Product1 publisher3 min readPublished
Insta360 puts true 4K vertical capture in a $600 gimbal camera
Engadget's reviewer found image quality between the Luna Pro and DJI's Osmo Pocket 4 close enough to be a matter of taste, which leaves one recording mode and easy US availability carrying the buying decision.
The Product Desk · Product desk
What happened
- Insta360 launched the Luna Pro at $600, a single-lens 20mm fixed focal length gimbal camera that Engadget calls a direct rival to DJI's Osmo Pocket 4 which US buyers can easily purchase.
- The Pro shoots true 4K in 9:16 portrait, while Insta360's own Luna Ultra and both DJI Pocket 4 models were still capped at 3K in portrait when Engadget published.
- The internals copy the Ultra's main camera: a Leica Summicron f1.8/20mm lens on a 1-inch sensor doing 8K/30 and 4K/120, with the same 47GB of expandable storage and 1,550 mAh battery.
- The single-lens head is about half an inch shorter than the Ultra's, so gimbal-head accessories do not cross over, including the fill light Insta360 sent for review.
- Swapping the detachable display between Luna bodies works but reflashes its firmware, which cost Engadget's reviewer the 4K portrait menu option until he ran a factory reset.
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Why it matters
- capability A vertical deliverable can leave the camera at full resolution instead of being cropped out of a sideways-held landscape frame, which is time back per clip in the edit rather than a prettier picture.
- constraint A team running one Pro and one Ultra pays twice for anything that bolts to the gimbal head, so the cheap path to a standard kit is standardising on one head, not one brand.
- exposure Whoever hands out the cameras now owns the job of keeping each display with its own body, because the swap is permitted, works, and can quietly remove the mode the Pro was bought for.
- precedent DJI answered the Luna Ultra with the Pocket 4P inside the same season, so an Insta360 lead that lives in one recording mode is the sort of thing a rival firmware release can erase.
Engadget's reviewer used the Luna Pro as the main B-roll camera while shooting a GoPro review video, and took the stills for the Mission 1 Pro ILS review with it too, while saying he would not go so far as to call it a main camera for photos [20]. That is the honest placement: a video-first body that holds up when you point it at whatever the day gives you.
Set it against the Pocket 4 and the review's findings come down to preference. The Luna Pro gave a dash more bokeh on close-up subjects, while DJI's camera had richer color depth to the reviewer's eye [13]. On default settings, the Luna Pro's detail and blacks were a little more punchy, with the two cameras very close overall [14]. The one soft spot named is exposure: bright backgrounds and sunny overcast skies occasionally blow out in standard color mode across a wide dynamic range, and I-Log usually leaves enough headroom to pull them back [15].
What the review does not contain is a price for the Pocket 4 [19]. So the case that a US buyer finally has a genuine choice rests on Engadget's own statement that the Luna Pro is a direct rival you can easily buy in the US [2], plus the portrait mode, and not on any cost-per-spec comparison a reader can check. It is also one reviewer's eyes on default settings, which is fine for taste and thin for procurement.
Compared with Insta360's own Luna Ultra, the delta is narrower still. The two share Dolby Vision, 10-bit I-Log and 37-megapixel photos [5], and the same pop-off front panel that doubles as a wireless remote and microphone [12]. Add up everything the review lists in the Pro's favor and you get one recording mode and a slightly shorter body [18].
The market crowded fast. Counting the way Engadget does: DJI's Pocket 4, Insta360's dual-lens Luna Ultra, DJI's Pocket 4P establishing a pro tier, GoPro's Mission 1 Pro twice over, rugged 360 cameras from both DJI and Insta360 [16], and the $600 Luna Pro [1] comes to eight releases from three vendors in a single summer [17]. Insta360 says the Pro may be the most interesting pick of that group if you create for Instagram Reels, TikTok or YouTube Shorts, per Engadget's read [21].
For most teams, this settles on orientation and what is already on the shelf. The finished file's orientation is the first test: if it is vertical, the Pro's portrait mode is the reason to buy and the rest of the spec sheet is noise. If it is horizontal, this review hands you nothing to act on, because the Pro and the Ultra are the same camera there [4] and the Pocket 4 sits close enough that you are choosing a color palette [14]. Then there is what is already on the shelf: accessories are largely compatible across the Luna bodies unless they mount to the gimbal head, and the fill light Insta360 supplied for review attaches to the Pro's gimbal collar and does not fit the Ultra [10]. A shelf of head-mounted gear argues for buying the same head again; a shelf of collar and body gear carries over, and the Pro is the cheaper add.
What to watch
- A firmware update lifting portrait capture to 4K on the Pocket 4, the Pocket 4P or the Luna Ultra would remove the Pro's only clear advantage; Engadget's 3K figures are marked as current at the time of writing.
- Published US pricing and stock for DJI's Pocket models, which would turn this from an availability argument into arithmetic buyers can run themselves.
- Whether Insta360 sells a gimbal-head accessory line that fits both Luna heads, or leaves the mounts split between the two bodies.