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Insta360 Luna Ultra and Luna Pro Review (2026): Steady Does It
Not long ago, the idea of a compact, capable, and affordable camera gimbal seemed unfathomable. But then DJI pioneered this space with the Osmo Mobile, a gimbal for filming with your phone, and the Osmo Pocket, a gimbal-camera combo that's proved extremely popular. Now, Insta360 has joined the party with two competing gimbal cameras, the Insta360 Luna Ultra and Luna Pro.
You'd be forgiven for mistaking these Insta360 cameras for the DJI Osmo Pocket 4 and 4 Pro. In fact, the two companies are currently butting heads in a US court over these and other cameras. Oddly, given the lawsuit, neither of DJI's cameras is currently available in the US, which makes Insta360's Luna series a more compelling buy. Throw in great gimbal performance, excellent 4K footage, and, with the Luna Ultra, a zoom lens, and you have probably the best gimbal camera you can buy in the US.
Insta360 launched the Luna Ultra in June. Looking like Wall-E, the Ultra features two lenses: one wide-angle main lens (developed with Leica) and one zoom lens. In September, Insta360 added the Luna Pro, which is largely identical to the Ultra but lacks the second zoom lens. Think of the Pro as the Ultra's budget-friendly version for those who don't mind sacrificing the zoom feature for cost savings.
The two cameras have more in common than they do different, so I'll highlight what they share before I get into what makes the Ultra a touch nicer than the Pro, and, for that matter, the DJI Osmo Pocket 4.
Both Luna models use a 20-mm equivalent lens with a wide, bright f/1.8 aperture. That main lens records to a 1-inch sensor, which means you're effectively shooting at the equivalent of a 20-mm f/5 lens on a full-frame (35-mm) camera.
The main sensor is the same 8K-capable 1-inch sensor found in the Insta360 X6 camera, but the Luna cameras deliver significantly better image quality because of the lens (or lenses, in the Ultra's case). In fact, the video from the Luna is vastly superior in almost every situation I tested, except in bright sunlight, where the Luna Ultra and X6 are roughly equivalent. The Luna's narrower field of view makes for sharper, clearer video. That 8K also means you can shoot with the main camera's digital 2X zoom and still get pretty dang nice 4K footage. On the other hand, the more durable X6 can handle shots you wouldn't want to risk with the more fragile Luna cameras, plus 360-degree photos and videos.
The Ultra's design mirrors what DJI has done for years with the Osmo Pocket series: a handle grip that houses most of the internals, a flip-out screen to turn it on, and a gimbal that holds the camera head at the top. It's a design that works well for filming both yourself and the world in front of you.
The three-axis gimbal not only keeps shots steady, but, as you'd expect, lets you smoothly pan, tilt, and roll without physically moving the entire camera or your body. You can set auto-tracking so the lens follows a subject automatically. The gimbal performed well in my testing, delivering stable shots. I occasionally had to recalibrate if I bumped or jarred it too much, but the process is quick and easy.
What sets Luna apart from the Osmo Pocket 4 is a detachable front panel with the OLED screen, buttons for record, zoom, and pan, plus a microphone. This means you can set up the camera and then use the screen remotely to frame yourself properly and control it from afar (up to approximately 66 feet, according to Insta360). This is extremely useful for anyone filming themselves.
The Luna cameras top out at 4K/120 frames per second (fps) for slow motion, which lags behind the Osmo Mobile 4's 4K/240 fps, but—and this is a big but—the Luna Ultra can shoot 4K/120 fps in log, whereas the Osmo Mobile cannot. If you color-grade and want slow motion, the Luna Ultra is the clear winner.