ACTION CAMERA: Insta360 One R - 1-inch edition. Read before you buy for softball

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Oct 27, 2020
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I have been a GoPro user for filming my daughters softball games for a few years. She is an outfielder and pitcher. When she is pitching, my backstop mounted GoPro records with enough detail that you can tell it’s her. Outfield is another story.

I decided to pick up the insta360 One R 1-inch edition. The bigger senor and the ability to record at 5k should improve the image quality when the subject is distant.

The image quality is a huge improvement to the 1080 videos I was filming on the GoPro (had to stay 1080 due to heat and instability). I did come across some issues that I was not aware of or fully understood prior to buying:

  1. The insta360 breaks up a extended video recording into file chunks. This is similar to what GoPro does but the insta360 stops the recording, does a save (probably clearing the buffer) then will start recording again. This results in about a 30-60 second gap between the files. If you are recording a 30fps then the camera will record 90 minutes before going through a save cycle. 60fps and above will cycle every 30 minutes. I can live with record at 30fps and cycling every 90 minutes since most games are about that long but every 30 minutes is too great of a chance to of missing a play
  2. I notice that if you start recording video from your app, the camera will not start the recording again after the save cycle is complete. You have to either start the recording using the button on the camera or a Bluetooth remote. Also another thing to note is that you cannot view the recording from the app if it was started from the camera or remote. I usually mount my camera with
    Y-52gGxJYqG9ag1yOBTjq-gJmuqvrF63lzeoIQlLPxrx6hetk32nyhfyLy2jhjhro4YTo8nW68tTX0HN3NdJixUuZOIKMRapB0eFa7yNGqXdbThEIc2Dn8WhpEU_aoxkm4JUgCRB
    . This mounts my camera high on the backstop. Since I can’t see the back screen to verify the lens is centered in the fence link. I have to use the app. Once centered, I close The app and start the recording through Bluetooth remote app on my Apple Watch.
  3. Heat will be the enemy during warm to hot days. I will be putting on a heat sink behind the processor module and attach a glare shield to keep the camera in the shade. I have been able to sustain continuous recording at 5k for +2 hours indoors.

Insta360 is constantly improving the camera and app software. Hopefully they can eliminate the gap through save cycles and change the interval in which that save happens.

I am currently running firmware vers 1.2.17 and app ver 1.3.12 on an iPhone.

Hope this helps. Not much Info out there for softball dads using this camera. Wanted to share for those looking for this type info.

Happy filming!
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Josh Greer

DFP Vendor
Jul 31, 2013
934
93
Central Missouri
Editing their video is a nightmare. And in our testing , there was no gain in quality. Heat was an issue and the battery mounting is very flimsy. And the ginormous lens cover is a target waiting to get thumped.
 
Oct 27, 2020
2
3
Editing their video is a nightmare. And in our testing , there was no gain in quality. Heat was an issue and the battery mounting is very flimsy. And the ginormous lens cover is a target waiting to get thumped.
I read about the need to use insta360’s video editing software but the latest firmware saves the files in MP4. You can edit the file directly in your favorite editing software. No need to export out of 360 first. I purchased a metal case to keep the modules together. I can’t argue that the lens is asking to be hit but at least it replaceable.
 

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