First use of mine today, and when I took it out of the box prior was a tad disappointed in that it's only one position, nigh on upright whereas my system is at right angles to the ski pole.
I'd tested it prior and it didn't really seem to be an issue, however, first run today, I had it on max extension and in my left hand as I was trying to film my Cardo Intercom* unit and the whole setup was not a good experience, combine that with new skis, an overcooked snow along with a manic dog and I soon switched hands and reduced length of pole and asked the OH to hold on to the mutt
I remember when I first used the pole it took a while to get used to and I think this will be the same.
So miffed with my GoPro Max and the GoPro Quik software and upload subscription that I have reverted to an Insta360 x3 - son is getting the GoPro. I started my 360 camera journey with an original Insta 360 but I drowned that in a jacket pocket on a rainy Norway trip. Pleased to be going back to Insta.
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
@Grinning, I dont pay for quik or upload subs for my max, what’s the issue and how does the insta solve that issue?
I’ve not used it this year but want to take it to Norway so if somethings changed in how I can film and edit with out paying a subscription it’d be worth figuring that out now!
@Grinning, yes I too don't pay - I hardly ever use Quik and do nearly all my editing on the laptop - if I'm uploading it's the final edit to YouTube.
And when I do use Quik I simply connect to the 360 and look at the low res from the 360 on my phone, and then download the still I want or movie clip, that said has been a tad glitchy of late, so for out and out speed take the SD card out and insert into the laptop etc
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@kitenski, @Weathercam,
WiFi connection issues with GoPro that I never had with my first Insta - so annoying - not being able to connect. turn off/ turn on - even in zones where the only WiFi is my GoPro & my phone’s connection - pure frustration!!!
Subscribed to auto upload and that doesn’t work reliably. Going back to reliable connection and looking forward again to the tracking feature on Insta which works so well.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
For someone considering a 360 camera, and who is quite happy to buy second hand/old tech (my proper camera is a Fuji X-T1 which was second hand, as have been all the lenses), what should I consider?
OG Insta 360?
After all it is free
After all it is free
galpinos wrote:
OG Insta 360?
Second gen is a better camera, Insta360 One X2, including waterproof for splashing around in a swimming pool or use in snow.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
As far as I can tell the 360 x2 is ok, except you can't tell if it's on or off. They fixed that with the x3. The x4... maybe next season?
Here's some X3 video. I wonder if it'll embed it directly.
Snowboarding in Blue River 2023-24 from phil 45464
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
I still love my Insta360 One R, and so for my most recent trip I purchased the 3m selfie pole and the waist harness.... well all I can say is it was hilarious! the pole itself is ridiculously long (think carbon fibre fishing rod), and its an all or nothing pole, with no way to just put say half of it out. Its also very light with the carbon construction and as a consequence, really 'bendy'
So I did one 'run' down with it, to pretty bemused looks all the way down
It did get some great drone like footage, but often the flex of the pole made a pronounced bend which the software had no hope of editing out.
So long and short of it, its already gone back on ebay and gone off to somebody else
Might work with a less heavy camera, maybe one of the newer long thin type of insta360's (X3?)
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Hi all. What laptop are people using for the insta 360 studio?
I bought an Insta 360 x3 last week and got some great videos mountain biking. Looking forward to taking away for our easter ski trip.
The mobile phone app is OK but would like to use a laptop.
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Boarderfarce wrote:
Hi all. What laptop are people using for the insta 360 studio?
I bought an Insta 360 x3 last week and got some great videos mountain biking. Looking forward to taking away for our easter ski trip.
The mobile phone app is OK but would like to use a laptop.
What are the benefits editing on laptop over phone app?
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Bigger screen and more functionality. Looks like there are more features using the insta studio software. Just curious what spec laptop people are using and their experiences
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Boarderfarce wrote:
Hi all. What laptop are people using for the insta 360 studio? ... The mobile phone app is OK but would like to use a laptop.
Me, I don't use the mobile app much at all. My phone is powerful, but not that powerful. I also need to back my stuff up, as if you drop the camera somewhere, you lose whatever's on the card. So my approach is:
Have a big card in the camera, shoot only stuff worth shooting, never delete anything.
Backup from camera to laptop each day it's used.
I may play around with some footage on the laptop but mostly I'll just take the odd still out of it.
Back up laptop to my home systems, then when I get home edit on my desktop.
My laptop is for travel... so cheap and light - a Samsung Galaxy Book 3 360, with the smallest memory & cpu I could get... to give all-day battery life & USBC charging. A large micro SD card gives cheap storage without paying for a higher spec machine. The Insta app will auto-track at less than real time on that. Doing that same thing on my desktop is better than real time, as you'd expect from all the flashing lights and heat it generates.
