VR

Insta360 Pro image quality

The Insta360Pro 360 camera can record in 4k, 6k and 8k video formats for viewing in 360 environments.
I got curious if there’s a difference in output quality depending on which resolution I record at.
As it turns out, there is a difference. I recorded some short clips at 4k, 5k, 6k and 8k resolution. I also recorded some video with my Vuze camera as a point of reference for a camera that only records 4k.
There were no camera setting changes made between the 4k, 5k, 6, and 8k clips on the Insta360Pro. All I did was select the next resolution from the phone app, and hit record. However the 4k and 5k clips show much higher contrast and/or sharpness change compared to the 6k and 8k. I don’t know why that is.
Below are screengrabs taken from Adobe Premiere in VR display mode, looking at at the same view direction.

To make the comparison easier, the 5k, 6k and 8k clips were saved in 4k format straight out of the stitcher software. That way I had 5 video streams of the same 4k resolution (3840×1920) to make the comparison easier.
All the downscaling to 4k was done by the Insta360Pro stitching software.

Notice how much more information is maintained when an 8k clip is initially recorded and then downsampled to 4k. Quite surprising that there’s a noticeable difference between the 6k and 8k recording.
I was also shocked at how poor the Vuze Camera image quality is compared to even the 4k footage from the Insta360Pro. But that’s what a 4x the price gets you.

Scene 1 Scene 2 Scene3

dsadsa

One thought on “Insta360 Pro image quality

  1. Thanks for doing this! I was all hot to get the vuze cam when it was announced because for me 3D is important, I’m glad I held off. Been hearing folks having many issues with it , also apparently it doesn’t actually shoot 4K res it records at a lower res (sorry forgot what it is) and scales up to 4K.

    I’d love to see the same comparison but with 3D footage.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *