $423 / £440 / €510 /AU$749 for the standard kit. 

For some, this may be hard to justify on top of the cost of a compatible drone. But what can be achieved with basic drone video footage and little drone flying skill is truly remarkable. As long as you plan your shoots and think about how shots can be edited before shooting them, you’ll have a lot of fun.

Two-minute review

The Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition is a modular 360-degree action camera with unusually large image sensors. On each side of its lens module are two 1-inch sensors, which are much bigger than the ones we've seen in previous cameras like the Insta360 One X2.

This downsides of this approach are that the One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition is bigger and pricier than our current pick of the best 360 cameras, and lacks the ruggedness of some of the best action cameras. But does the image quality justify these drawbacks? If you're looking for the highest-possible quality from a consumer 360 camera, then the answer is most likely yes.

The main benefits of its larger sensors is higher dynamic range, which means better highlight retention, and superior low-light performance. The former is the most significant, as this still isn't a video camera that's particularly comfortable shooting at night. Once you crop into night-time scenes, the clarity gains over alternatives like the GoPro Max (and its 1/2.3in sensor) are marginal.

Still, despite its painfully long name, the One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition is a great example of what's now possible with 360 cameras. If you're not already familiar with them, 360 cameras let you capture the entire scene around you, then decide where to point the camera in a traditional 'flat' video afterwards.  

And one of the main benefits of Insta360's cameras is that its apps – for both desktop and mobile – are impressively intuitive and powerful. Thanks to features like object-tracking and automatic transitions between frames, the software is a real blast – and makes the crucial editing phase relatively simple even for those new to 360 cameras.

The downsides? Your audio options are still relatively limited and we think the One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition is far too expensive for many people to even consider. The ambitious design also has some significant compromises, including the fact that it's less rugged than standard action cameras (only offering, for example, IPX3-level water resistance).

Still, it does show that Insta360's modular tech isn't destined to become vaporware (like Motorola's Moto Mods or Google's Project Ara) and it is an impressive and fun-to-use camera. At least when you are not worrying about scratching its giant lenses.

Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition release date and price

The Insta360 ONE RS 1-Inch 360 Edition costs $800 / £810 / AU$1,299 all-in. This gets you all the bits and pieces you’ll see in this review, including the Core body, camera attachment, battery case, lens cap and mounting bracket.

Those who already own an Insta360 One RS can buy a package without the display module, saving $150 / £150 in the process. You can’t use the previous cameras’ batteries as the Insta360 ONE RS 1-Inch 360 unit has a bespoke design that fits the grip handle.

It was released at the end of June 2022, a little under two years after the Insta360 One X2, a comparable but cheaper 360-degree camera from the same company.

Design

• Slightly bulky, stick-like design
• Part of the One RS modular system
• Relatively limited IPX3 water resistance

The Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition comes in four bits, mirroring what you see in other Insta360 modular cameras. Its lens module is the showstopper. This plugs into the 'brainbox', which holds the screen and memory card. The battery sits at the bottom, and a slim shell sits around the lot, holding the blocks in place. 

The stick-like arrangement of the Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition’s modules makes the camera itself a grip. Just holding it solo places your hand far enough away from the lenses to produce usable footage, you just make to make sure to avoid rustling around the microphones, which sit in the middle brick. 

You also get a rubbery lens cap, which you’ll want to pop on whenever the Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 is not in use. This camera has pretty massive lenses, and they feel more vulnerable than those of either the GoPro Max or the Insta360 One X2. 

For a camera with a price that puts it out of the reach of many, it feel very friendly in use. However, its mounting suitability is not on-par with a classic GoPro. 

The Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition also only has IPX3 water resistance, meaning it can handle water sprays at up to 60 degrees off vertical. Rain is the limit, with 'light rain and snow' being the official line, and Insta360 has not yet announced an underwater/diving case for the camera. 

After a couple of minutes of shooting you’ll feel the camera start to get warm. This is normal, of course, but in this case the effect is exacerbated by your hands sitting over the main processor block and the battery. 

We’d also feel much less confident mounting the Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 to a helmet or handlebar than, for example, a GoPro Max. It weighs 239g according to our scales. This is only about 20% heavier than a perfectly ordinary phone, but it feels hefty.

Insta360 clearly intends you to get creative with mounts, though, because there’s a 1/4-inch threaded port on the bottom. It screws right into selfie sticks and tripods — no extra accessories required.

Interface

• The same interface style as previous Insta360 cameras
• Small screen can feel a bit fiddly
• But 360-degree shooting makes framing a non-issue

From the front and sides there’s very little sign that the Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition is modular. The outer shell has its own buttons that push in the controls on the main module, and they feel great. Power and shutter buttons sit near where your thumb naturally rests. It works best for right-handed folks, though, and the outer casing is not reversible. 

From the back, the Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition will become much more familiar to those who have used an Insta360 camera before. The outline of the classic display module is visible, and that brings the compromise we’ve mentioned in every Insta360 modular camera review. 

The preview image is far smaller than that of either a GoPro Hero 10 Black or GoPro Max, and the display itself is fairly low-res. However, this seems much less of an issue with the Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 than Insta360’s non-360-degree cameras. 

Here you compose the shot after capture, so the main consideration is where to point the lenses to avoid the focal point sitting anywhere near the 'seam' of the two cameras’ fields of view.

Insta360’s interface is starting to show its age, though. It is not dissimilar to the software of low-cost action cameras from brands most have never encountered, and lacks the swishy inertia-tinged animations GoPro uses. 

A year or so ago, the Insta360 style would sometimes seem refreshingly minimal and practical next to the rather slow and laggy GoPro style. But GoPro’s responsiveness improved significantly with the GoPro Hero 10 Black thanks to its new GP2 processor. 

Still, Insta360 expects you to do much less with the interface here as you shoot. You mostly just flick left and right on-screen to select the mode you want – video, stills, time-lapse and so on. It is a largely wide but shallow layout, which suits the small and fiddly touchscreen, where GoPro makes greater use of sub-menus.  

Performance and image quality

• Stabilization is excellent, as expected
• Better dynamic range than most 360 rivals
• Low-light image quality is only notable in the tripod StarLapse mode

You can be almost thoughtless when shooting with the Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition. How your footage looks is largely determined in the edit and Insta360’s FlowState stabilization is almost flawless. 

It has horizon-leveling, and as the image captured is a full sphere, there’s endless scope for moving the frame seen by the viewer to counter motion. There are some limitations – walk or run around with the Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 in your hand and it won’t look as if it’s attached to a camera track monorail, because there will be a bit of up-down motion even stabilization can’t mitigate. But we definitely have no complaints about the smoothness of footage. 

The main question on image quality is what do those larger one-inch sensors actually get you? It isn't extra resolution or frame-rates. 

5.7K resolution at 30fps is the Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition’s top capture mode, matching the GoPro Max and Insta360 One X2. There’s no 60fps mode even as you work your way down the resolutions either. 50fps is the max at 3K and there’s no lower resolution because this wouldn't give you enough information for crops into the 360-degree footage. Zoom in far enough and the picture will look very soft. It’s a larger sensor, not a magic sensor. 

There’s no slo-mo and – the part we’d like – no traditional 'flat' shooting mode. We don’t mean a Log style dynamic range-preserving shooting style, but a non-360 field of view that lets you generate ready-to-use files. Everything needs to be edited down from a 360-degree capture, and it makes the Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 less approachable than the GoPro Max. That GoPro can be used like a normal non-360 action camera when that’s what you need. 

Similarly, while there are neat TimeShift and TimeLapse modes, they can only be accessed through the Insta360 app. You can’t watch previews on the Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360’s screen or easily pull them off the microSD card. As is always the case, the GoPro experience is smoother than Insta360’s in some areas. 

But back to our original question: where are those 1-inch sensor benefits? We think the primary one is highlight retention, made possible through higher native dynamic range. 

This effect is seen most commonly in blown-out clouds. If you shoot an open blue sky shot with a few clouds, it’s not that much of an issue with the average action camera. But as soon as there’s enough partial foliage cover to make the camera bump up the exposure, action cameras tend to turn bright clouds into featureless white blobs. The Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 does this to a much lesser extent than our GoPro Max benchmark. 

Blown out clouds are still a thing here, but more contour detail is retained in those bright spots. 

A large sensor can also help at night but we were not that impressed by the Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition’s night shooting. The picture may look okay zoomed all the way out, but perform significant cropping to get a flat final video and everything looks pretty mushy at night. Clarity gains over the 1/2.3-inch sensor GoPro Max are marginal. 

To get a decent image in true low light you have to use the StarLapse mode. This combines long exposure stills, so is only suitable for tripod use and certain scenes.  Look at Insta360’s website and all the claims about amazing low-light appear to refer to this mode. 

We did, however, see significant benefits over the GoPro Max when walking around indoors – not in darkness, but in pretty dim lighting. The Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360’s picture was significantly cleaner than GoPro’s, with less dancing image noise over flat walls as you move around rooms.

The Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition also has the classic Insta360 approach to detail. It tries to preserve, or at least represent, fine detail much more than the GoPro Max does even at its 'high sharpness' setting. 

There are benefits and tradeoffs here. Edit a 6K-resolution 360-view capture down to a flat one in both cameras and the Insta360 clip will look more vital, with an almost 4K-like presentation – despite only outputting edited flat videos at 1080p. 

However, this very approach also leads to shimmering detail in textures as you move. Grass, brickwork, sidewalks and gravel paths are all affected pretty badly at times. There’s virtually none of this with the GoPro Max, because its entire approach is different – it aims for a slightly softer but more consistent image.

In other areas, the Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition is simply technically superior than its GoPro rival. For example, the Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 lens suffers from noticeably less chromatic aberration than the GoPro Max towards the join point of the two cameras, and is remarkably sharp right up to the camera borders. 

Most good 360-degree cameras are solid in this respect, but it means there’s less evidence of the seams when you do dramatic pans. 

What’s the takeaway? We think the most useful upgrade of the larger sensors is in helping to preserve highlights during daylight use. Unfortunately, action cameras are being thoroughly outpaced on the low light side by phones thanks to their more advanced software and processing, although the Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 will no doubt capture some decent night-time city scenes as long as you edit with a fairly wide field of view. 

Editing

• Insta360’s phone app is powerful and easy to use
• Insta360 Studio is also available for desktop use

The Insta360 editing process is a blast. You can do it using a desktop app called Insta360 Studio, or the standard phone app. 

We used the phone app – it puts powerful tools at your fingertips, but manages to make them intuitive to use. This relies on keyframes. As you flick through the video timeline you can pinch to zoom and move the field of view to tell the software where you want the camera view to be at any specific point. Transitions are calculated automatically, and if you want to massage them into a faster or lower transition you can do so by simply adding more keyframes. 

You can also use object tracking. It’s one of the options you’ll see whenever you establish a new keyframe. Draw a box around the object you want the Insta360 ONE RS 1-Inch 360 Edition to follow and the algorithm does the rest. You simply tell the app when you want the tracking to stop. It works remarkably well. 

MultiView is another option. This is a picture-in-picture mode for vlog-style videos. It uses face recognition to display a cropped section of, most likely, the person shooting the video. This should prove a hit for content creators who want for a multi-cam look while using a single camera. 

It could do with an elegant transition, rather than just popping in and out, but if you want MultiView you’ll probably want it for the whole clip. Insta360 also offers a desktop app, called Insta360 Studio, which is free to use.

Battery life

• Lasts for around an hour, as advertised
• We experienced USB connectivity issues
• No improvement to sound – use the mic adapter if audio is critical

Insta360 says the Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition battery lasts up to 62 minutes when shooting in the top 6K/30 mode. Does it? 

A 20-minute video took 29% off the battery, which suggests it will last up to 68 minutes. Considering battery reporting is rarely entirely exact and capture may stop before the battery is entirely dead, Insta360’s estimates seem accurate. 

The Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition can shoot stills. There’s an Auto mode, an HDR mode, and both offer a good amount of manual customization. You can manually control shutter speeds, the HDR effect and exposure bracketing.

Like most action cameras, though, stills shooting feels very slow. We also compared the results from an HDR image at maximum and minimum HDR settings, and saw virtually no difference between the two. Still, the images are good and HDR does make a big difference over standard shooting.

Audio quality is largely the same as that of the Insta360 One RS, because the central module with mic is the same. It’s okay, but nothing special, which is why Insta360 offers a microphone module that plugs into the USB-C port on the side. This lets you plug in your own mic using a 3.5mm socket. It isn't included, but does only cost an extra $19 / £21 / AU$49.

We did have some issues with the Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition during testing. It would not connect to any laptop we tried using the supplied USB-C to USB-A cable. Windows laptops said it was trying to draw too much power. MacBooks said it was “unreadable”. 

This was solved by using a USB-C to USB-C cable, which made the microSD storage turn up as a drive, as expected. We are not sure if this is a one-off, or a problem with the firmware. At one point our microSD memory card corrupted inside the camera, requiring a reformat. This may, or may not, be linked to the dodgy behavior when you try to plug the camera in. 

Most Insta360 cameras have flaky elements at launch, but the actual experience of shooting with the Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition was otherwise refreshingly stable overall. 

Should I buy the Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Big things really do come in eensy little packages: Insta360 has just revealed its new tiny 360-degree camera that can shoot videos in enormous 6K resolution.

It’s called the ONE RS 1-inch 360 Edition, which is quite the mouthful. It's essentially a direct upgrade to Insta360’s ONE RS camera from March 2022. The new camera is split across five main parts: the 360-degree lens itself, a lens cap, a mounting bracket, a battery, and a ONE RS Core.