Each to their own. I use other editing tools too, and it's all easier on a large open platform with big hardware resources. I try to spend as little time in Insta's software as possible; it exists to support the camera, it's not a brilliant tool in itself. There is an Insta plugin for Premiere Pro - anyone tried that?
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@phil_w, intersing experience.
I was thinking of a new laptop as we need one for home but a desktop has appeal.
What system are you using?
What's your preferred editing software?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
I may have posted workflow before... there are lots of ways to do it. The most important step is in the camera, where avoiding shooting lots of useless stuff makes all this much easier.
I use a machine which was bleeding edge when new, but most modern machines will have plenty of poke. With a decent gaming machine (Nvidia has gaming and "studio" drivers...), this is real time rendering, with the exception of the Topaz which is about 2fps and is the only thing which gets my fans going.
I use in order:
Insta's free Studio for remapping, and export to ProRes222 maximum bit rate (1920x1008).
Import into Topaz AI and up-res to 4k (this is the CPU/GPU intensive bit), export maximum quality ProRes222 4k.
Import into free Davinci and edit the 4k clips.
If you render out to H.265 free DaVinci is limited to use one CPU core and no GPU, so is dog slow on any machine.
Instead render to DNxHD 444 12-bit, which is uncompressed so quick.
Use free Handbrake to convert uncompressed DNxHD -> H.265, which uses all machine resources so is quick.
Upload to Vimeo or whatever.
Note that Vimeo transcoding introduces some artefacts - the originals always look better.
If you don't bother with that resolution boost step (Topaz AI), it's simpler, although you'd still want to avoid compression (so use ProRes222) until the last step and probably hack around the DaVinci limitation. I used to use Premier Pro, and as noted you can probably edit more directly with the Insta plugin for that, but I want to up-resolution before I edit, so that's probably not what I want anyway. Topaz cost $80 or some such, but I figured I'll pay that much and more for a higher resolution sensor when they bring one out, and it does a decent job. It won't produce modern GoPro quality footage, but it's better than the original Insta output.
Insta360 is releasing a new camera next Tuesday (16th April), which looks like a will be a new model in their 360 camera range. The big change seems to be that it will be an 8K camera, so presumably will allow re-framing of the image at, or close to, 4K resolution.
Mine arrived today. Here's the physical comparison with the x3. It's bigger (a bad thing) and heavier. Comes with a beefier case and lens guards (never needed those before). There's a separate frame thing which they say is a heat sink too.
Had a bit of hassle with the firmware updates, which needed me to sign in to their app to work (just running the app didn't work).The USB connexion seemed a bit flaky to start with too. Otherwise, it feels much bigger which isn't good, but has a lot of new features such as voice output/ control and all that malarkey. All the defaults are for 5.7k, not 8k - and there's a lot of talk about heat when using 8k... not a problem for snow use, but I can see why they kept the x3 on for more general use.
Now all I need to do is find some snow. Oh, and I have an x3 to sell on eBay
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
phil_w wrote:
Mine arrived today. Here's the physical comparison with the x3. It's bigger (a bad thing) and heavier. Comes with a beefier case and lens guards (never needed those before). There's a separate frame thing which they say is a heat sink too.
Had a bit of hassle with the firmware updates, which needed me to sign in to their app to work (just running the app didn't work).The USB connexion seemed a bit flaky to start with too. Otherwise, it feels much bigger which isn't good, but has a lot of new features such as voice output/ control and all that malarkey. All the defaults are for 5.7k, not 8k - and there's a lot of talk about heat when using 8k... not a problem for snow use, but I can see why they kept the x3 on for more general use.
Now all I need to do is find some snow. Oh, and I have an x3 to sell on eBay
Nice, I've ordered the Ski Bundle shipping to the US as it's £100 cheaper that way. Picking it up next month, hopefully. It'll be a massive upgrade from my original Qoocam.
After all it is free
After all it is free
@phil_w, bigger size hopefully means bigger battery which is always welcome IME
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
I believe the battery is larger, but then 8k burns hot...
I just ran some footage through it, and the extracts are genuine 4k, looking pretty good. I no longer need to "up-res" the stuff. It's raining in this bit of UK so I only did indoors and some limited outdoor tests.
Noise is significant indoors; perhaps the x3 had that too, I only used it in snow. The Topaz AI processing stuff (which I used for up-ressing on the x3) tackles most of that noise, but I'd guess like most of these it's way better in bright light.
There are various "lens guard aware" settings and I used them, but I got some flare off those. I think I'll probably not use them as I never needed them in snow anyway.
