Saturday, December 17, 2016
Turning it off
To turn off the Insta360 Nano, hold down the power button until the green light goes out.
Sunday, December 4, 2016
Data Transmission
In order for Data Transmission to work as outlined in the manual, you have to first press the power button so that a green steady light comes on. With the Insta360 Nano turned off and plugged in with microUSB cable, the unit will just charge, not connect for transferring files. It connects just like a camera and the pictures and videos are found in the DCIM folder as .insp and .insv files.
Viewing 360 pictures and videos
The Insta360 Nano app for iPhone is probably the best way to view pictures and videos taken with the Insta360 Nano camera. It can be found in the iOS App Store.
There is also desktop software for viewing and editing Nano recordings, both for Mac and for Windows. For up-to-date links it is probably better going to the Insta360 Nano download page.
The desktop experience wasn't as compelling as on mobile. It omits the touchscreen drag interface as well as the accelerometer mode where you can move your phone in order to move around the image.
Well what about iPad? That has the benefit of a bigger screen than the phone and while keeping the touchscreen and accelerometer mode options of the iPhone. Well, you can't install the Insta360 Nano app on the iPad. I guess this is because the app has camera controls and the camera doesn't attach to the lightning connector on the iPad because, same problem with the iPhone case, the back is too thick for the Nano to sit against. But don't despair! Insta360 also makes an Insta360Player app, which as the name suggests, plays 360 video and images, but provides no record interface. It's just a player. The App Store page says "Currently supports insp, insv, and mp4, mov, jpg, and png files with a screen ratio of 2:1." Now the insp and insv are the picture and video formats that Insta360 records in. Unfortunately, on my 4th generation iPad, I could not get the insv video files to play back. I don't know if this is an app problem or a my-iPad-is-too-old problem. The videos play back fine in the Insta360 Nano app on my iPhone 7 Plus, so maybe a 2012 iPad is no match for a 2016 iPhone.
Update: Just heard back from Calvin at Inst360 who says that an iPad Air (Core A7) is the minimum required for Insta360 video playback. Which I believe is the first generation iPad Air or the 5th generation iPad, depending how you're counting.
There is also desktop software for viewing and editing Nano recordings, both for Mac and for Windows. For up-to-date links it is probably better going to the Insta360 Nano download page.
The desktop experience wasn't as compelling as on mobile. It omits the touchscreen drag interface as well as the accelerometer mode where you can move your phone in order to move around the image.
Well what about iPad? That has the benefit of a bigger screen than the phone and while keeping the touchscreen and accelerometer mode options of the iPhone. Well, you can't install the Insta360 Nano app on the iPad. I guess this is because the app has camera controls and the camera doesn't attach to the lightning connector on the iPad because, same problem with the iPhone case, the back is too thick for the Nano to sit against. But don't despair! Insta360 also makes an Insta360Player app, which as the name suggests, plays 360 video and images, but provides no record interface. It's just a player. The App Store page says "Currently supports insp, insv, and mp4, mov, jpg, and png files with a screen ratio of 2:1." Now the insp and insv are the picture and video formats that Insta360 records in. Unfortunately, on my 4th generation iPad, I could not get the insv video files to play back. I don't know if this is an app problem or a my-iPad-is-too-old problem. The videos play back fine in the Insta360 Nano app on my iPhone 7 Plus, so maybe a 2012 iPad is no match for a 2016 iPhone.
Update: Just heard back from Calvin at Inst360 who says that an iPad Air (Core A7) is the minimum required for Insta360 video playback. Which I believe is the first generation iPad Air or the 5th generation iPad, depending how you're counting.
Many thanks for your message.The minimum requirement begins with iPad Air(Core A7) then it can run the player normally.iPad Air or advanced model shall work fine with Insta360 player.Best Regards
Naked iPhone problem
One thing that immediately bothered me about the Insta360 Nano to iPhone interface was that I had to remove my iPhone case in order for the Insta360 camera to mount on the iPhone using the lightning connector. I emailed Calvin of Insta360 tech support about this:
So I googled around and found and ordered the DockStubz lightning adapter for $18.95 US at http://cablejive.com/dockstubz/ :
I hope the dockStubz allows me to connect the Insta360 Nano while keeping my iPhone case on!
Update [Dec 17]: The dockStubz is too square for the Insta360 Nano to fit! $44 Canadian dollars wasted! Then Nano is designed to fit snuggly over the iPhone's rounded edge and the dockStubz adapter is all hard square edges around which the Nano will not fit close enough for the lightning connection to take.
Update [Dec 27]: Filed the dockStubz using this nail file, laying the file down on a table and rubbing the dockStubz over it back and forth for a couple of minutes:
And it now fits over the iPhone leather case!
To which Calvin replied:Where can I get an lightning extension. The camera doesn't fit over my Apple leather case.
