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Insta360 X3 Review

Soumen Maity

December 27, 2022

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Detailed Review of Insta360 X3

The Insta360 X3 is a candy bar-shaped 360-degree camera with more of a GoPro-like silhouette than a traditional feature phone. It is the Insta360 One X2’s successor from 2020, and both devices have somewhat related goals. It is an all-purpose action camera. Moreover, it is less frightening than the expensive Insta360 One RS 360 1-inch Edition and more comfortable in your hand than the GoPro Max. The Insta360 X3’s well-known lozenge or “candy bar” shape makes it very simple to tuck into a shirt or a pair of pants pockets. It creates a seamless 360° spherical view of everything around the camera by combining the output of back-to-back 180°+ fisheye lenses in-camera. It is capable of capturing 72MP still images and 5.7K spherical video.

The handling of Insta360 X3 is significantly altered by the larger screen, though. Although it is still quite small, Insta360 has kept the icons fairly large and the swipes and sections fairly simple, which means you would not need to use your phone as much to operate it. This is a good thing as holding a phone and a camera simultaneously is not ideal. We used the invisibility selfie stick and the optional 3m extended selfie stick that Insta360 sent along for testing, but we lacked the nerve to try out the company’s patented Bullet Time mode, in which you swing the camera around your head for a Matrix-style sequence. The standard invisible selfie stick is actually invisible; during the stitching process, it was cloned out of sight. 

In many ways, the Insta360 X3 is similar to the ONE X2 and the first ONE X before it, but there have been some notable improvements in the capture technology, the design, and shooting modes offered. First, the X3 now has 1/2-inch sensors that are larger. These are still smaller than the 1-inch sensors in the larger, more expensive Insta360 ONE RS 1-inch 360 camera. The X3’s new 1/2-inch sensors are a significant improvement over the ONE X2’s before it. The X3 can now capture spherical still images at 72 megapixels, but the maximum video resolution remains the same. In addition, it has a new 4K Single Lens mode that effectively transforms it into a GoPro-style action camera. Also, it has a 2.7K ultra-wide 170° view. The X3 can record 4K action cam footage, 5.7K spherical video, and 8K time-lapses.

The FlowState stabilization in Insta360 is really great. Simply walking while lowering the camera to the ground, squeezing it through openings, or raising it above head height will smooth everything out beautifully. The 6-axis gyro keeps everything flat and level no matter how the camera is positioned—whether it is turned, tilted, or even horizontal. There is also excellent image quality. A “stabilization shimmer” or a slightly woolly join does occur occasionally, but not frequently. Moreover, keep in mind that 5.7K does not travel very far inside a sphere. However, if you use the software’s clever reframing tools for subject tracking or panning, you will only be using a part of that captured image, so exported ‘flat’ video is only 1920 x 1080 resolution. Video (and stills) look incredibly clear when viewed as immersive 3D content in a suitable player. The Insta360 X3 accomplishes so much, generally to such a high standard, that you can overlook the occasional flaw.