The Next Great Real Estate Camera

As a rule, new cameras tend to fall below the bar their pre-launch market hype sets.  The Insta360 One X is an exception to that rule. And if you’re a real estate broker or agent, it may be the perfect 360° camera. 

When we saw the specs on the Insta360 One X, the update to the very successful Insta360 One, we were excited about the upgraded video capabilities, taking the camera from 4k to a stellar 5.7k resolution, but were concerned that the number of pixels in the photos had dropped from 24 megapixels to 18 megapixels. The instant response from our contacts at Insta360 indicated that the increased sensor size would make up for lower resolution, with improved color quality.  

Initial HDR sample photos Insta360 sent us were not impressive, but they assured us they would be able to improve the HDR quality with some updates. So when the updates came, we put the camera to the test in a model home. We’d like to thank Pardee Homes for allowing us to shoot at their Cresta at Aliento models. 

Insta360 One X HDR Photo Quality

The tour below was shot using the HDR settings that the Insta360 One X defaults to right out of the box. If you’re a photo geek, those settings are AutoISO at +/- 4 EV.  I don’t believe those settings directly correlate with what most photographers would consider +/- 4 exposure, but it doesn’t matter. My point is that you don’t need to worry it about it. See the results below. As always, the floor plan in this tour was created without measuring using just the images. 

What’s more, it seems to capture HDR at lightning speed. There are rumors the pixels in the sensor are capturing different exposures of light in a single shot. I’ve tried doing handheld HDR with other 360° camera and I always end up a bit blurry in the results. Here is a sample of a handheld HDR shot at sunset in the wind. It has not been edited. Click on the image to link to the original photo. 

The new LED face on the camera makes it easy to change settings and know that you’ve changed settings without having to connect to your mobile device. But even that is easier now that Insta360 added the ability to connect to the One X via WiFi. In addition, the battery is removable, giving you the option of having multiple backup batteries. For me, this is a killer feature.

5.7K Video That Doesn’t Render Like Molasses

I had high hopes for the GoPro Fusion. And that is not to say the video quality wasn’t excellent. It was. It just took forever and the kind of machine most normal humans are going to own. On my 2017 MacBook Pro, it took almost 24 hours just to render the initial 30 minutes of Christmas video I shot last year. 

The Insta360 One X video is stellar. And the samples here were shot BEFORE they released the firmware update to add HDR video to their suite of options. If I can get back into these models, I do a direct comparison of the difference.

Here is a sample full 360° walkthrough of the model shown in the immoviewer 3D 360° tour above. As you’ll see, the camera is self-stabilizing, meaning this was shot without the use of a gimbal to decrease bouncing as I walked. If you’re on mobile, you may need to go over to YouTube to view it in VR mode. If you’ve got enough bandwidth,  be sure to click the gear icon and turn up the quality to 5.7k. Then be patient and let it load. It’s worth the wait.  

If you pause the video above, you can look around the room in full 360° at your leisure. I think you’ll agree, the quality is impressive. But as I mention in the video, you can do a lot with a 360° video of this quality. Here is a “reframed” version of the tour above. All camera movement was done in Final Cut Pro and, for the record, this kind of edit will look even more stabilized in outdoor scenes with a wider horizon. It was only my second attempt, so don’t judge too harshly. 

And just for fun, here’s a little “teaser” video, created from the same footage. This time I used the “tiny planet” mapping in Final Cut Pro and sped up the footage to 4x. 

“Yeah, but let me see how someone who actually sells houses for a living is using it.” OK… if you’d like to see how one of your fellow real estate pros is using the Insta360 One X, take a few moments to watch these Community Video Tips from Video Influencer, Michael Thorne. If this doesn’t convince you the One X is the next great real estate camera, nothing will.  🙂

At $399, this camera is priced well and exceeded our expectations. So we’re excited about the Insta360 One X and you can begin making immoviewer 3D 360° tours with the images from this camera today using our desktop app. We already have the SDK from Insta360 and we will be working on an integration with our mobile app soon. 

You can order their “Winter Bundle” through the end of the year using this affiliate link: Insta360 One X Winter Bundle.

