Love the rs one. Its a good form factor and quality is acceptable. Obviously would have liked it to be upgraded more but that doesnt look like its on the cards from Insta360
No doubt, but as i’m using for CRW, i really don’t want long protruding snag happy form factor. So the form factor works inside a Adrenaline workshop mount.
I think the problem is most people have absolutely NO idea how to both *capture* and *edit* their camera footage, let alone a 360 camera. Plus they will make mediocre edits on their phone rather than max potential edits on a computer. It's typical to do the "tiny planet" thing or just use it to point wherever. but sometimes I stumble on incredibly creative riders with interesting shots; angles, composition, lighting. Not just a 3rd person view of their back, but maybe from the side or front. I've even seen one where a rider attatched it to the selfie stick, which was attatched to his helmet, and pointing back at his face. So you got this footage that moved with his head as he leaned, a high intensity angle. Those guys that know how to get the best quality out of their footage and create something more than glorified dashcam shit deserve a nod of respect at the very least.
I have the twin RS, it has a normal action lens and the 360 one that I can swap between. The action lens is great for my helmet mount and 1st person POV stuff. But I use the 360 if I'm riding with others or traveling to visually interesting destinations. Stick it on and capture literally everything.
I also use my insta360 setup for snowboarding & paintball. I'm not trying to get clout or even convince people that I'm cool. Hell sometimes I will go months without getting any footage. 100% just a creative outlet for me when I feel like it.
I have a One RS Twin edition. I was pretty disappointed on how videos with the 360 lens turned out after they were "flattened." I don't have a specific recommendation for you, but I would recommend going with something that shoots in 8K for the highest possible resolution after it's converted into a non-360 video.
There are a few options:
Insta360 Twin RS and X5, plus Action 5 have been amazing for me.
For car mounting I have tried a few things:
Neewer 6" Suction mount CA013 + Neewer Magic Arm ST16 and any phone mount for a battery bank and you can record for hours. You will want to mount the action camera with a magic arm that has arri pins as those cannot become lose. The other regular magic arms with just a 1/4" thread they can become loose or spin out of position with vibration and other forces. I also recommend strapping in your mount with either rope or belt as an extra precaution. Suction cups can lose suction from heat buildup.
If the camera is mounted externally and on a moving vehicle, you won't experience much overheating if any. I have had action cameras overheat inside my car though, but so far my Action 5 has yet to overheat and my X5 overheated after over an hour. At work, we use GoPro 11s and 12s and I cannot recommend a GoPro. They are great with video quality, but they overheat so quickly. At work I can't get more than 30 minutes out of them before I see the warning.
Do no recommend GoPro, unless you do something like surfing or skiing where it will have better luck with cooling. I do not have an Osmo Mobile 3 so I cannot comment on that, but note that its not weather sealed, so be careful mounting it externally, even on clear skies. Cold weather and rapid cooling from air can cause condensation to build up. I've had it build up on my X5 and Twin RS when mounted externally, but they are weather sealed, so no problems.
Lastly, I do recommend NDs. Get a kit with 8, 32, 64, and 128 if you can. The ND2 and 4 are hardly dark enough to make a meaningful change.
Pretty sure the new insta360’s even have a dashcam function to so you can basically have it on whenever the bike is on and it’ll just start writing over the oldest footage when the card is full.
So I’d personally go the insta360 plus a usb charging port and get a high capacity SD card. FWIW I have one of the older models (one rs) and my channel is ABlueQuaker5486 if you want an idea of the 360 quality. It would be a bit better now probably in terms of stitching (putting the front and rear view together to create the 360) and read-write speed and +3 years of 360 camera quality. Just keep that in mind.
Depends what I want to do.
_Basic pics for my own memory?_
Sony RX100
Simple to pack, there is an battery case with in built charger, sadly only micro usb. Good point and shoot that covers all the range, most phones don't.
_Basic video for my own memory?_
Insta360 and a way to mount it for handsfree (RS One in my case, but better get the latest model for the best source to cut out from)
I just let it run and record, when something is happening, like I cycle thru a city, watch some stuff or visit some stuff. I don't care about the framing or anything else, I just cut it out on the tablet/notebook afterwards. This way I don't ruin my vacation with prioritising video shooting over my own enjoyment and instead just get some clips as keep sakes. I wouldn't say those are good for youtube or similar, those 4k get small quite fast when you start to cut a normal view out of it and those fisheye lenses can't provide necessery details for todays quality standards.
_Shooting good pics is the point._
My DSLR/Mirroless + 2 Zoom lenses (typical reportage duo: 16-35mm & 70-200mm equivalents, these days also often with f4 constant instead of f2.8)
Some vacations are to enjoy the hobby of taking pics, then I take gear. I add an monopod with small three pod feet, if I think I will need it.
_Storage_
I store multiple endurance microSD cards in one of those credit card sized holders in small seal-able bag. That way I can change often, like daily or any other day, so that if my gear gets stolen, that I only loose the last pics, not the whole vacation. The bag makes it waterproof. Sometimes I add an USB-C card reader or usb-c hub, when I know I will have some downtime in the hotels or train/flight. That way I can copy some pics over for uploading to server / cloud storage, upload some pics for chats/social media to keep family and friends in the loop, or depending where you are to an 24h print service for later pickup of post cards with my pics on them.
_Why I rarely use phone only_
iPhones are good yes. Some android phones are good yes. Especially for the fast snapshots. But I still use them mostly as an add on to my primary. One reason is the coverage of lens angles, most phones are almost only fisheye to ultrawide. Wideangle often equiv to 8-10mm and the "normal" lens equiv to 20-35mm. Some phones come with "telelens" of 50-70mm. In flagships u can get 100mm to 160mm. (iPhone 17 Pro Max offers 13mm, 24mm & 100mm as an example.) Firstly those setups don't provide enough coverage for most situations and are too focused on the extremes (ultra wide or tele), which will balloon or compress part of the picture and will change the look / impression of the scene.
Another reason is the importance of the phone on travels. So much stuff is on them, from payment up to boarding passes. I feel more relaxed if I don't have it out in my hands all the time.
Top Action Cameras on Reddit
1
DJI
Osmo Action 5 Pro
79% positive of 546 users
Great low-light, mic integration; watch out for lens flare.
Key-Lengthiness9709