Sorry the camera need to use without the iPhone case.To which I replied:
Or maybe you need to order an lighting extension of your own.
It is available online or in the shop where you have the phone accessories.
Best Regards
The update at the bottom of this page said it was coming in August:
http://360rumors.blogspot.ca/2016/07/using-insta360-nano- with-smartphone-case.html
"Meanwhile, Insta360 told me that they will have a lightning adapter in August to enable the Nano to connect to iPhones other than the iPhone 6 series. I'm hoping the same adapter will enable me to use the Nano with my case."To which Calvin gave no reply.
So I googled around and found and ordered the DockStubz lightning adapter for $18.95 US at http://cablejive.com/dockstubz/ :
Update [Dec 17]: The dockStubz is too square for the Insta360 Nano to fit! $44 Canadian dollars wasted! Then Nano is designed to fit snuggly over the iPhone's rounded edge and the dockStubz adapter is all hard square edges around which the Nano will not fit close enough for the lightning connection to take.
Update [Dec 27]: Filed the dockStubz using this nail file, laying the file down on a table and rubbing the dockStubz over it back and forth for a couple of minutes:
And it now fits over the iPhone leather case!
Posting videos to Pie
Now why did I first post to Instagram instead of Pie? Well, because I'm familiar with Instagram and know how to post there. The Insta360 Nano app doesn't seem to have a clear posting path to Pie, despite Pie claiming that they are partners. Here's what the export screen in the Insta360 app currently looks like:
As you can see along the bottom, there are buttons for export to Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, WhatsApp and Messenger. But no Pie button. The way I ended up exporting to Pie was clicking the Panoramic button which downloaded the video to my iPhone Camera Roll and from there Pie could access and post.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, these videos seem to look better in the Pie app than they do on the web. Not sure why.
If there's an easier way to post from the Insta360 app to Pie, please let me know.
As you can see along the bottom, there are buttons for export to Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, WhatsApp and Messenger. But no Pie button. The way I ended up exporting to Pie was clicking the Panoramic button which downloaded the video to my iPhone Camera Roll and from there Pie could access and post.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, these videos seem to look better in the Pie app than they do on the web. Not sure why.
If there's an easier way to post from the Insta360 app to Pie, please let me know.
Using the Nano
The instructions also suggest installing a TF card. From the picture in the manual I took this to mean a microSD card. I happened to have a 200 GB card that I wasn't using (because it wasn't fast enoughto run OS X Mountain Lion from) so I inserted it into the bottom of the Nano.
The instructions say "up to 64 GB" but I haven't had a problem with my 200 GB card. Who knows?
So I recorded some video and posted it to Instagram:
Activating the Nano
So I had to fix this problem. First I tweeted:
Then I emailed service@insta360.com:
One minute later Calvin emailed me back:
@insta360 Please help buyer in Canada! "Nano is currently not in the legal sales area and cannot be activated" pic.twitter.com/Fk3OUmvZ4K— Chuck Kahn (@chuckkahn) December 1, 2016
Then I emailed service@insta360.com:
Six hours later Calvin, a technical support engineer at Insta360, emailed me back with instructions to send my receipt and serial number, which I did.I am in Canada. What can't I activate this?
One minute later Calvin emailed me back:
And it was a good day. Because my Insta360 Nano worked.The camera is unlocked now, please try it with iPhone again.Hope you have a good day.
Day One
The camera arrived on Thursday afternoon. I had watched some unboxings and reviews on YoutTube so I thought I knew what I was getting into, but what these videos didn't reveal was that installing the Insta360 app wasn't enough to get started, because first, this screen appeared:
And then after clicking "Activate", this screen appeared:
WTF is a legal sales area?!? Is Canada allowed to buy but not use the Insta360 Nano?
In the beginning...
My path to wanting a 360 degree video camera was born upon discovering the Pie app on Product Hunt. Pie's tagline is "Make and watch 360 videos with your iPhone." I was curious as all these 360 videos in Pie's stream were being created. The videos, featuring the poster's arm extended holding their iPhone while around them was a fully scrollable 360 panorama of their surroundings -- left/right & up/down. I didn't think 360 video hardware could be packed on an iPhone and be so lightweight. It looked like there was some sort of hardware attached to the top of their camera.
And there it was in the Pie demo video:
(Note: the 360 videos look more impressive on the Pie app than they do on the web.)
So I googled for this 360 camera. It was called the Insta360 Nano. And it was available on Amazon Canada for $252 -- so I ordered it, and it arrived the next day...
And there it was in the Pie demo video:
(Note: the 360 videos look more impressive on the Pie app than they do on the web.)
So I googled for this 360 camera. It was called the Insta360 Nano. And it was available on Amazon Canada for $252 -- so I ordered it, and it arrived the next day...
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)