One of the most difficult choices when beginners jump into immersive storytelling is buying a camera. It’s tough when new cameras with ever higher resolutions, more thoughtful designs, and expanded features are only one month away. Why buy now?
Camera manufacturers like Insta360 aren’t making our decision any easier. When Global Marketing Lead Max Richter appeared on Immersive Shooter’s live show at NAB, he teased a new consumer 360 camera for mobile devices.
But, that’s all he would share. After all, their Insta360 Pro camera isn’t even shipping yet! He estimates it’ll ship May 15.
At NAB, we took a hands-on look at the Pro, beyond its specs (8K 360 video, 6K 360 stereoscopicVideo shot with two parallel cameras (or in the case of 360° video, multiple pairs of parallel cameras) Commonly referr… More video, etc.) and dug into its thoughtful port options and sample footage.
The camera includes a mini HDMI port to send real time stitched videos to a headset or display TV for live preview and an Ethernet port for live streaming with higher bandwidth (though you can also livestreamDistribute video playback in real-time. over WiFi or via 4G dongle attached to the USB port).
Speaking of the USB port, this feature also allows you to save files to an external hard drive to extend your recording times. “You’re limited only by the capacity of your hard drive,” Richter said. “Let’s say you have a 500 GB hard drive and you want to record 8K video, you can probably record one or two hours.”
Despite the launch of its latest pro camera, Insta360 is also continuing to improve the features of its existing cameras, the Insta360 Air and Nano. Just a few weeks ago, it updated the real time stabilization technology behind those cameras—a feature that will also make its way to the Pro in the near future.
“Although our focus is hardware, we’re looking to extend our software capabilities,” Richter said, adding that the Insta360 stitching software and Insta360 Studio for basic editing are already freely available on its website.
With the Insta360 Pro, users can have an single automatic template-based or optical flow-based stitched file, or all six files to stitch on their own with either Insta360’s stitching software or third party tools, like Kolor’s soon-to-update Autopano Video Pro.
“Our approach is we want to be one supplier for a compete range of 360 products, not only our consumer market line with the Nano and Air, but also the higher prosumer professional demands like the Insta360 Pro,” Richter said.
And, perhaps, a new consumer 360 camera attachment for smartphones in the near future. But until then, I guess we’ll have to gush over the Insta360 Pro a bit longer…
For more information about the Insta360 Pro, visit Insta360’s website.
