Tag: Camera

Photos about cameras and camera gear I’ve owned.

This year I finally got a 360 camera – the Insta360 X4.  With the image quality increase of the latest camera from Insta360 it’s not as much of a compromise to include its ~2k footage alongside 4k footage from other cameras. Especially on a sailboat – the action can be in any direction and the horizon is always tipping, so a 360 camera enables me to reframe the shot where the action is and to always have a level horizon. One of the caveats with the 360 camera filming in 8k is the battery life. When I’m on a sailboat I can’t always stop sailing in the middle of a race to change the battery or sometimes I don’t even have a dry place to keep a battery with me, so getting the most out of a battery is really important to me.

According to the specs online – Insta360 rates the battery life at 75 minutes when filming with the highest quality settings that I would most like to use for sailing (8k 30fps). While some of the online reviews sort of confirmed this, there were no comparisons between the insta360 batteries and some of the aftermarket batteries that were coming on the market. So I set up some tests for 17 different batteries from 9 different retailers for 187 tests over 227 hours to answer those questions and I wanted to share my findings.

How Long Does the Insta360 X4 Battery Last?

After running the test on 2 Insta360 batteries and 15 aftermarket batteries the results were pretty clear. The insta360 batteries averaged 78 minutes while the aftermarket batteries averaged around 72 minutes.  The insta360 batteries hit the 75 minute mark in 100% of the tests.  The aftermarket batteries only hit the 75 minute mark in 2% of the tests.

Which Battery Lasted the Longest?

If battery life is of the utmost importance – you’ll want to go with the Insta360 batteries.  If you want to save some money, don’t need as long of a duration or can switch batteries easily and don’t mind dismissing a nag screen then the aftermarket batteries will work fine.

Here’s the average runtime for each of the brands:

And here you can see the individual performance of each of the batteries.  Note the range between the minimum and maximum test along with the average.  The Insta360 batteries minimum performance was at or above the max of most of the other 3rd party batteries.

The Batteries

  1. Insta360 X4 Battery
  2. Addpower X4 Batteries
  3. JHTC 360 X4 Battery
  4. METACUCU 2Pcs Batteries
  5. REYTRIC 2-Pack X4 Batteries for Insta360 X4
  6. Aovee 360 X4 Battery with Fast Battery Charger Hub
  7. YONHUIZI Battery
  8. Rszfnjxry Fast Charge Hub with Batteries
  9. COOLSHOW X4 Battery

How did I test?

Insta360 X4 Battery Test Setup

Using the settings I’d most likely be using for sailing – 8k 30fps. I set the camera up in my living room and while it’s not recommended to run the camera at that resolution indoors, I used a small fan to mimic the airflow the camera would get outdoors and keep it from overheating. I used the same two 2-battery chargers to charge all of the batteries.

One other note about aftermarket batteries – Insta360 has introduced a nag screen about a battery anomaly the first time the camera is started after inserting an aftermarket battery. I’ve always been able to dismiss this and use the camera normally with the aftermarket battery.

To see my videos created with the Insta360 Ace Pro – check out No Quarter Sailing on YouTube.

If you are interested in the battery life of the Insta360 Ace Pro – check out a similar test I did for that camera.

Disclaimers: I purchased the camera and some of the batteries myself. Other batteries were received through the Amazon Vine Voices Program. As an affiliate in Amazon’s program I may receive a commission for product links.

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For this sailing season I wanted to add another modern action camera to my arsenal. In reviewing all of the cameras out there – the battery life left some to be desired in the cameras on the market with the best features. While the image quality, usability, mounting, and other features are important to me, none of that really matters if the camera has run out of battery. On a sailboat, oftentimes I can’t easily swap out a battery – either because when we’re on a big boat I’ve got a job to do in the middle of a race and can’t easily get away to get a new battery and swap it into the camera, or on a small boat – I simply don’t have any space to take a spare battery or even keep it dry.

Reviewing all of the specs and reviews online I settled on the Insta360 Ace Pro (buy on Amazon). On paper it got 10 minutes more battery life (100 minutes) compared to the latest GoPro Hero 12 (90 minutes). But the Insta360 Ace Pro hadn’t been on the market very long and none of the reviews really mentioned the battery life other than in passing. I bought the camera and still wanted to settle the question – how long can I expect the battery to last? I had also seen some after-market batteries becoming available and wondered how those compared to the Insta360 batteries.

So I set up some tests for 14 different batteries from 7 different retailers for over 268 hours to answer those questions and I wanted to share my findings.

How Long Does the Insta360 Ace Pro Battery Last?

On average across all of the batteries tested, the camera filmed for 97.7 minutes – just shy of the 100 minutes advertised. In only 29% of the tests did the camera film for more than 100 minutes. The Insta360 batteries average 92.2 minutes and hit the 100 minute mark just 15% of the time. While the other 6 brands of batteries tested average 98.8 minutes and hit 100 minutes 33% of the time.

Which Battery Lasted the Longest?

There were 2 batteries of the 7 brands tested that hit the 100 minute mark significantly more than the other batteries test. While that looks like a big difference on paper, the real difference is only around 4 minutes of film time. The NBZZ and REYTRIC batteries lasted much longer than any of the other batteries tested by 4-6 minutes.

Insta360 Ace Pro % of Battery Tests Over 100 Minutes

Here’s the average runtime for the different brands:

Insta360 Ace Pro Average Battery Duration

And here you can see the individual performance of each of the batteries. Note the range between the minimum and maximum tests along wit the average. The Insta360 batteries are on the far right and far left.