The Core is what houses the major features, including a small screen to help set up a shot or configure the device. Compared to the older ONE RS model, the 360 Edition improves on three areas while migrating over notable features.

Brand new features

The biggest change comes in the form of two 1-inch CMOS sensors in the lens, which ensure that images come out as high quality as possible. These sensors let the camera record 360-degree videos in stunning 6K resolution and take photographs at 21MP. The 1-inch 360 Edition is also capable of shooting in low-light environments thanks to this hardware.

The device also includes a new PureShot HDR mode for photos. This mode utilizes AI and auto-exposure to increase image quality. The example images Insta360 provides sport very vibrant colors, and thanks to a camera feature, multiple photos can be melded together into wraparound shots. AI automates the editing process via Insta360 Shot Lab, the company says. The accompanying app lets people get creative with edits such as swapping out the sky for a different look or fast-forwarding footage with Cinelapse.

And the last major change is the battery pack -- called the Vertical Battery Base -- which Insta360 claims extends the lifespan. Without the pack, the 360 edition has a 1350mAh battery. We did ask Insta360 how long the battery will last with and without the pack as well as when it’ll be available. A standalone Battery Base is slated to launch later this year. The company has yet to respond to our request.

Making a comeback

Apart from these changes, a lot of the original One RS’s features make a comeback in the new camera. There’s FlowState Stabilization which, as you can probably guess, stabilizes the camera for smooth footage. Horizon Lock keeps the camera level to the horizon, no matter how much it moves. And there’s Invisible Selfie Stick, which edits out selfie sticks using AI.

There are also physical add-ons you can attach to the 360 Edition. In addition to the Battery Base, there’s a Quick Reader that you can use to transfer files to your phone. And a Mic Adapter, which allows the camera to connect to a 3.5mm microphone.

Since it’s packed with features, the ONE RS 1-inch 360 doesn’t come cheap. In fact, it’s one of the more expensive 360 cameras out there. Prices start at $799.99. It’s also possible to upgrade the older ONE RS camera by buying the 360 Lens Upgrade Bundle. The bundle comes with the new lens, mounting bracket, and Battery Base for $649.99. You’ll just have to reuse the ONE RS Core. 

If that $800 price point scares you, TechRadar has a list of the best 360 cameras for 2022 -- which does include some cheaper options.

Insta360's cameras are always a refreshing blast of originality, but its new Sphere accessory for DJI drones takes their fun, immersive video capabilities to new heights. It piggybacks on the DJI Air 2S and Mavic Air 2 to help you create unique effects, including mind-bending, Inception-style videos.

The Sphere promises to bring the unique skills of 360 cameras to the skies for the first time. These all-seeing cameras typically use two 200-degree lenses, which bring two benefits. First, the redundancy between those two lenses lets you use software to remove objects like selfie sticks and, in this case, drones. This is why Insta360 is billing the Sphere as an "invisible drone".

Shooting 360-degree video also provides a super-wide field of view that software can mould into weird and wonderful video effects. Check out Insta360's sample video below for a taster – it shows off city-bending effects similar to the ones we saw in the sci-fi classic Inception back in 2010.

These teasers come with a few caveats, though. First, it isn't clear how much editing has gone into the city-based shots. Also, most regions have pretty restrictive laws around flying drones in built-up areas, so it's likely that you'd need to get special permissions to be able to create shots like these.

Still, the Insta360 Sphere does look like a fascinating accessory for DJI drone fans to play with – as long you live in the US or mainland China, which are the only places where it'll initially be going on sale.

The more likely use case is simply being able to shoot 5.7K/30p videos in an FPV (first-person view) style, thanks to the ability to quickly switch the angle of view using Insta360's post-processing Studio software and app (for iOS and Android). The wide angle of view also lets you bring an extra dose of video stabilization to your clips, although the Air 2S and Mavic Air 2 are already pretty good in this department.

The Sphere itself clips around those two drones and weighs in at 192g. Insta360 told us that your drone's battery life will be reduced by about 20% thanks to that added weight, which means you'll want to pack some spares. Both of the compatible DJI drones have flight times of just over 30 minutes without the Sphere attached.

As intriguing as the Sphere is, its pricing and availability will initially make it pretty niche. It'll be available to buy for $429 (around £345 / AU$600) from May 24 in the US and mainland China, and it's only compatible with the DJI Air 2S and Mavic Air 2. Still, we're very much looking forward to seeing what early adopters do with it.

Analysis: the ultimate DJI drone accessory?

In the hyper-competitive world of social media one-upmanship, Insta360's cameras have been a useful tool for creators looking to create spectacular, viral videos – and the Sphere stretches the 360 camera concept to the limit.

On one hand, the kind of video tools that are now available to amateur creators is pretty mind-blowing. In the US, buying a DJI Air 2S (our top pick for the title of best drone) and an Insta360 Sphere will cost a total of $1,428 – not small change, but not exhorbitantly pricey either considering the kind of aerial videos and photos the setup can create.

The Sphere does also have a few practical limitations, though, which are easy to overlook in the face of Insta360's dazzling promotional clips. Once you're done editing and reframing its videos, the quality means they'll be most at home on social media feeds or YouTube rather than the big screen. The sheer size of the files can also make the editing process pretty demanding on your laptop or computer.

Insta360 also told us the the Sphere "has been developed and will be sold by Insta360 without any involvement from DJI". This means it isn't an authorized accessory, which could have ramifications for your drone's warranty or insurance in the case of an incident. 

Still, Insta360 did add that that "extensive tests and trials have been conducted for the development of Sphere" and that the accessory "doesn’t impede the drone's balance or GPS system, nor will it interfere with the flights". Insta360 also has a good track record of producing polished hardware like the Insta360 One RS and added that "extensive tests and trials have been conducted for the development of Sphere".

So will Insta360 eventually launch the Sphere in other regions? It told us that "we’d definitely consider launching it in more countries and regions in the future". Let's hope that's the case, as we're primed and ready to create our home-brewed Inception sequel. 

• I swapped my wedding photographer for a 360 camera – and the risk paid off

While preparing for my wedding, one question I didn’t expect to hear so regularly was, “who’s filming the ceremony?” The answer that I gave was equally unexpected: “I’m recording it myself. With a 360 camera.” 

But that’s exactly what I did. After the cost of the photography team left us sweating with fear for our financial stability, the idea of shelling out further for a full videography setup was simply out of the question.

Don’t get me wrong: I understand the value – and appreciate the work – of imaging professionals, especially at events as significant as weddings. If money was no object, my wife and I would have loved to have a movie of our big day captured in 4K. I can see it now: the soft focus as we walk down the aisle, the artful bokeh as champagne glasses clink, the slow-mo of me stumbling on the dance floor.

Alas, as for so many couples on the path to marital bliss, money was an object. So instead of breaking the budget in the name of frame rates, I instead had the bright idea to use a 360-degree camera to record every angle of the ceremony. 

Fully-charged, positioned on a tripod halfway up the aisle and operated with military discipline by my best man, it still wouldn’t capture the creative angles or full-frame quality that a videographer could. But it would record every word and wiped eye at our wedding, for quite a lot less cash. At least, that was the plan.

Why did I choose a 360 camera?

Having decided to film our own wedding, a 360 camera was the obvious tool for the job. Sure, a standard DSLR or mirrorless camera on a fixed tripod could have captured a clear angle of the ceremony. But in the right position, a 360 camera would offer unrivaled immersion by shooting the entirety of the nuptial scene – audience and all.

More than a spherical novelty, it would also give me unlimited editing options after the fact. I’d be able to crop in on flat frames from anywhere within the resulting 360 footage.

So I could select and export footage of my beautiful wife arriving, then pan the video around to save a clip of my father-in-law simultaneously dabbing his eyes. 

And because it would capture the whole spectacle by itself, a 360 camera could be set and left with minimal hassle. Which is the gold standard for any wedding day plan.

The 360 wedding setup

Three contenders vied for the videography job: the GoPro Max, the Insta360 One R Twin Edition and the Insta360 One X2. Each put forward compelling pitches, but the One X2 won the gig for several reasons. 

Its interface is accessible, even with hands made wobbly by wedding nerves. Its understated design wouldn’t distract guests from the main event. It also produces dynamic 360 footage that’s seamlessly stitched, while the smartphone app is one of the most comprehensive for creative editing. Plus it can shoot standard widescreen video at 1440p using one lens. It’s significantly less expensive than a videography team, too – and unlike a videography team, I can take it on the honeymoon.

Cleverly, the One X2 can also remove Insta360’s ‘invisible’ attachments from footage using automatic masking. Fitted atop the '2-in-1 Invisible Selfie Stick + Tripod', for example, the mount magically disappears as if Casper is holding the camera. The stand itself is ideal for wedding duties: much less bulky than a traditional tripod, its flip-out feet and low profile meant it flew under the radar while standing to one side of the aisle.

Completing the package was a microSD card fast enough to cope with the demands of processing 360 footage and large enough to keep recording even if proceedings ran over. On Insta360’s recommendation, I opted for a 64GB SanDisk Extreme Pro V30 A1 card. I also doubled up with a second microSD card and backup battery – the idea being that I could quickly switch in the fresh accessories between the ceremony and the speeches. 

My Insta360 One X2 bundle also included a simple but indispensable rubber lens cap. Those big glass eyes are vulnerable to scratches and, with the camera due to stand in wait while setup went on around it, the extra protection made sense.

How well did it work?

On a day with a million moving parts, the Insta360 One X2 was mercifully easy to work with. A few hours prior to proceedings, I was able to enjoy a moment of solitary reflection at the ceremony venue: reflecting on where to position the camera. 

The Insta360 One X2 has a neat circular touchscreen, which proved handy for on-the-spot framing later in the evening. But to be sure I had it in the best position for the ceremony, I paired it with my smartphone via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for a live 360 preview feed through the app. After a bit of panning and shuffling, I settled on a spot at the end of the first row of chairs. This gave the closest thing to a head-on aspect, without obstructing the aisle – or anyone’s sightline.

I opted not to change the camera from its standard settings: full-round 5.7K footage at 30fps is the Insta360 One X2’s best – and with no extreme sports listed in the program, it was just what we needed. I also kept its FlowState stabilization smarts enabled, to counter any swaying of the slender tripod pole if things got breezy.

The walkthrough with my wingman was painless: press the power button, press the record button, wait for the red light. True, we could’ve employed a smartphone to trigger the video, but that would’ve still required the camera to be switched on. Equally, we could’ve used Insta360’s GPS Smart Remote, but that would’ve meant extra expense. 

In reality, there was reassurance in the simplicity – and in the physical confirmation that the right buttons had been pushed and the light was blinking. Especially as I would be hiding in a different room, my inner control-freak itching but unable to check the setup for myself.

And it worked without a hitch. It wasn’t my top priority when I made my grand entrance (honest), but it was a relief to glance at the recording light and see that the little 360 camera had everything covered. And because it did, guests could keep their smartphones away and simply enjoy the moment. It also meant we didn’t have the pressure of a second set of barrels bearing down on us, the shutterbugs from the photography team already trained on my every awkward expression.

In a quiet minute after the formalities were concluded, I came back for the camera. Having been left to run for around an hour, it had maxed out its memory card and switched itself off. I swapped out the microSD, reminded myself that now wasn’t the time to review the footage, fitted the backup cell and nipped through to the reception area to position it for the speeches. Thanks to the endorphins and bubbly now in my bloodstream, I was a little less fastidious with positioning it this time. Luckily, the Insta360 One X2 offers champagne-proof accessibility.

How did I edit my 360 wedding video?

One of the main reasons for selecting the Insta360 One X2 was its excellent smartphone app. Available for free, it features a raft of tools for creative tweaking. While it’s possible to save the spherical footage – meaning I can re-live my wedding day at any time by strapping on a set of VR goggles – the more useful export for most people (myself included) is a flat frame taken from within the 360 video.

When you’ve recorded something as important as your wedding, there’s an inherent fear of corrupting or losing the footage. Having suffered a mild heart attack when I couldn’t find the Insta360 One X2 on the morning after the wedding (foiled by my own late-night brainwave to hide it in a shoe), I made sure to back up the files twice before doing anything else – both to a hard drive and to the cloud. Which, given the sheer size of 360 video, required a lot of space and bandwidth.

That file size almost makes hefty demands of a smartphone. There wasn’t enough space on my iPhone X to save the footage to local storage, so I had to stream video from the Insta360 One X2 during the edit. Which pushed the limits of wireless transfer rates – and caused my iPhone to sweat harder than I did at any point on my wedding day.

But stutters aside, the Insta360 app made a potentially overwhelming process into something intuitive. There’s a lot to digest (so many expressions on display) and the task is obviously more involved than if I’d left the editing to a professional outlet. 

Even so, the process of exploring the 360 footage, dropping pins to highlight key moments and watching as the app automatically transitions between positions in the resulting edit doesn’t get old. Likewise, the app’s subject-tracking and auto-framing smarts work like magic.

If you’re more of a real-time director, you can set the app to record your path as you pan around the footage. I can never get this quite right, as it requires fingers defter than my own to pinch and zoom smoothly. But because the original video is endlessly editable, I’m enjoying the continued experiment – finding something new each time I rewatch.

Exporting proved straightforward and pretty speedy, even when I was streaming source material from the camera. Color enhancements did lead to longer processing times, but also made for more vibrant results.

