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360Capture AppFirmwareInsta360 Pro 2Tips

Insta360 One X Owners/Users - Tips, Tricks, Issues?8696

RichardStanton private msg quote post Address this user
Greetings all, I have just recently added the One X to my arsenal, and while I plan to do some testing with it over the next few days with Capture 3 Beta, stand-alone, and hopefully multi-mode (w/Matterport also deployed) if the Beta gods are smiling on me. I created this thread in the spirit of community sharing with the hope that we can not only collectively work to minimize risk and avoid pitfalls, but also share any best practices that we implement along the way.

Given that I created the thread, I shall lead it off with a tip, potential pitfall, and a question, all in one!

Instance360 OneX and Capture 3.0 Beta - I was getting everything lined up on my devices to start some field testing, wrapped up the configuring of the 360, firmware updates, all of the normal pre-use task. I then went to catch up on the MP Beta and realized there are synchronization issues afoot.

1. the tip - Firmware updates, especially the latest have been known to cause devices to crash into a state of not being able to power down. I suggest when you DO the updates, make sure you have adequate battery etc. before you start, and take to heart the other suggestions they make for the process. While you can unbrick the device, it involves getting live support from them, so you could get stuck for a bit between support windows.
2. Potential pitfall - After moving on from the device, I turned to getting my Capture 3 beta updated and current with the OneX support. After looking closer, I noticed that the firmware which is linked via a dropbox in the documentation is OLDER than the latest firmware offered by the company. It WILL downgrade your firmware if you apply it blindly, and I have no idea what the means from a stability perspective on their platform. Hopefully #3 to come here might help in this area but I figured people should know (maybe already does and I'm the last one to figure it out, but hey, must try anyway)
3. The question: Does anyone know if the latest firmware (1.17.16) contains the MP Beta code? It's not clear to me if the 1.15.25 from the DropBox is a fork in the code and on it's own branch (as such needed), or if the beta code has since been merged into their production release cycle and 1.17 will have us covered?

Hopefully somebody has heard regarding #3 and can put my brain at ease, but if not I will be finding it out empirically through my testing soon and will post my findings!

Cheers all, and I look forward to putting this tech through the wringer with some of you!

Richard
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ahojman private msg quote post Address this user
I will start testing Insta 360 One X in one month, specially to know if we can mix Insta and Matterport photos at the same project, using Insta for outdoor and edited places, for example gym full of mirrors.

Sorry that I cannot help now.
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RichardStanton private msg quote post Address this user
It's never too late to join the party! I have a long history in Knowledge Management and as such it's etched into my DNA to share (especially given how much tacit knowledge lurks in this area already!) I will be sure to post any substantive findings from my trials, so make sure to check back once you get your device!
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RichardStanton private msg quote post Address this user
Some initial observations - in my test runs so far I have noticed small to mid level issues with the calibration on the Insta360 stitching. I will acknowledge that I am a particularly pixel sensitive person, but after looking at 3 different units there seems to be a consistent level of artifact abrasion at the base of the seams for all of them. Has anyone else noticed this behavior? I ran a small calibration test using a rough grid mapping and the results seem significant on the positive side for alignment. I plan to formalize my calibration process a bit more to tighten it up as much as possible before embarking on testing if there is any demonstrable impact on stabilization as a result. Has anyone else seen any similar issues with the stitching? If so please share your experience as well!

Richard
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RichardStanton private msg quote post Address this user
FYI @DanSmigrod posted this nice review of common tips/tricks - I am re-posting in case anyone missed it:

https://www.wegetaroundnetwork.com/topic/8731/page/1/insta360-one-x-22-tips-tipstricks-for-getting-the-most-from-your-camera/#1
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RichardStanton private msg quote post Address this user
FYI for all Insta360 One X users, if you are using the Insta360 and you are also using Matterport Capture, UPGRADE your Firmware today!

The beta firmware we have been using for Capture compatibility was already behind in revision, just about the day it was released to us. Today, the latest version of the official firmware was released (v1.18.14 2019-02-27) and now contains all of the features we were missing, but also has the Matterport Capture code merged into it's code branch! If you had tried to upgrade firmware before it would have broken your ability to see the camera in Capture 3 Beta and would have had to give up on it or down grade. This is NO longer the case, so get out and upgrade!

