Review: Insta360 X6 Camera

The combination of good video quality and user-friendly software has kept Insta360 at the forefront of the 360 camera world even as competitors like DJI and GoPro have carved out their own niche. With its latest camera, the Insta360 X6, the company is hoping to leap ahead of the pack again.

The Insta360 X6 brings a slightly larger sensor, faster video frame rates, better low-light performance, and tools to help you spend less time editing and more time filming. While it’s not a huge leap over its predecessor, the X6 is a solid improvement with several new features that might make upgrading worth it for some users.

What’s New

The X6 looks a little bit like if the X5 and the GoPro Max 2 had a baby. It’s shorter, squatter, and a tad bit wider than the X5, but not as small as the Max 2. That might sound like I’m setting it up to say it’s the Goldilocks size, but that’s not really the case. I actually like the individual sizes of the X5 and Max 2 better, the first for its narrower profile and the second for its much smaller overall size.

Along with the smaller size come two other major changes from the X5: the screen is smaller, and the physical buttons at the bottom are gone. Though there is noticeably less coverage, I didn’t find the smaller screen to make much difference. I could still see what I wanted to shoot, but the point of a 360 camera is you don’t need to frame shots. The main thing I use the screen for is making sure that the stitch line isn’t on my main subject.

Photograph: Scott Gilbertson

I do miss the X5’s physical buttons on the front, one to record and the other for the menu. There is still a record button, now on the side of the X6, but the onscreen buttons just aren’t as good. They provide haptic feedback (the buttons vibrate when you press them), but they don’t respond 100 percent of the time. I found them noticeably harder to activate compared to the X5’s physical buttons, and I prefer the X5’s front button to start recording.

Another change to the outside is one of the better things about the X6: There are now power contact points on the bottom, which means you can attach a powered selfie stick and charge your camera while you use it. This is a great new feature that I hope other manufacturers copy. And don’t worry, the standard 1/4-inch tripod mount is still there.

Insta360 also says the X6’s new replaceable lens covers are harder than those on previous models. I have never scratched the lenses on my X5, nor did I acquire any scratches during the couple of months I tested the X6. The camera has an IP68 rating, and it’s dustproof and waterproof down to 66 feet.

Speaking of batteries, perhaps my favorite thing about the redesigned X6 is that the battery is now … just a battery. In older X-series cameras, the battery door was part of the battery, which always seemed unnecessary and meant there was no chance of ever using the same battery in another Insta360 camera, like the Ace Pro 2. Now that is potentially possible. If you’re listening, Insta360, give us the same battery for the Ace Pro 3 that’s in the X6. Battery size has also increased from 2,400 mAh to 2,600 mAh compared to the X5.

New Innards

The X6 uses a larger 1/1.1-inch sensor, the same size as the one in the DJI Osmo 360. That’s up from the 1/1.28-inch sensor in the X5 (and note that 360 cameras have two sensors since they have two lenses), and it gives you marginally sharper, clearer video. I did not notice a huge difference when recording in 360 mode. Of the Insta360, GoPro, and DJI cameras I’ve tested, I still find the GoPro Max 2 footage to be the best quality overall, and to GoPro’s point when it launched the Max 2, the X6 only records 7.2K video versus the Max 2’s 8K video.

Photograph: Scott Gilbertson

At night, though, the X6 wins. It’s much brighter than the X5 or the GoPro for starters, and while sometimes it does render colors a little wonky, with blues tending toward green and yellows going more orange than they are in real life, it still produces the best 360-degree low-light footage I’ve shot. The Osmo 360 is a close second, but at times I find it has quite a bit of weird blur-like artifacts in low light.

One of the more exciting new features is single-lens mode, which, at least on the spec sheet, goes a long way to making the X6 a viable action camera replacement. I dream of one camera that can do it all, and the X6 is definitely closer than other 360 cameras in fulfilling that wish.

The X6 can now record up to 5K video in single-lens mode (up from 4K in the X5), but even better is the new InstaFrame 2.0 feature, which is Insta360’s name for the ability to record both 360 video and a single-lens shot at the same time. This greatly simplifies editing since you have a flat file to work from, and if you miss the shot in that one, you have the 360 footage to fall back on. This was always a great feature, but in the X5 the non-360 file was capped at 1080p, which made it less than useful. The X6 bumps that footage to 4K for the single-lens recording and up to 8K at 30 frames per second for the 360 footage recorded simultaneously, which makes this very usable and is, in fact, how I shot most of the time.

As I have said many times, no one wants to see raw 360 footage (yeah, yeah, I know VR is going to catch on one day, but I am not holding my breath), and while InstaFrame makes editing it down to a traditional linear video file about as easy as is possible, it is still kind of a pain. Advanced users will also find it annoying that you cannot use Insta360’s I-Log format (video log modes are to video what a RAW file is to still images, and capture a much wider dynamic range) with InstaFrame 2.0, but there are some pretty good preset color modes, and I recommend using them for everyday shots.

With I-Log, the X6 supports 10-bit recording when recording in 360 mode. In single-lens mode, you can only shoot in 8-bit I-Log. The higher the bit rate, the more color information is available (1,024 shades in 10-bit versus 256 in 8-bit). That’s a shame because, at least for my needs, this stops the X6 from replacing an action camera in my kit. Perhaps we’ll get this in the X7. For non-pro users, this is likely a moot point.

Photograph: Scott Gilbertson

Other new features in the X6 include 47 GB of internal storage. There’s still a microSD card slot, which is what I used in almost all my testing, but it’s nice to have the internal storage for those times that you forget an SD card, as I do from time to time. Even though I don’t use the internal storage, I love that it’s there as a backup.

The photo tools also got a bump, with 120-megapixel images (up from 72 MP in the X5) and a new AI reframing feature. In this mode, just press the shutter button and the camera will take three photos, one facing you, one facing out at (presumably) your subject, and one of those tiny world images. (I find the first two photo styles useful, but the latter is lame.) You also get the original 360 photo.

To my mind, useful software-driven features, like the triple-photo feature and InstaFrame 2.0, are what have always separated Insta360 from GoPro and DJI. They make it easier to get usable images and video out of the camera.

Finally, I’d like to point out something I haven’t seen mentioned much, but I love how fast the X6 starts up. You press power, and it’s up and running in about 200 milliseconds, which is the fastest start-up time of any action or 360 camera I’ve tested.

360 for Newbies

If you already own the X5, this is very much an incremental update. The new features are nice to have, but the basic video quality is comparable to the X5. If you’ve been thinking of getting a 360 camera but haven’t pulled the trigger yet, the X6 is worth considering. While I prefer the GoPro Max 2 in many shooting scenarios, the X6 wins in low light. I also love the ability to use it as a 5K action camera when you don’t need the 360 footage, as well as the option to shoot 4K and 360 video at the same time, neither of which is possible with the GoPro Max 2. Throw in the very nice editing software Insta360 offers, and you’ve got a great option for 360 camera newcomers.