And if you’d like to get a demo of how our immoviewer 3D 360 platform for real estate works, just click the button below. 

17 Comments

  1. Danielle Kravec on 14. September 2019 at 09:44

    Hi! Great article! I have a question- do you do any editing either in Lightroom or Photoshop before adding to the tour? I’ve used my Insta360 one x a handful of times and my photos never come out this crisp, clear, focused and the windows are all blow out with blue all around them. I also did the same settings you mentioned.
    Thank you,

    • jeff turner on 13. December 2019 at 13:20

      For this post, the photos from the Insta360 One X were not edited in Lightroom.

  2. Sergio Iniesta Garcia on 5. March 2020 at 08:19

    Hi, congratulations on the article.
    Do you have any idea when we can work with this camera (Insta 360 one X) in conjunction with the Inmoviewer app?
    I am a user who needs a camera that allows you to add batteries to continue doing virtual tours and this model allows you to do it.
    Please update your app soon so we can work with it.
    Thanks from Spain!

    • Andrew on 8. April 2020 at 13:35

      I believe the Insta360 ONE R is out now that has very similar if not the same features and has a separate battery component.

      • Colin on 28. June 2020 at 03:18

        Hello,

        I wondered what your thoughts on the sdk were and how well it worked with your app?

        • jeff turner on 28. August 2020 at 13:36

          Andrew, the SDK is solid, but we are only just beginning to implement with our mobile apps.

  3. frank on 20. April 2020 at 09:33

    Hi…Great article! Congrats!

    Do you know if the insta360 ONE R has the same capabilities for Real Estate Virtual Tours that the insta360 ONE X??
    If so… works in the same way (compatible software, etc)
    Thanks

    • jeff turner on 22. April 2020 at 09:48

      Frank, it should, since it outputs standard equirectangular images.

  4. Leslie Caplan on 23. April 2020 at 14:27

    I watched your webinar with Spacio Melissa Kwan and I’m so inspired. Only problem is this camera is sold out everywhere. Will the Ricoh Theta V be just as good?

    • jeff turner on 24. April 2020 at 06:10

      Leslie, thank you. Yes, the Ricoh Theta V is an excellent 360° camera.

  5. Lawrence Setter on 2. May 2020 at 16:23

    Do you have any comments regarding the Quoocom 8K camera? Compatible with Immoviewer?

    • jeff turner on 28. August 2020 at 13:35

      Lawrence, I’ve seen great results from the Q and any 360 camera image can be used in our desktop app. We are camera agnostic.

  6. Yves DIKOUME on 19. May 2020 at 08:43

    Hello i’ve watch your webinar with melissa Kwan more than a couple of weeks ago. I’m lucky i’ve finally followed your advices and finally found the 360 One X brand new for 400$ of course sold out everywhere and overpriced. My question is what kind of setting are efficient for my real estate virtual tour. Best regards
    Yves

  7. Gregory Beaumont on 22. May 2020 at 09:57

    My one x Got blown over by the wind and damage the lens I sent it into a Insta360 ONE R over two months ago They chargeD me for the repair I asked him a month ago where is the camera he said it was in quality control and shipping another month went by I asked and again where is my camera today then told me that the repair facility was shut down due to Covid. So I went out and got the 360 r Received it yesterday shot a few images uploaded them to Google Street view and the images show up but you cannot link them, Very disappointed will modify post if I figure this out

  8. Octavia on 25. July 2020 at 05:14

    Im sooooo in love with Insta 360 One X. Im new to it all and actually looking for the best quality camera. 399 seems pretty reasonable for it. Thanks for the help Jeff.

  9. mike savad on 21. September 2020 at 14:58

    i have the one r and the image quality is terrible. the jpgs have been crushed by heavy handed noise control, really heavy handed, like a magic painter image. the DNGS are noisy, and very dark, and slow. and the customer support told me its supposed to look like that and i may not be able to get my money back. personally i would avoid this entire company. the experience so far has not been a good one.

    —-Mike Savad
    http://www.MikeSavad.com

    • jeff turner on 8. October 2020 at 08:23

      Mike, we have not tested the One R, so I am unable to comment on the quality of that specific camera.

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