What would I have done differently?

Looking at the footage captured by the Insta360 One X2, I’m fundamentally chuffed with the decision to film our own wedding day. The result is an immersive video that we can watch again and again, noticing something different every time we do. Arguably just as important is the fact that capturing it was easy and didn’t interrupt the day.

That said, there were obviously compromises involved. Even with a full sphere of coverage, some moments were missed. For example, while you can see me arriving on a Royal Enfield in front of the ceremony venue (yes, really), it takes place too far from the camera to crop in for a clear shot. Though the Insta360 One X2 shoots at a 5.7K resolution, those pixels are spread across the full 360, so you simply can’t zoom in beyond a certain point.

A second 360 camera was in no way a necessity, but it would have been a nice luxury. Knowing now how simple it was to set up a single Insta360 One X2, an additional camera would’ve introduced minimal extra stress, while giving a welcome second angle of proceedings. Then again, it would’ve meant twice as much footage to download and review.

In truth, the only thing I wish I’d done is record more of the reception. With Insta360’s Extended Edition Selfie Stick, for example, I could’ve captured some drone-like shots of the hopping courtyard dance floor. And if I was a risk-taker, I could have dared to try a spinning slow-mo shot by whipping the Bullet Time Cord around above my head. 

But after all the planning that went into our wedding, I also forgive myself for enjoying the party, rather than fiddling around with camera gear. After all, I’ve got a lifetime of wedded happiness to spend doing that.

• How I shot Tesla's viral Gigafactory video with my FPV drone

Two-minute review

The Insta360 One RS is a modular action camera and the follow-up to the Insta360 One R from early 2020. This new model looks a lot like the old one, but just about everything has changed at least a little.

The One RS has a new battery base, plus a fresh camera lens/sensor module with a larger sensor chip. There's also a new central module with a faster processor, newer-spec Wi-Fi and a redesigned mic array. 

The Insta360 One RS fixes all of the workflow issues present when we reviewed the Insta360 One R two years ago. Good in-camera stabilization means no phone app post-processing is required. You can pull footage right off the camera, which shows up as a disk drive when plugged into a PC or Mac. 

This camera's image quality is better in numerous ways, too. The software stabilization no longer causes strange image distortions, the HDR video mode is ghosting-free from our tests, and the integrity of detail rendering off into the distance is improved. 

We frequently like the videos shot with the Insta360 One RS more than those of the GoPro Hero 10 Black, even though GoPro still has better processing in some respects. At 4K resolution, Insta360’s footage comes across more detailed, even though fine detail will typically have lesser fidelity than GoPro’s when you look right down at its constituent pixels. You can read more about this in the 'image quality' section of the review below. 

The Insta360 One RS also, crucially, retains compatibility with the existing lens modules. These are the 1-inch sensor and the 360-degree mod, which can be bought in a double pack with the new 4K camera block – the default lens of the One RS.  

Should you buy a Insta360 One RS instead of a GoPro Hero 9 Black or Hero 10 Black? Only if you’re going to buy into the modular concept. While the preview screen here is ultra-bright, it is tiny, and image issues like purple color noise and aliasing may cause headaches, even if the footage seems – to our eyes – often more engaging that what our GoPro spits out. 

Insta360 One RS price and release date

The Insta360 One RS launched in March 2022, two years after the Insta360 One R. 

A standard package costs $299.99 / £279.99 / AU$569. That includes the 4K Boost Lens, battery and main unit. The Twin Edition adds a 360-degree lens and costs $549.99 / £499.99 / AU$919.99. You can also get the Insta360 One R with the 1-inch Wide Angle lens for $549.99 / £499.99 / AU$919.99. 

The basic bundle is the same price as that of the last generation, but there’s a jump in the cost of the dual-module bundle – up from $479.99. Judging by the 4K-only kit, the Insta360 One RS is cheaper than the GoPro Hero 10 Black, the DJI Action 2 and even the GoPro Hero 9 Black, making it pretty appealing. 

Design and display

• 5m water resistance
• Three-part modular design
• Small 1.5in screen

For this first section we're going to assume you don’t already know about the old Insta360 One R, because the designs of the two cameras are very similar. The Insta360 One RS is split into three sections. 

The base block holds the battery. It is the Lego-like foundation of the camera, into which the sensor/lens block and the main camera brain section lock. 

Modular designs are typically larger than 'standard' ones, but the Insta360 One RS’s dimensions are very similar to those of the GoPro Hero 9 Black and 10 Black. It is waterproof to 5m depth – that's only half that of a recent GoPro, but still impressive for a modular design.

You should use the outer case if you are going to go near water, though. It’s a classic action camera cage that adds some extra insurance, because you can pull the two top modules apart slightly without disconnecting the battery base. There’s just one flap on the side, which covers the microSD slot and the USB-C charge/mic adapter socket. 

The Insta360 One RS’s main module, the one with the screen, has two sockets on its inner side, used to connect to the lens modules. This makes the design reversible, so you can see the preview image whether shooting traditional footage or in vlog style. 

This seemed a very neat feature in early 2020, just a short while after the DJI Osmo Action gave us a dual-display action camera option. But today we’re two generations into dual-screen GoPros, and a small preview image is one of the biggest sacrifices involved here. 

The Insta360 One RS has a 1.5-inch square screen. It’s a tiny little thing, and its aspect ratio means only a portion of the display is used for the preview image when shooting widescreen video.

As such, the Insta360 One RS’s screen feels like little more than a tool to check framing and the angle of shooting. These are the most important elements, of course, but with a more traditional large widescreen display you get much more of a sense of how the video is likely to look as you shoot it. 

This makes the Insta360 One RS less fun to use than a GoPro. One solution is to use the Insta360 app on your phone, making its screen deliver the preview image. Doing this is mostly painless. There’s a slight lag thanks to wireless transmission, but during testing Insta360’s connection was far more stable than the GoPro Hero 9 Black we used as a comparison throughout the review period. 

However, you lose the sense of immediacy of shooting directly from the camera. And using a phone app use just is not going to be feasible on many occasions when you need to use an action camera.

Stabilization

• In-camera stabilization is now the norm
• Highly effect stabilization, just a little below GoPro’s
• Post-processed stabilization available at 4K/30p

When the Insta360 One R arrived, you had to process your videos through the Insta360 app to get stabilization. This effectively meant your phone was doing the work. In-camera stabilization was added in an update, but this time it’s the norm from day one. 

Insta360’s stabilization is called FlowState, and it’s used by default in most modes. There is a “Post” mode that lets you apply stabilization in the app on your phone or PC instead, but this is limited to 4K/30p for some reason. 

FlowState has provided great results for a couple of years now, and it's no different in the Insta360 One RS. It can successfully smooth-out vigorous motion, the footfalls of runners and the rumble of a bike on rough terrain.

Is it as good as GoPro’s HyperSmooth? A Hero 9 Black in its Boost mode is significantly better at countering lateral motion. But when you look a little closer, this is no surprise. GoPro’s latest Hero cameras have a wider-angle lens than the Insta360 One RS, while its most commonly used 'wide' digital lens actually has a narrower fields of view than the Insta360 One RS’s wide FoV. 

GoPro has a little more to work with, with more 'unused' sensor information to smooth out motion – so it has a natural advantage.  

You do have some control over the Insta360 One RS’s stabilization. There are 'default' and 'high' modes. The latter doesn't eat into your image more, so must simply use a more advanced algorithm – Insta360 warns that it may reduce the responsiveness of shooting and the preview image.  

We didn't see a huge difference between the two when shooting wide-angle video, though. Fingers' crossed 'high' is a precursor to a future horizon-leveling feature, already available in the GoPro Hero 10 Black and DJI Action 2. 

Features and modes

• Decent slo-mo modes
• HDR photography is good, but requires phone app
• Fast-to-use interface

The Insta360 One RS can shoot stills, but we wouldn’t recommend buying one for the job. Shooting feels quite slow, with a notable wait between each exposure as the camera processes/saves the files. It’s much like other action cameras in this respect.

It can shoot entirely decent HDR images, but you need to let the Insta360 app actually compile them. Try to dig them straight out of the camera and you’ll just find the separate exposures that are used to make the final picture. 

Other stills modes include burst, interval delay and night, which requires a tripod. 

Additional video modes include Time-lapse, Timeshift and Slo-mo. The first two speed up action. You’d typically use Time-lapse to shoot something that happens slowly, like a sunset, where the camera is kept still. You choose how often to capture a frame, from every half a second to one frame every two minutes. 

Timeshift can be used much more casually. Just treat it like a normal video, then choose your field of view and speed in the Insta360 app on your phone. This is one area GoPro does better, automatically adjusting the speed based on what happens 'on screen'. But Insta360’s version still gets you the basics and looks good in motion.

Slo-mo falls behind the DJI Action 2 and GoPro Hero 10 Black quite significantly. There’s no 4K slo-mo, beyond being able to turn 60fps footage into a half-speed 30fps video in post. You can shoot at 2.7K resolution at 100fps, or 1080p at 200/120fps. 4K at 120fps is the gold standard, and the Insta360 One RS does not reach it. 

There are some neat features for the more serious video shooter, though. There’s a flat Log color mode for standard video shooting (as well as Vivid/Standard color modes). Insta360 provides easy access manual controls too. Just swipe right-to-left on the preview screen and you can set that color mode as well as shutter speed, ISO, exposure and white balance (note: only white balance is available in HDR video shooting). 

Insta360’s software interface is less flashy than GoPro’s, but we find it easier to navigate. While we haven’t directly compared the One RS to the Hero 10 Black yet, it suffers from less lag than the last-gen Hero 9 Black and is much smoother than the One R, too. 

New for this generation, Insta360 has added a quick selection “Q” menu, where you store favorite presets. We have mostly ignored them, though, because changing settings manually on the fly is quite snappy. Considering how tiny the Insta360 One RS’s screen is, it's a miracle that it's this coherent to operate. 

The Insta360 One RS also has 'digital lenses', letting you pick from four presets between 20mm and 29mm. There’s also a free zoom slider that goes all the way up to 50mm, but video shot at 50mm looks pretty bad. 

Image quality

• Great sharpness at 4K
• Some shimmering and aliasing
• Genuinely useful HDR video mode

There is no single verdict to be given on the Insta360 One RS’s image quality, because it can be used with a bunch of different lens and sensor combos. You can plug the 1-inch sensor module from the One R, the long-standing 360-degree mod, or even the original default 4K camera. 

For this review we mostly used the new 4K Boost Lens. This ups the resolution from 12MP in old 4K Wide Angle mod to 48MP. However, it's important to acknowledge what kind of sensor this is. 

Insta360 hasn’t told us the exact chip used, but it will likely be a phone-style sensor where the design is intended for 12MP readout, with a Quad Bayer array. In other words, don’t expect a massive detail boost over the Insta360 One R or GoPro Hero 10 Black. 

This is primarily a 4K resolution action camera. It can shoot at up to 60 frames per second at 4K. While there is a 6K ultra-widescreen mode that shoots at 6016 x 2560 pixel resolution, this appears to use the full width of the sensor and therefore lacks any form of software stabilization. It’s also a less-than-common aspect ratio, and less useful than the 5.7K modes of the most recent GoPros. 

However, to our eyes the Insta360 One RS’s 4K footage looks sharper than the GoPro Hero 9 Black’s. This seems to have more to do with the varying aims of their image processing than the capabilities of the hardware. 

Insta360’s footage appears less smoothed-out, less preened. Viewed on a large screen this leads to it appearing more detailed, even if some of this is in actuality is down to image data that sits somewhere between true detail and camera noise, particularly in tight, distant textures.

However, the Insta360 One RS does exhibit some issues you just don't see in a GoPro. These include aliasing, particularly cast off small highlight areas like reflections on cars. You will also see shimmering in tight patterned areas, like the roof tiles of buildings and gravel. We don’t see any of this shimmering or aliasing in the GoPro video. 

Which is better? A GoPro nets you footage with fewer issues, and often a more pleasant warm color tone, but there’s an open and airy quality to the Insta360 One RS’s 4K video that we just don’t see from the Hero 9 Black. 

It’s an odd case of looser processing leading to charming results, something you can only really appreciate when seeing the footage in motion, because when analyzing frames down at pixel level, the GoPro almost always seems superior. This is particularly true of far-away objects like bushes, or that shimmering gravel we already mentioned. The Insta360 is more prone to rendering unrealistic looking patterns in these visual features than the steadfastly consistent GoPro – but the negative part you'll notice in motion is that shimmer. 

We do see some significant improvement in this area since the One R and the original 4K camera mod, though. That combo would tend to show detail fizzing in and out of existence when, for example, shooting a runner or cyclist traveling along a gravel path. This has mostly been solved, with a smoother transition from foreground to background. 

Use the Insta360 One RS in its standard Video mode and its dynamic range in some conditions is slightly worse than the GoPro Hero 9 Black’s – we noticed this only when shooting into a bright hazy sky and the two are otherwise comparable. This is likely thanks to GoPro’s tone mapping. However, the Insta360 One RS can get a significant upper hand if you switch to its Active HDR mode. 

It’s a big upgrade over the Insta360 One R’s HDR video, with virtually no evidence of ghosting this time. This suggests it may use DOL-HDR, where two exposures are captured in one read-out sweep of the camera sensor. In this same hazy sky scene where the GoPro had the upper hand with Auto shooting, the One RS's HDR mode takes an easy victory with a much more vibrant, less noisy-looking foreground.

