Insta360 Pro FAQ

Shooting Video

Shooting

Shooting Stills

Shooting

Shooting with a camera control app

Downlaod the mobile and desktop apps at https://www.insta360.com/download/insta360-pro

Open mobile/desktop app

Photo mode settings

HDR. In this mode, the Pro shoots 3 sets of six 4000 x 3000 images (one for each camera module), which can be used to post-stitch a high-dynamic-range 8K monoscopic or stereoscopic spherical image. In-camera stitching is not supported for this mode.

RAW. In this mode, the Pro shoots six 4000 x 3000 RAW images(.dng) (one for each camera module), which can be used to post-stitch an 8K monoscopic or stereoscopic spherical image. In-camera stitching is not supported for this mode.

Property settings

Preview

Before you shoot

2.Calibration

Calibration is necessary before using onboard real-time stitching for video or onboard optical-flow stitching for still photos. For best results, users should calibrate the camera every time the camera's position or orientation is changed.

For post-stitching, calibration is unnecessary.

  1. Ways to calibrate the camera
  1. Use the mobile control app when connected to the camera, and tap the calibration icon.
  1. Use the desktop app when connected to the camera, and tap the calibration icon.
  1. Select the fifth icon on the home screen of the camera's display and tap the POWER button. Move more than a meter away from the camera within 5 seconds, after which the calibration will start. If you're too close to the camera when it's calibrating, the calibration quality will be affected.

1.Storage

File formats & organization

Shooting standalone

The default range of HDR for standalone shooting is 1.0 EV.

Tap the POWER button to capture a still. The camera will initiate a 5-second countdown, after which it will shoot.

Use up & down buttons to switch shooting modes. When "RTS" shows on the right, that indicates this mode enables real-time stitching. When "OF" shows up on the right, that indicates this mode enables onboard optical-flow stitching.

Burst. In this mode, the Pro shoots 10 sets of six 4000 x 3000 images (one for each camera module), which can be used to post-stitch an 8K monoscopic or stereoscopic spherical image. In-camera stitching is not supported for this mode.

Users can customize the brightness, sharpness, contrast and saturation of their images.

Before shooting, the app shows a 960p@30fps preview image. You can tap the Cardboard icon to enter VR mode and preview with Google Cardboard. During shooting, the app shows a 960p@1fps preview image.

Image files are saved as either .jpg or .dng

Each shot creates a folder to contain project configuration files(pro.prj) and image files.

thumbnail.jpg is a 960p preview image file. This file is just for reference.

To use one of the Insta360 Pro's dedicated apps to control the camera, the controlling phone/computer and the camera have to be on the same local network. There are three ways to configure the network.

Setting of Ethernet Network Cable Connection:
DHCP: used to connect Pro camera with a certain local area network, and acquire IP address in the network dynamically.
Direct used to connect Pro camera with PC/laptop directly, and a fixed IP address will be allocated.


Specific usage：
-Use the network cable to directly connect pro to the computer's network interface. If your computer does not have network cable interface, you can use the network cable and network card that delivered to you together with Pro to access to your computer's USB interface.
-In pro's camera setting, choose "Direct" mode in the Ethernet option, the IP address on the top of the camera will display "192,168.1.188"
.
Mac OS：

  1. Turn on network preference setting
  2. Select USB network card network, set IPV4 option as "Manual", set the IP address as "192.168.1.100", set the subnet mask as "255.255.255.0"
  3. Save the setting

Windows：

  1. Open the local network, right click to select “property” in the menu, select IPV4 address settings in the pop-up interface.
  2. Set the IP address as "192.168.1.100", set the subnet mask to "255.255.255.0".
  3. Click “Save”.
  4. After completing the above steps, you can use the PC software to control Pro as usual.3. Set up the computer on the other end cable to let it obtain IP address automatically. Set computer and Pro on the same network segment.

Exposure settings

Normal. In this mode, the Pro shoots six 4000 x 3000 images (one for each camera module), which can be used to post-stitch an 8K monoscopic or stereoscopic spherical image. When seamless optical-flow stitching is enabled, the Pro will stitch together a spherical image inside the camera.

Manual Mode. In this mode, users can manually adjust the ISO and shutter speed of the camera modules. All six camera modules will use the same settings.

Isolated Exposure Mode. In this mode, each camera will have an individual exposure, giving a higher dynamic range to the whole image. Insta360 Stitcher can handle the color/exposure difference of each camera module when stitching.

Stitching

By clicking "Preview", you will get a preview of a stitched frame.

