Insta 360 ONE RS - A Modular Action Camera

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When you buy an interchangeable lens camera (like something from Canon or Sony) you’re really buying two things; a camera body and a lens. You can change one without changing the other (unless you’re switching brands or something like that). If a new body comes out with something you want, like in-body image stabilization or a touch screen, you can update the body without needing new lenses. If there’s a lens you want, like a 50mm for portrait photography or a macro lens, you can get it without needing to change your body. This of course is not the case with action cameras. If a new GoPro or DJI Action comes out with a feature you like, you need to buy it. You can’t just add the feature you want to the camera you already have.

Or at least that’s how it was. When Insta360 came out with with the Insta360 ONE R in 2020 what it looked like they were doing was bringing some of that iteration from interchangeable lens cameras to action cameras. The Insta360 ONE R was sort of a mix between their ONE X 360° camera and a traditional GoPro style action camera. It was composed of three pieces; a battery, a camera module, and a lens module. The lens module and camera module clicked onto the battery to make it looks like a GoPro or (the original) DJI Action. At the time there was one camera module and three lens modules; a 4K wide angle action cam lens, a  360° lens, and a 1” sensor lens (a bigger sensor than action cameras normally have). The lenses could be switched and if the battery died you could just snap a new one onto the bottom.

I thought the camera was awesome. I didn’t have one but I suspect it probably didn’t do anything better than it’s competitors. The GoPro is the top action camera for a reason and Insta360’s 4K wide angle lens probably didn’t give quite as good or smooth or whatever of a video as the GoPro. The ONE X seemed like a better form factor for a 360° camera than the ONE R did. But the ONE R could do both plus capture incredible video if you spent the money on the 1” sensor lens. What the ONE R was doing was offering us the ability to upgrade parts of your camera, like if you had a DSLR or mirrorless camera from Fujifilm or Nikon.

I remained skeptical though. While I absolutely loved the idea it was the first camera. All the lenses launched, or at least were announced (as far as I know at least) at the same time. I wanted to see what happened next. Maybe Insta360 would drop the ONE R line and decide to focus on the ONE X. Or maybe the next iteration would have new modules, but only be usable with each other, essentially making the upgrade cycle the same as a GoPro but with some lenses as extra accessories.

Then the ONE RS came out. Now I’m a little more sold on what Insta360 is doing. The ONE RS is the newer version of the previous ONE R in the same way that the Sony Alpha 7 IV is the newer version of the Alpha 7 III or the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III is the newer version of the OM-D E-M1 Mark II. It was some new stuff but some stuff hasn’t changed, and it can be mixed and matched with a lot of the old things. The new bits are the 4k camera module, battery, and the camera mod (which they call the core) and the 1 inch and 360° lens are the same. That means, like mirrorless or DSLR cameras, you don’t have to completely upgrade. You can just get what you want.

And most of it is interchangeable, which is what I was worried about. They say the old core will work with the new 4k lens after a firmware update, the original core and lenses with the new battery, and the new core with the old lenses. They suggest you use the new core with the new battery though and the new battery base isn’t compatible with the old mounting bracketing. So not everything works perfectly but a lot of stuff can be upgraded individually. That in and of itself is a huge win for the ONE R line and a step in the right direction for action cameras.

If you want the learn more about the camera there’s lots of information on the camera’s product page, including some answers about what parts are compatible with what other parts.

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