Insta360 Ace Pro: Full Review

The Insta360 Ace Pro is an action camera designed for adventure seekers and content creators who want high-quality video and image capture while on the go. This lightweight yet durable camera offers premium features like a large 1/1.3" sensor, 4K video at 120fps, and a unique 2.4" flip screen. With the Ace Pro, Insta360 continues their push into the action camera market by combining robust physical specs with their signature software-based features and AI capabilities.

The Ace Pro aims to provide excellent image quality and video stabilization in a portable form factor. Key aspects like the advanced sensor, wide angle lens, and variety of frame rates give users professional-level video options. Meanwhile, the waterproof, rugged design means you can mount the Ace Pro on helmets, vehicles, and more to capture immersive footage of adventures. Overall, the Ace Pro's blend of premium hardware, software smarts, and resilience make it a versatile pick for content creators and adrenaline junkies.

Design

The Insta360 Ace Pro has a compact and durable design ideal for action cameras. It measures just 62 x 35 x 24mm and weighs only 113g, making it easy to mount virtually anywhere. The lightweight polycarbonate body can withstand splashes, dust, and accidental drops.

Rubber seals ensure waterproofing down to 5 meters, so you can confidently use the Ace Pro for water sports or underwater shots. It has standard 1/4"-20 threads to directly mount onto any tripod or selfie stick.

Overall, the thoughtful design maximizes portability and durability for an action camera you can take anywhere. The compact body resists water, dust, and shocks while still delivering pro-level performance.

For those looking for an alternative, the Insta360 ONE X is another excellent option. The ONE X is known for its incredible 360-degree video capabilities, offering seamless integration of immersive footage. It features FlowState stabilization to ensure smooth videos, even in the roughest conditions. With its sleek design and intuitive user interface, the Insta360 ONE X remains a popular choice for both casual and professional videographers alike.

Image Quality

The Insta360 Ace Pro has excellent image quality thanks to its 1/1.3" sensor and up to 4K resolution video. The larger sensor can capture more light and detail compared to smaller sensors found in other action cameras.

It can shoot sharp 12MP photos and up to 4K video at 120fps for smooth slow motion playback. The high frame rates allow you to slow footage down to 30fps or 24fps in post for dramatic slow motion effects. This makes it great for capturing fast action like sports, vehicles, and more.

The 4K video is recorded at a bitrate of up to 120Mbps for excellent detail and minimal compression artifacts. You'll get sharp, clean footage whether you're shooting landscapes, action shots or vlogging clips.

Overall the combination of a 1/1.3" sensor and 4K/120fps video gives you a lot of flexibility to shoot great looking footage and photos in different conditions and environments with the Ace Pro.

The Insta360 X3 is another excellent option from Insta360, featuring dual 1/2" sensors for capturing stunning 5.7K 360-degree video. This camera is designed for immersive video experiences, allowing you to record in every direction and choose your preferred angle later in post-production. The X3 also offers advanced stabilization, excellent low-light performance, and a user-friendly interface, making it a versatile tool for creators who need a complete 360 solution.

Video Features

The Insta360 Ace Pro offers impressive video capabilities for an action camera of its size. It can shoot video at up to 4K resolution at 120fps for stunningly smooth and detailed footage.

Some of the key video features and specs include:

• 4K video at 24/25/30/50/60fps
• 4K widescreen video at 24/25/30fps
• 2.7K video at 24/25/30/50/60/100/120fps
• 1080p video at 24/25/30/50/60/100/120/200fps
• 720p video at 24/25/30/50/60/100/120/200/240fps
• Max bitrate of 200Mbps
• H.264 and H.265 video codecs
• Built-in 6-axis gyroscopic stabilization
• Horizon leveling up to 45 degrees
• PureShot intelligent stabilization

The wide range of resolutions and frame rates allow you to choose the ideal setting for your needs - whether slow motion, high resolution, or a balance of both. The stabilization features work remarkably well to produce smooth video even during active motion. This makes the Ace Pro a versatile action camera able to capture great-looking video in different situations.

Photo Features

The Insta360 Ace Pro offers solid photo capabilities for an action camera. It can shoot photos at up to 25MP resolution with its 1/1.3" sensor, capturing decent detail and sharpness.

You have the option to shoot in standard JPG or RAW DNG formats. JPGs are processed in-camera for contrast and saturation, while RAW retains more dynamic range and flexibility for post-processing.

The camera has a built-in HDR mode that takes multiple exposures and combines them for greater highlight and shadow details. This works fairly well in high contrast scenes to balance out shadows and prevent blown highlights.