You shouldn’t use HDR all the time, though. It’s limited to 30fps at 4K resolution and in lots of situations HDR video looks too much like the HDR photos from much earlier generations of phones, with less realistic-looking mid-tones and a hit to color fidelity. It also highlights the purple fringing that is a regular issue with the camera, where three branches against the sky have a violet aura to them. 

Much like the processing style that can make your footage look more alive, at the cost of texture shimmering and aliasing that may need to be fixed in post, HDR is a tool that puts the onus of responsibility on you.

As with all action cameras, the Insta360 One RS’s low-light image quality is poor. But it is less of a mess than the GoPro Hero 9 Black we compared it to, with noticeably less splotchy noise even at the camera’s maximum 6400 ISO setting (at 4K/30p). 

Sound and battery life

• Additional sound modes, but no huge improvement in sound quality
• Has an additional microphone compared to its predecessor
• Around 75 minutes of 4K video capture (with 4K lens)

Insta360 has changed the mic layout for the One RS, adding an additional microphone to allow for more sound modes. As well as wind noise reduction, you can choose Stereo or Directional Enhancement. These two will play with how the sound recorded by the two right/left mics in the central module sits in the final audio mix. 

It’s nice to have, but actual sound quality seems more of a sideways step from the One R. There is lesser treble and upper-mid clarity in this new mic setup, and both dynamic range and sound quality in general are not close to the GoPro Hero 9 Black or Hero 10 Black.

The Insta360 One RS also has a new battery, a slightly larger one with capacity of 1,445mAh instead of the old 1,190mAh. There's good news for fans considering the upgrade: the older batteries fit the new kit just fine (although the outer shell obviously won’t as the new battery is slightly taller). 

It lets the Insta360 One RS last up to 75 minutes when shooting 4K/60 video. This is similar to the GoPro Hero series, although less than the DJI Action 2 with its front touchscreen module in tow. 

Insta360 says you will be able to use your One RS camera as a webcam, but this feature was not available with our pre-release software. This company’s cameras often feel a bit like work-in-progress efforts when we come to review them, but the Insta360 One RS is one of the most solid we’ve tried at launch to date. We encountered just one crash/hang, where the camera refused to start video capture. A reset sorted it out. 

Should I buy the Insta360 One RS?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

• These are the best action cameras you can buy right now

It's been almost a decade since Ricoh introduced one of the first 360-degree cameras, and now it's made a new Theta model that brings a few useful, if not entirely unique, features.

The Theta X is a built around two 48MP sensors and twin lenses that can together capture 60MP spherical photos or 5.7K/30p video. But the usability upgrades from other Theta cameras, like the flagship Theta Z1, include a handy 2.25-inch touchscreen, interchangeable batteries and expandable memory.

While we've seen large touchscreens on 360 cameras before, like the Kandao QooCam 8K, this is the first time one has been included on a Ricoh Theta camera. It's a big usability perk because it lets you preview scenes and view 360-degree photos on the camera, rather than relying on a companion app on your smartphone.

Other bonuses on the Theta X include a comparatively premium magnesium alloy body, the ability to power the camera from external batteries via its USB-C port while recording, and built-in GPS for geotagging your creations. Because the camera is built on Android OS, it's also open to third-party plug-ins from creators, to expand its functionality.

This customizability has been one of the main appeals of Ricoh Theta cameras, as the plug-ins let you tailor the camera according your specific workflow. For example, you can add wireless livestreaming without the need for a PC, or get the camera to automatically blur faces that are in shot. 

These kinds of features, and the Ricoh Theta X's price tag, mean it's aiming the camera more at commercial users than your average content creator or traveller, but it certainly looks like a versatile all-rounder. You'll be able to buy it from March for $799 / £899 (around AU$1,700).

Analysis: a new age for 360 cameras?

The question that usually arises when a new 360 camera launches is 'who is it for'? While rivals from Insta360 are clearly aimed at content creators, it seems the Ricoh Theta X is looking for a home in businesses.

Ricoh says the pandemic has created a greater need for immersive images and virtual tours, so it's made the Theta X for shooting 360-degree photos and video in areas like real estate, construction and the automotive industries.

This explains why the Theta X goes so big on flexibility, with the removable batteries and microSD slot helping it keep going all day in when it's on work duty. Ricoh also says the camera's real-time processing will help reduce editing times, which can be lengthy for 360-degree video footage.

When the original Theta first launched in 2013 it was mainly aimed at artists and creators, but 360 cameras back then struggled with limited editing techniques, and a lack of platforms on which to view your creations.

In the past few years, though, their appeal has been the ability to direct where the camera 'looks' in a traditional video using post-processing, long after you've got home. This is the strength of Insta360's cameras, and while the Ricoh Theta X seems to instead be targeting the alternative need for businesses to create virtual tours in socially-distanced world, both are compelling use cases that could finally see 360-degree cameras find their niche in 2022.

• These are the world's best 360 cameras

If you took one look at the new Insta360 Go 2 action camera and thought “wow, that kind of looks like a Minion,” then you’re thinking along the same lines as Insta360, which has created a charming, official Minions-skinned variant of its new action camera. 

Of course, the Minions brand is no stranger to putting its name and face on pretty much everything including board games, Crocs and even microwavable plush toys. And the vast landscape of Minions merchandise arguably eclipses the movies they originate from. 

But this tie-in with the Insta360 Go 2, a tiny action camera that already has Minion-like looks, makes a lot of sense and is one of the better movie-tech mashups we’ve seen in a while.

• A Mario movie from the makers of Minions is in the works
• Insta360 One R 1-inch edition review
• Read our in-depth Insta360 Go 2 review

One of the best things about the special edition is that it’s built around a very good action camera, with our Insta360 Go 2 review praising its great image quality and sturdy, compact design. In fact, we think the Insta360 Go 2 Minions Edition could be a good gift for a child, if you’re prepared to pay the slight premium over the standard version.

For all the ire that the Minions often draw with its abundance of merchandise, at least the brand is being tied to a genuinely good product here and one that feels a good fit. The device’s form factor and prominent lens already lend themselves to Minions comparisons – and it sure beats some of the previous attempts we’ve seen at injecting movie character charm into an existing gadget.

Movie mashups

So how does the Insta360 Go 2 Minions Edition stack up against its movie-tech predecessors? Pretty well, to be honest. The Insta360 Go 2 Minions Edition is at least a conscious effort to add a bit of family-oriented appeal to a genuinely great piece of tech.

It’s certainly more appealing than the nightmarish WowWee Homersapien from 2007 (above): a cool programmable robot on its own, but a bizarre Simpsons reskin that definitely gave us the creeps.

The Star Wars Sphero BB-8 (from 2015) fared much better, because it at least looks like what it’s supposed to be (and actually was a lot of fun), despite being slightly pricier than an Insta360 Go 2 Minions Edition.

Still, even the above two examples are leagues ahead of what licensed gadgets used to be. Remember the Barbie-themed laptop or (shudder) MP3 player? Or before that, Samsung’s SPH-N270 (below), a super-tacky tie-in for The Matrix Reloaded that made us pine even more for the Nokia 7110 ‘bananaphone’ that starred in the original. 

A lot of licensed tie-ins with gadgets have typically been aimed at young children, like Leapfrog’s Leapster range of handheld devices, which featured countless licensed tie-ins in the form of cartridges offering a variety of interactive edutainment games.

While these are well-meaning given the target audience, it’s a different world entirely than what Insta360 is offering with its Minions Edition camera, which could start a trend of introducing a vlogging hobby to a younger audience.

The Insta360 Go 2 Minions Edition wearable action camera retails for $329 (around £240 / AU$430), but unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your feelings toward the bean-shaped rascals) it's only available for purchase in the US, Canada, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and mainland China right now.

That means the Insta360 Go 2 Minions Edition is actually slightly more expensive than the regular model (which costs $299 /£294.99 / $479.99AUD), but it's not too big a premium for what is a pretty comprehensive reskin that extends to the action camera's handy new charging case.

• These are the best vlogging cameras you can buy right now

Two-minute review

The Insta360 Go 2 is a tiny camera that you can mount to almost anything, and yet still manages to capture high-quality stabilized video.

This successor to the Insta360 Go has all the benefits of the original, irons out some of the compromises and adds a stack of important features.

Most of these new Insta360 Go 2 features revolve around the case. The first Insta360 Go’s case was just for charging and plugging into an iPhone.

This second-generation one is a completely different affair. It has buttons, a mini mode screen, it flips open to become a holder for the camera. And it even has built-in legs, turning it into a tripod. What the Insta360 Go 2 lacks in innovation around its form factor, it makes up for with smart additions and drastic usability improvements.

Sure, it tops out at 1440p resolution, but this needn’t be a deal-breaker as its image quality impresses. It’s a leveling-up over the original, and can capture detail similar to a GoPro Hero 9 Black in many situations.

Is it the perfect micro action camera? No. The lack of a preview display is a big issue for a non-360 camera, and while the workflow is improved over some earlier Insta360 cams, it is still not as quick-to-use as a GoPro. 

However, the Insta360 Go 2 is a case study in what a second-generation product should be. It takes what made the original special, and improves upon it in almost every conceivable way. Carry on reading for a deeper look at modes, image quality and features, and one thing we’d like to see in an Insta360 Go 3.

Insta360 Go 2 price and release date 

The Insta360 Go 2 was announced in March 2021, 18 months after the original Go. 

It is significantly more expensive than its predecessor, though. The Insta360 Go 2 costs $299 /£294.99 / $479.99AUD, up from $200 for the original. 

This pushes it uncomfortably close to the cost of the GoPro Hero 8 Black. And if the micro-size design of the Insta360 Go 2 isn’t essential, a more traditional camera like that may be a better buy for you.

However, the Insta360 Go 2’s improvements in image quality and usability arguably justify the added cost.

Design

Let’s start with a primer on how the Insta360 Go 2 operates. We’re going to assume you have no knowledge of the original Insta360 Go here. 

The Insta360 Go 2 is a tiny action camera, of a shape and size not dissimilar to a classic USB stick. This lozenge contains all of its core electronics. There’s a lens, a sensor, a battery, the processor, 32GB storage and a hidden shutter button on the front so you can operate the camera solo.

You get three mounts in the box. The pendant is a necklace with a magnetised plate that holds the Insta360 Go 2 in place. Wear this pendant under a shirt and the camera sticks there, as if stitched into the fabric.

The Easy Clip has a gripper that can be attached to caps or backpack straps. And the Pivot Stand has an adhesive back that can be stuck to whatever you like. 

There’s no bike mount, but you get the sense the Insta360 Go 2 is made for situations where a standard action camera might be too big or too conspicuous. And you can get a universal mount adapter that will play nice with generic or GoPro mount accessories. 

Perhaps we’re video dinosaurs but we also think not having a screen is still the primary reason not to buy the Insta360 Go 2. You can’t compose your image and, unlike a good 360-degree camera, your ability to fix things in ‘post’ is limited. 

This isn’t a dig at Insta360. It makes plenty of action cameras with screens. But you should have a good think about this issue before buying an Insta360 Go 2. You just don’t feel like that much of a videographer when using this camera unless you use the app for a wireless preview display. That works well enough, but isn’t as good as having a GoPro-style screen on the camera.

We also wish the clamshell hinge of the battery case could swivel. Its orientation is perfect for vlogs, putting your finger over the shutter button. But if you want to use it like a tiny Super8 camera, which we did a lot, the screen and buttons face away from you. 

Still, one big positive is the Insta360 Go 2’s removable lens covering. We love this change. The lens cap screws off, just like a classic GoPro, letting you replace it if it gets scratched. 

Given the camera itself is more-or-less protected when in the case, the Insta360 Go 2 is one of the easiest action cameras to keep in good nick. Even if you don’t treat it very well. 

It is also water resistant to IPx8, able to handle submersion in water. However, this water proofing is not good enough for swimming, the motion of which increases pressure, requiring a higher-grade seal.

Accessories: the new battery case

We’ve mostly used the Insta360 Go 2 with its battery case. You slot the camera into this to export your clips or to recharge the battery, but it is also home to two buttons and a tiny-but-clear OLED display. 

This combo of screen and physical buttons lets you switch between modes, alter settings and start/stop taking videos and stills. It turns the Go 2 from a casual action camera for quick occasional clips, to something much closer to a fully-fledged one.

The case connects to the camera wirelessly, too. You could, for example, leave the Insta360 Go 2 attached to a baseball cap and keep the case in your pocket, ready to act as a remote control when you want to capture some footage. 

On one day of shooting we kept the camera locked into the case the whole time, though, because the flip-out base also acts as a mini stick grip. It keeps your hand out of view and makes taking casual clips blissfully easy.

All of this is a big part of what we missed in the original Insta360 Go. While you can access a whole bunch of the shooting modes when the camera flies solo, it involves learning which multi-tap gesture fires-off which mode. And who has time for that?

The Insta360 Go 2 case also has cute flip-out legs, perfect for impromptu group stills shots and for time-lapse videos. There’s a standard thread mount on the bottom too, should you want to use a ‘proper’ tripod. The tiny integrated legs only work on a mostly flat surface, so that flexibility is welcome. 

This case fixes most of the fundamental issues that narrowed the appeal of the original Go.

Image quality

There is also a huge improvement in image quality over the original Insta360 Go, too.

One spot we tend to return to when assessing action cameras is an area in a nearby park where the light level is reduced a little by a canopy of trees. In the original Insta360 Go, this drop in light caused the image to turn to mush.

