The annual CES event in Las Vegas is a perfect time for technology manufacturers to showcase their latest products. For 2019’s show Insta360 opened up pre-orders for its professional 360-degree camera, the Insta360 Titan. Today, the company has officially launched the device, shipping to customers worldwide.
With a premium feature set and a sizable $15,000 USD price tag, the Insta360 Titan is well and truly aimed at the high-end market. The unibody camera with eight 200° F3.2 fisheye lenses has Micro Four Thirds sensors under the hood, capable of recording in 11K claims the company. Shooting modes include 11K at 30 FPS, 10K 3D at 30 FPS, as well as 11K 360 photos in 3D and monoscopic formats.
Some of the other clever tech inside the Insta360 Titan includes FlowState Stabilization, which enables gimbal-like stabilization without any additional gear or post-production headaches for creators. Another issue for directors is not being seen – a little tricky when the camera is recording in 360. So Insta360 has created its Farsight live monitoring system to help with just that problem, giving creators a long-range, low-latency preview to direct scenes, unseen.
“We’ve worked together with VR creators to build the hardware platforms they need — from the cinematic quality of Titan to the versatility of the Insta360 Pro series,” said JK Liu, Insta360 Co-Founder and CEO in a statement. “Our roadmap this year doesn’t include any new professional cameras. Our full focus is on bringing users of Titan and Pro series cameras an even greater edge, through continued updates and integrations with key ecosystem partners.”
There’s also the slight issue of viewing 11K resolution content as sites like YouTube tend to only go up to 8K currently. To get around this, Insta360 built its proprietary CrystalView player which lets you play back your Titan footage at full 11K quality on iOS and Android devices. To do this on mobile devices the company has taken a leaf out of the foveated rendering handbook, rendering only the part of a scene that a viewer is watching – ignoring what’s behind their head.
If you want to start recording super high-resolution 360-degree content then either head to Insta360.com or B&H Photo to start spending some serious money. Or for something a little more consumer friendly, how about the Insta360 Evo which launched in March for $419.99. For further Insta360 updates, keep reading VRFocus.