Insta360 X5 Boasts Three AI chips and User-Replaceable Lenses

Insta360 has now officially announced the new Insta360 X5. It brings with it 144% larger sensors, a bigger battery and – finally – user removable and replaceable lenses. It also sees improved waterproofing, PureVideo and a triple AI chip.

The video frame rates on the X5 are very similar to the Insta360 X4, but it also bumps 5.7K Active HDR video up to 60fps, adds PureVideo mode and InstaFrame – a new tool to help you frame up your shots while you film for faster editing.

I’ve been testing out the X5 for the last couple of weeks, and it’s a rather nice camera. It comes with a sleek new design that mirrors the edgy – as in, it has edges – design shown in elements of the Insta360 Ace Pro 2.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. The camera I received came in the Essentials Bundle package. This means it comes with a few extra bits that you don’t get in the regular base kit, but we’ll go through those below.

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Insta360 X5 – What’s in the Essentials Bundle?

The Insta360 X5 Essentials Bundle comes with a few extras that aren’t included in the standard kit. It’s a handy bundle, providing a range of essential accessories to help you get up and running quickly without having to buy them separately.

On opening the main box, we’re confronted with a few things. There’s a grey case, emblazoned with the Insta360 logo and their “Think Bold” slogan, along with an invisible selfie stick, a spare battery (in its own case), and a little black box.

The mysterious black box isn’t that mysterious once you pull it out. It simply contains the basic getting-started manual and the usual paperwork.

On pulling the case out and opening it, it’s a clamshell-style case, with an expandable pocket on top and foam with cutouts for equipment in the bottom. Within the expandable pocket at the top, there’s a neoprene case, along with a lens cloth and USB cable for connecting the camera to your computer.

On the bottom half, we get the Insta360 X5 camera itself and a pair of lens protectors. The lens protectors don’t come supplied with the basic Insta360 X5 kit, as they did with the X4. Insta360 says they’re not needed, as the X5 has tougher glass in its lenses than the X4 – plus, they’re replaceable.

And no, the Insta360 X4 lens protectors don’t fit on the X5. While we’re talking about lens protectors, the Essentials Bundle also includes the silicone lens protector – an optional extra accessory with the basic kit.

The observant ones amongst you will notice there’s an empty slot at the bottom. In the retail box, this contains a “Utility Fast Charge Case”, although I’m told these weren’t quite ready yet at the time this unit was shipped to me.

You’ll get one, though.

The case is a little small to fit the selfie stick inside, but Insta360 has you covered. On the outside of the case, there’s an elasticated sleeve, into which you can slide your selfie stick for easy storage. This is great, because it’s often quite an awkward thing to find a home for when travelling.

Size Still Matters

The Insta360 X4 brought with it a noticeable size increase over the Insta360 X3. This was presumably to help house the extra electronics the second AI chip required, along with the larger, higher-capacity battery. The X5 is very close in size to the X4, albeit slightly taller and a little bit thicker.

And when I say “slightly”, there’s literally only 1-2mm in it. For all intents and purposes, they’re pretty much the same size. I guess this is the new form factor. The big difference with the X5, however, is the new angular patterned back. And it’s not just aesthetic, either.

When scrolling through menus, switching settings or reviewing footage, this makes it feel like there’s much less chance of it slipping out of your hand while operating it one-handed.

The X5’s sensors, too, have also increased in size over the X4. They’re not quite as large as those found in the Insta360 ONE R 1″ Leica 360 Edition, but they’re significantly larger than those in the X4, bumping up the size from 1/2″ to 1/1.28″.

Keeping the same resolution as the X4, this means 144% larger sensors offer larger photosites (“pixels”) to let in more light for cleaner shots with less noise. So, you get even cleaner shots in the day and better performance in low light.

The battery, too, has grown, expanding from 2290mAh to 2400mAh. The X4 was already quite impressive with a claimed 135 minutes of battery life – much higher than the X3’s 81 minutes – but the new X5 battery brings this up to 180 minutes. Yes, three hours.

And while I haven’t tried the camera to exhaustion, I’ve yet to have a fully charged X5 battery die for me on a typical day out. I also experienced no overheating issues, either. Of course, I’m in Scotland. It’s not exactly the tropics, so your mileage may vary.

