I’m about to embark on a halo trip to Mallorca. Four days cycling to celebrate a mate’s 50th birthday.
Lads lads lads… and a few acceptable women.
I’m going to record the trip for posterity and this Insta360 GO Ultra tiny cam will help me do it.
So in this video:
- how I plan to use the GO Ultra on my upcoming Balearic boondoggle to capture a variety of shots with my minuscule amount of shall-we-call-it video-making skill;
- a run-through of the GO Ultra features from the perspective of a camera non-expert;
- and a well-thought-out argument that if you have a big cycling trip coming up, or an interesting ride, you should film it, even if you don’t have a YouTube channel.
Thank you to Insta360 for sponsoring this video and sending me the GO Ultra Tadej Pogacar Edition to support me in my quest.
Disclaimer
Now before we start, this obviously isn’t an impartial review video.
A couple of data points though:
- I bought the Insta360 X3 360 degree camera – and loved it – well before Insta360 sponsored a video on this channel;
- Whilst there are plenty of sponsored videos about, the guaranteed impartial reviewers (DC Rainmaker, Becca Farsace) like the GO Ultra very much;
- The video – this video; also the one I’ll make on the Majorca trip – is the product. Take a look at what a numpty like me can do and judge for yourself.
So What Is The Insta360 GO Ultra?
In short it’s an action camera. But it’s an action camera you can split into two parts.
This teeny tiny bit that contains all the lens and filming gubbins, and this slightly bigger housing that contains the screen plus another battery.
The tiny camera bit is magnetic, waterproof and can pretty much go anywhere.
It’s very discrete – great for those that don’t want to ride around announcing their magnificent (wannabe) YouTuber status – but captures high quality footage, irrespective of conditions, without me having to do much.
The screen housing bit, Insta360 calls it the Action Pod, contains – yes – the screen, which flips up, and a bigger battery that charges the little jobbie if it runs out of juice.
Keep them connected and treat it like an action cam of old.
Alternatively, attach the mini me where you need it and use the Action Pod to set the settings and frame the shot without the guesswork.
You can also do the same ‘control the camera from a distance’ thing using the Insta360 app on your phone.
The tiny cam bit is fully waterproof – unless your Strava route involves submersion below 10 metres.
The Action Pod is only splash proof though, so one to stow in a pocket if rain goes beyond a light sprinkle.
In terms of specs and how to use the GO Ultra, I’ll come on to that.
But first…
Why You Should Record Your Big Trip (Even If You Don’t Have A YouTube Channel)
I guess it’s somewhat obvious. Not all of us are cycling influencers (yet), riding in warm tarmac and buttery climates on the regular.
When we get these infrequent but (hopefully) amazing experiences we want to record them.
Photos are great an’ all but we take loads of the same thing and they all just sit there un-viewed in your phone.
Getting a bunch of video clips across the trip, at different points on the rides – in the cafes, deep in the hurt locker, falling out of strip joints – means you have the raw materials to make one or a number of videos to remember the amazingness of the experience.
Or to show your grandkids how fit you were (*are), back in the day.
And with all these new fangled AI-jazzled editing apps, it’s dead easy to pull the clips together into a music-accompanied masterpiece whilst sat in Palma airport departures.
Or somewhere.
So we’re all agreed we’re gonna start making movies? Cool.
So where do we start?
Pre-Production / Before The Trip
Clearly I am not a professional video production outfit but if I want people to watch my YouTube video, I have to make it interesting and engaging. There’s lots that goes into that but let’s focus on the video footage bit.
I need to get enough clips, with sufficient variety and in good enough quality, to support whatever story and script I scrabble together either before or after the trip.
So pre-production is thinking of the shots I might try to capture across the trip: in the airport, pre-ride prepping, the mission itself, post-ride bombing in the pool.
If I’m feeling organised I might note them down in my phone.
I also think technically how I can film a variety of angles, on or off the bike, ideally without riding one handed or otherwise stacking it.
And this is where the GO Ultra comes in clutch. An expression I immediately regret saying.
