The Insta360 One X2 Camera Says Shoot First, Worry About Angles Later

We all love sharing videos of our adventures. It’s the reason that action cameras like GoPro are so popular. Of course, nobody enjoys spending 15 minutes at the start of each ride making sure the cameras are positioned to get your shots lined up. This is where Insta360 wants to step in. The company produces 360-degree cameras. The newest version, dubbed the One X2, is a compact camera that’s smaller than your smartphone.

You can purchase your own Insta360 X2 here.

The One X2 captures footage in a full 360-degree arc at 5.7K resolution. It also features stabilization modes to reduce shake and judder on your footage. The real magic happens in the editing. In theory, with a full 360-degree filming view, you never need to adjust your camera angles or reset shots. Why mount a camera pointing into the cockpit and a camera facing outboard? With a single unit you can get both shots at the same time and swap between them as needed.

About to climb up a technical rock pass? Instead of moving all your cameras to point to your wheels, you can just mount the Insta360 One X2 somewhere in the general area. It seems like a small thing, but we love the idea of just pointing a camera roughly where we need it and forgetting about the exact angle. It’s like the world’s best video version of “just fix it in Photoshop.”

On paper the Insta360 One X2 looks like a revolutionary piece of kit. We do want to temper expectations a little here though. Pricing starts at $429.99, and GoPro already makes a 360 camera, the GoPro Max. So if you are deep in the GoPro ecosystem and want to stay there, that might be a better choice for you. We also haven’t had a chance to go hands-on with any of the cameras from Insta360, so we can’t say if all the company’s claims are true. We hope to change that with a full review in the near future.