Richard
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RichardStanton private msg quote post Address this user
More insight/info in! BTW I am not posting to this thread over and over again because I am a narcissist and in love with typing, I promise! Rather, I know some people are in the pipeline for these cameras in their kit as they are hard to get in some areas, and I wanted to keep my thoughts together in as few places as possible to hopefully help others benefit from my stumbling about.

This post is possibly not specifically about the Insta360 One X and possibly all multi-sensor hemispheric cameras (I'd wager the Thetas do something similar). Given that my experience with this type of 360 camera is quite new, please forgive my ignorance if this is well covered elsewhere. (I was using the reflective dome type single sensor variants like the fly360)

Theta owners please feel free to chime in if you have tips or tricks in this area, or if you are impacted at all, but one point of guidance I have found to be at least watchful over (and it makes sense) - be mindful of your hemispheres, and not for the reasons you are thinking. Yes, stitching lines are important, choosing where potential stitching issues may show up can impact the quality of the shot, possibly even alignment for Capture shots as well. I have found empirically that while the stitch matters, the Insta360 does an admirable job of a clean stitch, especially if you calibrate it (I will make another post on calibration at another time). What I have found to be a larger issue is a general mindfulness of your lighting, and where that lighting falls on the sensor(s). e.g., I have found quite different results in certain lighting scenarios where there is a lot of light spread over the two hemispheres, and as a result the two sensors, for normalization and interpretation. I have found this can lead to some strange output such as a phantom "exposure" lines, especially where sky is a large component. To combat this, as a general best practice I have had very good results in orienting the device according to the lighting, and being mindful of doing it consistently through the area when possible. When moving quickly it's easy to plop it down and have the orientation be quite different, and you may not even notice the behavior until later on a bigger screen. I will also say that not all scenarios require this level of detail to attention, but out of my own experience, HDR or low light are example scenarios to tread lightly.

Again, I would love to hear from any Theta or other 360 camera users (whether you are doing Cortex integration w/a Matterport or not) if similar issues are faced, and any insight learned from that.

Hopefully some will find this useful, a solid community like this can be a huge benefit to all so that we don't all have to learn the hard way, but rather let the few early sucker...err adopters take a beating for the proverbial team. And yes, I like the word mindful! I like "present" as well, look for that one next!

Richard
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RichardStanton private msg quote post Address this user
HDR mode - Insta360 OneX and Capture 3 Beta

FYI all Insta360 OneX and Matterport mixer uppers. I meant to post this the other day, but am doing it now while thinking about it. In case some of you do not read the fine print, or doggedly check for revisions, a few important things to mention since my last post. #1, since this post another firmware was released, but not a lot said about it (looked to be mostly a flicker fix). This brings the latest firmware to 1.18.16. Along with the fix for flicker under certain types of lights which is a welcome sight (literally)the second bit of news, Capture should now be leveraging HDR photography on Insta360 One X (with some caveats... read on)!! While the jury is still out on it for me as I have not had time to thoroughly play with it, one thing to note in the fine print. HDR mode will only work on iDevices which have 3GB RAM or more, at least for the time being. This means even if you are using a relatively new device like the iPad Air 2 (which has 2GB, not 3GB) the feature may not work for you. If you are unsure check this list: https://www.theiphonewiki.com/wiki/List_of_iPads before you start expecting those HDR shots.. you might be surprised by what models do or do not have more than 2GB of RAM (including part of the Pro line).

Happy HDRing those who have compatible devices; I would be interested in anyone's findings on how effectively MP is using their HDR capability. I will make at least a small update once I have had some time to do side by side testing, but I can already confirm the flickering, at least under neon, is now either gone or not noticeable. I am not sure if the new firmware has some additional tweaks for 3d scanning with the 360 photos, but I have noticed that the little beacon of mesh and 3d data apears to be a bit larger in general and assisting more in general around alignment.

Cheers!
Richard
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