Waterproofing is to minus 10m; if I'm that far down I've cocked up.
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
I took the x4 into the snow and gave it a bit of a run around. Here's the details..
In the last few months there've been a few minor software changes to the Insta Windows app (Insta360 Studio). I didn't play with the mobile phone app much but I see no radical changes in that (horrible as it is). The Windows app changes are:
There's a new stitching mode "AI stitching", which probably isn't, but sometimes helps
Better translation of "new clip" interface (the way to extract multiple clips from one 360 segment)
Sound mute during auto track. A really good thing; don't need to hear it scrubbing the video.
Auto - tracking is much improved over earlier versions I think.
Those will work for the x3/x2 also of course.
Physically:
It's bigger than the x3 but not a problem to carry at the end of a pole in my view. That's a negative but not important to me.
I didn't use the lens guards or the heat sink and it was fine.
The new case has a two-way zip rather than the simple pouch of the x3. I preferred the pouch (less to fiddle with).
On day 1 on snow I ended up with the camera turned on in my pocket, which gives you a warm pocket but no useful video. I figured that the cause is that the x4 has a delay period after you press the "turn off" button, and if you press anything in that period, it cancels the shut down. I treated it with more care from day 2 on and had no recurrences of that.
Skiers will want to get the Insta ski pole adaptor. Field of view is the same as the x3, so the same length pole works the same.
And the x4 video:
The resolution is improved, and the extracts are now 4k. I'm not exactly sure how they do that as the nominal total resolution went from 5.7k -> 8k. I suspect some fudging is going on: it's not as great as it ought to be. In practice it's good enough that it's barely worth putting the output through Topaz AI to improve it. Some improvement is possible that way (denoise and sharpen), but in practice I felt it not worth bothering, especially considering what Vimeo does to the output. That simplifies my workflow.
The Vimeo video skies are a bit grainy; that's them, the full original file doesn't suffer from that.
There are some image stitching artefacts I'd not noticed before. If you look closely at edges near the pole base you might see a shadow of a sharp feature like the edge of a glove against the snow. Not great. There's been one firmware upgrade which happened when this arrived, I think there may be more to come.
I didn't shoot much in poor light. I'd guess that the best GoPro traditional cameras will still beat this for video quality.
On my portable laptop (long battery life -> low power!) it's significantly slower to process/ render x4 video than it was x3, as you'd expect. My desktop doesn't care and can still track this in real time etc.
Snowboarding in Iceland Spring 2024 from phil 45464
@phil_w, so are you pleased that you upgraded? The footage looks good - how much of that is through the camera, and how much through Topaz AI.
I've still got a Insta360 one x for many years, and am always thinking of upgrading but was waiting for the appropriate step change, and I'm starting to think this might be it.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
@Handy Turnip, looks better than skiing
next thing is to get rid of the stick shadow with some kind of AI
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
I think the x3 is selling for $400 and the x4 for $500, which seems to me to be about right, in terms of the difference. I sold my x3 for a decent amount.
I think the 4k footage from the x4 isn't brilliant. I played around with Topaz AI on it, switching the filter to sharpen, denoise etc. I didn't think the improvement from it was worth while so I didn't use it at all here. On the x3 it works well and I'd not be without it... so that's another way of looking at the x4 improvement.
Bear in mind that Vimeo also transcodes footage and we're close to the limits of quality you can get from that. I didn't do anything fancy with it - this is just +2/3 ev compensation and everything else standard. The thing I like least is the slight "ghosting" near the stitch points - look around the glove holding the pole and you can see it sometimes. That maybe a firmware issue; they haven't upgraded it since I bought it.
I think this stuff looks fine on a 4k TV and any mobile phone, so it's "good enough". If you wanted to zoom in and out a bit more would be nice... but that's always the case. I can't remember the x1 - I had a Rylo back then. I have a buddy still using an x2 and it still works great...
Quote:
next thing is to get rid of the stick shadow with some kind of AI
Yeah I'll take a look at that; I did it with my first x3 stuff and it was hard work, but it may be easier with snow without trees!
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
phil_w wrote:
I think this stuff looks fine on a 4k TV !
it looks fantastic, but I'm not as picky as you
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
A couple of questions regarding the X4 if I may.
I don’t use a laptop. Would an M1 iPad Pro be sufficient for editing?
Is transferring content via wifi practical, or is the Quick Reader a must?
Thanks!
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I don't know. But...
Their downloads are free here , so you could maybe download the app and grab some raw footage from a review site (or ask me nicely), and try it out. I expect most people edit on their phones, which aren't very powerful.