The Insta360 Go 2 manages to retain most of the detail it captures when in bright sunlight, for the sort of performance we’d expect from a GoPro Black-series camera, not a tiny one like this.

This lift in image quality isn’t restricted to mid-level light either. Shooting into a bright sky, the Insta360 Go 2 displays dynamic range similar to a high-end, standard-size action camera. 

There will still be overexposed areas in some clouds, often great big ones, but these are limited to those areas of cloud. And blue areas in skies are generally well-resolved, rather than appearing a blue-to-white gradient, as they can appear to a camera with a low dynamic range sensor. 

The Insta360 Go 2’s image quality is better than we expected, although is arguably only in-line with the increased cost. 

Insta360 also seems to have leveled-up its processing. In most Insta360 camera reviews we’ve written to date, ‘pixel fizz’ has been mentioned – even the Insta360 One R 1-inch Edition. This is where tight-knit fine detail phases in and out of existence as the processing vacillates between deciding it is detail and noise. 

There’s remarkably little of this in the Insta360 Go 2, considering the camera’s small size and small sensor. It increases with fast motion when using the Pro mode (more one that later), but we’re talking about image quality more like the Insta360 One R, than the original Insta360 Go.

It even has significantly clearer night-time video than the GoPro Hero 9 Black. And while you can increase the GoPro’s brightness by raising the maximum ISO sensitivity, Hero 9 Black videos look like trash at ISO 6400 (the top setting). 

The GoPro is still the clear winner in terms of color tone, stabilization and general image consistency. But that we can talk about them in such close proximity is a big win for the Insta360 Go 2.

The Insta360 Go 2 cannot shoot 4K video either, but does it matter? Probably not, for many use cases. 

Analyzing the footage of this camera and the GoPro Hero 9 Black side-by-side at pixel level, the amount of fine detail they capture at the centre of the frame is actually quite similar. The difference is often more about aliasing rather than a major difference in actual image information.

The Insta360 Go 2 shoots 1440p sharper than the 4K of most cheap action cameras you might find on Amazon. Hats off to Insta360 for not simply performing a cheap upscale job and calling this a 4K camera. 

The difference is a little more noticeable when you use the Insta360 Go 2’s more cropped field of view. There are three primary view options: ultra-wide, linear and narrow. 

Ultra-wide is the default, using the entire sensor minus the rind used for stabilization. Linear attempts to remove the geometric distortion of the wide-angle lens, but results in much softer footage at the corners of the frame as parts of it are effectively stretched.

Narrow is a classic crop that gets rid of the wide angle action cam sensibility. But it also appears less sharp all-round as it’s a digital crop. 

Insta360 doesn’t talk about the actual resolution of the sensor, but the raw stills files it captures are 3040 x 3040 pixels, or 9.2MP.

Modes and usability

The Insta360 Go 2 also has a fairly comprehensive selection of modes. The full list includes Video, Photo, Pro Video, HDR video, TimeShift, Timelapse and Slo-mo.

TimeShift speeds up the action, but by 4x rather than the greater time compression of Timelapse. That mode lets you capture a frame between every 0.5 seconds and every 120 seconds. 

The difference between Video, Pro Video and HDR Video are what you really need to know about. Standard ‘Video’ does the job for casual shooting where you want to keep things simple. It uses in-camera stabilization and doesn’t let you change the field of view when you export clips, streamlining the process of getting videos from camera to laptop or phone.

Plug it into a Mac or PC and the MP4s show up as if they are on a USB stick using the default mode.

Pro Video, meanwhile, allows for field of view alterations during export, horizon levelling and FlowState stabilization. 

In this mode the whole field of view is sent to the Insta360 app on your phone, and it smoothes out motion using Insta360’s FlowState stabilization. If you want to capture actual action, while you run or ride, use Pro Video. 

The tertiary HDR Video mode largely fixes the overexposure issues mentioned earlier, but also introduces problems where, for example, branches appear to disconnect from the trees they are attached to as you pan. It’s best used when you’re standing still. Think twice for motion, especially as the 24fps frame rate won’t look smooth to eyes accustomed to 60fps.

This summary says you should probably use Pro Video most of the time, right? However, that also means you have to pass your videos through either the Insta360 app on your phone, or Insta360 Studio on your laptop or desktop.

Pro mode video files are visible when you hook up the Insta360 Go 2 to a laptop, but they look as though they have been shot through a porthole because they record the entire sensor view.

Stabilization: FlowState vs Hypersmooth

Insta360 was one of the first companies to come up with a truly convincing alternative to GoPro’s much-lauded HyperSmooth stabilization. It’s called FlowState, but is it really as good?

The Insta360 Go 2’s in-camera stabilization is not remotely close to GoPro’s. It can mitigate walking speed motion reasonably well, but you don’t get the steadicam effect of HyperSmooth and footage shot during a run was still jerky.

The situation improves dramatically if you let your phone/laptop do the work, using Insta360’s app to process FlowState stabilization. This offers horizon leveling, particularly important in a camera that doesn’t have a preview screen, and excellent motion smoothing.

However, it’s also here that we see some of the clearest image quality compromises we’ve seen in previous Insta360 cameras. Fast motion in even slightly imperfect lighting can introduce artifacting in areas close to blocks of color, and shimmering detail. 

We had thought this was particular to the Pro Video mode. But looking frame-by-frame at the less well-stabilized standard default ‘Video’ mode clips, there’s some of this effect there, too. You just don’t notice the issues so much when the action is wobbling all over the shop. 

In summary, FlowState is great, but how GoPro handles motion is still significantly better. This isn’t just down to GoPro’s software. Its cameras also have a wider native field of view, giving them more of an image buffer for the electronic stabilization to do its thing.

Audio quality

The Insta360 Go 2 has just one microphone. It sits on the top, and there’s a cut-out for it in the battery/tripod case. 

Our first tests were not too positive. A single mic gives a limited sense of environmental sound, of the positioning of objects, animals or people. There’s a mild hissy noise bed, and wind noise is an issue only partially mitigated using the wind noise reduction mode. 

But after returning home to try some voice tests we were pleasantly surprised. The single mic renders vocals with a decent amount of bass, the mids are represented and treble is clear. 

We are miles away from some of the car crash audio performances we heard in our best cheap action camera group tests.

Battery life

Just like the original Insta360 Go, the Insta360 Go 2 doesn’t last too long off a charge by itself. It’s rated for 30 minutes of capture, or a much better 150 minutes with the case connected and fully charged. 

There’s no hot-swapping of batteries here. And we found, anecdotally, that the kind of on-off quick clips you’ll probably take with the Insta360 Go 2 won’t see you quite reach those published 30/150 minute numbers. 

But given how appealing using the Go 2 with the case is, it effectively reaches the action camera norm. No major complaints here.

Should I buy the Insta360 Go 2?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

• Hands on: Insta360 One X2 review

The Insta360 Go 2 has officially arrived after its fairly unsubtle teaser video last week – and as our full Insta360 Go 2 review reveals, the 27g vlogging camera is a significant improvement on its predecessor. 

The original Insta360 Go arrived in 2019 as a thumb-sized, 18.3g action camera that could capture short bursts of video, but was let down by its usability and image quality. 

Fortunately for anyone who needs a wearable, water-resistant camera that can be taken anywhere, the Insta360 Go 2 improves on both of those issues. The camera itself is slightly heavier than its predecessor, but comes with a very useful case that doubles as a holder and a tripod.

• Read our in-depth Insta360 Go 2 review
• These are the best cheap action cameras you can buy right now
• Or check out our guide to the best action cameras in the world

This case adds a mode screen, buttons and legs to the little lozenge-shaped camera, which stills contains all the core electronics – including a lens, battery, processor, 32GB storage and a 1/2.3-inch sensor that can capture 1440p video.

This falls short of the resolution you can get on larger actions cameras like the GoPro Hero 9 Black, which shoots 5.7K video, but as our reviewer discovered, the actual video quality is often comparable in the right conditions. 

Our reviewer says: "The Insta360 Go 2 manages to retain most of the detail it captures when in bright sunlight, for the sort of performance we’d expect from a GoPro Black-series camera, not a tiny one like this."

While the GoPro Hero 9 Black was "still the clear winner in terms of color tone, stabilization and general image consistency" in our side-to-side comparisons with the Insta360 Go 2, the latter did put in a good showing in terms of detail and sharpness, beating most of the best cheap action cameras we've tested.

Smooth operator

The new charging case isn't the only accessory you get with the Insta360 Go 2 either. You also get a Magnet Pendant, which you can wear under your clothing to help the Go 2 stick to your body, and an Easy Clip, which can be attached to backpack straps or caps.

The Insta360 Go 2 also qualifies for action cam status thanks to its IPX8 water resistance, which means it's able to handle submersion in water (if not swimming), and its image stabilization skills.

Unfortunately, the Insta360 Go 2's in-camera stabilization falls well short of GoPro's HyperSmooth, resulting in jerky footage if you go running with it. But if you're happy to edit the footage on your phone or laptop, then you can apply FlowState stabilization. 

FlowState is a big improvement on the Go 2's in-camera stabilization and offers handy features like horizon leveling, but it does add time to your workflow and means it isn't quite as straightforward to use as a GoPro.

This is a factor mentioned in our review's wrap-up, which concludes: "What the Insta360 Go 2 lacks in innovation around its form factor, it makes up for with smart additions and drastic usability improvements." 

But our review also adds: "Is it the perfect micro action camera? No. The lack of a preview display is a big issue for a non-360 camera, and while the workflow is improved over some earlier Insta360 cams, it is still not as quick-to-use as a GoPro."

If you don't mind those niggles, though, then the Insta360 Go 2 is a compelling new option for vloggers, YouTubers and cyclists, despite its slight price hike over its predecessor. 

You can buy it right now for $299.99 / £294.99 / AU$479.99 from the Insta360 store. And there's even a charming Minions edition (above), which will be available in the US, Canada, Japan, Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan for $329.99.

• These are the best vlogging cameras you can buy right now

Insta360 has just teased the launch of its next camera – and from the early footage, it looks like it could be one of the smallest vlogging cams we've seen so far.

The launch photo (above) shows a camera that appears to be no larger than a small coin. And on the same page, Insta360 says that the camera will be launching on March 9.

Even more intriguing is the teaser video (below), which reveals the kind of footage you can expect to shoot with Insta360's new camera – very wide-angle videos from tight spaces that look ideal for creating compelling cut scenes for your YouTube channel. 

• These are the best action cameras you can buy right now
• Or check out our guide to the best 360 cameras in the world
• Read our in-depth Insta360 One R 1-Inch Edition review

It's not clear whether the promo footage was shot with another accessory like an equally small gimbal, but it wouldn't be a surprise if Insta360 went this route – previous cameras like the Insta360 One X2 have come with fancy add-ons, like a 'Bullet Time' cord for swinging the 360 camera around your head. 

So what could the new camera be? There have been no other leaks yet, but it appears to have most in common with the Insta360 Go – a camera that arrived in 2019 with claims of being the 'world's smallest stabilized camera'.

That model, which came with Insta360's FlowState stabilization, weighed just 18.3g, but this new camera looks like it could potentially break that record.

Trick shots

Insta360 has steadily built a name for itself as a compelling GoPro alternative, particularly for those who want to create videos that contain special 'trick shots' or from unique angles.

While it dominates our list of the best 360 cameras, not all of Insta360's cameras shoot the entire scene around you – for example, we recently reviewed the Insta360 One R 1-Inch edition, which is more of a traditional action camera with a large sensor.

That said, the One R does also have a modular design that lets you swap in a 360-degree module, if you fancy capturing all of the action around you and choosing which parts to edit into a traditional 'flat' video later.

If this new Insta360 camera is indeed a successor to the Insta360 Go, though, then it'll likely be a more traditional wide-angle action cam that can go pretty anywhere and can shoot things like hyperlapses and barrel rolls through extremely tight spaces. We're looking forward to finding out for sure on March 9.

• These are the best vlogging cameras you can buy right now

Two-minute review

Insta360 is one of GoPro's biggest rivals in the action cam world – and the Insta360 One R 1-inch Edition fills a hole that GoPro has, so far, left empty. 

This version of the modular Insta360 One R has a large 1-inch sensor, just like the Sony RX0 II. But unlike the Sony, the Insta360 One R 1-inch Edition has very good stabilization and a menu system that does not seem as if it has been transplanted from a DSLR. 

The Insta360 One R 1-Inch edition's low-light ability is greater than a GoPro Hero 9 Black’s and its native dynamic range is better than just about any other action camera. 

This is because its 1-inch sensor has around four times the light-gathering powers of rivals that have 1/2.3-inch sensors, including all GoPro Hero Black models. The result is that, in both its 5.3K//25p and 4K/60p modes, the One R 1-Inch edition produces sharp, punchy videos.

Its still images are very impressive too, giving you shots that are a cut above those from rivals like the GoPro Hero 9 Black. This is true of both JPEGs and raw files, which give the option of pulling stacks of detail from the shadows without too much resulting noise.

But it's not a complete win for image quality. The Insta360 One R 1-inch edition is also prone to producing some shimmer and fizz in highly-detailed areas, and GoPro's processing is more impressive overall.

In general, GoPros like the Hero 9 Black are also that bit more fun and simple to use, with Insta360's app and desktop software a bit sluggish when it comes to processing clips. By comparison, we missed the point-and-shoot simplicity of GoPro cameras, while the familiar shortfalls in image processing leave you wondering what GoPro could do with a sensor like this. 

