One area of technology that has accelerated at the speed of light recently is that of gimbals.
If you are old enough, you might remember how breath taking it was at the time watching Sylvester Stallone running up the stairs with the camera following, but rock steady. That tech cost thousands.
Today, you can get a gimbal for a smartphone that equally mimics that for just over $200 from a number of companies.
The latest to cross my desk, and hot on the heels of the DJI OSMO Mobile 8P unit I reviewed earlier this week is the Insta360 Flow 2. I was sent the Pro version that costs $279.99 and is absolutely packed with technology, especially since a recent software upgrade was released.
The Basics
Okay, as a gimbal, the Insta360 Flow 2 pretty much does all the stuff you’d expect in terms of keeping a smartphone balanced for smooth video shooting. The buttons that surround a central joystick are all multi-function based on the number of presses or in some cases, long press versus short press, and the rotary wheel supports zoom in / zoom out.
A tripod is built into the base of the handle, and the unit is telescopic giving you a selfie stick.
Built in LED indicators give you a visual on what is going on by changing colours.
Probably the hardest part of using the Insta360 Flow 2 is remembering what each of the buttons does with so many options available.
Thankfully, the bane of all gimbals, balancing the camera, is pretty much eliminated by a system that ensures the smartphone is correctly located in the magnetic holder, which in turn slots into a fixed position on the gimbal proper. If for some reason balancing does get out whack, there is a system built in you can start so that the gimbal will sort that out for you in just a few minutes.
And of course, there is an integrated tracking system which in testing, works extremely well, and like the DJI implementation, automatically detects objects to track.
A special “free tilt” mode lets the Flow 2 Pro go beyond normal pan, tilt, rotate shots and allows you to perform crane, orbit and dolly shots with ease.
Bonus there I’d say.
So all in all, a robust and accomplished smartphone gimbal that works with Android phones, and if you use an iPhone, also supports Apple Dockkit in the tracking area.
But as they say in the classics, there is more, which in a number of areas, takes the Insta360 Flow 2 Pro beyond the range of the majority.
Blackmagic Camera And Other Things
If you own a suitable Android or iPhone smartphone, take lots of videos and haven’t as yet downloaded the freebie Blackmagic Camera app, then shame on you. Because when you do, you’ll have access to a whole bunch of videography goodness you’ll wonder how you did without.
Even better, the Insta360 Flow 2 Pro can interact with the Blackmagic Camera – but with one limitation. The latest version of the software has what Insta360 call Deep Track AI which is a fancy way of saying what was previously in an add on module, much like DJI uses on its OSMO Mobile 8P, is now embedded into the Insta360 app. Consequently, both Android and iPhones can now do tracking without the module.
However, whilst many other functions CAN be performed with the Insta360 app and Blackmagic Camera, without the tracking module (Android) or Apple Dockkit (iPhone), tracking is not available at this stage anyway.
Things you can do with the Android version for example is record start/stop, zooming, pan/tilt, stabilisation and follow modes.
However, the native tracking has been much beefed up and new options include multi-person tracking, which tracks multiple people in real time, keeping the entire group perfectly frame, and active zoom tracking, with up to 15x tracking of a moving object.
But in far better news, if you have a supported Android phone, the Insta360 app can now take advantage of the ultra-wide and telephoto lenses, record footage from both the front and back cameras at the same time and create 360° panoramas which can be later edited.
If you are an iPhone user, you can use an Apple Watch as a controller, and taking this further, Insta360 has added functionality to have a second smartphone act as a remote controller.
Other Stuff
Other nice litte features include a second USB-C port letting the Flow 2 Pro act as a power bank, a built-in “selfie mirror” so you can make sure you are correctly framed for those when you really must have a selfie shot, you get instant pairing with your smart phone via an NFC tap and there is even what Insta360 call a “Hoop Mode” designed for capturing sport – basketball for example hence the name, and taking advantage of the inbuilt tracking.
Again, only for iPhone users, Dolby Vision and Apple ProRes is supported too.
Conclusion
That is certainly a lot of stuff packed into a little gimbal, and I suspect there may be things I have missed in my initial exploration, or at best, ways to use some of these features I haven’t thought of as yet.
So, just as I did with the DJI OSMO Mobile 8P, I’ll be making a video showing some of the functionality of the Insta360 Flow 2 Pro system to give you hopefully a better feeling for it.
Watch this space.