Transfer wise, it's USB-C. The USB-C transfer is ok for daily uploads, but if you've a large amount of data to transfer then taking the card out and plugging it into the laptop/ desktop slot is quicker (the slowness seems to be the x4 in that respect). I didn't try WiFi transfer. I have a slot in my laptop for micro-SD cards and some old adaptors for my desktop (to USB-C). You don't need any Insta "reader" if you have those. Flipping the card out requires battery removal.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
telford_mike wrote:
A couple of questions regarding the X4 if I may.
I don’t use a laptop. Would an M1 iPad Pro be sufficient for editing?
Thanks!
To add to phil_w reply, the iOS app does not export 8K phootage if that's what you are after.
I have an iPad Pro M1, just haven't tried to use it yet, using my iPhone 13 Pro for editing a short 5 minutes clip was tolerable, downloading 7.3GB via wifi was ok. I haven't tried anything longer than that.
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
I use Quick to download GoPro Max footage to an iPhone and then edit it on there. It’s quick and easy and once I’ve moved the edited video(s) into the Photos app I delete the footage off the GoPro and Quick app to free the space. I tried an Insta360 X3 recently and found it much more painful as the camera needed to be synced with the phone during the editing process which was a PITA
Thanks for all the input. I downloaded the Insta360 app onto my iPad, and located/downloaded a pair of .insv files in an attempt to try out the editing process. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a way of getting externally sourced files into the Album view in the app, and therefore there’s no opportunity to try things out before buying. The X4 does look like a fascinating piece of kit (and I do love a new gadget), but given the poor reviews of the IOS app, it seems a bit of a stretch to drop £600 on hardware without being able to have a go at editing.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
The x3 looks like a cracking bit of kit, and thanks to the reviews on here, and the excellent footage, is definitely now on my radar to get. I'm going to wait till Amazon has one of their Prime days, or similar discount days, and see what discounts I can get.
Havent gone through the whole thread as its pretty old but I am wondering if anyone uses these cameras to take footage of skiers ahead, or, following behind the camera as opposed to selfies..
I do "chasing" video of clients using an iPhone and a DJI Osmo 6. This sorta works on piste if not too bumpy but I would love something that I could use off piste and in moguls as well... The DJI following and stabiliser works okay but tough to keep skier in frame in bright light and if too bumpy pukes and loses the person.
any thoughts gladly received
have to say the footage you guys put up on the latest cameras makes it look worth doing/investing in !
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
skimottaret wrote:
... I am wondering if anyone uses these cameras to take footage of skiers ahead, or, following behind the camera as opposed to selfies..
..
I do "chasing" video of clients using an iPhone and a DJI Osmo 6. This sorta works on piste if not too bumpy but I would love something that I could use off piste and in moguls as well... The DJI following and stabiliser works okay but tough to keep skier in frame in bright light and if too bumpy pukes and loses the person.
any thoughts gladly received
No, my ego will not permit it.
However with standard GoPro cameras - which are significantly less wide in view - I did manage something reasonably decent with a very long pole - a 3m Rhode sound boom. The guy at the back has to be massively careful, even then.
A couple of weeks ago one of my buddies (a skier) tried to get some Insta360 footage that way, and even though he was way too close for comfort, he still looks tiny in the frame. I would post an example but there's really no point. If you think about it, the standard pole for these is 1.2m; they are extreme wide angle lenses. You need to be extremely close to get anything usable.
So the problem is that if you're wide enough to shoot the full 360... you're too wide to shoot anything which isn't very close. It may be possible to use a bigger camera - one of those with 8 separate lenses or some such, because each lens will have a much narrower field of view than the 180° of the Insta360 stuff. But those are going to weigh and cost more.
You probably have the best solution already.
Better approach for the Insta360: stick the pole in the middle of the slope and tell people to ride one-by-one and to spray it with as much snow as they can in one big turn. You'll maybe get one single frame per pass, and it'd be useless for training, but that'd probably work and be way less risky as you're not holding the camera. Or you could teach the skiers to use the Insta360 ski pole mount, but that's harder than it sounds, if it's not to affect your body positioning.
After all it is free
After all it is free
@phil_w, Thanks very helpful, I will give the 360 a miss !
With the DJI you need to zoom in a bit to avoid seeing your own shadow and to stay far enough away from the subject but keeping the distance right can be tricky when on an open piste and avoid running into anyone when staring at the phone ! Also if you are too far or close the gimbal will get into the shot.. Still playing around with it but not sure it will be that useful.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
@skimottaret, I think 360 camera can work, this 360 video clip is from 4 years ago using a Qoocam 360, which is a lot worse than the Insta360 X3/4. The great thing about a 360 camera is that you don't have to worry about where to point it.
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
