At WPPI 2020 in Las Vegas, Insta360’s Katherine Chung talked with me about the company’s latest action camera.
The OneR modular action camera
Kevin Ames: Katherine, what’s the latest from Insta360?
Katherine Chung: Insta360 just launched the first modular action camera. And this camera’s really exciting because you’re not only limited to just 360º views. Now you can switch out your 360-degree lenses. You can change to your 4K lens to even your one-inch sensor, Leica lens for whatever you need to capture.
KA: A new sensor is included in each of the lenses, right?
KC: Yes.
Three affordable modular action cams
KA: Does that really drive the cost up?
KC: I would still say our costs are fairly competitive for what they are and the tremendous possibilities that you can get with these cameras.
KA: What’s the price range?
KC: So with the twin edition — with the 4K wide-angle and the 360-degree module — you’re looking at about $480. That’s very reasonable. Then if you wanted the additional one-inch wide-angle module, that’s just an additional $300.
Modular action camera image stabilization
KA: Very nice. So, under $800, you get three different sensors, three different lenses. Do all of them have the Insta360 image stabilization?
KC: Definitely. So all of our cameras have two layers of stabilization. There’s an active gyroscope built inside, and once you’ve captured footage there’s another layer of digital stabilization. So you’re always want to have buttery smooth footage.
KA: To help me understand, how does Insta360 stabilization differ from GoPro’s hyper smooth?
KC: I believe GoPro stabilization is just digitally stabilized. And I would think that they’re fairly similar in what they’re doing. But if you look online, there are various comparison videos that’ll compare the two cameras or multiple cameras side by side and you can tell yourself — tell for yourself which cameras have the best better stabilization.
Review camera
The OneR is on our list to review, but they’re currently in short supply to due to the Coronavirus outbreak closing productions at Chinese factories. I hope to be able to put this new modular action camera through its paces soon and write an in-depth review.
