Dylan Andersen, a longtime DJI user, bought the Insta360 Luna Ultra at Costco after DJI Pocket models became unavailable in the US. He praises the detachable screen and sensor quality but notes the software needs work. He's using it to film his 5-year-old daughter Alba and finds it a solid alternative to the pricier DJI Pocket 4.
How's it going? I am back. I want to do a little video. I tend to jump back on YouTube when I want to share my thoughts on camera equipment, gear, technology, all that fun stuff. So real fast, I'll make this very quick. I kind of want to talk about 2 things. Number one, I want to talk about obviously my first impressions of the Luna Ultra. And then I also want to talk about how I ended up with this camera as a sort of DJI customer, right? So let's start with the second part first. I have been using DJI products for a long, long time. Obviously early on with drones, when they got into the camera market with the Osmo Action, the original, I purchased that. Was big into the original DJI Pocket. I still have the DJI Pocket 3. I've had, I mean, I feel like every single Osmo Action camera. My favorite was the Osmo Action 2, which was just a really cool little square camera. And the reason I like DJI so much is not for the reason you might think. It's actually because I use Android phones and, you know, say what you will, I have been a huge Android user for quite some years now. I remember camping out on Market Street in San Francisco at T-Mobile for the T-Mobile G1. Really, really happy with Android over the years. And DJI makes a really good Android app. And that always wasn't the case, right? With some of the other stuff out there, like GoPro originally didn't have a great Android app. DJI does make a great Android app. And I think my favorite thing about DJI products is the software, right? Like kind of just works. You don't get into those issues that you run into with some of my Fujifilm cameras. Some of those pieces of software like the X app for Fujifilm, if you're familiar with that, that's pretty terrible, right? It can't pair and it goes back and forth. And whether that's a software or hardware issue, it just works with DJI a lot like how a lot of people tend to like Apple for it kind of just working. So I was really excited to get the upgrade to the Pocket 3 and obviously A lot of the things came out with United States and DJI and all of that back and forth, and I kind of realized it's not going to happen. But for some reason I was able to buy the Action 6 on Amazon, but I'm not able to buy the Pocket 4 or 4P. And it's been some months now, I feel like, since they've been out. So went over to Costco, walked by the technology area, and there was the Luna Ultra. It came with this microphone, which is the Insta360 Air. And then it also came with a black Pro-Mist filter, which I probably won't use, but I thought that was really cool for the same MSRP for the Luna Ultra that you can get at like, say, Best Buy. So I ended up getting it. I was really in the mode for a camera like this because I love the Action 6. I actually have the Osmo Action as well, or the Osmo Nano as well. I love that camera too because it's just fun to film my 5-year-old daughter with. And I think the biggest thing about this camera that I like is that it's a really good quality camera, right? It has kind of all the features you would need. It has that really cool detachable screen, all the specs. It's a great sensor. I think you can see the quality of this video is pretty fantastic, all things considered. But I also think that there is a world in which Insta360 kind of makes more sense for American users who can't get DJI equipment. Of course, I live here in Southern California. I could drive to Tijuana, go to the kiosk, Get some DJI equipment, but I don't want to go through all that. I also don't want to go through customs, and I just don't want to go through that. I want to be able to go purchase something that is not exorbitantly priced and be able to use it. So I share all that with you because I am a big fan of this camera. And before I spend any more time talking about my journey and why I like it, it's a modern pocket camera on a gimbal with really great quality, really great color grading potential. Again, I'm not doing professional films on this, but if I want to film my daughter in kind of a fun way I like to color grade a little bit. It's just a little hobby. And then the last piece of it for me is that when you see the footage that you see here right now, when you take out this camera, a lot of people don't look twice at you because there's 2 lenses. They're going to look more at you than they did before with the Pocket 3. But the coolest part about this camera is just the quality is there. It's kind of nonchalant. It's not really ninja or incognito, but it's certainly a lot easier to film than, you know, one of my Lumix cameras or Fuji So really happy with this camera. If you're thinking about buying it and you're like, oh, the quality's not as good, or this or that, yeah, they've got some weird quirks with the software they need to work out. Whether they do or not, neither here nor there. But I think even in its current state, it's a little bit more pricey than what the Pocket 4 or 4P would be at retail in America right now. But since this is our only option, I definitely think it's worth a pickup. So let's jump into some footage and then I'd love to do a full-term review of this. Let me know any questions you have in the comments. Thank you so much for watching. We'll see you soon. Take care.
See, that means I win the whole entire game, and that means I get to choose whatever game I would like. Good job, Alvin. Wait, Daddy, is this speaker for me?
Yeah, anything you want to say? Oh yeah, it is. Do you want to say anything to the cameras recording? Yeah.
Where are we?
Air Force. Air Force.
Dylan likes it.
Oh, yeah.
Now, where are we?
Foodini.
Foodini.
We're going through the car wash.
Yeah!
Alba, you're doing it! Good job! Over there. Okay, there is blue raspberry. You want blue raspberry?
Yeah.
You gotta pull this down.
