This underwater action cam captured my Hawaii trip in ways I didn’t think possible

Insta360 X5 waterproof action camera

ZDNET’s key takeaways

• The Insta360 is the premier digital camera for capturing underwater footage, for $549 on Amazon.
• Diving equipment such because the Invisible Dive Case and Floating Hand Grip guarantee your X5 stays protected within the water.
• I had some pairing points whereas on a dive.

I just lately spent every week in Hawaii for my daughter’s wedding ceremony, and captured some improbable underwater video with the Insta360 X5. I went snorkeling with manta rays, explored the shoreline filled with tropical fish, and swam alongside sea turtles with the motion cam, then shared these superb experiences with household and mates again residence viewing my content material from the protection of their sofa. 

ZDNET’s Ant Pruitt reviewed the Insta360 X5 a few months in the past, and he praised its efficiency, so I needed to strive one out for myself. Though it had been a number of years since I used an Insta360 X sequence digital camera, I used to be thrilled to get the chance to try it out within the clear waters of Hawaii and could not have timed it higher with the discharge of an replace that supplied new underwater seize options.

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What’s new now could be Insta360’s diving replace, bringing AquaVision 3.0 help to the Insta360 smartphone app and desktop Studio program. As well as, a diving stats dashboard is now out there for Suunto watches, together with the Suunto Race 2 that I just lately reviewed.

The Insta360 X5 connects to both your smartphone with the Insta360 app or your laptop by way of Wi-Fi or a direct or USB-C connection. You may as well subscribe to Insta360 Plus and have your whole content material synced to the cloud after which accessible from the Insta360 app on your whole units. 

With the captured content material now out there within the Insta360 app, swing over to the best facet to entry the Media Processing choices and you need to see the AquaVision 3.0 toggle within the Coloration Restoration part of the app.

With the invisible dive case and a floating hand grip, the digital camera stayed dry whereas snorkeling across the large island of Hawaii, however it did get heat whereas I used to be swimming within the solar. Regardless, I used to be capable of seize superior footage of manta rays, sea turtles, and a big number of fish whose Hawaiian names I can not pronounce.   

Household and mates had been blown away by the footage I confirmed them on my Z Fold 7. The AquaVision 3.0 menu possibility affords 4 shade profiles that work with the AquaVision characteristic, and the Insta360 AI algorithm does the remaining. The waters of Hawaii are already clear, however the AquaVision profiles undoubtedly enhanced the footage whereas additionally letting you select the picture’s temperature and saturation ranges.

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I extremely advocate the night snorkeling journey with manta rays off the coast of Kona. We had 15 massive rays swimming and feeding on plankton beneath our mild boards, and due to the Insta360 X5 I used to be capable of share this expertise with individuals who had been unable to make the journey out with us. 

We even had a Galapagos shark present up, and with out the footage captured by the X5 I do not suppose individuals would have believed the eight-foot predator was swimming just under us.

Insta360 additionally helps syncing metrics from a big number of knowledge sources, together with Garmin, Strava, Coros, and extra. My Suunto Race 2 smartwatch has a snorkeling mode and diving mode, and just lately added help for the Insta360, giving me the proper alternative to try it out. 

One morning, I took the Insta360 X5 out with me, launched snorkeling mode on my Suunto Race 2 smartwatch, and was capable of file two separate classes — however it wasn’t till I returned residence that I noticed it by no means acquired the GPS sign. The video was superb, however it simply did not seize all of the well being metrics to sync with the video. I encourage you to check out the smartwatch pairing prematurely if you would like these metrics to look in your video clips.

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Whenever you do have a dependable GPS sign, metrics for depth, length, coronary heart charge, and water temperature can be found to overlay in your video. I even dove all the way down to the underside just a few instances and the Race 2 captured these dives, however for some purpose I used to be unable to get the stats to indicate up on the video and suppose it might have one thing to do with the time zone change that will not have matched between the digital camera and the smartwatch. I assume I am going to need to take one other journey to Hawaii to check out this performance.

Along with the superb underwater video and images I shot with the Insta360 X5, I captured visitor speeches on the rehearsal dinner, the sundown meet and greet cruise on a catamaran, and greetings from friends so I now have reminiscences that will probably be loved for many years due to Insta360. The video output is excellent and the digital camera even picked up audio with background music enjoying.