Im wondering if anyone has experience with an Insta360 (or similar) mounted to a regular camera rig.

Like many I often dive with a GoPro mounted to the top of my housing - allows for a running video while I shoot. Was wondering about the practically of an Insta360 in a similar way?

How high does the pole have to extend? Does it get in the way? What are the results like?

Im less interested in having actual 360deg footage than the ability to selectively choose a a field of view or an angle in post. Or else to be able to see from a different angle myself, other divers, and the subject together in frame.

Love to hear any experiences from those who've tried it?

Cheers

Mike

Edited 22 hours ago22 hr by MikeJonesDive

I put my Insta360 X4 on a ball mount either on one of the arms of the housing or on the hot shoe, depending what I'm using on the day. Sometimes I will add a short ulcs arm when I put it on the arm so I can shoot from off to the side.

Hi Mike,

Can I ask what set-up you have? Yes, absolutely you can shoot with it on your rig, but lighting and positioning are crucial to achieve the best footage. You would need to position it slightly ahead of the main lens to avoid obstructing the view.

Mounting wise, you could use a small arm or a mini-dual ball head directly to the rig to hold it in place. Or if you are using the official selfie stick, position it so that the side stitch lines are parallel with the main camera lens to prevent your subjects being split by the stitch line.

I saw a Nauticam 360 housing at the Go Diving Show at the weekend which I'm obsessed with.

Good luck and hope this helps.

Maria

I've been using an Insta360 X2 camera for a while. During a recent trip I had the same dilemma to either use a GoPro (with AOI) or the 360 degree camera on the top of my mirrorless housing. Comparing the footage from both camera I can conclude that The GoPro has still a way better quality. However, I can still use few seconds of Insta sequences as interesting perspectives, but not too long sequences, because some optical errors (stiching problems) will be obvious. Another good use is to leave the 360 degree camera on a "tripod" in shallow water. For usable footage you need lots of light for the Insta cameras. New models are probably better. I wouldn't use it as a main camera but it can be a very useful tool. I use ot on a ball-head like below to attach to my main camera:

Some examples for the videos with Insta360 X2 you can find in my short movie about Bali:

1:44 - 2:10; 2:41

I have attached the insta360 X5 to my housing. I don't love it as I will only use the Pro dive case and it is a lot of float to move around when positioning the camera. It works fine when shooting stills but is always self righting to the top with when moving the camera . Going between portrait and landscape is a battle of floatation. I lessened this by using some extra weights up right underneath the housing mount on the selfie stick, but it is still a lot of float. Found it annoying so just stopped. I will often just take the insta 360 though, just like it a lot more on a selfie stick when not using the big camera.