Updates:

• 2024-04-26 – When I did this test, I recorded an 8K run, a 5.7K+ run, then 5.7K. I could not tell which video was which from looking at the info inside Insta360 Studio. I now think the #1 pass was in 5.7K+ mode. I will have to redo all of these ;-)

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By request, here are comparison videos of the Insta360 X3 and Insta360 X4˘cameras recording in low light conditions. The recording was made at sunset, and the light level was low enough that the X4 displays the warning that it is too low for shooting in 8K.

But I did it anyway.

In the first test, I set the X3 to 360 mode and 5.7K. This allows reframing and exporting to HD. For the X4, I set it to 360 and 8K. This allows reframing and exporting to 4K. This obviously should make the X4 side have more detail, but what will it do to brightness of the video?

X3 5.7K versus X4 8K

X3 5.7K versus X4 5.7K+ (I think)

For the next test, I did two recordings with both cameras set to 360 5.7K+ (I think). In both cases, the reframed video is exported as HD. This was the mode the X4 tells you to use when recording in low light.

Test #1:

Test #2 in normal 5.7K mode (unless I have #1 and #2 mixed up):

Is one better than the other? You can certainly see alot of stabilization glitching going on at these low light levels.

To be continued…

I also repeated these tests at 24 fps (to see if that really does increase low light performance) and some other frame rates, but one of the files was incomplete from me hitting the button by mistake. I’ll go through the rest of my test clips, including some done in single lens mode, and create more comparison videos soon.