User Replaceable Lenses

If nothing else, this will probably be the biggest draw when attracting X5 customers. I don’t know if I’ve been lucky or if I’ve just applied more than some 360-degree camera owners, but I’ve not had any issues with the lenses on mine.

Every day, however, in various Facebook groups, I see cameras with smashed lenses. Historically, these cameras have had to be sent back to Insta360 for repair. Not anymore, though! The Insta360 X5 features user-replaceable lenses.

So, if your camera has a little accident, and you’ve smashed your lenses, you’re now able to just order some spares and swap them out yourself. It’s probably worth having a couple of sets of spare lenses before you need them, just so you can get back up and running quickly.

You do need a kit to remove the lens, which I’m assuming comes supplied with replacement lenses, so it’s not something you can just pop out and back in at will. And when you are putting your new lens in, you’ll want to do it in dust-free, low-humidity conditions to minimise fogging and other issues.

But, now you haven’t killed your camera if you scratch your lens. And you won’t have to ship it to the other side of the world and potentially wait weeks to get it back.

Insta360 X5 Specs Overview

Here’s an overview of the specs of the camera, side-by-side with the X4 and X3.

Dedicated PureVideo mode for low-light

I haven’t had the chance to fully test this out yet, but as soon as I get the chance, I’ll shoot some sample footage and update this section. The Insta360 X5 features the PureVideo mode, which was first featured on the Insta360 Ace Pro.

This allows for much brighter and clearer shots at night, with more detail, and none of the usual slow-shutter blur you typically see when shooting video at night. And while it was impressive on the Ace Pro, it became more so with the Ace Pro 2.

As I said, I haven’t had a chance to really test this properly yet, but if it’s even half as good as the Ace Pro 2, I can see this becoming a popular feature for those who often shoot at night.

Triple AI Chip and a New Algorithm

The Insta360 X5 really takes AI to the next level with a triple-chip setup. It sports two Pro Imaging chips along with a 5nm AI chip. Insta360 claims this provides the X5 with “incredible breakthroughs in low-light capture”. And in my limited testing so far, it seems pretty good.

Love it or hate it, we’ve seen some incredible advancements in AI over the last few years, and image processing is just one area where there’s been significant improvement. It helps to reduce noise and reproduce more accurate colours underwater, amongst other things.

The new chips, along with the larger sensors and faster processing also mean that Insta360 has been able to increase the frame rate of Active HDR with the X5. Going from the X4’s 5.7K30fps, the X5 shoots 5.7K Active HDR at 60fps, making for much smoother footage.

This will be especially welcome to those who shoot 360-degree footage for playback in a VR headset. It will result in smoother motion and less of that motion sickness feeling you often get with 30fps.

Unfortunately, Active HDR isn’t available in 8K mode, which will disappoint some, although it’s not surprising. Active HDR uses multiple surrounding pixels to capture the wider dynamic range. With 8K, that just isn’t possible (yet).

Instaframe is going to be a popular mode for vloggers and others who regularly need to film themselves. It’s sort of an enhanced “Me Mode”, but it’s not just limited to filming yourself.

It has two modes. As well as the selfie mode, it can also capture the scene directly ahead of you, no matter which direction you’re going in. This makes it easy to document where you’re headed, whether on foot or on wheels, but where it really shines is filming yourself.

Essentially, it tracks you and records a flat video file of that view. So, you don’t have to do any tracking or tweaking in post if you don’t want to. Of course, you also get that option, as it records the original full 360-degree footage simultaneously.

This is a great feature, particularly for vloggers, because you can keep the camera tracked on you the whole time while walking and talking, but also capture everything going on around you. It’s like having an A-Cam and a B-Cam in one – but you get to choose what the B-Cam’s looking at in post.

Fast Charge in 20 Minutes

The X5 comes with a large 2400mAh battery. As batteries grow, charging often becomes more of a pain. Bigger batteries, obviously, take longer to charge back up. Not for the Insta360 X5, though. It supports USB Power Delivery at up to 30 watts, allowing you to go from flat to 80% in just 20 minutes.

Of course, if your charger or power bank can’t deliver 30w, it’ll take a little longer. But 30w isn’t an unreasonable amount of power output these days – even for USB power banks. The USB port’s also been moved nearer the bottom of the camera, which should mean it doesn’t get in the way as much.

