The 7 Insta360 X5 Accessories You Need When Filming Your Adventures Throughout The Year

The Insta360 X5 is a highly capable camera, being perhaps the most well-balanced of all the current crop of 360 cameras; it's a versatile tool for a wide range of content creation applications. From vlogging to recording intense action sports, the X5 is a camera which has a potential place in any video creator's bag. Whereas traditional single-lens cameras must go toe-to-toe against ever more capable smartphones, by dint of being able to capture a full 360 degree sphere, a 360 camera is capable of feats which a smartphone can never hope to achieve.

Of course, as with any camera, while the Insta360 X5 functions well on its own, what accessories you choose to use with it can elevate its potential and open up brand new creative possibilities. The most essential accessory is, of course, the humble selfie stick or extension pole, but beyond that are accessories which do vary from the optional to the essential and utilitarian. In this article we'll take a look at a few of the key accessories for the Insta360 X5 which I recommend picking up.

Insta360 provided the products for me to test out for this article, so that I could hands-on with them, test them, and bring you an informed assessment of them.

For dog owners, the idea of seeing things from the perspective of their pets can be a fascinating concept, and I'm happy to report that I found Insta360's dog harness to be both the best device I've used to mount cameras on a dog, as well as perhaps the highest quality dog harness I've ever used.

The Insta360 Pet Harness is a collaboration with Pygtech, and is fashioned out of remarkably high quality materials. It fits securely, is easy and quick to adjust, and does not appear to shift when worn. This means that unlike some harnesses I've tried, you don't have to worry about the Insta360 pet harness shifting off to one side. My dog, Scuppers, did not seem initially to enjoy wearing it, and just kind of froze up when I put it on him. It took some time to convince to give up his best impression of a dog-statue and start running around. I wouldn't blame this on the harness though, as Scuppers is a very strange little dog.

The harness includes both a chest and back mount for cameras, so you can get different angles, and even record with multiple cameras simultaneously. In addition to being compatible with the X5, it can also be used with practically any other 360 or action camera. I found that I achieved the best results with the X5 by using the camera in single-lens mode.

The Insta360 pet harness includes a clip to which you attach a leash behind the back camera mount, so that your leash doesn't intrude into forward-facing camera angles. A number of additional accessories are included in the box, and the large pet harness costs $69, which is in the ballpark of a lot of regular high quality pet harnesses.

My favorite stress test of any battery in an action camera or 360 camera is to film a starlapse and see how long it takes for the battery to become exhausted. The Ultra battery managed to record a 35 second final starlapse from a practically full charge on a backpacking trip deep in the mountains where the darkest skies are to be found. This is compared to the __ second starlapse I'm able to capture using the standard X5 battery.

The 17% boost you get from filming with the ultra battery isn't exactly a gigantic boost to recording time, but it also only costs $49, which is just $5 more than the standard X5 battery. With that in mind, if you are picking up a spare battery for your X5, then you might as well pick up the Ultra battery. I really appreciate any increase in battery life I can get, particularly when I'm out in the wilderness and am limited in how much equipment I can pack.

For serious video creators, too much light can be just as problematic as too little light. To get the desired look of a professionally produced film, you need to be able to control your shutter speed and keep it from being too low or too high. The Insta360 X5 has a fixed aperture, so the only in-camera exposure controls available to you are shutter speed and ISO. If you want to keep your shutter speed fixed at a cinematic setting, then you have only ISO to rely on, and that just won't do in bright sunlight, or even on all but the cloudiest of days outdoors.

This is where ND filters come in. ND stands for "Neutral Density", and essentially ND filters block light from reaching the camera with as little impact on image quality and color caste as possible. Insta360 has available ND 16, 32, and 64 filters, which will set you back $59 each, or $150 for all three in a set. That's pretty steep for such small filters, but I'm sure manufacturing curved, high quality ND filters for 360 cameras is no easy or inexpensive matter.

I tested the ND32 filter, and found that it delivers excellent results, with no noticeable loss of sharpness or image quality. However, I do wish it came in more protective packaging (a reusable case would be ideal), and it is important to use the included cleaning cloth to make sure there are no dust or smudges on the filter or the camera lens prior to filming.

