The World’s Smallest Stabilized Camera: Insta360 GO
Insta360 are a Chinese company known for creating great 360 degree cameras for capturing VR content. But the Insta360 Go is more like a very small GoPro. The company claim this is the smallest video camera with inbuilt stabilisation.
The company had promised in its teaser that the model would be 6x lighter and twice as stable as other action cameras. Turns out it has a weight of just 18.3g (0.65oz). So it certainly lives up to the first promise at least.
Anyway, I’m going directly to Peter McKinnon’s channel and if I don’t see Peter running around like a fool to test the stabilization, I’ll be dissapointed. Let’s see if he does it…
No.
🙁
I’m sorry Peter. I’m not embedding your video in my blog, now. You’ve let me down, you’ve let yourself down…
But he does show himself boarding a plane. And he tries to sell us the idea we really WANT to record in 15 second or 30 second bursts. Like the 15 & 30 second limit is a plus. Really. Okayyy…
Hmm, one thing I now realise: I really need to get a baseball cap to hide my grey hair.
Other things you can do with it
But what did YouTuber iJennifer think about the Insta360 GO? Some people are just good at getting excited about small things. And Jennifer appears to be one of those people. At the very end of the video she shows how you can hang upside down from a tree and film with it. Oh lord.
The first thing YouTuber Jeven Dovey does with the camera is stick it in his mouth and film from behind his teeth. And not content to impress you with the back of his incisors once, a few seconds later he’s showing you how to use it as a car dashcam. From inside his mouth. Okayyy…
Bizarrely, Jeven is not the only YouTuber who tries to eat the camera…
FlowState stabilization
The Insta360 GO can stabilize the video, but can it stabilize the mental health of the user? Apparently it has the opposite effect. But seriously, from the footage they have taken, the stabilized footage appears a bit mixed. Some of the footage from just walking has artifacts. While others have been getting better, smoother footage.
Despite the mouthcam shots, Jeven’s video is the best review of the GO I’ve seen so far. From watching the other reviews it came up with a basic “No, this camera is not worth it. But from Jeven’s review, he really seems to have got the best out of it and understands what it’s designed for. So, he’s changed my mind on this one.
Check out the video below:
General Specs
- 8GB storage
- Just over an hour battery life (20 minute charge).
- The sensor’s resolution is 3040 x 3040, however GO app exports videos in 1080p resolution.
- 25 fps is locked in.
- Slow-motion is possible at 100fps with 1600 x 900 resolution.
- The camera can also capture photos, timelapse, and hyperlapse clips.
- Insta360 GO is IPX4 water-resistant (can withstand splashes, rain, and submersion in shallow water for up to 10 seconds).
Turns out the audio is not too bad with this camera too. Considering the size you can quite usable audio direct from the mic (in not too noisy or windy conditions).
The Insta360 GO appears to be geared more towards casual filming. Like, bite-size (ho ho) clips for Facebook and Instagram stories, Snapchat and TikTok. Website Engadget says the camera comes with “Insta360’s proven FlowState stabilization”, but from the footage the GO on display so far, it’s proven to be not very good.
The GO comes with an app which provides several AI-powered templates for automatically picking the right video moments and cutting them together. We’ve already seen smartphone apps and Google photos doing stuff like for a few years. However, it kinda makes sense of the 15 or 30 second shot limit, because it means the AI has less room to go “wrong”.
To explain, if you’ve ever watched one of these AI generated videos of your smartphone pics and videos, you will probably have seen the AI make strange editing choices. There will be a couple of well chosen shots and then one where you are just getting the camera steady or something. With these AI edits, there’s usually no way to fix the bad shot selections, so the whole thing is useless.
It’s not a 360 camera
Oh and the Insta360 GO is not a 360 camera, in case the name confused you. They’ve just added the word GO to their brand name so you know it’s an action cam. Question is, can you can get better $50 action cams than this (apart from the size difference), because the GO is not cheap.
It’s biggest selling point certainly seems to be its miniature size. The size and weight mean you can quickly attach it to your shirt using a magnet. Then you can use it for spyi… I mean filming in everyday life situations.
Like, eating. Word on the street says an Insta360 GO goes down better in a muffin with some hollandaise sauce.
Find the Insta360 GO on Amazon
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