It’s been years since TikTok and Instagram made curated visual storytelling part of everyday life. Stories and reels have become the two most common methods of self-expression, and this has required people to think differently about content.
Can you even remember what travel was like before we had new and creative ways to tell a story? Whether it’s something as banal as walking the dog or as unique as riding in a helicopter over Manhattan, there are now multiple tools out there that let you capture life the way your imagination intended, and edit accordingly.
That’s why Insta360 is such a fascinating disruption to a market that was once dominated by action cameras from DJI and GoPro. They walked; the X5 sprints.
As a brand, the cameras play on the action potential that made these types of POV cameras so famous. But instead of shooting with a fixed field of view, you’re capturing the entire environment at once and then reframing it in post-production.
One of the most notable parts is that the camera comes with numerous attachments, including a selfie stick that, very cleverly, appears invisible in the final shot. The camera has a double-ended design with two 200-degree fisheye lenses on either side, capturing over 400 degrees of footage, but creating a bit of a blind spot beneath the camera. AI is used to stitch together the resulting images, which gives the impression that you aren’t holding anything at all. But your fist may look a little clenched, like this meme.
You have to give it to a company that can make selfie sticks relevant again. Insta360 make a few of these. I’ve only been using the standard one, which isn’t long enough to get those really out-there shots you’ll find plastered all over YouTube. Still, it’s enough to show you how seamless the camera’s “invisible” trick is.
I’ve been playing around with the Insta360 X5 for a few months now, mostly testing out video and image quality simply because I find it hard to believe a camera this size can shoot up to 8K and give you so many editing options.
And I guess that’s why these are getting so popular. The X5 does exactly that. While you might have to contend with large file sizes, the Insta360 app – think CapCut, but more specific, targeted and playful – opens the imagination right up. To the point where I see this as a brand new category of content creation altogether, fusing what has made the industry so fun and engaging into an impressive piece of tech.
This is my first time using an Insta360 camera, so I can only trust what the company tells me when they talk about improved encoding. Footage taken with the X5 should spit out around 1.5 GB per minute when shooting in the higher resolution modes. So 8K or 5.7K/60fps. That is apparently 20% more efficient than the previous model.
Content creation as wellness
I wouldn’t consider myself a content creator. I always wanted to be a music video director when I was growing up, so I use my Instagram reels to make little mini music videos from my travels, with the song as the focus. The algorithm hates it. I’m a writer by trade, and I’m one of those cynics – maybe even dinosaurs – who can’t stand content made for social media algorithms.
But in this increasingly distracted world, you can still get some use out of the content creator mindset. Number one rule: get the perfect shot. And for that, you need to constantly be thinking about how you’re going to present what’s in front of you. You’re focused; present.
I find it’s a great way to lessen anxiety when I’m travelling. And so having a new tool that opens up an even wider well of creative shots takes that idea to the next level. Perhaps a bit too far.
I’m not overthinking when capturing footage with my phone. My preferred style is that achingly still, immersive video style that’s emerged in the past few years. I’m definitely overthinking with the X5, simply because it can give you so many options in post-production.
Design
The Insta360 X5 is a simple-looking, beige beast. The most notable thing is the head, with two fisheye cameras on each and a rubber cap that fixes snugly over the lenses. The X5 is seen as a step up for the brand because the lenses are now replaceable, and a replacement kit is only around $50. This ups the value for the camera considerably, especially with how easy it is to replace these lenses should you get a stray scratch through your use.
And this is one of those cameras you’d want with you at all times. Because it’s so versatile, you’ll likely be putting it through the wringer, so it’s much more likely that you’ll need a replacement kit eventually.
There’s also a microphone windscreen cover for improved audio capture. I never tested the X4, so I can’t speak to how the audio was, but here it’s crispy and seems to smartly cancel out too much wind noise. Footage still sounds natural.
On board, the rubber buttons are thick and unpleasant to press with very little tactility. But thankfully, most of your interaction with the device is via the fluid 2.5-inch touch screen, which swipes through resolutions and modes in an instant. When it comes to action-adjacent cameras like this, the real art is removing as much friction as possible so there’s less lag between vision and capture. I think Insta360 has nailed it here, although I would like to see better tactility in the next iteration.
This widely viewed video by Brandon Li does a better job at showing off the X5’s capabilities than my nascent editing would.