Still, if you're prepared to put up with these slight niggles and frustrations, there's no doubt that the Insta360 One R 1-Inch Edition produces some of the best video and photos you can get from an action camera.

• Don’t miss our original Insta360 One R review for more hardware impressions. 

Insta360 One R 1-inch edition price and release date

The Insta360 One R 1-inch Edition is part of a modular family of action cameras. We reviewed the 4K version of the One R in early 2020, and the 1-inch sensor module was announced at the same time as the 4K one. 

It took a while to reach the TechRadar test bench, but you can buy the camera right now – either as a 'Mod' accessory, or with the camera body as part of the 1-Inch Edition.

Buying the latter, which includes the 1-Inch module and Insta360 One R camera (including the battery and core processing module), costs $549/ £519/ AU$870. But if you already have the Insta360 One R camera, you can also buy the 1-inch 'mod' alone for $299.99 / £279.99 / $489.99.

Design

Your first reaction to the Insta360 One R 1-inch Edition may be the same as ours: wow, that’s a big lens. 

However, it's the lens protector that makes it appear huge. This can be unscrewed, revealing the lens glass underneath, which isn’t much bigger than the Insta360 One R’s 360-degree mod. 

Why so big? The protective glass needs to extend beyond the lens itself thanks to its wide angle field of view, and the gap between lens glass and lens protector. And Insta360 probably wants it to look very serious and professional, too.

The actual 1-inch mod itself is only slightly larger than the One R’s 4K one. There’s a little bump at its backside, extending a few millimeters beyond the screen block. It proves, much like the Sony RX0 II, that one-inch sensor action cameras do not have to be huge. 

New to the Insta360 One R family? The battery, the part with the screen/controls and the lens/sensor all live in separate blocks. You squish them together, and a clip-on the battery keeps everything in place.

You’ll need to use the housing if you want the official 5m waterproofing to count. But all the case really does is to keep all the joints tight. It doesn’t add any more rubber seals. 

As we noted in the Insta360 One R review, the software here isn’t always the smoothest and the screen is too small (and too square) to make for comfortable composition. But it’s much better than nothing. 

Stabilization

Insta360’s stabilization is called FlowState and is the company's equivalent of GoPro’s HyperSmooth. 

It’s great, as we found in the Insta360 One R 4K and Insta360 Go. Use the near-native ultra-wide field of view and you’ll still see some motion judder, but the more crop you allow, the smoother it gets. The default 'wide' view is already very smooth even when dealing with the hard motion of running.

The benefits of the Insta360 One R 1-inch Edition’s large sensor come in handy here, too. Use the narrowest field of view in most action cameras and the image will often look quite soft. This is no surprise, as it’s just digital zoom with a bit of geometric correction applied. But the 1-inch sensor handles the crop far better than most, even if there’s actually no more appreciable detail than a crop of the native ultra-wide view, when you dig deep and analyze the frame. 

How about low light? No amount of GoPro processing charm can surmount the difference in sensor size between this camera and the GoPro Hero 9 Black. The Insta360 One R 1-inch Edition's low light video is far better than the GoPro’s. It’s brighter, cleaner and more detailed.

However, set your expectations correctly. Some high-end phones can still shoot better video, even with smaller sensors. In a wider sense, the Insta360 One R’s night video still sucks. 

Just because the Insta360 One R has a large sensor, it does not instantly make it a camera you would use to shoot an indie film, using only shoestring lights you bought off eBay.

Shooting modes

The Insta360 One R has the two additional video modes you’d expect from a higher-end action camera: Timelapse and Timeshift. And the latter is more fun to use. 

Timeshift increases motion to 16x, for a 'fast forward'-style effect you could use for a quick tour of sights when on holiday. 

Once again, the processing involved here happens in the phone app or Insta360 Studio. This is a pain because 4K clips that end up as a minute long take an age to export, whatever platform you use. It still involves processing a lot of video, because it’s created using standard-speed footage. The 16x effect happens in the edit.

The results are good, though. A neat optional motion blur effect fits the image data from several frames into each frame in the final clip, adding visual drama.

On the other hand, Timeshift is a headache compared to GoPro’s TimeWarp. This mode now auto-edits speed changes into the footage based on the relative rate of motion, and you can preview the results right on the camera. But you still have to wait 30 minutes or more on your laptop for the final file to be rendered. 

Stills provide no such headaches, apart from the odd time the Insta360 crashed when shooting them. And as we'll see, the 1-inch sensor's still photo quality is a cut above the GoPro Hero 8 Black or 9 Black. 

Video and photo quality

Superior image quality is the sole reason to buy the Insta360 One R 1-inch Edition over cheaper alternatives, like those you can find in our guide to the best cheap action cameras. 

Almost all half-decent action cameras have 1/2.3-inch sensors, including all GoPro Hero Black models. These sensors are around a quarter of the size of a one-inch chip. Four times the light-gathering space gives a camera better dynamic range and low-light ability, while introducing the practical issues of a larger sensor chip and larger lens elements. 

As you can see, Insta360 has nailed the size issue, if you’re not put off by the huge protective cover.

Analyze a Insta360 One R 1-inch Edition still from a 4K video alongside one taken with the 4K mod, and the difference is obvious. When shooting into bright clouds with the sun in view you’ll still see similar minor clipped highlights, because they use similar exposure processes, but the areas of shadow are brighter, cleaner and far more detailed in the 1-inch sensor image. 

The 4K mod has lower resolution than the 1-inch one too, 12MP compared to 19MP, but the difference in detail in shadow areas is down to the sensor size more than sensor resolution. 

So what does this mean for video? The Insta360 One R 1-inch Edition can shoot at up to 5.3k/25p, or 4K at up to 60 frames per second. And the punch and detail fidelity you get from either of these modes when shooting in bright sunlight is superb.

Footage is contrasty and sharp, with relatively little loss of detail at the corners of the frame compared to the wide-angle camera of a phone. 

There’s also much less of one issue that put us off the otherwise very good Insta360 Go, and the 4K mod. Those cameras visibly lose contrast and color fidelity as soon as you head under tree cover. It’s not a true 'low light' scene, but it still causes action cameras problems. 

The Insta360 One R 1-inch Edition holds onto its image punchiness far better, and is less prone to in-frame blurring. Most action camera footage turns mushy as soon as the light level drops a little. One reason why GoPro has stayed dominant for so long is because it hangs onto its image quality for dear life in difficult conditions – and the Insta360 One R 1-inch Edition holds up as well, without the distressed fingernails.

One classic Insta360 problem remains, though. Take some footage while running or cycling along a path and you may see the gravel detail seem to fizz away in the distance in the final file.

Look at the results frame by frame and you’ll see why. Insta360’s processing will happily let one frame contain a lot more localized fine texture detail than the next, the noise reduction algorithm flip-flopping over whether it’s detail or noise 30 times a second. 

This happens no matter the light conditions, and is actually more obvious in bright sunlight. This is where the Insta360 One R 1-inch Edition produces the most fine detail through the frame, shining a light on that border between 'noise' and 'detail' all the more clearly. 

GoPro has more robust processing than Insta360, and the GoPro Hero 8 Black and GoPro Hero 9 Black are nowhere near as susceptible to this detail shimmer and fizz. The Insta360 app, which you use to export clips, does have a “remove noise” mode, but this does not seem to help matters. 

So, is the Insta360 One R 1-inch Edition a dud? No. This image issue is only clear when there’s a lot of camera motion – in other words, it is scene specific, and other aspects of motion handling are good. 

When it comes to stills, the 1-inch sensor’s shots are miles ahead of those of a GoPro Hero 8 Black or 9 Black, too.

Even when using the camera’s standard JPEG processing there’s far more coherent detail at dusk. And image quality leaps to another level when you capture DNGs instead and use Lightoom or Photoshop for the processing.

It’s here you really see what the 1-inch sensor is capable of. You can pull stacks of detail out of the shadows, complete with robust color, without ending up with a noisy mess.

Workflow

The Insta360 One R’s workflow considerations are definitely worth bearing in mind, too. To get the best results from this camera you’ll need to import and then export the files through either Insta360’s mobile app or Insta360 Studio for Windows/MacOS. 

These perform much of the image processing and stabilization. While there are a handful of popular presets that allow for true in-camera stabilization (at up to 4K, 25fps) you’ll still see the best results when you outsource the work to your computer or phone.

The hurdle here is the time it takes. On a recent mid-range phone you'll be left waiting for what can feel like an eternity for any clips longer than 30 seconds. 

A powerful laptop improves matters, but 4K time-lapse clips still take a lot of time to spit out. The Insta360 One R makes us miss the 'shoot and go' simplicity of the GoPro cameras, and highlights how special it is that they perform real feats of stabilization and general image processing in-camera, on the fly. 

This is all the more important if you want to be able to do everything quickly from your phone: process, edit and post to Instagram (or your platform of choice). All footage on the camera is shot using H.264: no worries about playback compatibility, but it chews through microSD card space. 

Audio and battery life

The Insta360 One R has a stereo mic array, using one pinhole mic on the top of the control module, and another on its side. 

Microphone positioning and performance is, predictably, affected by the One R's modular design. While recorded audio is clear, the GoPro Hero 8 Black and Hero 9 Black provide much better positional representation of an environment’s sounds. 

Dynamic range of the GoPros is better too, with greater bass depth, and the Insta360 has a noise bed that is quite noticeable if you shoot in a quiet environment.

Of course, if you’re interested in the higher-fidelity images of the 1-inch sensor module, you’ll probably want to use an external mic anyway. Insta360 makes a 3.5mm mic adapter for the One R – this plugs into the USB-C port and is pretty affordable at $9.99 / £11.99 / AU$16.99.

However, you’ll also want the housing with a cold shoe mounting bracket ($19.99 / £21.99 / AU$48). The one that comes in the box doesn’t have any form of extra mount, because it’s there for the average action cam buyer who uses the built-in microphones.

Use the Insta360 One R with the standard 4K camera module and it is rated for 75 minutes of video capture. This drops to 65 minutes when using the 1-inch sensor cam.

We captured less than 65 minutes of video from a charge, but only because that involved shooting over a couple of days and a whole stack of clips. And plenty of faffing about with the menus in between.

We’re also glad to see that even though the Insta360 One R’s battery is a whole 'module' rather than a relatively naked cell, extra units aren’t too expensive. You’ll pay $30/£30/AU$50 for one, compared to around $20/£20/AU$35 for a GoPro battery.

Insta360 makes a handy little fast charger dock that tops up two of the batteries at once, too – you can pick this up for $43/£43/AU$69.99.

Should I buy the Insta360 One R 1-inch edition?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

• These are the best action cameras you can buy right now

The Insta360 One X2 is the successor to the all-seeing video star that's currently top of our best 360 camera guide – and from what we've seen so far, it has a good chance of taking the One X's place. (For a more in-depth look at the camera, check out our hands-on Insta360 One X2 review)

A 360-degree camera that's packed with clever video tricks, the Insta360 One X2 is designed to capture social media-friendly videos (for example, the time-slowing 'bullet time') while also making it look like you have a personal film crew (or drone) following you around.

Like before, it does this thanks to a combination of a 5.7K sensor, a pair of 200-degree fisheye lenses, and some handy software that automatically removes accessories like the optional invisible selfie stick.

But the Insta360 One X2 does bring a few new features to the party, too. Firstly, it's now got an IPX8 waterproof rating, which means you can take it up to 10 meters underwater without needing a case, making it an even bigger rival to the GoPro Max. Considering its predecessor wasn't waterproof at all, this is a big upgrade.

Also, while the One X2 is slightly bigger and heavier than the One X (it weighs 149g compared to the latter's 115g), it does contain a larger 1,630mAh battery that promises a slightly longer 80-minute battery life.

Other highly-requested features that have now been included on the One X2 include a new color touchscreen for a live preview of your videos, some optional lens guards (which are sold separately), a more versatile mobile app and superior audio quality, thanks to the inclusion of four microphones.

• These are the best 360 cameras you can buy right now
• Check out our guide to the best action cameras in the world
• Read our hands-on Insta360 One X2 review

Easier edits

Insta360 has also paid some attention to the editing conundrum that 360 cameras like the One X2 can pose. While it's great to not have to worry about missing the action, because you're filming in every direction, this can also overwhelm you with editing decisions once you've finished shooting.

To help with this, Insta360's app has a new 'Auto Frame' mode that effectively acts like an automated editor, going through your footage and reframing shots to find highlights.

As before, you can also track subjects by dragging a square around them in your edit, while the TimeShift hyperlapse mode is also available in both the 360-degree and Steady Cam modes. The latter effectively sees the One X2 shoot traditional flat videos, like a standard action cam, only with Insta360's FlowState stabilization applied.

The actual video quality of the Insta360 One X2, though, will likely be similar to its predecessor, given it appears to use the same sensor-and-lens combo. This means you get a 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor that can capture 5.7K/30p video (or 2.7K/50p video in Steady Cam mode), along with 18MP still photos, plus a pair of super-wide f/2.0 lenses.

Whether this is all enough for the Insta360 One X2 to retain its top spot in our best 360 cameras guide we'll find out soon enough in our full review, but in the meantime you can get a taster in our hands-on Insta360 One X2 review. If you can't wait until then, then you can order the One X2 today for $429.99 / £429.99 / AU$749.99.