For panoramas, the Insta360 app guides you to take multiple shots in a sweeping motion and stitches them together automatically. The results are good with minimal stitching artifacts. You can create wide panoramas up to 3200x6400 pixels in resolution.

Overall, the Ace Pro provides very capable still photo modes that go beyond basic action camera functionality. The high resolution sensor, HDR, and panorama features let you capture more creative shots alongside standard action camera footage.

Audio Quality

The Insta360 Ace Pro has two built-in microphones for capturing audio while recording video. The microphones do a decent job at picking up voices and ambient sounds during normal conditions. However, audio can get muffled or distorted in very windy environments.

The microphones record audio in AAC format. You can also connect an external microphone via the USB-C port for higher quality audio. The external mic audio gets recorded in a separate channel, allowing you to switch between the internal and external audio while editing. This gives you flexibility during post-production.

Overall, the internal mics are fine for casual use, but serious content creators would benefit from connecting an external microphone for professional-level audio.

Connectivity

The Insta360 Ace Pro offers a good range of connectivity options.

In terms of ports, it has a USB-C port for charging and data transfer. This allows you to easily connect the camera to your computer to offload footage. There is also a microSD card slot, supporting cards up to 512GB for storage.

For wireless connectivity, the Ace Pro has built-in WiFi and Bluetooth. Connecting to the camera's WiFi allows you to control the camera remotely using the Insta360 app. You can start/stop recording, adjust settings, preview shots, and more. Bluetooth is useful for connecting external accessories like remote controls.

The camera also has an HDMI port. This allows you to connect the Ace Pro directly to an external monitor or TV to play back your recordings.

Overall, the ports and wireless connectivity of the Insta360 Ace Pro provide versatile options for transferring, controlling, and previewing your footage on the go. The inclusion of USB-C, WiFi, Bluetooth, and HDMI cover the essential connectivity needs of an action camera.

Battery Life

The Insta360 Ace Pro is powered by a 1190 mAh battery, which provides decent battery life for an action camera of this size.

In terms of recording time, you can expect around 70 minutes of continuous 4K video recording per charge. This will of course vary depending on your settings - enabling high frame rates, HDR, and other power-intensive features will reduce recording time. Still, 70 minutes per charge is pretty good for 4K.

If recording at lower resolutions like 1080p, you can squeeze out up to 100 minutes of recording time on a full charge. This makes the Ace Pro well-suited for capturing longer activities without having to stop and recharge frequently.

For still photos, the battery life is rated at around 160 minutes of continuous shooting per full charge. So you can comfortably shoot photos throughout a long day on the slopes or trails without battery life becoming a concern.

Overall the 1190mAh battery capacity provides a solid battery runtime that's suitable for most users' needs. Just be sure to charge fully before any important events, and consider packing an extra battery or power bank for all-day shooting.

App and Software Features

The Insta360 Ace Pro comes with the Insta360 mobile app for editing and sharing videos and photos. The app is available for both iOS and Android devices.

Some key features of the app include:

• Intuitive editing interface - The app makes it easy to trim, adjust colors, add filters, stickers, effects and more to your videos and photos. There are also auto-editing tools that create shareable highlights from your footage.

• Multi-clip editing - You can combine clips from multiple cameras and angles into one video thanks to the app's multi-clip editing capabilities. This allows for more dynamic and engaging edits.

• AI editing - The app leverages AI to auto-reframe and track subjects, keeping them in the center of the frame even if they move around. This saves time and effort when editing videos.

• Shot lab - This provides preset shooting templates and guides to help capture creative shots and angles. It includes templates for selfies, action shots, dolly zoom, cloning and more.

• Insta360 community - You can browse and get inspired by videos, photos and edits shared by other users around the world. The app makes it easy to share your own creations as well.

• Versatile export options - Finished videos and photos can be exported in various resolutions and aspect ratios. You can also export in formats optimized for different social media platforms.

The Insta360 desktop editing software provides more advanced editing tools compared to the mobile app. Key highlights include multicam editing, keyframe adjustments, color grading, and more controls over things like stabilization, speed and perspective.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Compact and lightweight design makes it highly portable
• Waterproof and durable construction for outdoor use
• Produces sharp 4K video at up to 120fps for smooth slow motion
• Large 1/1.3" image sensor captures high quality photos and video
• Built-in stabilization provides steady shots even during motion
• 2.4" flip screen allows you to monitor and frame shots
• Voice control, tracking and other AI features
• Good battery life for an action camera
• User-friendly mobile app with intuitive editing tools

Cons

• Lacks advanced manual controls of pricier action cameras
• Struggles a bit in low light conditions
• Mediocre audio quality during video capture
• Mobile app can be glitchy at times
• No built-in live streaming capabilities