Stitching RAW. Users should process .dng images using another software (e.g. Photoshop), then export them to .jpg files and put them back in the image folder before dragging the folder to Insta360 Stitcher.

Points to remember

Download Insta360 Stitcher from https://www.insta360.com/download/insta360-pro and install it.

When using in-camera optical-flow stitching, to ensure the best results, users should calibrate the camera each time they change the camera's position or rotation before shooting a new photo.

Live-Streaming

Before you broadcast

2.Calibration

Three ways to calibrate the camera.

1.Storage

Storage is only necessary if you want to record during your live-stream. You can use a speed-class V30+ SD Card or SSD USB hard drive (USB 3.0 interface). If the both are inserted, the hard drive will be the priority save location. Usually, a 64 GB SD Card can store 60 min. of video and a 128 GB SD card can store 2 hours when live-streaming.

Calibration is essential for live-streaming. For best results, users should calibrate the camera every time its position or orientation is changed.

  1. Use the mobile app when connected to the camera, and tap the calibration icon.
  1. Use the desktop app when connected to the camera, and tap the calibration icon.

Going live

  1. Connecting the camera to an existing Wi-Fi network. Go to camera settings by selecting the gear icon on the home screen of the camera display. Set the Wi-Fi to "Wi-Fi". Use control app to generate Wi-Fi QR code that contains SSID and password. Select the "Wi-Fi icon" on the home screen of the camera display and tap the settings button. Put the QR code in front of a lens adjacent to the display. The camera will start to scan the QR code and connect to the W-Fi. The IP address will show at the top of the camera's display.

Controlling via an app

To use one of the Insta360 Pro's dedicated apps to control the camera, the controlling phone/computer and the camera have to be on the same local network. There are three ways to configure the network.

  1. Using AP mode. Go to camera settings by selecting the gear icon on the home screen of the camera display. Set the Wi-Fi to "AP". Return to the home screen and select the Wi-Fi icon to turn on AP mode. At the top of the display, you will see "192.168.43.1"
  1. Connecting the camera to an existing Wi-Fi network. Go to camera settings by selecting the gear icon on the home screen of the camera display. Set the Wi-Fi to "Wi-Fi". Use control app to generate Wi-Fi QR code that contains SSID and password. Select the "Wi-Fi icon" on the home screen of the camera display and tap the settings button. Put the QR code in front of a lens adjacent to the display. The camera will start to scan the QR code and connect to the W-Fi. The IP address will show at the top of the camera's display.

Downlaod the mobile and desktop apps at https://www.insta360.com/download/insta360-pro

Open Mobile/Desktop app

Enter the camera's IP address and tap "Connect"

Video settings

Enter the camera's IP address and tap "Connect"

Streaming to HDMI

Preview

Stream from computer (e.g. OBS)

You can customize resolution and bitrate of your live-stream, as well as whether it's stereoscopic or monoscopic.

In this mode, the HDMI will automatically detect the resolution of the output display. For example, if you stream at 4K but the display is just 1080p, it will resize to 1080p automatically.

Stream from the camera to a remote server

In this mode, you can type in a remote server rtmp address and live-stream directly from the camera to the remote server. The camera will reconnect when the network is interrupted.

In this mode, you're streaming to the camera's built-in server and then pulling the stream to your desktop software (e.g. OBS) to stream. You can pull the stream to your streaming software with the address: "rtmp://camera_ip/live/live"

Before shooting, the app shows a 960p@30fps preview. You can tap the Cardboard icon to enter VR mode to preview with Google Cardboard. During shooting, the app shows a 960p@1fps preview.

Points to remember

Streaming 4K to YouTube requires the resolution to be 3840x2160 instead of 3840x1920. This is adjustable via the control app.

Platforms for 360 live-streaming

Upgrading Firmware

Upgrades
arriving
before July.

Spatial Audio. Currently the camera records 4 channels of audio to orignal_0.mp4 and original_1.mp4. In a coming update, Insta360 Stitcher will be able to output spatial audio using these files.

You can use a speed-class V30+ SD Card or SSD USB hard drive (USB 3.0 interface). When both are inserted, the hard drive will be the priority storage location.

Before you shoot

2.Battery

1.Storage

  1. Audio Source

You can use an AC power adapter for continuous recording. Or use an external battery pack (available on mall.insta360.com) for several hours of continuous recording.

You can use a speed-class V30+ SD Card or SSD USB hard drive (USB 3.0 interface). When both are inserted, the hard drive will be the priority storage location.

A fully charged battery can last for 60-70 min. of video recording.

