Insta360 launched the Luna Ultra this year, issuing a direct challenge to the DJI Osmo Pocket's dominance amongst handheld gimbal cameras. Convincing consumers to give the new kid on the block a chance is a significant task, particularly when DJI is releasing the Osmo Pocket 4 and 4P at around the same time.
Fortunately, Insta360 seems well aware of the challenge it's facing, and has come out swinging.
Insta360 Luna Ultra: Build
The Insta360 Luna Ultra immediately distinguishes itself via its dual lenses, a feature it shares with DJI's professionally-targeted Osmo Pocket 4P. However, the Luna Ultra's lenses come courtesy of a collaboration with high-end camera company Leica, a brand which holds cult status amongst photography enthusiasts.
Specifically, the Luna Ultra includes both a Leica Summicron lens with a one-inch 8K sensor and a telephoto lens with a 1/1.3-inch sensor, which are positioned side-by-side on the gimbal in a horizontal orientation — a look that's reminiscent of Disney's WALL-E. Both lenses have wide apertures, sitting at f/1.8 and f/2.0 respectively, which allows them to take in more light and helps produce a shallower depth of field for a more cinematic look.
A look that's reminiscent of Disney's WALL-E.
The other standout feature of the Luna Ultra's build is its detachable two-inch touchscreen and controls. This allows users to remotely operate and monitor the camera, doing everything from zooming in to moving the gimbal, and switching between recording modes. This turns the Luna Ultra from a nifty handheld camera into a super flexible vlogging tool that can capture more angles with ease, and is particularly attractive for solo shooting.
The lightweight remote fits easily in the palm, with the physical controls well away from the rotatable 1000-nit OLED screen so it isn't obscured by users' fingers. Despite its relatively diminutive size, the remote still feels spacious and thoughtfully designed for an enjoyable shooting experience, with its array of physical controls putting the Luna Ultra's most frequently used operations at your fingertips. When not being used remotely, the panel clips to the Luna Ultra's handle and acts like a regular control setup with no apparent compromises.
Mashable loved the convenience of this remote, and found that having it so easily on hand encouraged more creativity and experimentation when shooting. Rather than having to dig the remote out from a bag, users can detach and use it while the Luna Ultra is still recording. Being an integrated piece means it's always readily at your disposal, and there's no fussing with connecting to an app if you want to operate the Luna Ultra remotely. However, you'll want to be careful not to lose or damage the remote, as the camera won't work without it and it isn't sold separately. The remote can also only be charged while attached to the Luna Ultra's main body, and has a relatively small battery. As such, it's more suited to short shots than extended remote viewing even with its liberal power saving settings.
The Luna Ultra comes in two colourways: the more subtle Cosmic Black and the attention-grabbing Stellar White. Mashable tried the Stellar White version, and while we haven't had it long enough to see whether it will go grubby, on initial inspection it doesn't seem as though the material will be prone to discolouration.
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Insta360 Luna Ultra: Settings and performance
The Insta360 Luna Ultra boasts maximum video resolutions of 8K at 30fps and 4K at 120fps, while the DJI Osmo Pocket 4P tops out at 4K at 60fps. Though filming in 4K is typically enough for the average user, the Luna Ultra's 8K resolution offers more flexibility when it comes to editing, allowing users to crop and zoom in on their footage without visible loss of quality. It's a useful option that allows people to edit 4K horizontal and vertical content from the same footage, helping to streamline workflows.
Insta360's gimbal camera also offers up to 12x zoom, giving users high resolution at a wide range of focal lengths. The Luna Ultra's main Leica Summicron lens handles 1x and 2x lossless magnification, while the telephoto lens takes care of 3x optical zoom, 6x lossless, and up to 12x zoom via digital cropping. As such, not all magnifications are available at all resolutions, with the Luna Ultra having a maximum 6x zoom at 8K.