A 360 camera is almost always going to be mounted out of easy reach, and while the Insta360 X5 features remarkably good internal microphones, they aren't a replacement for a good lav mic. The Insta360 GPS Preview Remote with Mic solves both of these problems, and offers a host of built-in features.

This unimaginatively named device is one of the more clever and multifunctional tools I've come across in some time. This isn't just a touchscreen remote control with GPS and a microphone, it's functionally also a smartwatch. This is thanks to both the fact that the remote includes a watch face which displays the time, as well as one of the several included accessories, such as a watch band into which the remote snaps.

Additional accessories include an alligator clip which allows the remote to be used as a lav mic, and then there is an attachment which allows the remote to be strapped to selfie sticks with rubber bands. There's also a dead cat (wind muff) included to reduce wind noise, which I particularly appreciate for how firmly it attaches to the microphone. This means that right out of the box, the GPS remote control is ready to be used in pretty much any fashion you desire. It delivers solid audio quality and full control over the settings on your X5, as well as GPS functionality.

While it's somewhat pricey at $159, given everything it's capable of, the GPS Preview Remote with built-in Mic is one of the most innovative and useful accessories for the Insta360 X5.

One of the most exciting things about the Insta360 X5 is that users are now able to repair the most fragile and important part of the camera: the lens. Previously, 360 cameras were highly susceptible to catastrophic damage, or you had to deal with the inconvenience and image quality complications of a lens protector. The advent of user-replaceable lenses greatly expands the usability of 360 cameras as action camera replacements, and at $29 for a single lens, or $44 for a pack of two lenses, replacing a damaged optic is actually reasonably affordable. If you pay $10 extra you can even customize the appearance of the interior lens bezel.

Andy Zahn/SlashGear

The significant discount for the two lens kit is likely due to the fact that the lens itself is only part of the cost, and both the single lens kit and the double lens kit come with the same set of necessary tools to change lenses. Since they only need to include one set of tools with the double lens kit, it drastically decreases the per-lens cost, so I'd recommend picking that up over the single lens kit.

Thanks to the nature of their lenses and of the need to stitch video from those lenses together, 360 cameras need a special housing to function properly underwater. This is despite the fact that the Insta360 X5 is itself completely waterproof. This is where the Insta360 Invisible Dive Case comes in – so called because once the camera is encased in it, and the camera switched into the appropriate dive case mode, the case is not visible to the camera.

I tested the camera out in a local river, and got some great shots of light shining through the clear waters. It's really easy to insert the X5 into the case and latch it down, so there isn't a prohibitively tedious setup/takedown process to deal with, and the case delivers crystal clear results. I did run into some issues with the included anti-fog inserts, which have a tendency to become dislodged and tumble about the inside of the case, but otherwise the case worked flawlessly. It features traditional action camera fingers for the purposes of mounting the case, but also includes a ¼-20 adapter, as well as an additional weight to counter the buoyancy of the case.

Also included is a rather nice pouch so that you can avoid scratching the plastic of the dive case while carrying it around. The Invisible Dive Case costs $99, and there is also an upgraded Pro version for $119.

If you want to capture 360 video to be later viewed through VR goggles, then the best place to mount the camera is on a backpack. The best way of doing this is with the backpack mount, an accessory which opens up great creative possibilities for many other activities as well, as it offers a great 3rd person perspective.

I tested the backpack mount with the X5 on a blustery autumn day out in the mountains, and captured some great 360 footage of one of the short hikes I went on. It's the first time I've been able to capture such an extended clip from such a perspective and publish it as a virtual reality experience.

The backpack mount itself is robustly built, with a solid metal body and an adjustable mounting point which locks down securely. The backpack mount is attached to your pack via 5 velcro straps. On some packs it's a bit awkward to find decent places to attach these straps, but I made it work. A short carbon fiber pole is included to extend the camera above the top of your pack. If you want more elevation, you can use a longer selfie stick, but personally I found these wobbled too much, so I stuck with the small carbon fiber pole.

The Third-Person backpack mount costs $69 from Insta360's online store. It should also be a great option for skiing and bike riding, or really any activity where you are likely to be wearing a backpack and desire a third-person view.