Not everyone is a fan of 360 imagery, and some of the ideas might be confusing to beginners. First off, where you point the camera is irrelevant; you can worry about that while editing. Also, don’t worry about stabilization; the 6-gyro FlowState stabilization on this camera will take care of that. The inside of a sphere with the camera at the Centre must be covered by the 6K video and 21MP stills resolution, which is an important point to keep in mind. You won’t get anything close to that resolution if you save out a conventional, “flat” movie or panoramic snapshot; video output is a 1920 x 1080 cut. Although you do have complete control over your framing, panning, and subject-following after you have shot your video, that is still acceptable for YouTube and the majority of online/social sharing.
Design
Let’s get one thing clear up front: this isn’t an incredibly durable action camera like a GoPro Hero or even Insta360’s own One RS. The One RS 1-Inch feels substantial and heavy enough, but you should avoid submerging it in water and keeping its twin Leica lenses away from jagged edges. When fully completed, it is IPX3 rated, but that just ensures protection from snow and light rain; don’t submerge it in liquids or even use it in severe downpours. It is constructed in an ergonomic manner. When fully constructed, it fits comfortably in the hand, allowing your thumb to rest on the record and power buttons. However, there is also a normal tripod mount at the bottom, and we believe that rather than being held in the user’s hand, the camera performs best when it is put on a selfie stick. The fact that it does not include a GoPro mount, in contrast to the normal One R/RS versions, serves as another proof that, unlike its relatives, this is not an action camera. The camera has a professional appearance thanks to its all-black finish and embellishments that resemble carbon fibre on the chassis. Even though it’s big for a 360 camera, it’s still almost pocket-sized and light enough to carry all day. When the camera is in your pocket or backpack, the rubber lens cap that comes in the package sits on top to shield both lenses.
Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition review: Connectivity
We’ve always admired Insta360’s thorough and user-friendly approach to letting you connect your camera to almost any device and edit video. The desktop programme and Adobe Premiere Pro plugin for Insta360, as well as the Android and iOS apps, are all top-notch. While testing the 1-inch 360, we tried all of these platforms, and we had a positive overall experience. The 1-inch 360’s Bluetooth and Wi-Fi technology makes it simple to connect to your phone or tablet.
Interface
There isn’t much evidence that the Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition is modular from the front and sides. The buttons on the outer shell’s own feel wonderful and are used to operate the main module’s controls. The power and shutter buttons are located close to where your thumb rests. The exterior casing is not reversible, and therefore works better for people who are right-handed. you can read our article on Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition review. For those who have already used an Insta360 camera, the Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition will look much more familiar from the back. The compromise that we have discussed in each assessment of an Insta360 modular camera is revealed by the contour of the traditional display module. In comparison to a GoPro Hero 11 Black or GoPro Max, the preview image is much smaller, and the display itself has a low resolution. Insta360’s non-360-degree cameras have a significantly worse problem with this than the 1-inch 360 Insta360 One RS. Here, you construct the photo after you’ve taken it, thus the major concern is where to place the lenses to keep the focal point away from the “seam” between the fields of vision of the two cameras. However, the Insta360 UI is beginning to seem dated. It lacks the swishy, inertia-tinged animations that GoPro employs and is more akin to the software of inexpensive action cameras from firms that most people have never heard of. When compared to the relatively sluggish and jerky GoPro approach a year or two ago, the Insta360 style would occasionally seem refreshingly minimal and useful. But the new GP2 processor in the GoPro Hero 10 Black substantially increased responsiveness.
Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition review: Image quality
The good news is that it significantly outperforms earlier consumer 360-degree cameras while maintaining the basic qualities of Insta360, including excellent stabilisation, auto-leveling, and the invisible selfie stick. The Insta360 One X2 and “regular” One RS can no longer be used in low-light situations, and overall detail is richer and less susceptible to noise and compression artefacts. This allows you to slightly increase the magnification level while reframing videos without the image quality degrading substantially and losing detail. Nevertheless, some problems continue. The videos still have a slightly soft ‘digital’ look to them when compared to footage shot by even an entry-level mirrorless camera or a respectable smartphone, which does limit your ability to seamlessly insert shots taken with this into longer videos shot with more powerful imaging equipment. The stitching also doesn’t always work as well as we’d like. However, these are significant obstacles that must be overcome for any consumer 360 camera, thus it would be unrealistic to expect Insta360 to have overcome them with its flagship 360 camera. Additionally, better frame rates for recording on the 1-Inch 360 Edition would be nice. To even reach 50 frames per second, you must lower the quality to 4K, and 100 frames per second are completely unattainable. Given that the less expensive 360 cameras from Insta360 do enable greater frame rates, this serves as further evidence that this is not an activity camera.
