My action camera setup

 I like to video many of my eMTB and motorcycle rides to share with others. This way people can see what the trails are really like before they ride them. I organize playlists around both rides and by locations/trails on my YouTube channel @jimroal (https://youtube.com/@JimRoal ).

I bought a Garmin Virb Ultra 30 back in 2017 and I use that for recording in-car videos. It is great and has GPS and accelerometers in it so I can get lap times, speed, acceleration, etc. I still use that today for in car video. I tried using it for bicycling and it worked OK but had it's limitations.  The smoothing has limits due to the lens size, sensor, etc. Also, this camera is obsolete and no longer supported.

I researched the latest action cameras that were available at the time (May 2023), watching many videos comparing them specially for bicycling and motorcycling type recording. I settled on the Insta360 X3 which was new at the time I bought mine (May 2023). I was a bit disappointed that the GPS was not built in at first but bought their GPS remote which solved that problem. I used it on both the bicycle and the motorcycle and found the smoothing to be excellent, magical in fact. Some of my first videos were on my bicycle helmet which is of course the smoothest since we stabilize our head taking much of the roughness out already. 

Here is an example shot in 360 so you can pan around while watching: https://youtu.be/77zYU4A2Rrc?si=qIAglyxqMXvBwMmI 

Shot in 360 on helmet mount

I also like the 360 pictures and videos as you can pan around while watching, or use in a VR headset. However, 360 video is very bitrate intensive so you need a very high-speed connection to watch it with decent resolution. 

I found that for most videos I use the single lens mode which captures 4k video with smoothing very well.  Here is an example using single lens mode mounted on a chest mount (using internal mic and no wind protection).

I missed the GPS and acceleration data that I had with the Garmin Virb so I bought the Insta360 GPS remote. https://store.insta360.com/product/gps-action-remote?c=2156&from=accessory 

Insta360 Action Remote

This remote captures the GPS data and the camera records it with the video similar to what my Garmin Virb did. Having the remote is also very handy. Note that the GPS and accelerometer data can only be overlayed on traditional flat video but that can be used when the video was shot in 360 but reframed to flat too.

Here is a 360 video mounted on the motorcycle where you can pan around while watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-u0QMIwtO8 (note: the sound is just via the camera mics with no wind protection). I recommend opening these in YouTube versus viewing in that tiny window.

360 video where you can pan around while watching

Here is a video with the data in it and the latest mic setup.

Sound for action video is always a challenge as vibration and wind noise dominate. I added the Insta360 Mic Wind Muffs https://store.insta360.com/product/x3-mic-wind-muff?c=2299&from=accessory but that only helped some and did not help with all the vibration induced noise. I finally added an external microphone and added wind fuzzy covers. I mounted the mic on the back of the bag I have on the front of the motorcycle seat. This is a protected area and away from the handlebars. The bag is also a soft mount meaning that vibrations don't translate through it. In order to do this, and to be able to charge the camera so I did not depend on the internal battery, I bought the Insta360 Mic Adapter: https://store.insta360.com/product/x3_mic_adapter?c=2111&from=accessory I used a Sony stereo mic https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08YJQXJRM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 which came with a basic foam muff and I added the fuzzy muffs https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WJTXM1N/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 over it.

The photo below shows the whole system on the motorcycle. The remote is strapped to the left mirror mount where I can easily reach it to start/stop recording while riding. I have a USB port on the bike so I can power the camera so I don't have to be limited by camera battery power. You can see the mic, covered by fuzzy wind muffs on the back of the bag. 

I use a RAM Mount to mount the camera to my windshield bracket. I lower the windshield way down when riding off-road so the camera is taller and is not obstructed by the windshield. 

One rather significant issue I still struggle with is in single lens mode the camera has automatic orientation. Motion side to side of the motorcycle really messes with this when you start the video recording. It sometimes will record the video sideways or even upside down. There is no way to force orientation in the camera. The video editing software does not let you correct the orientation either. I have requested both if these changes from Insta360 so maybe at least one of these features will be added at some point. My fix for now is to always start the video when still and the camera vertical. Sometimes this is not idea though. 

This camera is one of the few that can create Google Street View as well, which shows up on Google Maps. I have used this feature, but it is glitchy. Many of the videos will get rejected by Street View due to various GPS data errors. Here are some of my Street View contributions that are active.

I did report these issues to Insta360 and they have been working to correct them. 

The Insta360 X3 also shoots great spherical photos at 72MP. You have to use a compatible viewer, which more are finally supporting. Here is an example: https://photos.app.goo.gl/riUtLR61SLxNrojL9 

The above view is likely still just a flattened image which just looks weird. Facebook supports them well now. If you open the Google Photos like above it should also view correctly where you can pan around. In Google Photos it initially shows the flattened image but if you click on it you can then view it properly. 

The Insta360 X3 has many other great features. Now Insta360 has released their X4 camera which is the next generation after the X3, bringing higher bitrate support, which enables 8k spherical recording. It also has a larger battery and better lens guards, as well as a few other upgrades.