Insta360 Luna Ultra review: This 8K gimbal camera is a challenge to DJIs dominance

Insta360 has entered the handheld gimbal camera market with the Luna Ultra, aiming to challenge the reigning champion, the DJI Osmo Pocket. The Luna Ultra's unique selling point is its dual lenses, a first for a consumer-level gimbal, courtesy of a partnership with Leica, a brand synonymous with high-end camera equipment. These lenses, positioned side-by-side on the gimbal, offer wide apertures (f/1.8 and f/2.0) for better light intake and shallow depth of field, delivering a cinematic effect.

A standout feature of the Luna Ultra is its detachable touchscreen remote, which allows for remote operation and monitoring, zooming, and gimbal control. This remote is designed with physical controls accessible yet hidden from the user's fingers, and can clip to the camera when not in use. However, its small battery and need for attachment to the camera for power makes it less suitable for long remote shoots.

The Luna Ultra supports 8K at 30fps and 4K at 120fps, outperforming the Osmo Pocket 4P which caps out at 4K at 60fps. This higher resolution allows for more flexibility in post-production, enabling cropping and zooming without losing quality. The camera also offers up to 12x zoom, with the Leica Summicron lens focusing on 1x and 2x magnification, and the telephoto lens covering 3x optical zoom, 6x lossless zoom, and up to 12x zoom digitally.

Despite its impressive specs, the focus of the Luna Ultra showed some limitations, often searching and jumping around when trying to focus on specific subjects, especially in low light conditions. The UI provided limited feedback, making focus adjustments a bit stressful. However, the camera excels in vlogging scenarios, focusing well on people in various lighting conditions. The Lunar Ultra is available in Cosmic Black and Stellar White, with the latter proving durable according to initial tests.