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“It can do that?!?” 17 remarkable undocumented features of the Insta360 Pro

The Insta360 Pro is an amazing camera, and the marketing materials can’t even capture all of its remarkable features (partly because Insta360 keeps adding new features!).  Here are 17 undocumented features of the Insta360 Pro.  Since there are so many of them, I tried to group them into Photo, Video and live streaming, and both Photo and Video.


PHOTO
1. 60 second shutter speed.  It has full manual exposure and you can specify a shutter speed as slow as 60 seconds — slow enough to capture night sky photos.

2.  Unlimited intervalometer.  The Insta360 Pro has an intervalometer (i.e., it will take a photo after every time interval), and the time interval is anywhere from 2 seconds to a practically unlimited time interval (I put in a crazy number like 200,000 seconds and it accepted that value).  Note: The intervalometer is in the video mode as “time lapse”.
3.  The intervalometer / time lapse can be for 3D not just 2D.

4.  Stitched 360 Photos in Raw format.   The Insta360 Pro specs do tell you that you can take shots in Raw (other manufacturers interpret that to simply mean unstitched).  These are real Camera Raw photos with full flexibility for white balance adjustment and maximum exposure latitude.  But perhaps you’re worried about whether Insta360 is using a proprietary Raw format that will take months for Adobe to add to Photoshop and Lightroom.  I’m happy to say it uses Adobe DNG format!
So what do you do with the DNG photos?   Convert them into JPG and then stitch the converted JPGs?  Nah, that would have been any other 360 camera company.  This is Insta360’s approach: it will stitch the DNG photos into a 360 photo…  which will also be in Adobe DNG raw format!  In 2D or 3D.  BAM!

VIDEO AND LIVE STREAMING
5.  High speed 4K 120fps video (not just 100fps).
6.  4K 3D 60fps video.

7. Flat color video mode (for grading).  You can also change the settings for the rendering (brightness, saturation, sharpness and contrast).
8.  You know Insta360 Pro is the only professional 360 camera with built-in gyro stabilization.  What you might not know is that gyro stabilization works even for in-camera stitched videos and for live streaming!
9.  Extra long recording time (Insta360 has demo’d a 5 hour live stream).  The maximum recording or live streaming time is still unknown.
10.  The Insta360 Pro can live stream (in 2D or 3D).  But in addition, the live stream can also be recorded at the same time (it can save the individual video of each lens and/or the stitched 360 video).
11.  Fan noise cancellation.  One issue with the Insta360 Pro is that its fan is quite loud.  Insta360 added a new fan noise cancellation feature.  It will sample the fan noise and mitigate it.  I don’t know if this feature could also work for noise in environments…

BOTH PHOTOS AND VIDEOS
12.  Individual exposure per lens.  Besides auto and full manual exposure, Insta360 can also set an individual exposure per lens to maximize dynamic range.  For example, if one lens is facing a sunlit scene while another is facing the shadow, you don’t need to find a compromise — the exposure for each lens can be set independently.  You can then blend the exposure in post processing.

13.  On other 360 cameras with in-camera stitching, you have to choose between in-camera stitching or unstitched images.  With the Insta360 Pro, you don’t have to choose.  Even if a photo or video is stitched in-camera, you can have the individual photos and videos available for stitching.  This lets you have the option to re-stitch afterward.  Or you can choose not to save the individual photos and videos.
14.  A related feature is that if you record with in-camera stitching at 4K, you can nonetheless get 5K resolution if you restitch the video on a desktop.
15.  You can record to a portable USB 3.0 hard drive for economical high capacity storage.

16.  The Insta360 Pro package includes a water resistant hardcase with custom foam cutouts (similar to a Pelican 1450 case).

17.  Insta360’s amazing customer service.  I’ve owned DSLRs, mirrorless, and of course 360 cameras from many manufacturers (including Nikon, Sony, Fuji, Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax, Samsung).  No other company has been as responsive as Insta360.  It is truly amazing how quickly they respond to customers.  And their CEO JK is in the trenches with them, talking to customers directly, on top of his already busy schedule.  You will not get better customer service anywhere.I’m still taking more photos and videos with the Insta360 Pro but so far I have been very impressed!  In the meantime, if you already decided to get one, you can support 360 Rumors at no additional cost to you by buying it from these links:
Insta360 online store.  In the promotion code box during checkout, use the referral code: IRPUI4C
Amazon.
B&H Photo.If you do buy through these links please let me know (send me a screenshot via email or facebook.com/360rumors).  I know the Insta360 Pro is a significant investment and as a thank you for supporting the site, I will add you to a secret 360 Rumors VIP Facebook group and give you priority for responding to your questions and requests!

About the author

Mic Ty

17 Comments

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  • Hello and thank you for those informations and your work with this website.

    We’re looking for a 360 pro video camera and I hope we will get an insta360.
    There’s only one information I can’t get yet. Does it record ambisonic sound ? If yes, in wich format (A or B) ? If no, is it planned to add this with a future firmware? Perhaps you should know that ?

    Last point, sorry for my english, I’m french and not really fluent… But I hope, you’ll understand and excuse that !

    • Salut Stephane! The Insta360 Pro has 4 microphones, but I don’t have anything indicating it has ambisonic sound. But in any case, its in-camera sound is not very good because it has loud fan noise. But it does have a mic input.

      Best regards,
      Mic

  • Hello Mic,
    Does Insta360 Pro feature bracketing exposure? I can’t find this information in its web. Thanks a lot,
    Pablo

    • Yes Pablo. in HDR mode it will take a 3-shot bracket. You can use the app to specify the bracket interval up to 3.9EV in 1/10 stop increments.

      Best regards,
      Mic

        • Hi Mic, just a quick question. Is there a way of powering the camera with an external battery power supply?

          • Hi Joe. I believe it’s possible to get a pure sine wave inverter such as the Paul Buff Vagabond to power the Insta360 Pro, but I haven’t researched this issue, so I don’t know the plethora of options for that. I just know that yes it is possible.

            Best regards,
            Mic

    • Hmm I dont think that is possible. when you stream in mono, you can only view it in mono. If you stream in stereo it is possible to view it in stereo or mono. The problem is that no service supports 3D streaming so far.
      Best regards,
      Mic

      • Thanks for the reply. So if I record in stereo the stream would appear in mono anyway? If that’s the case then that’s perfect for what I need.

        • Hi. Sorry, I wasn’t clear. If you stream in 3D, you can record in 3D. A 3D video can be viewed as 2D. Also a 3D video can be re-rendered as 2D. If you stream in 2D, you can only record in 2D. A video recorded as 2D cannot be re-rendered as 3D.

          Best regards,
          Mic

    • Can you explain the benefits of the new burst mode where it takes 5 images in quick succession and combines them in Stitcher for a higher resolution image, and the HDR mode where it takes 2 or three, at different exposures and combines them. Is HDR available in RAW mode? I seem to get good results in burst mode.
      In addition is it possible to make a decent 180 degree panorama for printing? I have done this with a DJI Phantom 4 pro by taking at least 3 images in the aEB setting, running them through Aurora 2019 and then stitching them together in ON1 RAW 2019 which incidentally has a panel for expanding smaller images.

      Finally do you know of a separate power supply that can plug into the charging station? It seems to need 12 volts at about 2 amps