Mashable testing found the Luna Ultra's focus a little hit and miss. It's hard to fault in wide, well-lit shots, and its preference for people makes it easy to whip out and immediately start vlogging. However, it seemed to lack an "intuition" for figuring out what we wanted to focus on at times, particularly when filming close ups of objects (as opposed to people) or when wanting to shift focus in a moving shot. The Luna Ultra's focus tended to search and jump around in such scenarios, which was amplified when dealing with dark objects or dimmer lighting. The UI also offers limited feedback and no persistent focus box when using standard tap-to-focus, which can be stressful when trying to monitor your recording on the Luna Ultra's small screen.
The AI-powered auto tracking performs better, which is handy if you're looking to stay on a subject rather than use focus pulls. Users can set a focus box by holding and dragging on the Luna Ultra's touchscreen. This keeps their subject in frame and in focus, though it does still search from time to time.
In addition to the Luna Ultra's Standard Video and Standard Photo modes, its shooting modes include PureVideo (for low light), Timelapse, TimeShift (essentially Timelapse but with the camera moving), Pano (the gimbal automatically rotates to take photos and stitch them into a 360-degree image), and Slow-Mo. While the Pocket 4P's slow motion mode can record 240fps at 4K, the Luna Ultra only goes up to 120fps at the same resolution. It can reach 240fps, however this requires bumping the resolution down to 1080p.
The Luna Ultra accepts microSD cards, but it also has 47GB of internal storage that allows you to start filming right out of the box, without having to shell out more cash for increasingly expensive memory cards. The Luna Ultra's capacity may be less than half of the DJI Osmo Pocket 4P's 103GB, but it's still enough to mitigate the stress of pulling out your camera only to find that you've misplaced your external storage.
Depending on its settings, Insta360 states that the Luna Ultra can run for up to 240 minutes. This should be more than enough run time for most use cases, though it can be extended further with the camera's 1000mAh battery handle accessory (more on this below).
Insta360 Luna Ultra: Image quality
The Luna Ultra produces clear footage with good fidelity, delivering results that are at least similar, if not better, than most high end smartphones. Though not as rich or cinematic as footage captured with a mirrorless camera, video from the Luna Ultra doesn't look completely out of place when mixed into the same edit, which is definitely an achievement. The camera's automatic settings such as exposure, white balance, and focus are generally smooth and user-friendly, targeted toward ensuring you always have a usable shot, while colour profiles and resolutions help you tune in the look you want.
The Luna Ultra does offer some depth of field to play with for those blurry background shots that make a subject pop, but don't expect anything too drastic. DJI's Osmo Pocket 4P produces a more pronounced blur effect at the same reported focal length, creating even more separation between background and foreground than the Luna Ultra.
The Luna Ultra produces clear footage with good fidelity, delivering results that are at least similar, if not better, than most high end smartphones.
Even so, this classically "cinematic" effect is hardware limited by sensor size and lens composition. As the Luna Ultra and 4P have similar specs in this regard, the difference is fairly minor and only apparent when you really push the effect, such as when filming a subject that's close to the foreground. It's nice to have some depth of field capability for such shots, however, these cameras are primarily aimed at quick and fuss-free capture of life's moments rather than carefully curated mise-en-scène. The Luna Ultra delivers on that brief splendidly.
The Luna Ultra's ISO tops out at 6400, less than the Osmo Pocket 4P's top of 51200 in low-light mode. In fact, the Luna Ultra's ISO is more comparable to the Pocket 3's standard, non-low light ISO range. Yet despite this, the Luna Ultra's low-light performance is still impressive, managing to capture details even in very dark conditions. This performance is likely thanks to the camera's onboard processing, which is handled by Insta360's Triple AI Chip system. This system consists of two imaging chips dedicated to low-light performance, while a third 4nm AI chip powers everything else.
Footage filmed in dim environments does appear noisy and artificially brightened when viewed on the Luna Ultra's screen, looking more like a night-vision shot than a true-to-life rendition of the scene. Fortunately, this doesn't hold true once the footage is taken off the camera, delivering usable footage from a wide range of shooting conditions.