When using the internal microphone, the camera will capture audio from four mics with digital de-noise. The audio of pano.mp4 (if you use real-time stitching) and origin_0.mp4 correspond to audio from two mics, and orign_1.mp4 contains the audio of the other two. The remaining video files are silent. When using Insta360 Stitcher to stitch videos, it will use the four audio channels of these video files to compute spatial audio.

For improved audio quality, we suggest using an external 3.5mm microphone (mono audio) or USB spatial microphones (available on http://mall.insta360.com).

  1. Select the fifth icon on the camera's display and tap the POWER button. Move more than a meter away from the camera within 5 seconds, after which the calibration will start. If you're too close to the camera when it's calibrating, the calibration quality will be affected.

4.Calibration

When using post-stitching, calibration is unnecessary.

Three ways to calibrate the camera.

  1. Select the fifth icon on the home screen of the camera's display and tap the POWER button. Move more than a meter away from the camera within 5 seconds, after which the calibration will start. If you're too close to the camera when it's calibrating, the calibration quality will be affected.
  1. Use the mobile control app when connected to the camera, and tap the calibration icon.
  1. Use the desktop app when connected to the camera, and tap the calibration icon.

origin_*.jpg sequences are the images captured by individual camera modules. These files are necessary for post-stitching. Images of resolution 4000 x 3000 can be used to generate an 8K x 4K monoscopic spherical image or an 8K x 8K stereoscopic spherical image.

File formats and organization

Each recording creates a folder to contain project configuration files(pro.prj), a gyroscope data file (gyro.data) and video files.

Video is encoded on H.264 codec and container format is MP4.

origin_*.mp4 files contain the footage of individual camera modules. These files are necessary for post-stitching. Videos of resolution 3840 x 2160 can be used to stitch an 8K monoscopic spherical video. 2560 x 1440 resolution videos can be used to stitch 4K and 5K spherical videos. 3200 x 2400 videos can be used for stitching 4K and 6K stereoscopic spherical videos and monoscopic spherical videos. .

preview.mp4 is the 1fps preview video file. This video is encoded with low quality and stitched based on the previous camera calibration. This file is just for reference.

Shooting standalone

Select the photo icon on the the home screen of the camera display. When the screen shows "Ready", you're ready to go.

Select the video icon on the home screen of the camera display and enter video mode. When the screen shows "Ready", you're ready to go.

Use up & down buttons to switch recording modes. When "RTS" shows on the right, that indicates this mode enables real-time stitching.

Tap the POWER button to start recording and tap again to stop. If an error occurs, a solid red light will turn on.

Shooting with a
camera control app

To use one of the Insta360 Pro's dedicated apps to control the camera, the controlling phone/computer and the camera have to be on the same local network. There are three ways to configure the network.

  1. Connecting the camera to an existing Wi-Fi network. Go to camera settings by selecting the gear icon on the home screen of the camera display. Set the Wi-Fi to "Wi-Fi". Use control app to generate Wi-Fi QR code that contains SSID and password. Select the "Wi-Fi icon" on the home screen of the camera display and tap the settings button. Put the QR code in front of a lens adjacent to the display. The camera will start to scan the QR code and connect to the W-Fi. The IP address will show at the top of the camera's display.

Downlaod the mobile and desktop apps at https://www.insta360.com/download/insta360-pro

Open mobile/desktop app

Video mode settings

Time-Lapse Mode. In this mode, real-time stitching is not supported. You can record six 4000x3000 original image sequences, which can be used to stitch an 8K monoscopic or stereoscopic spherical image sequence. The image sequence can be used to generate time-lapse video.

Auto Mode. In this mode, the six camera modules will use automatic exposure settings, with all modules using the same ISO/shutter speed.

Enter the IP address of the camera and tap "Connect"

Preview

Property settings

Before shooting, the app shows a 960p@30fps preview. You can tap the Cardboard icon to enter VR mode to preview with Google Cardboard. During shooting, the app shows a 960p@1fps preview.

High Speed Mode. In this mode, real-time stitching is not supported. You can record six 1920x1080@120fps videos to stitch into a 4K@120fps spherical video using Insta360 Stitcher, or six 1920x1440@60fps videos to stitch into a 4K@60fps monoscopic spherical video or 4K3D@60fps stereoscopic video.

Users can customize the brightness, sharpness, contrast and saturation of their images.

Insert the SD Card or SSD hard drive to the computer. Drag the image folder to the left column.

Points to remember

Stitching

Clicking "Preview" will bring up a preview of a stitched frame for the current position in the video that is stitched together according to your chosen stitching settings. This will also prompt Stitcher to use this frame as a reference frame for stitching this video. Selecting and previewing a reference frame is important to stitching a video. Choose a frame with no objects too close to the camera.