In our premium bundle, emblazoned with Tadej Pogacar branding, we have a number of mounts and accessories to support your creative urges.
I’ll run through them in the section where I actually do the filming.
For now, the key is to make sure you have enough mounts, or ideas, to get the clips you want or to support your on-the-fly inspiration.
It’s also time to establish the best camera settings, quickly and sans faff, to ensure my Alfred Hitchcocking around doesn’t ruin everyone else’s holiday.
So let’s get into some specs.
(And for those wondering, Pogacar is a 1960s arthouse director-auteur from Slovenia. Who won all the Oscars. I think.)
GO Ultra specs
The GO Ultra has a 1/1.28 inch sensor and an AI imaging chip, both of which are deemed A GOOD THING.
In practice, that means the GO Ultra, which I remind you again is teeny tiny, films up to 4k footage at up to 60fps. You know fps*. (*frames per second)
And, yes, I am being paid to say it, but the footage quality is really good. I am not some post-production wizard. What you see here is what you get using the Auto settings.
This version of the GO includes a wider field of view than prior models. It’s now on a par with the bigger Action Pro 2. This is a big plus for me, as I’ll come onto in the ‘wot settings I use’ section.
It also gets Insta360’s dedicated low light mode – PureVideo.
Now I don’t film a lot in night rider mode – I gave it a go here for scientific purposes – but all the comparison videos I’ve seen* show the GO Ultra being very good at it.
(* E.g. DC Rainmaker’s review video)
As well as standard videos, there are various other shooting modes, including still photos, timelapse, slow motion and toddler. Check out other peep’s vids for the deets on those, starting with the Becca Fasarce one I mentioned earlier.
There are three different stablisation modes with various levels of smooth. In Majorca I’ll be using standard; in the crater-strewn Derbyshire lanes, I’m tempted by high.
Battery life is a claimed 70 minutes for the camera on its own; 3 and a bit hours if it is in the Action Pod casing.
Those are with fairly undemanding settings though.
In use I’ve found the GO Ultra more like 35-45 minutes (* inexhaustive testing // guesstimate alert), which at least forces me to be more disciplined in not filming giganto-clips.
That said, the whole ‘pop the camera back in the pod’ thing is excellent. Battery juice automatically starts flowing to the camera and after 10 minutes or so, the GO Ultra is topped up to a very usable level.
So that’s all fine. Stats stats stats. But how do we use the GO Ultra?
Specifically how do I use it in easy mode to capture a variety of shots for future filmic finessing?
Using the GO Ultra
Filming with the GO Ultra on its own, outside of the pod, by far the best option for action camming.
And when I say easy mode, I mean really easy.
Get the GO Ultra mounted where you want it and click the case once to start filming. It’ll use whatever settings you last left it in.
If the GO Ultra is horizontal it takes footage in landscape. If it is on its side (rotated 90% degrees) it films in vertical mode. For the TokTik.
The camera will vibrate to let you know it’s started filming and little red indicators light up on the front and top edge.
Click the case again to stop.
And that’s about it.
The premium cycling bundle comes with this ring remote, which starts and stops filming if you’ve set the camera up out of reach.
I’ve worn it on my finger, sometimes under my gloves. The promo shots show it mounted on the handlebar drops but I’ve not yet had the nerve to stretch the band enough to get it to fit onto mine.
You can also set it going remotely from the action pod (*or your phone), as well as tweaking any settings and checking you’ve got it pointing at the right angle.
But I’ve expended too much wind on starting and stopping recording, let’s talk about mounting.
The camera. For filming.
The key thing for our memento video (or YouTube video in my case) is getting as much variety as possible.
Before, during and after the ride. A clip at the coffee stop. An intrusive shot of your mate trying to repair a puncture.
On the bike you, or I, want shots from a few different angles, which is where the mounts come in.
The core guy is this magic magnetic lanyard thing. Wear it under your jersey and the GO Ultra snaps to your chest for riding POV shots.
The bundle includes this angle mount which, depending on your riding position, helps direct the camera to avoid excessive focus on your top tube and junk*.
(* My Friday night alternative to netflix und chill.)
