360 Camera Techniques

NO EDITING Needed: Insta360 One X Quick Start Guide for Beginners + 10 Shortcuts (also for Insta360 EVO)

Insta360 One X Quick Start Guide for Beginners: NO EDITING + 10 shortcuts

In this Insta360 One X quick start guide for beginners, you’ll learn how to use the Insta360 One X (reviewed here) in the quickest and simplest way.  It’s so simple that you won’t even need to edit it.  You’ll be able to use it as easily as your GoPro or other action camera, while still getting the key advantages of 360 cameras such as stabilization and an amazing third person view.  The techniques also work for Insta360 EVO (reviewed here), except that the front lens of the EVO is the side without the shutter button.

Here’s the tutorial:

A few weeks ago, I posted a video about the next GoPro Fusion and I talked about one of its key features: that it is designed to be as easy to use as a regular camera.  Meanwhile, there is a way to use Insta360 One X quickly and easily, almost as easily as a with a non-360 camera.  It just takes 3 steps:

1. How to shoot with the Insta360 One X using the no-editing technique.

The key to this technique is to point the Insta360 One X using the front of the camera, which is the side with the LED screen.  You can tilt the camera and the video will remain upright and stabilized, but don’t tilt the One X below the horizon, or else the front of the camera will flip to the side without the LED screen.

2. Download

After shooting your videos, download the videos to your smartphone or desktop.

3. Sharing.

From your smartphone or desktop app, use the Direction Lock option.  On the smartphone, tap on the upper right corner of the video to reveal settings, then toggle Direction Lock.  On the app, the Direction Lock option is on the right side of the screen.

Using this technique, you’ll be able to use the Insta360 One X while keeping the video aimed your subject without keyframing.

10 Shortcut Tips for Insta360 One X

1. Switch photo modes and video modes by holding down the shutter button.  For photo, you can switch to HDR or Interval shooting.  For video, you can switch to Time Lapse, Bullet Time, or HDR Video mode.

2. Slow-motion.  To switch between slow motion and regular speed video more quickly, you can change the default speed on the regular video mode to a slow motion mode such as 4K 50fps or 3K 100fps.  If you want to use regular speed video, you can use HDR Video mode instead.

3.  Quick capture.  Enable Quick Capture mode under Settings in the in-camera menu.  Holding down the shutter while the camera is off will automatically turn it on and begin recording within a few seconds.

4.  Faster VR viewing.  View your photos and videos in VR without stitching them.  Just use the Insta360 VR app for Oculus Go or Samsung Gear VR (you can also sideload it to Quest).  You’ll be able to watch your videos in full resolution without stitching them.

5. Download multiple files to your phone.  You don’t have to download files to your phone one at a time.  Download multiple files at the same time. Instead of selecting a video, tap on this icon on the upper right.  Then tap on the files you want to download.

6. Edit without stitching on phone or desktop.  After downloading the video, you don’t have to export it or stitch it first.  You can edit it right away and export it when you’re done editing.

7. Automatic tiny planet animations.  To create automatic tiny planet animations, just tap on share and choose SpinView.  Note: right now this is available only on the Android app.

8. Download faster with micro sd card.  The fastest way to transfer files to your desktop is by using a USB 3.0 Micro SD card reader.  This is faster than transferring via cable.

9. Batch exporting.  The fastest way to export your files is to use batch exporting.  Select the photos and videos and choose batch exporting. If you have a powerful PC you can also turn on multithreaded stitching to stitch multiple files at the same time.  From Insta360 Studio, go to Settings.. Preferences… Misc… and select the number of concurrent stitching allowed, up to 5 files at a time.

10. Adobe Premiere Pro editing without stitching.  If you have Adobe Premiere, you can import the One X’s photos and videos into Premiere.  No need to stitch the video. Premiere will stitch it for you when you render your sequence.  If you want to learn how to edit Insta360 One X on Premiere Pro, check out this tutorial.

About the author

Mic Ty

3 Comments

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  • Can you help me please? I have enabled quick capture and now can’t get out.. every time I try the camera starts shooting. Can you help me get out of that? Thanks so much!!

    • No problem Carla. In your camera settings, look for the exclamation point. In that menu, there is an option called QuickCap. You can toggle it off.
      Best regards,
      Mic

  • Hi Mic,
    You have given me so many hours of awesome tips, clue, and advice. I thank you for your akill, and devotion, and your kind manner of teaching THANK YOU!

    I really like this “no editing” video for the ONEx, any such video for the onex2?
    I got it because it’s waterproof etc.

    Thank you again Mic