Insta360 has launched a new wide-angle actioncam called the Ace Pro, which was co-engineered with imaging titan Leica, and has the outward appearance of a GoPro, but offers more in the video and photo departments.
Insta360's actioncam offers 8K video recording at 24 frames per second, 4K UHD at up to 120 fps and slow-mo Full HD at 240 fps – plus a bunch of other video resolutions and frame rates.
It comes with Active HDR that "is especially helpful for shooting scenes with both bright and dark areas, with more details in the highlights and shadows and more vibrant footage." There's H.264 and H.265 video encoding, FlowState image stabilization for smooth footage "no matter how intense the action gets," a 360° Horizon Lock that helps keep videos on the level, and the triple microphone array is able to capture 16-bit/48-kHz audio to go with the visuals.
The 1/1.3-inch-type image sensor also allows for 48-megapixel stills through the actioncam's F2.6 aperture, 16-mm Leica Summarit lens, with five photo modes available (including interval, burst and starlapse).
Insta360 has cooked in some AI smarts too, such as a low-light PureVideo mode where "a custom-trained AI neural network" is employed to remove noise from footage. A Highlights Assistant which selects key moments in a video and delivers recap highlights for in-camera review, and an AI Warp feature that can add dynamic effects to videos using preset or custom keywords.
The Pro's native light sensitivity range runs from ISO100 to ISO6,400. It includes three color profiles as well as a feature that can zoom in and out at 2x without image quality loss is included, and there's a photo grab function that produces a still image from video footage at higher quality than a screen grab would manage.
A 2.4-inch flip-up touchscreen display allows for flexible shooting, and there's gesture control too – with the user able to wave a hand to start/stop recording or snap a group photo. And naturally there's a magnetic mounting system for quick attachment to hardware and accessories.
The actioncam's 1,650-mAh battery is reported good for up to 100 minutes of per-charge use, with support for 30-W fast-charging enabling a top-up to 80% capacity in 22 minutes. Bluetooth 5.1 and 802.11ac dual-band Wi-Fi are cooked in, and all content is recorded to a microSD card (not supplied).
It's waterproof to a depth of 10 m (33 ft) on its own, or 60 m (196.85 ft) with the optional dive case, and can operate in temperatures as low as -20 °C (-4 °F) for winter sports action. The Ace Series is also reported to be the first "to integrate seamlessly with your Garmin device of Apple Watch" so that GPS, speed and other metrics can be overlaid on footage.
The Ace Pro measures 71.9 x 52.15 x 38.5 mm (2.8 x 2 x 1.5 in) and tips the scales at 179.8 g (6.3 oz). It's on sale now for US$449.99, while a standard Ace model that tops out at 6K/30fps video and sports a 1/2-inch-type sensor comes in at $379.99. The video below has more.
Product page: Insta360 Ace Pro