Download Insta360 Stitcher from https://www.insta360.com/download/insta360-pro and install it.

Insert the SD Card or SSD hard drive to the computer. Drag the video folder to the left column.

Before stitching, you can customize your encoding codec, resolution and bitrate. For H.264 codec, we suggest 160Mbps for 8K monoscopic, 100Mbps for 4K stereoscopic, and 60Mbps for 4K monoscopic.

You can disconnect the app during a recording without stopping the recording. You can then reconnect when you want to take control of the camera again.

Playback

Download Insta360 Player for each platform from https://www.insta360.com/download/insta360-other

Windows. Insta360 Player can display 8K stereoscopic/monoscopic images and 4K stereoscopic/monoscopic videos on Windows. For 6K or 8K video, we recommend using GoPro VR Player to play.(Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are not supported for 6K and 8K video; please use other players.) Windows.

Mac. Insta360 Player can display 8K stereoscopic/monoscopic images and 4K stereoscopic/monoscopic videos on Mac. For 6K or 8K video, we recommend using GoPro VR Player to play.(Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are not supported for 6K and 8K video; please use other players.) :

Samsung Gear VR. "Samsung VR App" can display 8K stereoscopic/monoscopic images and 4K stereoscopic/monoscopic videos. Push the files to the device and the app can display the files.

We're developing a new technology called "local dynamic streaming" that splits an 8K file into many smaller fragment videos. Our player will dynamically load and play the fragment videos as the user changes his view orientation. This technology will enable devices that can only decode and render 4K to play 8K video files. The beta version is planned for an August release.

iOS. Insta360 Player can display 8K stereoscopic/monoscopic images and 4K stereoscopic/monoscopic videos on iOS. You can use iTunes to push files to the Insta360 Player app or to the local album and then use the app to choose from the local album.

Using a QR code to apply settings to the camera without a network connection.

Ensure the camera is connected to a router via Wi-Fi or Ethernet that has internet access.

Download the latest firmware (version 134) from https://www.insta360.com/download/insta360-pro and put the bin file on an SD card. Insert the SD card to the camera and restart. The camera will start the upgrading process.

Raw Stitching. Insta360 Stitcher will be able to stitch 6 .dng file into 1 spherical stitched .dng file.

Customer Service

Enter either the photo, video, or live-streaming mode via the camera's display screen, and then push the gear button below the camera's display. The camera display will show "Please Align the QR Code".

Android. Insta360 Player can display 8K stereoscopic/monoscopic images and 4K stereoscopic/monoscopic videos on Android. You can push the files to the "Insta360 Player" folder of your Android device.

  1. Using AP mode. Go to camera settings by selecting the gear icon on the home screen of the camera display. Set the Wi-Fi to "AP". Return to the home screen and select the Wi-Fi icon to turn on AP mode. At the top of the display, you will see "192.168.43.1"

Setting of Ethernet Network Cable Connection:
DHCP: used to connect Pro camera with a certain local area network, and acquire IP address in the network dynamically.
Direct used to connect Pro camera with PC/laptop directly, and a fixed IP address will be allocated.


Specific usage：
-Use the network cable to directly connect pro to the computer's network interface. If your computer does not have network cable interface, you can use the network cable and network card that delivered to you together with Pro to access to your computer's USB interface.
-In pro's camera setting, choose "Direct" mode in the Ethernet option, the IP address on the top of the camera will display "192,168.1.188"
.
Mac OS：

  1. Turn on network preference setting
  2. Select USB network card network, set IPV4 option as "Manual", set the IP address as "192.168.1.100", set the subnet mask as "255.255.255.0"
  3. Save the setting

Windows：

  1. Open the local network, right click to select “property” in the menu, select IPV4 address settings in the pop-up interface.
  2. Set the IP address as "192.168.1.100", set the subnet mask to "255.255.255.0".
  3. Click “Save”.
  4. After completing the above steps, you can use the PC software to control Pro as usual.3. Set up the computer on the other end cable to let it obtain IP address automatically. Set computer and Pro on the same network segment.

Calibration is necessary before using onboard real-time stitching for video or onboard optical-flow stitching for still photos.For best results, users should calibrate the camera every time its position or orientation is changed.

Youtube, Facebook, Weibo, etc.

Use the mobile app to configure settings and generate a QR code representing that configuration.

Configure stitching settings: When selecting stitching mode, remember that optical flow stitching can handle parallax very well but is time-consuming. Scene-specific template stitching is much faster but seams will be visible when objects are too close to the camera.


