360 Camera News and Info

Teaser trailer posted for Insta360’s next camera! Analysis + Reaction

Insta360 has just posted the teaser video for their next camera!  I’ve actually been beta testing it, and it’s really incredible and I can’t wait to show it to you.  Meanwhile, here’s the trailer video, followed by my analysis and reaction.

Here’s the teaser:

Here’s my reaction and analysis:

As stated in the teaser trailer, the new camera will be revealed at CES 2020 on January 7, 2020.   I will be there and will post about it!

About the author

Mic Ty

19 Comments

Click here to post a comment

Leave a Reply to Francois Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • I can’t wait! I have to admit: I’m currently somewhat regretting my not-yet-shipped Kandao Qoocam 8K purchase.

  • Mic wrote: “I’ve actually been beta testing it”

    Really ? So then you’ve known all along and have just been pretending like you don’t know what it is ?

    So those pictures that were leaked, you really do know they are true to the real thing but pretending you didn’t !

    Anyhow, yeah, I checked Insta360 this morning and saw that teaser. No 3D 180 is mentioned so I kinda lost interest. Actually I started loosing interest yesterday when I took a closer look at those renderings and saw the connectors look like they can only work in one direction – with each camera facing in the opposite direction. Granted this is just a rendering and the blueprints appear to have plugs that can work either way. But for now, I’ll take it it doesn’t do 3D 180.

    • He likely could not comment because he signed an NDA. He can say he’s used it but he can’t say any specifics about it.

      • I know that, but from his last post where he showed the leaked images, he knew very well that those were true to the real thing but made it sound like he had no idea and maybe those could be fake pictures.

    • Guys, 3D seems to me for Video like Sony’s MiniDisk was for audio: dead before penetrating the market. TV manufacturers dropped it. It never was WOW for consumers, I mean from quality point of view. I bought an Insta360 Evo from Amazon. Luckily I could send it back after a couple of days of testing. The 3D is not wow at all. I would preffer more resolution and quality for “plain” 360 images. And a 1″ sensor can already do some magic here, although there still is long way towards real WOW quality, which will probably be achieved when we will have a both big (1″) sensor and a very high resolution, what I think the new rumored sensors of about 100MP will bring in 1-2 years.

      Anyway, what Insta360 still has to solve: CUSTOMER SERVICE. As long as for any problem you have to send the camera back to Hong Kong and wait ages for it to be repaired and then pay customs to get it back, I will cetainly NOT be able to recommend it to any non-HK customer. Sorry, but here I think Insta360’s rigid politics of support is not the good way, and at some time this will turn back against them.

      • > Guys, 3D seems to me for Video like Sony’s MiniDisk was for audio: dead before penetrating the market

        Yeah right… just like 360 ! 3D is only dead to people who have no idea how to use it. And that’s equally why 360 is not mainstream either. They are niche markets. I have been shooting 3D for years with specialized equipment that I designed and I do get WOW reactions every time I show my work.

        Incidentally, there are a lot of people out there buying 360 cameras because of the hype and they end up in a drawers gathering dust or back on eBay. So the same applies to 360. People may buy the cameras but you don’t see many masterpieces out there.

        It’s just like regular photography, some people make amazing pictures but most take snapshots. So don’t assume because you don’t know what to do with 3D, it means nobody does.

      • 3D is the future. You are missing the fact of VR consumer options and soon AR consumer glasses. At that point all people will want is 3D.

        • True. There is an enormous amount of research being done with 3D technologies of various kinds – glasses-free displays, 3D glasses of novel design and various cameras being developed.

          As to AR, just take a look at the forthcoming nREAL glasses. They are a game changer.

          There are always going to be naysayers out there but it won’t stop the progress of technology.

  • I‘m pretty sure the new Insta will have the size of the GoPro Hero Session. That is widely used among FPV and drone racing. The footage from the Balloon is from JohnnyFPV in Turkey. Looks interesting and we‘ll see.

  • So I get to see a test unit tonight at the London NYE celebrations. There is actually going to be 3! I’ve not signed an NDA so ill see what I can find out.

    So far from what I’ve been told by a user who used one to get footage inside the London Shard was that it performed well, it’s consumer-focussed, low light seemed good but they couldn’t really say more about post but they did say current firmware has a ton of bugs that will be fixed in the new firmware after CES.

    Don’t really want to speculate until I see it later.

    • I am pretty sure that Mic is under a strict NDA. That means he can’t reveal anything about the camera that the company itself has not revealed or that has not already been leaked.

      Based on the rendering that was shown that seems to illustrated different lens modules having varying focal lengths and a base that accommodates two cameras, it’s really hard to believe they would have designed it so 3D or 3D 180 could not be done. There seems to be no logic in shooting 360 with two separate modules unless those separate modules are designed to work in various ways.

      So my bet is that 3D and 3D 180 will both be possible with this system, but then we also have to keep in mind that neither is mentioned in the Insta360 teaser and no VR180 camera ends up in the blender !

      Anyhow, in a mere week, we will all know. So it’s not that long of a wait !

      • 3D will always be an essential need: We, humans have two eyes and see the World in 3D. I myself, don’t even read the news about non-3D cameras. I come to this site often, but I am only interested in 3D!

  • Thanks for the great stuff as always, Mic!

    Guys, I’m sure either Mic is under NDA – or he can’t reveal too much in order to protect his sources. But that doesn’t mean he can’t re-post stuff someone else has leaked, because it’s already out. Mic just can’t confirm those pics one way or another.

    Personally my interest is in shooting 360 aerial photos with a lightweight drone. If I was developing things in Insta360:
    – I would not “re-invent the wheel”. Instead I would seek for alliance with the industry leader (DJI, of course) and develop a system that would be easy to attach to Mavic Mini. We already know that Mavic Mini has a so called “Snap Adapter”. That would be an easy way to attach the new Insta360 R.
    – DJI also has a good 3rd party developer program, which makes it very easy for a company like INSTA360 to develop it’s own controller app for IOS & Android.

    For aerial 360 shooting it would be awesome…if there would also be a way to “split” the camera in two parts => the other 180 lens (attached to the top of the drone) pointing to the sky and the other lens at the bottom pointing downwards. The distance between lenses should not be a problem (perspective/parallax errors) when you shoot from 10 meters and above. That way you could grab it all in just one shot. The drone itself would disappear + no more sky replacing etc.

    Somehow I have a feeling that the new Insta360 will be sold as a “modular” package. Meaning: you will be able to purchase the parts that’ll fit into YOUR special needs. Soon we’ll see. 🙂

  • Hi Mic, I am very excited about the new insta360!! I am new into the 360 cams and I’d like to buy one. Choosing between the gopro and the insta360 one x is difficult. Do you think the new camera is the best for a beginner in 360 video, or do you recommend the new one for those who already have a gopro or insta 360 camera?
    Thanks for you expert-answer!!