• Read our in-depth Insta360 One R review

The Insta360 One X2 is the successor to the two-year-old Insta360 One X, which currently sits at the top of our guide to the best 360 cameras.

Despite the arrival of rivals like the GoPro Max and Kandao QooCam 8K, we found the One X offered the best blend of features, software and user-friendliness for anyone looking to play with the many video tricks offered by 360-degree cameras.

These include the ability to produce dynamic 'flat' videos where the camera swoops around your frame, plus effects like the time-stopping 'bullet time' look seen in movies like The Matrix. So does the Insta360 One X2 take these to the next level?

On the surface, the One X2 looks like a relatively minor upgrade with what looks like the same image sensor, for 5.7K video and 18MP stills, and a similar pill-like design. But there are quite a few upgrades, including the big bonus of IPX8 water-resistance and a new live touchscreen display to preview your shots, plus several new software features.

Collectively, these still refine rather than revolutionize Insta360's main 360-degree offering, but that's no bad thing considering the pedigree of its predecessor. Indeed, we think it makes for one of the best video cameras available if 360 video is the kind of thing you like.

As always with 360 cameras, though, the question is how often you'll end up using its undoubtedly fun and technically impressive video tricks...

Insta360 One X2 release date and price

The Insta360 One X2 became available to order on October 28 2020, the day of its official announcement.

You can buy it right now for $429.99 / £429.99 / AU$749.99. There are also a range of new accessories available for the One X2, including Lens Guards and a new Bullet Time cord, though official pricing isn't available for these yet. We'll update this page when we get these prices from Insta360.

That launch price for the One X2 is slightly higher than its predecessor's original asking price of $399.99 / £409.95 back in 2018, though that increase is no higher than the rate of inflation since then. This model also brings a few notable advantages over its predecessor...

Design

• Now waterproof down to 10 meters
• Comes with a larger battery for 80 minutes of video per charge
• Four microphones on board for stereo or 'ambisonic' sound

The Insta360 One X2 might look remarkably like its predecessor from 2018, but there have been a few important tweaks.

The most significant is that the camera now has IPX8-rated waterproofing, which means you can take it underwater to 10 meters without needing a case. 

This was one of our biggest gripes with the Insta360 One X, particularly as it's something offered by the GoPro Max, so we're pleased to see it's been added.

That said, the One X2 still doesn't feel like a camera that you could throw around or dunk in the sea with carefree abandon. The locked doors on the side for the battery and, in particular, the USB-C port, feel slightly vulnerable to being locked out of place. Combine this with the protruding lenses, and you have a camera that still feels like it needs to be looked after and treated with care.

The One X2 is slightly larger than its predecessor, but this is barely noticeable and the main benefit is that it has room for a larger battery. Inside you get a removable 1,630mAh cell, which promises to keep shooting for around 80 minutes of video (up from the 60 minutes of its predecessor).

Following the lead of recent action cameras like the DJI Osmo Action and GoPro Hero 9 Black, there's also now a color LCD on the front of the One X2. In the absence of a rear screen, this is touch-sensitive and acts as both your viewfinder and mode selector. 

This screen is certainly a handy way to frame your shots and is pretty responsive to swipes and touches. The size does inevitably mean that you'll often need to press two or three times to choose the right menu item, though, and it's not particularly glove-friendly. Fortunately, there's a large button on the front to start and stop recordings.

On the base of the One X2 you'll find a standard tripod mount, which screws into accessories like the (optional) Invisible Selfie Stick or any other accessory you have with a 1/4-inch screw. The benefit of using Insta360's stick, though, is that it's nicely optimized for the camera's software, which does a reliably good job of removing it from your videos.

This creates the effect that the camera is hovering around you (particularly if you make sure the arm holding the stick is looking fairly natural), and it remains an impressive, vlogging-friendly effect. 

Still, it's probably not something you'll want to hold for a long time during your travels either. After all, real people can still see you're holding a long selfie stick, and it can get in the way in certain situations. 

Features

• New shooting modes including MultiView and InstaPano
• Huge range of shooting modes can be initially overwhelming
• FlowState image stabilization remains impressive

One of the main things that helped set the Insta360 One X apart from its rivals was its polished app and user-friendly software. That continues to be the case on the One X2, although the addition of new editing features can make its 'Shot Lab' initially feel a little overwhelming.

Still, the inclusion of a color touchscreen LCD on the front of the One X2 certainly makes choosing your shooting mode much easier than before – tap the video icon and you can choose between standard, HDR, timelapse, timeshift and bullet time modes. Unfortunately you can't use this screen while using the companion app, but it's handy for quickly starting a video without fishing your phone out of your pocket.

Beyond this, a lot of the One X2's additional functionality, compared to the One X, comes from its companion app. Some of these features are coming to the One X via an app update, while others are only possible on the One X2.

One of the new modes that's exclusive to the One X2 is 'Steady Cam Mode', which effectively lets you use choose one of the two lenses and use the camera as a standard action cam. 

It's worth bearing in mind that the maximum video resolution in this mode is 2560x1440 at 50p, so it doesn't trouble the likes of the GoPro Hero 9 Black or Insta360 One R when used as a traditional action cam. But it's nice to have a simple option to shoot in this way, if you want to cut down on editing.

Some other new modes that are exclusive to the One X2 are a few photography-focused ones, including PureShot (which apparently automatically adds extra dynamic range from DNG raw data) and InstaPano (a one-tap panorama with no need to sweep across the scene).

Perhaps the most interesting and potentially useful new software feature, though, is 'Auto Frame'. This aims to solve one of the headaches of 360 cameras, which is deciding exactly where to reframe your 360-degree videos after you've shot them. Hit the new icon in the bottom left-hand corner of the app and it'll analyze your video then suggest several possible highlights that you'll want to include in your final edit.

It's a potentially handy addition that did pick out some useful clips from our 360-degree videos, but the downside is the process takes a while (a few minutes for a one-minute video) and did make our iPhone 11 Pro run quite hot. 

This also reflects a broader issue that's worth noting – you'll need a fairly recent phone or tablet to make the most of the Insta360 One X2's app. For iPhones, you need a model with the A11 chip or above (effectively anything from the iPhone 8/8 Plus onwards), while on Android you'll ideally need a phone that has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, Exynos 9810 or Kirin 980 chip or above (think Samsung Galaxy S9 or Huawei Mate 20 and up).

You can still use the app with an older phone, but the usability will take a hit and processor-intensive features like 'Auto Frame' will likely be beyond it.

Video and image quality

It's a little too early for us to be conclusive about the Insta360 One X2's video and image quality, given our brief time with it and the fact that our sample was running pre-release firmware.

So far, though, we'd say it looks similar to the One X in terms of quality, which is to be expected given that it appears to have an identical image sensor that shoots 5.7K video and 18Mp stills with a maximum bit-rate of 100Mbps.

Insta360 has included some processing refinements, including in-camera color rendering and improved low light performance, and it certainly appears to handle challenging scenes with mixed lighting well, particularly when you shoot in HDR mode. But we'll need a little longer with its final firmware before making any conclusive judgements.

Also, outright image quality is never going to be a strength of 360 cameras – that 5.7K video resolution is there to give you the wiggle room to punch into frames and choose your 1080p highlights. Also, when you're in 'Steady Cam Mode', using only one of the lenses, you can only shoot an equivalent of 2.7K video with a very wide-angle lens, so as a traditional action cam it can't compete with the very best action cams. 

What you do get in return is incredible versatility, thanks to the ability to capture everything in a scene simultaneously and re-frame your videos later. Insta360 also seems to have refined some early issues we saw with 360 cameras, such as obvious stitch lines.

One issue we did encounter when cycling with the One X2 was some fairly significant wind noise, but Insta360 says this will be fixed in the camera's final firmware. We'll update this review when we get the chance to test that fully.

Insta360 One X2 early verdict

The Insta360 One X2 is a relatively modest but solid update to our favorite 360 camera, with the waterproofing, new display and new editing features all adding to its versatility and social media potential.

There's no great leap forward in outright image quality, and traditional action cameras will produce superior 'flat' video and stills. But what the One X2 gives you is the considerable safety net of knowing you're shooting in all directions simultaneously, plus the slickest 360 camera app around to help you make the most of that all-seeing footage.

Of course, the restrictions of the global pandemic mean there probably aren't quite as many situations as usual that scream out for the One X2's video tricks. But the creative options it opens up for homemade videos is huge – as you're as prepared to learn its editing lingo, have a relatively recent smartphone and are happy with 1080p flat videos, it's potentially one of the most fun lockdown companions you can buy. We'll bring you a full review very soon.

• These are the best 360 cameras you can buy right now

The prolific camera-maker Insta360 pretty much dominates our guide to the best 360 cameras, but it's apparently only just getting started – a new teaser video and website show that it's preparing to release another box of video tricks very soon.

According to the teaser video (below), the new camera – which the brand is promoting with the tagline 'Impossible in your pocket' – will be announced on October 28. Based on the short clips in the video, it appears to be another 360-degree model, which would mean it could follow the likes of the Insta360 Evo and Insta360 One X.

Despite the company's name, not all of Insta360's cameras capture 360-degree footage. The Insta360 Go, for example, is a tiny camera that draws mainly on the company's FlowState stabilization. But the footage in this latest teaser video has all the hallmarks of one of its incredibly fun 360 cameras, including some 'bullet time' trick shots that are difficult to pull off with other cameras.

• These are the best 360 cameras you can buy right now
• Check out our guide to the best action cameras in the world
• Read our in-depth GoPro Hero 9 Black review

Trick shots

So what exactly can we glean from this video? Not a huge amount, given it's only 15 seconds long, but there are a few clues. In the first clip, we see the kind of airborne slow-mo that's previously been possible using Insta360's Drifter accessory, along with a suggestion that the camera could be waterproof.

The next clip shows a signature, Matrix-style 'bullet time' shot that's possible thanks to the combination of a 360-degree lens and a special tripod (albeit one that's currently an optional extra) that Insta360's software automatically removes from the shot.

But it's the third shot, which shows a camera flying through the window of a moving car, that we can't quite explain. Despite the impressive tech on show, it's potentially one of those shots that requires a setup that's beyond the average user, but we're certainly intrigued.

The October 28 launch date means we don't have to wait much longer to learn the camera's full specs and details – and if you fancy getting yourself an early Christmas present, Insta360 is running a competition to win the mysterious camera.

All you need to do is subscribe to the Insta360 YouTube channel, and say in the comments how you'll use its next camera. And no, eBaying it so that you can afford the GoPro Hero 9 Black probably isn't going to be a winning answer.

• Read our in-depth Insta360 One R review

TechRadar’s camera experts have been testing 360 cameras since the format first emerged. Early models were bulky and inconsistent, but a lot has changed over the years. Now, the best 360 cameras are powerful, pocket-sized tools that shoot high-resolution video on the fly and make it easy to edit the results.

The Insta360 X5 is a great example of what a 360 camera can do – and that's why it's at the top of our rankings. It's an evolved form of its predecessor, the X4, and impressed us with awesome video quality even in low lighting. It's an incredibly flexible tool for creators, though the DJI Osmo 360 and GoPro Max 2 are also worth checking out if you're working with a budget.

We've included 360 cameras to suit every use case and experience level, from 8K-capable models to the best options for beginners. Every camera on our list has been thoroughly tested by the team in real-world conditions, so you know our advice is grounded in first-hand experience. Keep reading, and we'll walk you through the best 360 cameras on the market today.

Why you can trust TechRadar

Every 360 camera featured in this guide has been tested extensively by one of TechRadar’s seasoned reviewers. Our experts have been testing 360 cameras since the very first consumer models hit the market, so we have intimate, first-hand knowledge of the format.

We evaluate 360 cameras in the kind of conditions and use cases they’ll face in the real world, ranging from immersive content creation to capturing fast-paced action. We test for several key factors, including image quality, the effectiveness of image stabilization, and the smoothness of stitching. We also think about the user experience, looking at app functionality, editing flexibility, and how easy each 360 camera is to use.

All of our camera recommendations are based on first-hand experience. We consider each model on its own merits, as well as comparing it to its competition on price and performance. The goal is to give you a complete view of what’s available for your needs and budget.

Meet the team

Best 360 camera specs compared

Comparing specs in your head can be difficult. To help you make sense of what the best 360 cameras offer on paper, we’ve set out the key numbers for our top three models side-by-side in the table below. Specs only tell half the story, though, so be sure to read our in-depth review of each 360 camera to get the full picture.

Today's best 360 degree cameras

Below you'll find full write-ups for each of the best 360-degree cameras on our list. Our team has tested each one extensively, so you can be sure that our recommendations can be trusted.

The best 360 degree camera overall

Insta360 X5 sample video

The Insta360 X5 refines a winning formula. In our review, we found it a more polished and powerful follow-up to the X4, with notable performance improvements. Most significant is the image quality: we found that its larger 1/1.28-inch sensors deliver sharper, cleaner video, particularly in low light. Combined with Insta360’s AI-powered image processing, the results are consistently impressive.

We appreciated other practical upgrades, too. Deeper waterproofing to 15m (49ft) gives added peace of mind when shooting underwater video, while the introduction of user-replaceable lenses makes it a 360 camera you can use for longer. Insta360 has otherwise kept the design broadly consistent, which is no bad thing. One neat addition is lock-on points for third-party camera mounts.

The app remains useful for quick edits, although it can be demanding on older smartphones, while the camera’s battery can drain quickly at the highest settings. If you've already got an X4, you probably won't find the X5 that revolutionary, but for everyone else, the X5 is the best 360 camera we've tested in a long time.

