360 camera
Also known as: 360-degree camera, omnidirectional camera, spherical camera
A camera with two back-to-back fisheye lenses that records the full sphere around it, so you choose where to point the shot after you have filmed.
Updated
What it means
A 360 camera records everything around it at once. Two ultra-wide lenses, each covering more than half a sphere, face in opposite directions, and software stitches their images into a single spherical video. Popular examples include the Insta360 X series and the GoPro MAX.
The appeal for action sports is that you never miss the shot. Whether the best moment happens ahead, behind or beside you, it is in the file. Later you pick the angle, a process called reframing, and export a normal flat video. Mounted on an invisible selfie stick, the camera can also produce floating third-person views because the stick sits in the blind spot between the lenses.
How it works in practice
Insta360 cameras save their footage as INSV files, and the GoPro MAX uses its own .360 format. Neither is a regular flat clip, so they need the maker's app, Insta360 Studio or GoPro Player to become watchable video.
Resolution is spread across the whole sphere. A clip marketed as 5.7K or 8K covers 360 degrees, so the flat 16:9 slice you export typically looks closer to 1080p or 2.7K in detail. Plan for that and shoot at the highest 360 resolution in good light. Stabilization and leveling are applied during export by tools like FlowState.
What to watch out for
The lenses bulge out of the body and scratch easily. A single scratch shows up in every frame, so use lens guards and keep the camera in a pouch between runs. Water droplets are also magnified on the curved glass.
Objects close to the camera can break up along the stitch line where the two images meet. Keep the stick pointed so that hands, poles and handlebars sit in front of a lens rather than at the sides, and expect some blending artifacts on very close subjects. Finally, archive the original files; once you have exported only one angle, the other views are gone.
How RawClip handles it
RawClip does not read INSV or other 360 files directly. Reframe your clips first in the Insta360 app or Insta360 Studio, export each one as a flat MP4 or MOV, and upload those exports with the rest of your footage. You can also try automatic reframing there to speed this step up.