This fast charging also means you should be able to safely keep your camera topped up for longer recordings. You’ll want to watch out for potential overheating issues on long sessions, but you can always remove the battery, too, and just power it externally.

This will be great for those long timelapses, motorcycle journeys and live streams. Of course, if you’re planning to shoot in the rain, you’ll want to keep the battery in to ensure the waterproofing still works.

Improved IP68 waterproofing – up to 15m (49ft)

One feature that’s been a selling point of Insta360’s X line, ever since the ONE X2, is its built-in waterproofing without a dive case. While you’ll still want a dive case for deep dives – or just added security – it’s not required.

The X3 and X4 offered case-free waterproofing down to a depth of 10 metres (33ft). The X5 bumps this up to 15 metres (40ft), allowing you to dive deeper for longer.

And while many of us aren’t going to go anywhere near this depth, the increased waterproofing helps to ensure it stays waterproof at shallower depths, too. It’s rare for me to go more than a few feet deep in freshwater lochs (Scottish lakes) and rivers, but for those who often go deeper, this is a valuable feature.

Other New Features

One of my favourite new features is that the Insta360 X5 shares the quick mount system of the Insta360 Ace Pro and Ace Pro 2. If you also use one of those cameras, this makes it a doddle to switch between the two using the same mounting system.

All you do is pop one camera off and then attach the other one. Simple. It’s nice to see Insta360 finally starting to unify their system with shared accessories beyond the standard 1/4″-20 threaded tripod mount.

There’s a new Twist to Shoot feature for those using the X5 on a selfie stick. You no longer have to pull in your stick or pull out your phone to manually start and stop recording on the end of a long selfie stick. Just give it a couple of twists to start recording and another couple to stop when you’re done.

There’s a new wind guard for the microphone, too. So, if you’re not recording with external mics, it should help to reduce some (most? all?) of that clipping you hear in windy conditions or when riding on motorcycles.

Speaking of external microphones. If you’re using the quick release and have the microphone bracket for the Insta360 Ace Pro and Ace Pro 2, there is plenty of clearance with the Insta360 X5. However, the orientation of the mount means your microphone isn’t completely invisible. So, it’ll appear in the shot at certain angles.

Insta360 has released a new external microphone bracket – designed primarily for the Rode Wireless Pro and similarly shaped microphones, but it also works with others – that comes with an audio cable. The actual microphone adapter that plugs into the camera, though, is still a separate purchase. It also only mounts via 1/4″-20 hole, which means you’re using the selfie stick. It’s not compatible with the quick mount.

Of course, you get the usual FlowState stabilisation and 360-degree horizon lock, which seems to get even better with each new camera release and firmware update.

Final Thoughts…

The Insta360 X5 offers some notable improvements over the X4, although I feel it may be an incremental update for many. That being said, 5.7K60 Active HDR will provide obvious benefits for those regularly shooting scenes with high dynamic range.

Those serial camera killers – seriously, one guy I saw post in an Insta360 group had killed half a dozen X4s over the span of a few months – will definitely feel the benefit of user-replaceable lenses. Get a few spares in advance and you’re good to go.

The X5 will now become the main 360-degree camera in my vlogging kit. While the X4 has been behaving admirably for me the past year, the quick release on the bottom makes it a no-brainer for me, as I’ll typically be out with both the Ace Pro and Ace Pro 2.

Of course, I’ll still need that 1/4″-20 hole for the selfie stick.

Ultimately, as with everything, the decision on whether or not you should upgrade will be down to your own needs. Does the X5 bring enough to the table for you over the X4? The X4 is remaining on sale, as is the X3. So, if those meet your needs and budget better, they’re both still solid options.

Price and Availability

The Insta360 X5 is available to pre-order now starting at $549.99 for the basic bundle. The Essentials Bundle costs $659.99. Shipping is expected to begin in the coming days.

It should be made clear, that despite the release of the Insta360 X5, Insta360 has not discontinued the Insta360 X3 or the Insta360 X4, both of which are still available for $299.99 and $424.99, respectively. Insta360 says the three cameras will continue to be sold alongside each other for different needs and budgets.

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