The latest 360 camera from Insta360 has been released today. You can watch their Apple-like presentation here:

I became intrigued with 360 photography quite some time ago. Apple QuickTime VR was the first time I ever saw it, and that software allowed taking a bunch of photos in different directions and splicing them together in to on virtual reality image that let you look in any direction. That started back in 1995 though I did not learn about it until a bit later.

I got my first digital camera in 1996, and experimented with panoramic “stitcher” programs that let me stand in one location and take photos in all directions then stitch them together to make a large panoramic image. This is why you can find odd “panorama” folders in my only photo galleries, like this one from 2002:

https://photos.atthefaire.com/Illinois/Geneseo2002/Panorama/index.html

This led me to experiment with “one shot 360” systems, such as the SurroundPhoto attachment I owned. It was a half-mirror ball on a stick that mounted to a camera, then you took the photo pointing up, capturing all 360 around you. Software would later de-warp this in to a 360 image that allowed you to look in all directions, including limited up/down.

You can read about the various 360 devices on my old One Shot 360 web page.

Here is an example of a 360 photo taken using the SurroundPhoto attachment:

I was excited to later learn of a new 360 camera that had three camera lenses and promised to take these types of images in one shot, without any post-processing or klunky add-ons. I backed the 360cam on Kickstarter, and that was quite the fiasco, taking so long to actually ship that other companies such as Kodak and RICOH came out with their own (and cheaper) units.

Over the years, I have owned:

• 360Cam
• Kodak SP360
• RICOH Theta
• RICOH Theta S
• Insta360 X2
• Insta350 X3
• …and maybe one or two others I have fogotten about.

In the early years, Insta360’s “ONE X” had inferior quality compared to the RICOH, but it had more “fun” features and effects that could be applied via the app. At the time, I did not want a device that needed an app. I just wanted to take photos and download.

RICOH remained the king of 360, with the best photo quality in their $1000-priced Theta Z model, but I was not interested in spending that kind of money on a better 360 camera.

I ended up with an Insta360 X2 and installed found it the funnest camera I had ever owned. I used it more than all the previous 360 cameras I had owned, combined. When the X3 came out, I upgraded to get improved photo/video quality.

The X4 is a slightly larger and heavier camera, but adds 8K recording, and thus needed a larger battery. With the release of X4, paid ads (er, “review videos”) have popped up all over YouTube telling us how great it is. After the X3 release, I learned many of these “review videos” were misleading – stating facts that were incorrect (either lying, or just uninformed), or mentioning how great a new feature was that — we later found out — did not even work in the beta firmware the “reviewers” were using.

We’ll see if the X4 lives up to the hype.

With the X3 price down for $399, I highly recommend it as a fun camera. For $100 more, the X4 may be worth it — but I’d wait a few months and see what real users think about it.

To be continued…