The under the clothes pendant thing can also be used, sans angle mount, to capture subtle post-ride man around town shots without looking a selfie stick saddo.
Next we have a flexi-strap mount that allows fixing around your bike pretty much wherever there’s tube. Apart from the wheel.
Attach it to the handlebars for shots forward and to either side. More interestingly, face it backwards to capture the real-time experience of having a connery tackling that 20% wall.
I’ve also tried the flexi-mount lower down, on the seat tube or the seat stays, in order to satisfy the foot fetish crowd. Provided that foot fetish crowd like old broken Specialized shoes from 2013.
In most of these shots you can see the quick release mount, which attaches directly to the back of the GO Ultra, or to the bottom of the Action Pod, and does what it says on the tin.
With said mount, I can quickly move the camera from a chest POV position to the handlebars to a handheld shot, with minimal fuss and only a modest amount of risk that I’ll have an episode and drop it.
There are a couple of grumbles about the mounts.
I struggle to get the GO Ultra into the super snug angle mount without repeatedly setting it recording. Which I later have to delete.
Also the quick release is a new design, which means this one that I came with the Ace Pro, and this premium one I bought, aren’t compatible. Frustrating for those upgrading from a previous model.
Finally, if you’re using the action case, with its standard action cam mount, you can’t get the GO Ultra in or out without fully removing the screw. Which is a bit of a faff but, to be fair, difficult to avoid. Just makes me wish my existing quick release mounts still worked…
The Settings I Use
When selecting camera settings, I mainly solve for ease and ‘just looks good’. I’m no expert and I often get it wrong.
But these are those settings.
For simplicity and smaller file sizes I tend to shoot at 1080p – normal HD – rather than 4K. To show off the GO Ultra’s capabilities, many of the clips in this video are 4K.
I go with 25fps because this most closely matches what your eyes experience – making for a natural effect rather than clips that scream ACTION CAMERA!
Talking of action, I use the ActionView mode for most riding shots. This gives the widest possible shot, taking advantage of the expanded FOV I mentioned earlier.
This shows more of the scenery and gives a blurred effect at the edges, giving the shot more dynamism and speed than my cycling merits.
I go with the Standard colour profile but it’s personal preference. There are numerous options to choose from. By all means pick ‘Vivid’ and I’ll try not to judge you.
Despite earlier casting aspersions on the state of UK roads, I’ll tend towards standard stablisation.
And that’s about it. You don’t need to actively do much to get good looking footage to capture that memorable ride.
Whilst the GO Ultra has all the powerful settings you might need – it even has a flat i-log profile for the pros that want to colour grade – out of the box, with mainly standard and auto settings you can quickly and easily capture clips for your video.
Which is our ultimate aim here.
Putting Together The Video
The final step in our process is to take the selection of clips and trud-polish it into something watchable.
At this point in my shall-we-call-it a workflow, I jump off into my editing software.
If you’re in the capturing memories camp, you’ll want to use the Insta360 app and use the AI editing features.
I am a committed luddite, preferring large screen computer over small screen phone, but in about 20 minutes, I created* a short video, complete with music and transitions. And 15 of those minutes were messing around getting the hang of it.
Select a few clips, or some specific sections of them, arrange them in an order, select a theme and let the app do the rest. Manually tweak if you want or need to. Export. Done.
Say you had a trip in Mallorca, you could film a selection of clips each day, produce a short video each evening over beers, not a heavy lift, and come away from the trip with a nice set of memories with which to excite your lycra pals and bore your significant other.
Here’s a quick one from my GO Ultra footage. I did have to change the music to avoid a copyright penalty on YouTube, but otherwise this is what about 5 minutes of effort, and a distinct lack of editing ability, gets you.
Conclusion
And that’s it. I hoped you enjoyed this quick introduction to the GO Ultra and will consider making short cycling films, even if you don’t plan to YouTube.
If you want to purchase a GO Ultra, there’s a link with my code in the description.
Thanks again to Insta360 for sponsoring this video and for sending me a camera that has already become a mainstay of my filming arsenal.