Insta360 Ace Pro Battery Test

The Batteries

  1. REYTRIC Upgraded 2-Pack Batteries with 3-Channel USB Charger
  2. NBZZ 2 Batteries Pack with Dual Fast Charge Hub
  3. Topwowe 2 Packs Batteries with Dual Fast Charge Hub
  4. Insta360 Ace/Ace Pro Battery
  5. Burflo Battery
  6. DONGNI 2 Pack Ace Pro Battery
  7. Rszfnjxry Batteries(2 Pack) with Fast Charge Hub

How did I test?

Using the settings I’d most likely be using for sailing – 4k 30 fps with horizon leveling and HDR on – I set the camera up in my living room to look at my backyard until it ran out of battery. I did this at least 11 times for each battery to get the data. All of the batteries were charged using the same 3-battery charger and the Ace Pro firmware was 1.0.27.

To see my videos created with the Insta360 Ace Pro – check out No Quarter Sailing on YouTube.

If you are interested in the battery life of the Insta360 X4 – check out a similar test I did for that camera.

Disclaimers: I purchased the camera and some of the batteries myself. Other batteries were received through the Amazon Vine Voices Program. As an affiliate in Amazon’s program I may receive a commission for product links.

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I recently got a new action camera to upgrade my capabilities with better features and image quality with the latest tech – the Insta360 Ace Pro. This camera has a lot better audio than what I’ve had in my other cameras. It’s got better video quality and features like HDR and horizon leveling that I’ve never had before in an action camera. So far I’ve used it once at ILCA Midwinters and I’m looking forward to using it more once the sailing season gets underway.

Insta360 Ace Pro with a cage and mounted to an ILCA mast.
Insta360 Ace Pro with a cage and mounted to an ILCA mast.
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Ready to jump back into a new ‘big’ camera. Having had a D70, D3000, D7000 and then a D300s – I found all of those to be big and impractical to lug around and use; I was still taking 95% of my pictures on my iPhone, so when the iPhone 12 Pro came out, I figured I could do without the big camera.

Now that I’ve got better video editing and capture equipment and am trying to do all video in 4k, I wanted something that would give me a little better control and quality. And now that the mirrorless cameras have matured – I think the Z50 is small enough to not feel like I am lugging something huge around – will take good enough pictures to match or beat the iPhone in quality in many situations, and can make use of bigger zoom lenses when I am photographing sailing and want to use the heavy stuff.

Current Camera Equipment:

  • Nikon Z50
  • Nikon Z DX 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3 VR
  • Nikon Z DX 50-250mm f/4.5-6.3 VR
  • Nikon Mount Adapter FTZ
  • iPhone 12 Pro
  • Drift XL Pro
  • GoPro Hero 3
  • Olympus Tough TG-6
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My latest new camera is the Drift XL Pro. I really wanted a 4k camera with long battery life and this was it with around 4 hours. I really like how easy it is to mount, and if it’s not level, you can simply rotate the lens in any direction for the right orientation. I got it this spring and have been using it for sailing either at the back of the boat on a carbon pole or on the front of my Laser looking back or forward.

Drift XL Pro mounted on the back of a sailboat using a carbon fiber pole and a pole mount.
Jon on the ILCA with the Drift XL Pro on the bow pointed forward. Photo by Paul Almany.
Jon on the ILCA with the Drift XL Pro on the bow pointed forward. Photo by Paul Almany.
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Wristcam photo

Got out sailing for the fist time in 2021 on the ILCA Dinghy (what it’s being called now instead of a Laser). After setting up some new rigging, I sailed in some very light wind, sitting out just a few times and hiking exactly once in a puff. I did sail for about 2 hours and went just around Stove Point enough to see the start of the big boats in FBYC’s Opening Day Regatta.

New Rigging

I also got to try out some new technology – a Wristcam. For the last year I’ve been sailing with a cell-enabled Apple Watch and using Siri to tweet updates on the racing. The Wristcam is a bluetooth device that replaces the watchband and enables me to use the watch to take pictures. I can’t immediately tweet them out, but it at least enables me to take a camera with me without carrying any extra equipment.

Offshore boats at the starting line in the distance.

Even though the wind wasn’t much, it was good to be in a boat. Looking forward to more racing at Hampton, FBYC and Norfolk this spring.

PICTURES

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Having gone without an SLR for a few years I finally picked up a used Nikon D300s. It’s 10 years old and doesn’t do video well or have many fancy features, but is just enough to capture some sailing shots and some sunset shots that the iphone just can’t quite do justice. I paired it with a used 18-200 (not pictured).

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I recently got a new Fujifilm FinePix XP200 Waterproof Digital Camera and just gave it to my friends while we were racing.  This is what they took and I’m pretty impressed with the camera and how it came out.

Some video and pictures from Fishing Bay Yacht Club’s One Design Invitational Regatta sailed in Front Runners and San Juan 21.

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Nikon D7000 with Sennheiser MKE-400 and Grip

This week I upgraded to a new Digital SLR camera.  The Nikon D7000 finally does decent video with stereo sound at the right price.  Last summer I bought the Nikon D3000 when my then 6-year-old D70 needed replacing.  I knew that would only be a temporary camera until Nikon came out with the right camera for me.  In addition to the camera I’ve also gotten the vertical grip and a Sennheiser shotgun microphone.  I’m looking forward to both the better quality photos and the better videos this camera will make. The point-and-shoot camera really wasn’t cutting it for a lot of the videos I wanted to make.  I’m going sailing this weekend and will have a great opportunity to try the camera out.

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