Here comes Insta360 with yet another camera that is pushing boundaries! This time, they are going after the form factor of the big boys – GoPro and DJI. While Insta360 has had an action camera for a while, a modular one, this is the first time they have really gone for the form factor that GoPro pioneered. And they did it in the typical Insta360 fashion by bringing on new features and design elements that will certainly make you wonder why all action cameras haven’t already had these. Introducing the new Insta360 Ace Pro
Review of the Insta360 Ace Pro
Link: Insta360 Ace Pro – $449 | Insta360 Ace | $379
Insta360 sent me a unit to use for this review but they did not pay me and I did not share the review with them before this post. I am an affiliate with them so I receive a commission if you purchase using my links. Thanks for the support!
You can watch the video below for my full review and some samples. I will give a briefer version here of my thoughts of this camera and what I like the most.
Insta360 is never satisfied with just the status quo in the camera market. GoPro and DJI have seemed to be content with just going back and forth on things like resolution and picture profiles – and here comes Insta360 with an action camera that adds new design elements and features to make it one of the most exciting action cameras in a while.
Flip Screen!
One of the great new features is the 2.4″ flip screen. This is something the other action cameras do not have and it works incredibly well! I have been playing with the screen, flipping it up and down a ton of times, over the past couple of weeks to see how well it would hold up and it is still really good. It has a nice amount of tension to it so it doesn’t just slip down. The screen is a design element you never realized you were missing until you see it here on the Insta360 Ace Pro.
The awesome 2.4″ flip screen on the Insta360 Ace Pro
Not only does it allow you to get better framing, focusing, and menu access but it even allows for some interesting ways to capture things in a POV style while the other cameras would require separate accessories.
Features
In addition, it also has included AI in the camera to help go through and find the highlights of clips. How many times have you used an action camera and recorded like 10 minutes of something that only has like 30 seconds of really great footage? I know that is the way it is with some of my stuff! Now, the AI Highlights Assistant will go through and pick out those highlights for you so you can accept them, if you want, and it will let you dump the rest of the boring video. 🙂
Of course, Insta360 still has their AI in the app to edit the clips you do want and produce a nice finished product – without you needing to do anything.
As far as recording formats, it has all the usual frame rates and resolutions that you would expect from an action camera like this – and that means it will go right up to 4K 120 frames per second for slow motion capture. When you are recording in 4K 30 or lower, it automatically kicks in their Active HDR to give a more pleasing look. This isn’t a cheap looking HDR either. It does really look good and it comes on automatically with any frame rate/resolution at 4K30 or less.
Battery life was great, getting me the advertised 100 minutes of 4K30 with the AI highlight assistant shut off. This means you can capture quite a bit of activity and adventure on a single battery!
Garmin and Apple Watch Integration
For anyone that will use this with sports – which is a huge chunk of the market it is made for – Insta360 has done something no other action camera maker has. That is to have direct integration with Garmin watches and Apple Watches to pull in data from them for a cool screen overlay of the metrics of a particular activity you may be doing. This is a really cool way to see how fast you are going, how much distance you have covered, and many more metrics. I have been playing around with this quite a bit and it is excellent!
The Insta360 Ace Pro works with Garmin and Apple Watches to display metrics on the video
Stabilization
The stabilization on this camera works really well. I had it on medium for most of my runs and it did a great job of keeping the footage smooth and not vomit-inducing for anyone that would watch it along with me. Oh, and there is a FreeFrame mode that will let you kick in horizon lock in the app after transferring footage. This does something insane with 360 horizon lock – basically, you can turn the camera all the way around and this mode will still keep the video looking like the horizon is straight! Just insane! This could provide some interesting concepts for activities where you would be doing a 360 (skateboarders, snowboarders, skiers, etc).
Quality
The video and photo quality of this camera are excellent. Insta360 partnered with Leica for the development of the camera and this partnership makes for a nice final image. The Ace Pro has something called Clarity Zoom which also has good quality – with just a doubletap on the screen, it lets you punch in to 2X zoom and it looks much better than either GoPro (which only has 1.6x zoom) and DJI.
Transfer Footage – And Do Whatever Else You Want on Your Phone
Another thing that is great with this that other manufacturers should have already done is the fact that while the footage is transferring, you can use another app on your phone that you want to – even shut if off. With the other apps, you need to keep them in the foreground while transferring footage. With the Ace Pro, it will do all of its work in the background and keep you updated on the status either in the Dynamic Island or on the lock screen of an iPhone.
You can do whatever you want on your phone while the footage is transferred
Bottom Line
The Insta360 Ace Pro certainly sets a high bar for action cameras – both in the design elements and the new features they bring to the action camera space. I have really enjoyed using the Insta360 Ace Pro and it will be my main action camera going forward. There are so many time saving features on the camera and I am just spoiled now with the flip screen!
Plus, knowing Insta360 like I do now, I know there will be some other great features coming to this camera over time that will further distance it from the competition! If you are in the market for an action camera, definitely consider the Insta360 Ace Pro
