Hi all,

GAS is striking again. I think I'll get myself a action camera to mount on the big housing, place on the bottom for some BTS material, take on non-photography deep technical dives for some purely documentation uses.

I'm way to lazy to do some serious post editing, if I cannot do it on my phone, I won't do it.

Now I'm struggling with:

GoPro 13 vs Insta360 Ace Pro 2.

What I found so far:

• Quality OOTB seems to be superior in AcePro2, especially in low light.

• AcePro2 seems to have a wider FOV, which causes issues with the AOI lens.

• I could not find a suitable housing (depth rating ~120m) which is compatible with the AOI lens

• I could not find any deep rated housing for the AcePro2

• Battery life is superior in AcePro2

Can anyone confirm my analysis or point me to where I got something wrong?

Any suggestions what you'd pick in my place?

Thanks all!

I haven’t been able to get my hands on the Ace Pro 2 myself, although I do know several dive buddies who own one. So I can only really speak from personal experience with the action cameras I’ve actually used for diving, the GoPro Hero 12 and the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro.

Between those two, I’d definitely pick the Osmo Action, for several reasons: larger sensor (same size of Ace Pro) and consequently better performance in low light, better color rendition (subjective, of course), deeper depth rating without a housing (20 m), very good price, especially when on sale (at least when I got mine), and excellent battery life. In my opinion, it’s clearly ahead of the GoPro 12, which is pretty similar compared with the GoPro 13.

That said, there are plenty of videos out there directly comparing footage from all these cameras. I’d recommend watching some of them so you can see real-world results side by side. Here’s one I particularly liked:

Regarding housings, there is a deep-dive housing for the Ace Pro 2 rated to 200 m, made by Isotta, although it’s not exactly cheap. As for compatibility with AOI lenses, I’m not entirely sure, but I think a one-degree difference in FOV shouldn’t cause major issues (that’s just my assumption).

In terms of battery life, both the Ace Pro 2 and the Osmo Action are a step ahead of the GoPro.

My personal recommendation: at the moment, I think both the Osmo and the Insta are a notch above the GoPro. So unless you specifically rely on the GoPro ecosystem/accessories, I’d go for one of those instead.

Given the purpose you mentioned, especially BTS material and mounting it on your main housing, I’d suggest also looking into a completely different concept: the Insta360 4X/5X. For BTS, social media, and basically showing a third-person perspective of how you shoot photos or video with your main, I think it’s a really interesting option. The video I linked above also covers it and shows some creative use cases.

9 hours ago, Fabian said:

I could not find a suitable housing (depth rating ~120m) which is compatible with the AOI lens

AOI lens is rated 60 m

12 minutes ago, richijota said:

I’d suggest also looking into a completely different concept: the Insta360 4X/5X.

Good idea. BTW there's the new DJI Osmo 360 which seems to even better of Insta for several aspects.

AFAIK flr these cameras there aren't underwater housings capable of tech dives.

Hi both, thank you for your feedback, I appreciate it!

So in conclusion, AcePro2 with the Isotta housing, the I could use the AOI lens in the shallows (found an adapter for that one) below 60m, for the deep stuff it would be just the camera. Technically clearly preferred.

Unfortunately, that brings the cost up quite a bit, as the Isotta housing is about triple the price of the Seafrogs.

Or, I skip the technical diving part and stick to a cheaper housing for the AcePro2 🤔

IDK if it worths spending money for tech diving. Deep down you need light, so if you shoot video with your main rig, ok. Otherwise you would get noisy sh***y images. 800 iso is the normal limit for these cameras

4 hours ago, Fabian said:

Hi both, thank you for your feedback, I appreciate it!

So in conclusion, AcePro2 with the Isotta housing, the I could use the AOI lens in the shallows (found an adapter for that one) below 60m, for the deep stuff it would be just the camera. Technically clearly preferred.

Unfortunately, that brings the cost up quite a bit, as the Isotta housing is about triple the price of the Seafrogs.

Or, I skip the technical diving part and stick to a cheaper housing for the AcePro2 🤔

As an alternative, you may check the T-housing (with adapter, you can also use AOI lens with it)

https://panoceanphoto.com/t-housing-insta360-acepro-1-2-unterwassergehaeuse

It's cheaper than the Isotta.

Gopro 14 is around the corner september 2025

Regarding gopro 13 vs Insta360 see for yourself the raw footage between the 3 actions cameras.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/h46fiofwksw4f9hah6vvo/AKLrcTauOiYg5bHwZb0tibQ?rlkey=isblpfn5bosd7vhbiexugfgpq&e=1&st=2gr6iu23&dl=0

source: Chris Rogers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1OwhtjaPVI

Ps: dont forget GoPro has the GoPro labs firmware to squeeze all the juice from the action camera for underwater.

https://gopro.github.io/labs/

Edited Thursday at 03:06 PM5 days by Nando Diver

FWIW, I find the DJI Action 5 workflow to be very nice. Super easy to shoot, edit with your phone and upload. It's surprisingly good, and I definitely prefer the footage versus the Gopro. I would go that route or the Ace Pro 2, I won't own any more Gopros.

As an aside, I wouldn't recommend a 360 camera if you don't want to get into involved post processing, they are more work after the fact for sure. I just ran both for 10 days worth of water time, attached to my main housing on either side. I find that with the 360, it's great to be able to just turn it on and not worry about where it's pointed. However, the current x5 housing has a LOT of reflections that ruin quite a bit of the footage, and the footage itself isn't as good as the Action 5. In general, the x5 doesn't do as well in lower light or with subjects further away. With an Action 5 or Ace etc, you obviously have to keep it pointed in the right direction and pay more attention to it, but the footage is better and easier to edit. Something about the creativity and uniqueness of the 360 cameras though keeps me using them. Off topic, sorry. You just got me thinking about it.

Thanks guys, appreciate all input!

I've decided for the AcePro2 during summer sales. I'll use it in the original dive case for now and see if I want to add the wide lens after a couple of dives (...I have kind of a feeling how this will go).

For the deep diving, I found a 80m aluminum housing, maybe I'll spend the ~30€ and take it for a few deep dives without camera inside, to check if it can also cope with 100m. Or does anyone have plans for a DIY pressure chamber? 😅

3 hours ago, Fabian said:

I've decided for the AcePro2 during summer sales. I'll use it in the original dive case for now and see if I want to add the wide lens after a couple of dives (...I have kind of a feeling how this will go).

Follow us for more tips on how to waste your bank account 😁

3 hours ago, Fabian said:

For the deep diving, I found a 80m aluminum housing, maybe I'll spend the ~30€ and take it for a few deep dives without camera inside, to check if it can also cope with 100m. Or does anyone have plans for a DIY pressure chamber? 😅

Usually (usually) the problem is the springs of the buttons don't hold the pressure and they get pushed down, making the whole thing unusable.

Anyway, grab a nice reel, attach the housing and a small weight and do it from the boat. Just fill the housing with absorbent paper and check it after the dive.

Please - not more tipps! I already have too many ideas! An EMWL, a FCP, a scooter, a backup scooter, a bailout rebreather... what I really need is a place where I can exchange some of my organs for all this stuff. Oh and a bigger van!

From the boat dropping on a line sounds reasonable, but as I'm mostly shore and cave diving, I'd be bumping it into the rocks a lot when throwing it out on a fishing rod...

Unfortunately, Aliexpress isn't quick enough - I have a 90m dive scheduled for Sunday, but by then I won't have the case here if I order now 😐