Read our in-depth Insta360 X5 review

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The best cheap 360 degree camera

Akaso 360 video sample

The Akaso 360 is the most affordable 360-degree camera in our rankings and, during our testing process, we were impressed by how much it delivers at such a budget-friendly price. It’s a compact, lightweight shooting tool with effective automatic stitching that allows pretty much anyone to capture decent 360-degree video with minimal user input. The quality of 5.7K/30p video is solid in daylight, with nice colors, reasonable sharpness, and good stabilization.

That said, there are a few compromises to keep in mind. Quality falls off as soon as lighting is anything less than the best, with noticeable noise and lost detail, especially when viewing footage on a larger screen. Audio is similarly unreliable, with the stereo mics picking up a lot of wind noise outdoors. We were also disappointed to find that the Akaso 360 lacks any kind of waterproofing, too, while the touchscreen can be frustratingly unresponsive.

Despite those trade-offs, the Akaso 360 still left a positive impression. It delivers on the fundamentals, even if it lacks the refinement of premium rivals. For creators who want a no-frills introduction to 360 video, the Akaso 360 is a good entry-level option.

Read our in-depth Akaso 360 review

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The best 360 camera for quality

DJI Osmo 360 sample video

The Osmo 360 is DJI’s first 360 camera, and it’s an impressive debut. In our review, we were struck both by how polished it felt and how much it delivers for the price. It’s robust, easy to use, and offers useful features like built-in storage. It also delivers on quality: using a pair of 1/1.1-inch sensors, the Osmo 360 shoots 10-bit 8K video at 50fps. Test footage revealed plenty of clean detail and vivid colors. We described stabilization as “faultless” as well.

We found the interface easy to navigate courtesy of the sharp 2-inch touchscreen. There are editing solutions for different workflows, too: the AI-powered DJI Mimo app makes for quick mobile edits, while deeper tweaks are unlocked by the DJI Studio desktop app.

It’s not a perfect first effort. We wish that the lenses were replaceable, as they are on the Insta360 X5. And while it’s rated as waterproof to 10m, the Osmo 360 isn’t yet recommended for underwater use due to potential video stitching issues. Even so, we think the Osmo 360 is a strong alternative to the Insta360, especially if you already own other DJI products like the compatible Mic Mini.

Read our in-depth DJI Osmo 360 review

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The best 360 degree camera for design

GoPro Max 2 sample video

Coming six years after the original Max, the GoPro Max 2 was a long time coming, but it was a sizable upgrade and worth the wait. During our tests, it recorded the best quality 360 video in 8K, with 10-bit color depth, of all the models in this guide, in daylight at least. Like its rivals, quality drops in low light, but the difference in quality is a little more obvious here.

Like its predecessor (and other models), it uses two 180-degree fisheye lenses to capture anything in the direct line of sight, with invisible selfie stick skills and auto stitching, but those lenses can be removed and replaced should they get damaged, which could be a huge saver versus splashing out for buying a new camera all over again. The X5 offers this too, but the Max 2's lenses can be removed more easily, without tools. It also has a squat, square design, which might fit better than the X5's taller stick design, depending on your use.

Like the Max, the Max 2 benefits from 16ft / 5m water resistance, built-in retractable mounting fingers, and is compatible with GoPro’s entire range of mounting solutions. To round out the top-line features, the Max 2 has a solid internal microphone audio array that captures a truly three-dimensional soundscape. The Max 2 rivals the X5 in many ways, all for a tantalizingly low price. The X5 is the better camera overall, but the Max 2 is arguably a better value.

Read our in-depth GoPro Max 2 review

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The best value 360 camera for beginners

Insta360 X3 video sample

The Insta360 X3 has been updated twice over, but it remains on sale and now represents a good value alternative if you don't need the latest model's new features, which include 8K video recording and improved battery life. We think it's a top choice for first-time buyers.

At the time of launch, the X3 beat the GoPro Max (yet to be updated) for single-lens 4K clarity, and it excelled when it came to shooting 5.7K 360-degree footage. While some processing elements can appear more synthetic than a GoPro, we found its Active HDR mode was brilliant at retaining detail in highlights. The continued effectiveness of FlowState image stabilization was also impressive in testing.

We felt its significantly larger 2.29-inch touchscreen made the Insta360 X3 a much easier camera to use handheld, even if there remain a few software quirks to be ironed out. Once you’re familiar with the interface, though, it’s largely a breeze. Insta360’s editing workflow also proved seamless in testing, with diverse and intuitive tools complementing the experience. Our review time revealed the claimed 81-minute battery life to be realistic, too. Add in 10m water resistance – twice that of the GoPro Max – and the Insta360 wins out in the battle of the best X4 alternatives.

Read our in-depth Insta360 X3 review

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Also consider

We've reviewed a whole range of 360 cameras, which means there are plenty more that almost made it into this list. Here are a few honorable mentions to consider.

Insta360 X4: With quality 8K 360-degree footage, a superb 4K single camera mode, and improved battery life, the X4 still has a whole lot to offer and can now be picked up for less than the X5.

GoPro Max: Its hardware is many years old now, but the original Max remains a capable 360 camera, and I've seen it on sale for a very low price in recent sale events. If you spot it for sub $200, the 5.6K shooter could be worth snapping up.

Kandao QooCam 3 Ultra: formerly in the shortlist above, the QooCam 3 Ultra can shoot superb quality 8K video and 96MP stills in 360, but Kandao, being a smaller company, means that the overall workflow, including the app, is less polished.

Insta360 Evo: Thanks to its hinged design, the Insta360 Evo can capture 3D VR content across an 180-degree field of view. A perfect solution when paired with a VR headset, if you can find one second-hand.

How to choose

How we test 360 degree cameras

Our reviews are always hands-on and actively compare cameras to previous versions or alternative models. We look at various elements, including design, features, performance, and image and video quality.

First up is the camera's design. During this step, we want to get an idea of how the camera handles. Is it small or big, light or heavy, and is that positive or negative for the target audience? We'll put the user interface through its paces and decide how user-friendly and intuitive the workflows are. All of this will be done utilising the built-in touchscreen, which will be assessed for size, quality, and responsiveness.

360-degree cameras are well known for having various modes and feature sets that complement the core 360-degree filming functionality. We test all of these features to see how good they are and whether they are usable in a production context. While doing this, we'll use a formatted SD card to capture both video and photos to enable us to comment on the performance as it relates to quality, low-light performance, and battery life.

These types of cameras rely heavily on the use of a companion app, which we also download and test. If the app unlocks specific features or enables a live-feed view, then we'll comment on that too.

To compare photo and video quality across different 360 cameras, we shoot a consistent range of scenes with each model, from expansive landscapes to close urban environments. We then analyze the resulting footage side-by-side.

For stills, we assess detail retention and color balance, as well as highlights and shadows in unedited, full-resolution exports. We also inspect stitching lines closely, looking for visible seams or ghosting where 360 cameras blend output from their multiple lenses. We’ll also test HDR modes where available, but we use the raw outputs for a fair comparison.

When it comes to 360 video, we evaluate footage shot in both bright outdoor and dim indoor conditions. We look at dynamic range, noise levels, and consistency across the stitched frame.

Stabilization is a key test, too. We walk with each camera to see how well the footage holds up when in motion. The aim isn’t just to confirm marketing claims, but to see how these cameras perform in real-world use, whether you’re creating immersive travel videos or quick social clips.

After all our testing is complete, we take everything we've learned about the camera and factor in its price to get a sense of the value-for-money it offers before reaching our final verdict.

8K video in a consumer 360 camera? It might sound like a vision of the future, but Hong Kong-based Kandao’s QooCam 8K (US$589/UK£529/AUS$940) is here to change everything you know about 360 cameras. 

Can it create virtual reality (VR)-grade video? Sure, but it’s big advantage over its rivals – the GoPro Max and the Insta360 One X – is that it allows 360-degree footage to be cut down to widescreen size without a horrendous loss in resolution.

There are downsides to this added power – including the Qoocam 8K's size, price and lack of native waterproofing – but if you're prepared to compromise on those features, it more than gives the GoPro Max a run for its money.

Design and build

• Weighs 228g, way more than most 360 cameras
• 'Invisible' selfie stick mode
• Not waterproof

There’s no getting away from the fact that the QooCam 8K is much larger than its 360 camera rivals. 

At 144x56x23mm and 228g, it’s significantly bigger and more cumbersome. Inside is a large 3,000mAh built-in battery that has to work hard when the QooCam 8K is switched on. You can hear its processor buzzing away constantly.

On both sides of the camera is a fisheye lens with f/2.0 aperture. One side hosts that OLED touchscreen, with the edges bearing a microSD card slot, a USB-C slot for recharging, and an output for attaching a microphone – on a 360 camera where the action may be taking place a long way from the camera, that’s key.

Also included in the box is a ‘bumper’-style protective style case. That’s useful because the QooCam 8K is not natively drop-proof or waterproof. Also available is a waterproof case, which is an underwater housing for scuba diving. 

An essential add-on is Kandao’s ‘invisible’ selfie stick (US$35/UK£30/AUS$50), which comes complete with a small, spider-style tripod. It’s a must-have if you want to take advantage of the QooCam 8K for vlogger-style video.

Features

• Records video in 8K 30fps resolution
• Slo-mo in 4K 120fps
• SuperSteady image stabilisation

The QooCam 8K does a lot of things that other 360 cameras don’t. The first is obvious; it captures 8K video at 30fps and takes photos – in JPEG and the Raw format DNG – in 29.4MP thanks to its two 1/1.7-inch CMOS sensors. 

That’s 7680x3840 pixels, though note that the extra resolution – while impressive – is spread throughout a 360-degree sphere. Its purpose is to increase the resolution of 360 video, of course, but in practice it enables filmmakers to video everything and re-frame in widescreen later without losing sharpness. Just as importantly, its big sensors mean more light and dynamic range.

It can also shoot in a 4K/120 fps mode, which produces super-slo mo videos. All videos can be captured in 8-bit MP4 (H.264) and 10-bit ProRes formats.

Yet another advantage over other most 360 cameras is its 2.4-inch color OLED touchscreen, which gives real-time previews of photos and videos (though that can also be done via the QooCam app). It’s also got 64GB of built-in storage in addition to a microSD card slot (up to 256GB).

Performance

• Excellent quality video and photos
• OLED screen aids composition
• Effective image stabilization

The photos and videos coming out of the QooCam 8K are unequalled by any other consumer-grade 360 camera. 

Resolutions are limited to just two choices: 8K at 30fps and 4K at 120 fps mode for slo-mo. The results from both are sharp and imbued with plenty of dynamic contrast and color. 

Would we like more choices of resolutions? Yes, plus there’s no easy way to reverse the slo-mo effect in 4K mode, which is a shame. However, we have no complaints about the extra resolution on offer, which vastly improves the quality of widescreen photos and videos cut-down from the 360 master.

Powered by a built-in six-axis gyro, QooCam’s ‘SuperSteady’ image stabilization works wonders and it’s easy to produce smooth-looking vlogger-style videos using the selfie stick. The stick’s use is automatically detected and it thus vanishes from the finished videos and photos. 

A slight issue is processing power; the QooCam 8K’s processor is hungry, and despite having a large internal battery, it lasts little more than an hour. If you’re out for a day shooting and using it only occasionally, practically speaking, that’s about enough. As a bonus, its internal battery can be recharged via USB-C from a portable battery, so longer shoots are possible.

App and editing

• ‘4K Express Edit’ helps workflow
• Large files slow to transfer to phone
• ‘SmartClip’ templates lack intelligence

Editing 8K video files on a phone? It might not sound fun, but luckily the QooCam 8K includes a nifty ‘4K Express Edit’, which downscales everything for much easier workflow. Easier, yes, but not particularly quick. 

In the box are a bunch of cables to hook the QooCam 8K up to a variety of phones, though unless you have one of the latest phones with a big processor, you may encounter problems. Our Huawei Mate 20 X (5G) did fine, but transferring the files even via a cable proved slow work.

The mostly impressive QooCam app enables some pretty comprehensive editing options, including ‘SmartTrack’ for keeping a subject in the middle of the frame. There are also options to trim videos, use various filters, and add music. Its long list of ‘SmartClip’ templates are initially tempting. 

Templates like ‘Orbiting Hyperlapse’, ‘Surround Me’, ‘Rabbit Hole’, ‘Dolly Zoom’ and even a basic ‘Clip Merging’ each come with a short tutorial and suggest that creating polished-looking novelty 360 videos – all as shareable widescreen videos – is very easy. 

In practice, even when we followed the tutorials, some of the templates did little more than kick-in manual editing mode. It’s also very challenging to see which video clips in a library might be suitable for the various templates. However, producing short, edited videos in manual mode is not particularly difficult.

Verdict

Does the QooCam 8K trump the GoPro Max, GoPro Fusion, Insta360 One X and Insta360 One R? Yes, absolutely; once you’ve filmed 360 footage in 8K resolution, it’s impossible to go back. 

The downside is that it’s not as convenient as any of those much smaller, niftier cameras, but 8K resolution gives you so much more quality to play with when editing. 

It’s the first 360 camera where cut-down widescreen videos retain enough resolution to look good, and it does all that with excellent dynamic range, color and contrast for 8K photos as well as videos.

The QooCam 8K is not perfect, but in the 360 video niche, the ante just got upped.

• These are the best 360 cameras you can buy right now