360 cameras are not an easy concept to get your head around. It’s hard to get used to the idea that it doesn’t matter where you point them, and that you can look in any direction you like when you play back video.
But we reckon that the Insta360 ONE X could be the breakthrough camera that makes spherical imaging easy enough for anyone to understand – and we like it so much it’s gone straight to the top of our Best 360 cameras buying guide.
The ONE X is a flat camera slim enough to fit in a shirt pocket, but with 5.7k capture, 6-axis stabilisation and a brilliant mobile editing app. It's simpler than point and shoot because you don't actually have to point it...
360 imaging: what you need to know
First, these cameras use two ultra-wide lenses that each capture a 180-degree hemispherical view of the world which is then stitched automatically into a 360-degree image.
To understand these, forget about the idea of ‘flat’ photos and videos. Instead, imagine an image captured on the inside of a sphere, so that you can pop your head in and look around in any direction.
You’ll need special apps or browsers to be able to pan around 360 content, but it’s also possible to turn your spherical images into regular ‘flat’ panoramic photographs or ‘flat’ video.
This is the clever bit. You can choose how to frame your photos and your videos before you save and share them. This is where the Insta360 ONE X is so brilliant, because it works with an app on your smartphone which lets you follow individual subjects, set up smooth panning shots automatically and change the angle and direction of view – all without having to move the camera while you’re filming. It also has a pretty remarkable 6-axis gyro and FlowState image stabilisation to keep your viewpoint steady and level, not matter where and how you point the camera (yes, that is weird).
There’s even an optional ‘invisible’ extending grip for the Insta360 ONE X that the app can automatically hide when it stitches its images.
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360 imaging means never having to wonder if your lens is wide enough. Or whether you're pointing the camera the right way.
Unfortunately, unless you run off and hide behind a pillar (we tried that too), you're always going to be in the shot somewhere.
So is 360 the future of travel photography?
Why not! Why waste time fiddling around with smartphones and selfie sticks when you can just click a button and film or photograph EVERYTHING around you?
There are limits, and while the 5.7k resolution of the Insta360 ONE X leads the field for consumer 360 cameras, it doesn’t go far when it’s spread over the inside of a sphere, so your smartphone or camera will probably give you a better-quality ‘flat’ photo or video.
But as a whole new way of seeing and capturing the world, 360 cameras like this one have potential we’re only just starting to grasp, even now!
Rod is an independent photography journalist and editor, and a long-standing Digital Camera World contributor, having previously worked as DCW's Group Reviews editor. Before that he has been technique editor on N-Photo, Head of Testing for the photography division and Camera Channel editor on TechRadar, as well as contributing to many other publications. He has been writing about photography technique, photo editing and digital cameras since they first appeared, and before that began his career writing about film photography. He has used and reviewed practically every interchangeable lens camera launched in the past 20 years, from entry-level DSLRs to medium format cameras, together with lenses, tripods, gimbals, light meters, camera bags and more. Rod has his own camera gear blog at fotovolo.com but also writes about photo-editing applications and techniques at lifeafterphotoshop.com
