It might be too far to say that the Insta360 Pro killed the Nokia Ozo, but the timing of Nokia putting Ozo out to pasture was certainly close to the release of Insta 360's original 360° capture camera. For its incredible $3500 price point, it's been really hard for anyone to compete with the manufacturer, and now the company is back with a major revision with the Insta360 Pro 2.
The big news here, beyond the dual 8K resolution, is the live monitoring capability. One of the trickiest aspects of working with immersive video is monitoring, which is frequently tethered or run off an app with more connectivity. However, since you need to find someone to hide in the scene, monitoring accurately can be a huge hassle. Insta360 is building the new Farsight 5.18Ghz wireless monitoring system specifically to address that need, allowing for live, real-time in-depth monitoring of the 360° signal from the Insta360 Pro 2, with a range that is long enough to accommodate drone shooting (300 meters ground to ground, 1Km ground to air). Implemented correctly, this could create some amazing live audience experiences as well.
On top of that is the integration of FlowState stabilization, which could actually be the killer feature that brings this into the mainstream. Moving an immersive camera is tricky, and can be very uncomfortable to watch in delivery, so by stabilizing in camera, taking advantage of in-body gyroscope and nine-axis sensors, and the high resolution of the imaging, should make post faster and open up new options for filmmakers.
Interestingly, in order to support the higher resolution, Insta360 has chosen to record to six separate MicroSD cards instead of the single SD card from the original platform. This is an interesting choice, since it will open up a much higher data rate, but will also make it somewhat more complicated on set to manage the data from all the cards and increases the odds of losing a card.
Credit: Insta360
Tech Specs
- 8K 3D at 30 FPS, 8K monoscopic at 60 FPS, 6K 3D at 60 FPS, and 4K 3D at 120 FPS
- 6x MicroSD card recording
- FarSite Live Monitoring, 5.18Ghz wireless with 300m ground ranges and 1Km ground to air
- FlowState Stabilization
- 3.42 pounds
- 4 mics for 360° audio
- 100-6400 ISO Range
- 5100mAh battery
- 9-axis gyro
- 12 stops latitude