Video quality
The 1-inch 360 lens’s capacity to capture video at up to 6K resolutions—a reasonable improvement above the 5.7K maximum provided by the One RS’s regular 360 module—has garnered the most attention. The fact that this improvement in quality places the newer camera on par with the GoPro Max, which has long held the title of best 6K camera, is nonetheless equally significant. On paper, that jump might not seem like much, but as soon as you begin recording, you can immediately tell the difference. We were astonished by the vividness of the footage when we took the device to the office rooftop. Shooting outdoors in the sun certainly helps, but the astroturf’s vibrant green and the sky’s bright blue truly stood out on the screen. There is plenty to like about this if the goal is to keep the audience interested in the topic being captured. The device’s built-in microphone’s quality also caught our attention. On the day of filming, the sun may have been out, but there was also a lot of wind. The 360 Edition was able to pick up our speech well and keep the wind at bay despite the windy weather while filming. It should be noted that a separate mic adapter attachment is available if you want to connect your preferred set-up for higher-quality audio.
Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition review: Performance
When filming with the Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition, you can virtually act mindlessly. The edit is when your footage will look the best, and Insta360’s FlowState stabilization is practically perfect. It has horizon-leveling, and because the image is a full sphere, there are countless opportunities to move the viewer’s frame in order to counter motion. There are certain restrictions; if you walk or run about holding the Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 in your hand, there will be some up-and-down motion that even stabilization can’t completely eliminate. However, we have no issues with the footage’s smoothness. As a quick overview, the camera on the device itself is good for video, and I haven’t seen any UI slowness. The 1.5-inch screen here is sadly, as was the case with the One RS, just too small in comparison to that offered on the GoPro Hero 10; although, it’s a drawback you can learn to work around over time. One thing to be aware of is that, like the basic One RS, the camera can get rather hot and run the danger of overheating under certain circumstances. When shooting in smaller chunks, it’s less of a problem, but longer recording sessions, like making a timelapse, should obviously take this into account.
Battery life
According to Insta360, the Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition battery can shoot in the top 6K/30 setting for up to 62 minutes. Has it? A 20-minute film consumed 29% of the battery, indicating that it has a 68-minute battery life. Insta360’s estimations appear accurate given that battery reporting is rarely completely precise and that capture may end before the battery is completely drained. Photographs can be taken with the Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition. Both the Auto and HDR modes provide a fair deal of user control. Shutter speeds, the HDR effect, and exposure bracketing can all be manually adjusted. Stills shooting feels extremely slow, though, like most action cameras do. The outcomes of an HDR image at maximum and minimum HDR settings were also tested, and we found hardly any difference between the two. The pictures are still good, and HDR is a significant improvement over conventional photography. also you can learn our article on Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition review.
Price
Currently, the Insta360 One RS 1-inch 360 variant costs $800. Although that price is high, it represents a great value given the camera’s exceptional features and large sensor size. No 360 camera that is even remotely comparable in price can compete with it in terms of image quality. If you already possess one of these cameras, you may purchase the 1-inch 360 lens for less money by purchasing an upgrade kit for One R and One RS system owners, which is available for $650.
Conclusion
Undoubtedly one of the most intriguing action cameras we’ve ever seen is the Insta360 One RS 1-inch 360 Edition. It’s a 360-degree camera, which is intriguing in and of itself, but it’s also the first camera we’ve evaluated with 1-inch sensors hidden behind each of its fisheye lenses, as well as the first created in collaboration with Leica. Insta360’s other modular cameras can be retrofitted into it, which is really remarkable. So, if you currently own an Insta360 One RS or One R, you may save money by only purchasing the lens, battery, and grip and integrating it with your current Core.
