Insta360's X5: Film Everything, Frame It Later

14 May 2025

Insta360 has released the X5 (around £549), the latest of its 360-degree cameras — devices that film in every direction at once, letting you choose the framing afterwards on your phone. The X5 shoots 8K, handles low light far better than its predecessors, and even has user-replaceable lenses for when (not if) you scratch one.

Why 360 suits certain businesses perfectly

• One-person film crews. Stick it on the invisible-selfie-stick, do your job, and extract shots later — the camera "operator" was never needed. The stick vanishes in the footage, so it looks like a drone or a cameraman followed you.
• Venues, tours and property. Walkthroughs where the viewer can look around are the closest thing to a visit.
• Events. Capture the whole room once; cut a dozen social clips from different "angles" of the same recording.

The honest caveats

Reframed 360 footage trades some sharpness for flexibility, and the editing step is unavoidable — this is a "shoot now, choose later" workflow, not point-and-publish. For talking heads and product shots, conventional cameras still win.

But as a way for one busy person to look like they brought a crew, nothing else comes close at the price.