360-degree camera maker Insta360 just released a video that shows off a new feature it’s calling “FlowState,” which stabilizes a ‘flat,’ traditional HD video frame by extracting it from a 360 capture. This might be a familiar technique if you’ve followed what GoPro and Rylo are doing with their own 360 cameras, but Insta360’s take looks powerful and feature-rich, based on this clip.
As you can see, the stabilization tech not only produces video that looks like it’s shot on a gimbal, even for fast, bumpy action like from a camera mounted on a dog’s back, but also allows for interesting effects like following even very small moving objects (butterflies) and doing dramatic time dilation effects combined with cinematic pans.
Insta360 has noticed that a lot of action camera and smartphone gimbal users are interested in its line of 360-degree cameras, and has been working on user-friendly in which its 360-degree footage can be translated into more interesting traditional clips and movies.
The company’s Insta360 ONE already features automatic framing, free capture for HD resolution flat cropping and six-axis stabilization, so it seems like with FlowState Insta360 is hoping to up its game in these areas by easier to use and more effective. This clip doesn’t mention anything about new hardware, so it’s possible that whatever Insta360 is planning could come to existing devices, including the $299 Insta360 ONE.
We’ll know more on March 20, when the company details its latest feature in full, but it should have GoPro a bit worried if it works as advertised and comes in at a more attractive price point than the expensive GoPro Fusion.