Summer is already here, at least in terms of the weather we've been experiencing in recent weeks. An action camera can be an upgrade to your annual vacation photography experience, whether on a beach trip or even in your neighborhood countryside. Insta360, known for its 360-degree capable cameras, also offers standard action cameras, akin to GoPro's style. The AcePro model, launched in Israel by Bag Network, offers a foldable touchscreen and a plethora of capabilities in its app.
Waterproof and Foldable Screen
The AcePro sports a design similar to GoPro models, but what sets it apart is the foldable touchscreen, sized at 2.4 inches. This screen, located on the back of the camera, rotates 180 degrees, allowing for real-time viewing while shooting or a more convenient angle for viewing the screen when vlogging. This feature is also suitable for cyclists, with the camera mounted on the handlebar (at a 90-degree angle).
When flipping the screen for front-facing use, it's also easy to operate with gesture controls using your hands for shooting. Simply raise your hand and close it to start shooting video or end remote shooting. When making the V/Peace sign with two fingers, the camera detects you want to take a photo, then initiates a 3-second countdown (no need to manually switch between photo and video mode through the camera interface). This convenient method streamlines shooting.
At the front of the camera, there's a screen providing shooting data such as resolution, frames per second, and remaining battery time. Additionally, the camera has two physical buttons: one on the side for power on/off, and the second button on the top of the camera for capturing. The camera itself is waterproof up to 10 meters deep, with an optional diving case available for purchase separately, providing waterproofing up to 60 meters.
Collaboration with Leica
You surely remember the German photography company Leica partnering with Xiaomi on the flagship smartphone - Mi 11 Ultra. Well, Leica also collaborates with Insta360 on the AcePro, responsible for the camera's optics and imaging. The resolution here reaches up to 8K at 24 frames per second or 4K at 60 frames per second. There's also an option for shooting slow-motion videos in 4K at 120 frames per second. The image quality here is impressive with rich colors, though sometimes there's too much processing.
The camera has four main shooting modes: ActionView, which creates a fish-eye effect and manages to squeeze more into the frame; UltraWide mode, essentially a softened fish-eye mode with slightly less distortion suitable for sports; DeWarp mode with a straight shooting angle intended for regular shooting, and Horizon Lock mode that locks the image balanced, even if the camera moves left and right.
There's also a double 2x digital zoom, easily accessed with a double tap on the screen. Insta360 calls it Clarity Zoom, which not only does a digital zoom but maintains the same resolution. The result is decent; you can see it's a digital zoom, but there's a slight reduction in noise.
Night photography here isn't extraordinary, but it's not terrible either despite the large sensor and the PureVideo mode designed to provide more light in darkness. You can adjust the aspect ratio of the footage for social networks, such as 9:16 or 16:9.
A nice feature is the ability to pause recording and resume it later, so the same video isn't split into files, allowing for easier editing from the smartphone.
The Insta360 app is user-friendly, allowing for transferring videos and photos to the smartphone via WiFi. It also includes an option for automatic video editing with pre-made templates, including adaptations for sports, trips, and more. Additionally, for sports recordings, you can use data from Garmin devices and Apple watches to display information on the video.
For example, cycling speed, heart rate, and calorie consumption. There's also an AI mode, which takes very short videos and adds graphical elements to them, like turning part of the video into a cartoon or adding robotic elements to people in the clip. It's a nice idea when you want to share a short video and want to make it a bit special.
The camera's battery life stands at 100 minutes when shooting HDR video in 4K at 30 frames per second, with a full battery charge taking 46 minutes or 80% of it taking 22 minutes.
Price: NIS 2,080 (official importer Bag Network).
In conclusion, if you're looking for an action camera, whether for sports shots or capturing children in the pool comfortably without fearing damage to your smartphone or wasting its storage, the AcePro is a camera worth considering. It offers successful video quality with a plethora of shooting features and a user-friendly app, enabling editing videos on the fly from your smartphone and swiftly sharing them on social networks or sending them via WhatsApp.