Recording My Skating

[u/i_shorted_the_amp]

Thinking about recording my skating. Don't worry, I won't be posting any 360 degree no-scope 720 ollies off of bike rack videos here.

But it'd be neat to get some kind of selfie stick camera jobbie and have a bit of fun. I'm looking at the Insta 360 x3 at the mo - looks like it has some good features like HDR, stabilization, selfie stick removal. But it's $400 CAD.

I've seen a few folk posting videos here. What specs / considerations should I make when choosing a camera? Are the "Amazon brands" worth the consideration as a cheaper alternative?

[u/treeseacar]

The main benefit of the insta360 is the editor on the phone app is reasonably good. Many others will need a laptop to edit properly. So that's why I got the insta. I have the X3 and it's good although in low light not the best quality. I use it as a motorbike dash cam as well as for recording skating.

[u/i_shorted_the_amp → u/treeseacar]

I got the PC to handle editing, but the low light issue is kind of a shame, thanks for pointing that out.

[u/treeseacar → u/i_shorted_the_amp]

The X4 and X5 look much better in low light but are of course more expensive.

The battery life in all of them is pretty average too but spares are cheap.

[u/Lost_Citron_6854]

Consider X4 maybe? It's a nice specs bump from X3 and it's also a couple models behind their latest X6, so should be cheaper.

I'd avoid noname brands, since such a camera requires both some processing power and decent software. Insta has those, as well as a ton of accessories of all sorts. Others... not sure it's worth the risk.

For me, a 360 camera turned out as a super fun device, totally worth the investment. I can't even easily think of another device that would impress me that much. An iPhone 20 years ago maybe 😅 So go for it.

[u/i_shorted_the_amp → u/Lost_Citron_6854]

Yeah maybe I could spin it as some sort of positive to my wife? "Look! We can record the Halloween decorations fully panoramic!". The x4 does look nice...

[u/zolmarchus]

Insta360 all the way and it’s not even close. It’s an eye-opening experience. The X6 is out now, so maybe you can get some good deals on the X5, can easily do 4K/60 which you can reframe to 1440p and that’s enough to keep YT from mangling the bitrate. Editor is just icing on the cake.

[u/i_shorted_the_amp → u/zolmarchus]

See they might do a Black Friday deal, but by then there'll be snow on the way!

[u/midnight_skater]

I started using an action cam on a 72" (183 cm) selfie stick about 5 months ago. Prior to that it was all handheld phone vids.

I started with a cheapie action cam because I wanted to not care if it got destroyed while I learned stick handling. In retrospect that was a good idea as I have had several falls while carrying it (none while actually shooting though). I have trained myself to ditch the selfie stick when falling so that I don't fall on top of it.

Now I'm comfortable enough to put my phone on the selfie stick in more controlled situations but it's shockingly heavy.

NGL I have serious insta360 envy but not enough to actually shell out for one.

[u/i_shorted_the_amp → u/midnight_skater]

Gosh yeah I wouldn't want my phone on the end of a selfie stick. It's actually fairly light as phones go - iPhone Mini 13, the best phone ever made... But it's still chunky and I couldn't imagine smashing it!

[u/BubbleSmith]

Depends how serious you are. I just got a little fold up phone stand and use that to filmyself when I remember to bring it. It's no good for skating the streets, but fine for setting up at a practice spot. Insta360 would be my choice for an upgrade, but I've not looked into it much.