The auto exposure appears to adjust more gradually on the Luna Ultra than on DJI's gimbal cameras, which seems to be an intentional choice. While the Luna Ultra allows imperfect exposure on some frames, it's a reasonable trade off to prevent excessive fluctuation when quickly moving between sun and shade. The Luna Ultra did, however, tend to have more drastic swings in exposure when shooting low-light, as it worked to brighten and bring out detail in very dark conditions.
If you want to enhance your footage but aren't interested in fussing with too much post-production, the Luna Ultra offers several digital filters you can apply while filming. This includes three colour profiles familiar to Leica fans: Leica Natural, Leica Vivid, and Leica Chrome.
For those who do want to dive into the more technical side of filming, the Luna Ultra can record in I-Log, Insta360's proprietary log profile. Though footage shot in log appears flatter and more washed out when recorded, it actually captures a wider dynamic range, This enables more flexibility when colour grading in post, opening up the potential for stunning results. (If you want to try shooting in I-Log, it's natively supported in popular free colour grading software DaVinci Resolve. You can also download free LUTs, essentially log post-production presets, from Insta360's website to help you get started.)
The Luna Ultra can also film in Dolby Vision. While the average user is unlikely to benefit from the standardised HDR format, its inclusion is reflective of Insta360's goal to position its gimbal camera as a tool for pro and semi-pro creators.
Insta360 Luna Ultra: Accessories
Like the Osmo Pocket, the Luna Ultra has a battery handle accessory which includes a 1/4" thread mounting hole. Both cameras also have smaller handles which have threads but not batteries, despite featuring USB-C ports. However, Insta360's handles also come equipped with handy little wire tripod feet that fold out. They're a great addition that adds extra utility, though their small footprint means they're also less stable than a proper tripod attachment.
Unfortunately, the Luna Ultra's other accessories could use some improvement. Insta360 appears to have taken inspiration from the Osmo Pocket 3's hard protective cover, using a similar cradle design for its own cover to protect the length of the Luna Ultra on its screen side.
Insta360 does improve the cover's design by adding a nifty hinged door to encase the gimbal, giving it extra protection. Even so, the Luna Ultra's case runs into the same issue that the Pocket 3 does, in that its bulk makes it cumbersome to use and irritating to carry around. With the Osmo Pocket 4 having ditched the cradle cover for a small gimbal clamp and protective soft bag, the Luna Ultra's design feels dated in comparison.
Insta360 sells an alternative $10 sliding case, which is installed by prying off the Luna Ultra's wind shield and attaching it in its place. Sliding the cover down is meant to activate the camera, allowing for quick and easy one-handed use. However, Mashable found it loose and prone to sliding down when carried in a pocket, leaving us glad to have a more secure option in the original protective case. The sliding protective case also doesn't have storage for the black mist filter and wide-angle lens, making it an incomplete replacement.
The Luna Ultra's Mini Fill Light feels under-engineered. This accessory consists of a small rectangular USB-C rechargeable light that magnetises to a thin plastic bracket, which in turn slides onto the back of the gimbal hinge where it's secured with a fiddly plastic ring. Unfortunately, it feels flimsy enough that users might hesitate to toss it in their bag. While the ability to use the light independently gives the fill light some versatility, it's clunky and inelegant for its primary purpose, particularly when compared with the Osmo Pocket 4 and 4P's hot swappable fill light.
Should you buy the Insta360 Luna Ultra?
The Insta360 Luna Ultra starts at $769.99 for the Standard Bundle, which includes a protective cover, 1/4" thread handle, wrist strap, and its attached wind guard. In comparison, while we don't have official U.S. pricing for the DJI Osmo Pocket 4P, its Standard Combo bundle is priced at £529 in the UK (approximately $706).
Whether it's worth springing the extra cash for the Insta360 Luna Ultra depends on your needs, and whether or not you've already invested in either brand's ecosystem. If you already have other DJI products such as their Mic 3, you may prefer to pick up an Osmo Pocket 4P simply for ease of compatibility (although DJI mics can still work with the Luna Ultra via their receiver).
On the other hand, if you tend to shoot solo and could use the convenience and flexibility of a removable remote, or if you're chasing the highest resolution available in the gimbal form factor, it's hard to go past the Luna Ultra.