360 Camera Accessories

6 REASONS to use 3rd party lenses on Insta360 One R (hands-on test of the Back-Bone Ribcage Mod)

Insta360 One R Ribcage Mod for 3rd party lenses
Insta360 One R Ribcage Mod for 3rd party lenses

Here’s a hands-on test of the Insta360 One R Ribcage Mod.  Last month, I posted about the new Back-Bone Ribcage Mod that enables the Insta360 One R (reviewed here) to use 3rd party lenses (Micro Four Thirds or C-mount).  Now CreatorUp’s Hugh Hou has tried out the Ribcage Mod with several lenses including the Entaniya 250 lens.  In this post, I’ll show his hands-on test, then we’ll answer the most common question about the Ribcage Mod: WHY should you use the One R with Ribcage Mod instead of just shooting with a Micro Four Thirds or other body?

First here’s Hugh’s hands-on test:

When I posted about the Ribcage Mod, most people were amazed that it was even possible to use 3rd party lenses on the One R.  However, the most common question that people asked was, “Why should we even use the Insta360 One R instead of a Micro Four Thirds camera to use a Micro Four Thirds lens?”  I posed this question to Hugh and he provided these 5 reasons, and I’ll add one more to the list.

1. One R is smaller and can get into tight places.

Insta360 One R is much more compact than any Micro Four Thirds body and can be placed in tight spaces where an MFT camera would not fit.

2.  Crash Cam.

In Hollywood, filmmakers often need a rugged semi-disposable camera called a crash cam.  The One R can serve that role, and whereas consumers might balk at the cost of a One R with 1-inch mod and Ribcage Mod, that cost is small compared to some crash cams such as the Black Magic Pocket Cinema.

3. Vintage camera look

The Ribcage Mod turns the One R into a vintage camera with nostalgic colors and cinematic in-camera flare.

4. 5.3K resolution

The One R with 1-inch mod has higher resolution than many cameras.  Even Blackmagic is 4K on Micro Four Thirds.

5. Portability

Hugh also pointed out that the One R’s small size is an advantage for traveling.  “With C-mount, it can get really small so it’s very easy to drop it in a bag and travel instead of [bringing] a DSLR.”

6. Focal length

In addition to the foregoing reasons provided by Hugh, another reason is that it has a longer effective focal length, which can be useful for telephoto shots.  On the Insta360 One R 1-inch mod, Micro Four Thirds lenses have effectively 1.35X the focal length compared to Micro Four Thirds.

How do you like the samples of the Ribcage Mod?  Let me know in the comments!  In Hugh’s next video, he’ll show how he used the Ribcage Mod for 360 videos and VR180 videos.  Don’t miss it and subscribe to his channel!

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Mic Ty

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  • There is no doubt Back-bone has a lot of experience with camera mods. They’ve been doing GoPro mods for a good while now. But the part I am not to crazy about is having to ditch the Leica lens just to get the one-inch sensor. If that Ribcage adapter is actually a collaboration with Insta360, then why does Insta360 not offer a bare 1-inch module without lens specifically for using with the Ribcage mod kit ?

    Yeah, in the back of my mind I thought “Ribcage + 3D edition”… opens the door to interesting 3D and 180 options. But getting pretty expensive too. And I still feel the 3D edition as they showed it last January is way awkward. I am hoping their delay in releasing it may have something to do with being in the process of redesigning it – maybe a new core module that has sockets on either side of it ? Or maybe I’m daydreaming again…

    • Hi Julian. I recommend contacting Back-Bone. They may have a list of local photographers who are willing to convert your One R.