Review: Insta360 One 4K 360 camera – bullet time is fun, but great photos, video and design are what make this a winner
There’s a lot more to the Insta360 One than its technically impressive, but perhaps impractical, bullet time mode, with its core quality, easy-to-use design and range of control options all adding up to an impressive package
360-degree cameras are suddenly everywhere, with brands like Garmin, Samsung and, most recently, GoPro all launching dual lens cameras that record video for watching on virtual reality headsets.
Almost all new models capture in 4K resolution. The Insta360 One does too, but it is the only camera that claims to record videos in “bullet time” (think slow-motion scenes from The Matrix and Inception).
Hong Kong’s 360-degree videomaking pioneers, and how the virtual-reality technology works
The Insta360 One produces this effect by capturing in 120 frames per second, which is the minimum you need to create a slow motion shot.
It’s easy enough to do – you press the standby button three times and literally just swing the camera around your head – but the real problem (which arguably applies to the 360-degree format in general) isn’t how it works, but what to use it for.
When did you last wish you could have captured a moment in bullet time? Probably not too recently. Bear in mind you also have to be somewhere very exciting or picturesque, and either alone or with people shorter than you – you have to swing the Insta360 One around your head, after all. Meanwhile, the finished slow-motion videos always have the user in the centre holding one arm up, which is an odd look.