Gyroscopic stabilization indicates whether the stitcher should use the gyro data to correct the horizon of the image; this option is disabled when stitching stereoscopic images (to prevent generating incorrect parallax).

Configure stitching settings:


When selecting stitching mode, remember that optical flow stitching can handle parallax very well but is time-consuming. Scene-specific template stitching is much faster but seams will be visible when objects are too close to the camera.


Sampling type affects the accuracy of stitching. There's little difference between "fast" and "slow", but "fast" is around 5 times faster than "slow".


Blender type enables stitching hardware acceleration; it is dependent on the performance of your computer's graphic cards. Nvidia users can choose "cuda" and Mac users can choose "opencl". If a crash occurs during hardware acceleration, choose "CPU" for a stable stitch.


Gyroscopic stabilization indicates whether the stitcher should use the gyro data to correct the horizon of the video; this option is disabled when stitching stereoscopic videos (to prevent generating incorrect parallax).


When stitching monoscopic video under 4K x 2K or stereoscopic video under 4K x 4K, you can enable hardware encoding to accelerate the encoding.


When using high-performance computers, users can choose to use hardware decoding to decode all 6 original video files, but most computers can use hardware decoding for a maximum of 3-4 original video files. You should modify the number to find out the maximum hardware decoding capability of your computer.

Align the QR code in front of one of the lenses next to the display screen. If the camera emits a beeping noise and the display screen returns to "Ready", that indicates the camera has successfully scanned the QR code and applied the settings.

Normal. In this mode, you can customize the video type (stereo or mono) and resolution. When real-time stitching is enabled, you can record 3840x1920@30fps stitched video with 6x2550x1440@30fps(5K) original footage or record 3840x3840@24fps(3D) stitched video with 6x1920x1440@24fps(4K) original footage. If you disable real-time stitching, you can record a maximum of 6x3840x2160@30fps(8K) or 6x3200x2400@30fps(6K) original footage. Original footage can be used to post-stitch videos at the highest quality using Insta360 Stitcher. Original footage with 16:9 aspect ratio can be used to stitch monoscopic spherical video, and original footage with 4:3 aspect ratio can be used to stitch stereoscopic spherical video.

  1. Using AP mode. Go to camera settings by selecting the gear icon on the home screen of the camera display. Set the Wi-Fi to "AP". Return to the home screen and select the Wi-Fi icon to turn on AP mode. At the top of the display, you will see "192.168.43.1". Connect the computer/phone to camera's SSID, "Insta360-Pro-xxxx", and enter the password "88888888".

Pro as Stitching Machine. Currently, optical-flow stitching performance varies from computer to computer. We'll leverage the GPUs inside the Pro to turn it into a post-stitching machine. Users will be able to use even low-specced computers and laptops to connect to the Pro and accelerate optical-flow stitching of footage.

Before You Begin

Recommended storage media product links:

  1. Sandisk SD Card
  2. Samsung Portable SSD

Recommended storage media product links:

  1. Sandisk SD Card
  2. Samsung Portable SSD

Recommended storage media product links:

  1. Sandisk SD Card
  2. Samsung Portable SSD

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Download SD Card Formatter

Calibrating the Gyroscope

It's necessary to calibrate the Insta360 Pro's onboard gyroscope before you start to use the camera. To calibrate, find a level area, and then enter the settings menu by hitting the gear icon on the camera's display screen. Next, simply hit "Gyro calibration". You'll see an indication on the display screen when the process is complete.

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If you are not taking 360 VR photos or videos, it woule be better for you to log out and stay at the home screen to conserve battery power.

Please remember, the ready mode of Pro is very power consuming. if you are not taking 360 VR photos or videos, it might be better for you to return to the home screen to conserve battery power.

Download the Tutorial

PDF link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0BFVzfIGBB0WEpCT1JMbXllRUE/view?usp=sharing

During the usage, if the camera alerts that the card speed is insufficient, please download SD Card Formatter 4.0 for Windows and Mac, use the Card Formatter software to format your SD card and provide quick and easy access to the full capabilities of your SD card.
Before formatting, please remember to back up a copy of the file.


Here is the download address: https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/


Here is our quick guide about how to perform an overwrite formatting of your SD card:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Byy0QgNzRDHmczVvNERzLW1lREE/view?usp=sharing
Steps: Once you download the SD Formatter, you will be guided through the steps necessary to install the software. Choose install to perform a standard installation of the software. And the installation is successfully completed, find SDFormatter in Launchpad and open it.


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  1. Using Ethernet. Connect the camera to the router via Ethernet cable. The IP address will show up at the top of the camera's display.

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