The battery case is also well-made. It comes with its own included USB-C cable, which tucks into the unit, and fits two batteries that can be charged at the same time. Battery life on the camera is reasonable, with around 200 minutes of recording. On my testing, I would end up with around 220 most of the time, but I’m also a much less intensive user.
There are a few content creators online who’ve spent much more time with action cameras than I have. Eat Sleep 360 has one of the better “sample” videos out there, where you can see the range of possibilities this camera brings to content creation.
Editing becomes the product
Capturing footage is important, of course, but editing has emerged as the number one skill for content creators, or just hobbyists wanting to take videos they are proud of.
At its most basic, reframing is just dragging your finger across the screen. You move through the footage like you’re choosing what to look at, not building a timeline. And so it’s exceptionally intuitive, with the companion app cleaner than popular video editing tools like CapCut. Add a few keyframes, and suddenly you’ve got smooth pans, tracking shots, even something that looks vaguely like a drone move. No real technical skill required.
If you want to go deeper, you can. But the point is you don’t have to. I haven’t yet, rather testing the basics before I take this thing over to New York City and really go wild with it later this month. As above, I was overthinking it a lot, but after two or three plays with the Insta360 app, it’s stupidly simple.
Or you can just always select templates. There seems to be new ones coming through regularly,
There’s a surprising amount of automation baked in. The app’s AI can identify subjects, suggest framing, even cut together highlights on its own, pulling clips, matching them to music and stitching together something coherent with almost no input.
I just ignore CapCut’s templates, but the Insta360 ones actually look intriguing, making the app’s “Shot Lab” as seamless as possible. Drop footage into a template, and the app does the rest. But it’s much better if you learn how to edit manually so you have tighter control, especially if you’re choosing specific songs.
The device is good enough itself. Almost every review across the internet has pitched it as the best 360 camera to date, and I’m inclined to agree. Again, I’m nowhere near a content creator, but being able to properly execute a vision and share it seamlessly via social media removes a great deal of friction from the entire process.
And it’s a reminder that content creation, as generic as it’s become, is here to stay, especially now we can get drone-like shots simply from having a really tall selfie stick, or whip pans in a second.
A few caveats to an otherwise perfect gadget
For all its flexibility, there are a few trade-offs that are worth understanding before you buy into the idea completely.
Image quality is the most obvious one. The X5 can shoot in 8K, but that resolution is spread across a full 360-degree sphere. Once you crop into that footage to create a standard frame, you’re effectively zooming in, and that means losing detail. It still looks good, often very good, but it doesn’t quite match the crisp, ready-to-use output you’d get from a dedicated action camera like a GoPro.
Then there’s the reliance on editing. This isn’t a camera you can just point, shoot and post. You can, technically, but you’d be missing the point of it entirely. The X5 only really comes to life once you start reframing, keyframing and shaping your footage in the app. That’s where the magic is, but it also means there’s an extra step baked into every piece of content you create. If you don’t enjoy that process, or simply don’t have the time for it, the camera quickly starts to feel like overkill.
There’s also a subtle mental shift that comes with using it. Because you’re capturing everything, you’re constantly aware that every angle is available to you later. That sounds freeing, and it is, but it can also pull you out of the moment. Instead of reacting instinctively, you start thinking about possibilities. Shots become decisions deferred rather than decisions made. For some, that’s the appeal. For others, it adds a layer of friction that a simpler camera avoids entirely.
None of this undermines what the X5 does well. It just reframes it. This isn’t the best camera for every situation. It’s the most flexible one. And that distinction matters.
Verdict & Value
The Insta360 X5 is a revolution. We don’t get much of those anymore in the tech space, and it’s not quiet about its prowess either. It’s durable, consistent and versatile, but the real magic happens with the Insta360 app, which is also available for less expensive models.
Insta360 now have a tremendous amount of styles out there, but the X5 is the one getting top marks. On my travels, I always spot at least a few creators with one of those long, bendy selfie sticks, and this bad boy is screwed onto the top. It’s become more ubiquitous than DJI’s Osmo cameras, but I’m not really surprised there.
FOUR AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Highlights: Video quality is outstanding, can shoot up to 8k, batteries are sufficient (and come in a pair), and the app is very comprehensive and intuitive.
Lowlights: Poor tactility, editing is a steep learning curve if you want really creative shots and full control, and expensive.
