The Insta360 X5 Shoots Like A Dream
Waterproof, AI-powered, and weirdly intuitive, this is the most impressive action cam you’ll never have to think about using
There’s a reason most holiday videos never see the light of day. It’s not for lack of effort—we shoot, we edit, we colour correct—but somehow, it always feels like a watered-down version of what actually happened. The adrenaline of that cliff jump, the hush of dusk on a motorbike ride home, the pure idiocy of your friend trying to grill corn over a hotel hairdryer—it all fades in translation. Unless, of course, you’re shooting with something like the Insta360 X5.
At first glance, it looks like a prop from a sci-fi film: two eyes staring outward, smooth, spherical, slightly uncanny. But in use, it feels surprisingly human—curious, perceptive, and just smart enough to capture moments before you’ve registered them as significant. Launched as the brand’s new flagship, the X5 isn’t just an upgrade on the X4; it’s a rethink of what action cameras should be in the age of AI, aesthetic obsession, and ruthless attention spans.
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8K in Theory and Practice
Yes, the X5 shoots in 8K at 30fps. That’ll get the tech crowd excited. But this isn’t about crispness for crispness’ sake. What sets it apart is how it handles feeling. It captures the texture of a place, the depth of a shadow, the shimmer of light off wet skin. The new 1/1.28” sensors—backed by a trio of chips, including a 5nm AI powerhouse—don’t just deliver footage that’s sharp; they deliver footage that breathes.
Behind the scenes, there’s some clever stuff happening. Supersampling pushes visual detail beyond 8K, and PureVideo (the brand’s new AI-assisted low-light mode) finally makes evening footage feel like film, not security cam.
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A Lens That Refuses to Miss the Moment
What makes the X5 genuinely transformative isn’t its resolution. It’s the refusal to let you miss out. The camera captures 360° footage, sure, but now it does so with a feature called InstaFrame—a subtle but genius innovation that records both your final shot and the full spherical feed in real time. That means you can upload the former immediately, and later reframe the latter with the benefit of hindsight (or regret).
What this really unlocks is spontaneity. You no longer have to choose a shot before you’ve lived it. Cook, climb, kiss, cannonball—it’s all there, from every angle, waiting to be shaped into memory.
And for creators, casual or committed, that’s huge. Because capturing content no longer requires interruption. You just exist. The camera takes care of the rest.
Built for Chaos
The best gear never demands that you baby it. The X5 gets that. Waterproof up to 49 feet, tougher than its predecessors, and finally fitted with a replaceable lens cover (hallelujah), it’s a camera that actively encourages risk—without making you pay for it later.
Audio is clearer, thanks to a redesigned wind guard. Battery life is smarter: 3 hours of shoot time in 5.7K mode, with an 80% charge in 20 minutes. Mounting is magnetic and tactile.
Also, We have to talk about the invisible selfie stick. Still magic. Still the best party trick this camera knows. Insta360 continues to make this look like a floating drone shot, even though it’s just you holding a stick. It’s silly, it’s cool, and it still makes you look like you’ve got a personal film crew following you around.
Honestly, if you’ve ever wanted to shoot your own third-person video game montage, this is the way. None of this feels like tech for tech’s sake. It feels like design in service of instinct.
The Verdict
The X5 isn’t perfect. It’s not cheap, and it’s not for everyone. If you just want to shoot the occasional beach walk or food reel, your phone is probably enough. But if you’re the kind of person who straps cameras to helmets, kayaks, skateboards or (respectfully) your dog—this is one of the smartest, sturdiest, and most flexible cameras out there.
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It’s powerful without being needy. AI-enhanced without feeling like a gimmick. And, crucially, it doesn’t demand that you be a camera nerd to get great results. It captures everything—and makes you feel like you did it on purpose.
At ₹54,990, the Insta360 X5 isn’t cheap. But it’s also not just a camera. It’s a flying eye, a memory machine, a hands-free flex. And for anyone looking to level up their adventure footage—or just finally get that impossible shot—you’re not going to find much better.