Game Changer

Last week, as I was working on the next video of DW's and my trip through the Saguenay, I encountered an issue that, for a moment, made my heart stop.

My usual workflow for editing video from one of my 360-degree cameras is to connect it, through Wi-Fi, to my smartphone, which holds a dedicated app. I'll made the edits with my phone and then export the completed clip to my phone: after which, I transfer the files on my phone to an external drive on my computer.

The next video that I was going to make was DW's and my kayaking adventure in Baie Éternité and the Saguenay River, in the fjord. It's already out on my YouTube channel, which you can check out if you're into kayaking videos.

Subscribe to my channel while you're at it.

Because so much of our vacation involved kayaking on challenging waters, I didn't want to risk having everything on one storage card, in case something happened to the camera. I saved one micro SD card with our first two paddles and hikes, but swapped out that card for another when we ran the Jacques Cartier River.

I added a third micro SD card to my Insta360 camera when DW and I paddled in the Saguenay fjords and a forth card for our time in the Tadoussac area. And I had to carefully store and keep track of these cards when I was done with them.

So, as I was getting ready to edit the video clips on the third card—for Baie Éternité—I plugged the micro SD card into the camera and turned the camera on. Usually, a pale-blue light appears on the camera as it's starting up and the light changes to a darker blue when it's ready, but this time the light appeared yellow and the camera made an odd beep sound.

A message on the camera indicated that it couldn't read the card. I thought that I had somehow inserted it incorrectly, so I shut down the camera, removed the card, made sure it was clean and had no debris on the contact points, made sure the card slot on the camera was also clean, re-inserted the card, and turned the camera on again.

And again, the yellow light and squawk from the camera told me that something was wrong. I tried to pair the camera with my phone, and it wouldn't let me.

And that's when my heart stopped. What if the micro SD card was corrupted and I couldn't access those files from Baie Éternité?

Insta360 has a desktop version of their editing software but I haven't used the app in years. The first time I shot video with the Insta360 One X camera, I plugged the camera into my computer and edited the footage with the Insta360 Studio program.

I found the interface a bit awkward and it took me a long time to edit a file. I also noticed that the desktop version was missing some key features from the mobile app, such as the ability to speed up video—something I use a lot in my videos.

So, after the first use with Insta360 Studio, I stuck with using the mobile app. I found using my fingers on the screen, even though it was small, was faster and more precise than using a mouse. And any video that I've shared in the past five years was edited on my phone.

I sort of dreaded starting up the desktop program but needed to see if the Baie Éternité video was salvageable. I had no choice.

Immediately upon starting Insta360 Studio, a message told me that the program needed an update, so that's what I did. With that task completed, I then plugged my micro SD card into the computer and crossed my fingers.

Immediately, the Studio program recognized that a card with its proprietary files had been plugged into the computer and asked if I wanted to import them. I didn't need to do anything other than click Yes.

The workspace showed me all of the files and when I double-clicked one, it came up onto my screen. I breathed a sigh of relief that I hadn't lost these files.

I also quickly noticed that the interface in the program looked different. The buttons were more intuitive than I remembered in the first-generation program. Also, having had more than five years of experience with the mobile app, which has itself had some major upgrades over that time, I was able to quickly navigate the various controls and edit the clip in no time at all.

And, if I'm being honest, in less time than the mobile app allows me.

The desktop app also lets you make manual edits for exposure and colour corrections, and provides higher bit-rate values than the handheld app does. Typically, in the mobile app, the maximum bit rate is between 100 and 150; on the desktop app, I could go as high as 200 on every clip.

The higher the bit rate, the better quality the video is. It also creates a much bigger file but my computer can handle it.

With the mobile app, I would edit a single file and then export it to the phone, which ate up a lot of time. With the desktop program, I was able to edit one file, add it to a queue, and then move onto the next file. When all the files were edited, I could perform a batch export and move all of the completed files to a designated folder at once.

What would have taken me at least a full day on my phone took less than half that time on the desktop. And I believe I have better-quality footage for when I use these files in Final Cut Pro, when I put them all together in a single video for YouTube.

That one glitch with the micro SD card in my camera turned out to be a gift in disguise. I'll be using the Insta360 Studio app from now on to edit the clips before exporting them to the next step in my video-making process.

It doesn't mean that I'll completely abandon the mobile app: it just means that that process will be my backup method when I don't have access to my computer.

This is a new game changer to my video-making process. I wish I had given this app another chance years ago, but better late than never.

Happy Tuesday!