For many years, GoPro has been the go-to action camera brand. The gold standard. In fact (much like DJI with drones), it’s been the only reliable action camera. But in recent years, things are changing. Unsatisfied with dominating the drone market (and I daresay having a laugh at GoPro’s failed intrusion into said market), DJI have muscled into the action camera world with their Osmo Action line. And now, there’s an even newer player in the game. Enter the Insta360 Ace Pro.
As the name suggests, Insta360 originally started out as a manufacturer of 360 cameras. Pretty great 360 cameras, too, I might add. With the Insta360 X3, I found myself starting to transition away from using either of my GoPros – the Hero Black 7 and the Max. And so, when Insta360 released the Ace Pro, their very first true action camera, I wondered whether this might be it for my time with GoPro.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been testing out the Insta360 Ace Pro and putting it through its paces. I’ve used this thing how I’ve always used my GoPros – mainly as a hardy little camera that fits in my pocket and can start shooting at the press of a button. I don’t think too much about them. I just need them to be there, and to work reliably in all conditions.
I’m not going to bore you with all the specs, features and details that you can easily find elsewhere, but instead give you my honest thoughts on using the camera as I want to use it. Is this really the GoPro killer?
Cycling
I’ve already been using the X3 for a lot of cycling content, so I was excited to try the Ace Pro on the roads around Lombok. I have to say, I’m a huge fan of the mounting system Insta360 has developed for this camera. It locks in tight and secure with minimal fuss. I can still adjust the angle and use a connected GoPro mount as usual, but if I want to quickly grab the camera for something else and move it from that mounted position, it’s super easy – I don’t even have to stop the bike like I would have with a traditional GoPro mount.
For me as a cyclist, the other highlight of the Ace Pro is the stabilisation. Considering this is Insta360’s very first entry into the traditional action camera market, they’ve done a stellar job. The stabilisation holds up just as well as any GoPro I’ve seen, removing all the jitters and bumps of road cycling, giving me buttery-smooth footage to edit.
Image quality is great and I’ve been quite impressed with the on-board microphone too. Even with loud traffic and the rush of wind at high speeds, the camera is picking up my voice with pretty crisp, clear audio.
Running
If I’m filming myself running, I really don’t want to have anything too bulky slowing me down. The Ace Pro is the perfect little vlogging camera for this scenario – I can whip it out of my pocket at a moment’s notice, hit record and vlog straight away.
Again, the stabilisation is rock solid, giving me really nice, stable footage despite my arms flying back and forth with my whole body in constant motion. I also noticed that while filming with the sun directly behind me, the HDR was doing a fantastic job of balancing everything out and giving me great details both in the shadows and the highlights. Of course, I noticed this because of the huge flip-screen that allows me to check my framing and see how the image looks – I absolutely love this feature! It obliterates the front-facing screens that GoPro and DJI offer on their rival flagships and for me, all future action cameras should be following suit here.
Diving
The Ace Pro is waterproof down to 10m, but if you really want to make the most of it while diving, you’ll want to invest in the underwater dive case from Insta360, rated safe for up to depths of 60m.
Overall, I’ve really enjoyed diving with the Ace Pro. Again, the stabilisation comes in clutch and really smooths out all of my footage. As some of you may know from experience, when you’re diving and filming, there’s always bound to be a bit of camera shake. To further smooth this out, you’ve got a whole range of different options to shoot with, including my favoured 4K 60fps.
Of course, as with any other action camera, the colour loss at deeper depths can be an issue as we can’t manually white balance while the camera is in its dive case. I’m wondering if in a future firmware update, Insta360 could find a way for us to white balance by placing a white slate in front of the lens? That’d be a game changer.
The other problem often associated with using an action camera at deeper depths is the low-light conditions. This is something that I’m really excited about because the Ace Pro’s “Pure Shot” has been able to navigate a lot of that effectively. Where a GoPro image tends to fall apart, this AI-enhanced video mode is working wonders for me, even down at 20m.
Perks across the board
There’s a lot of other features on this camera worth mentioning. Firstly, this might be the fastest action camera I’ve ever worked with. The thing turns on immediately and responds to menu navigation so, so quickly. My experience with GoPros has always been a bit haphazard, with cameras randomly lagging or even freezing up and crashing altogether.
The build quality is also solid. It feels like a very high-end action camera that’s been built to last and tackle anything you throw at it. It gives me confidence and I like that, because I do tend to push my action cameras to their limits. I feel that with the Ace Pro, I don’t need to worry or think too much about it. Just focus on the filming.
I already mentioned it above, but the new mount and lock system is brilliant. This is exactly the kind of feature that underlines how much GoPro has been slacking, and how other brands like Insta360 are looking to overtake them with genuine innovation. The mounting system for the Ace Pro is the best I’ve used on any action camera thus far.
From genuine 8K footage to slow-mo and photos, there’s a whole host of other things that I didn’t even touch on here. For a first try, Insta360 has really delivered with this action camera.
Final thoughts
In short, the Insta360 Ace Pro has now become my go-to action camera. It was a bit of a no brainer, if I’m being honest.
I think the most damning thing I can say for GoPro is that currently, all the cameras I owned from them are now listed on eBay for sale. Through lack of innovation and comfort, which leads to complacency and laziness, I think they’re genuinely in the middle of being outgunned by Insta360.
Perhaps this Ace Pro is the kick up the arse that GoPro desperately needs – competition is healthy and can be no bad thing for us filmmakers. It’s going to be a very, very interesting few years ahead.