Good day folks, Shawn here from Air Photography. This is my beginner’s guide for the brand new Insta360 Luna Ultra. If you’ve never used a camera like this before, or perhaps you’re coming from a more traditional action camera, I’m going to go over everything you need to know about it, how to use it, and get you out and capturing with your new camera.

Getting Started with My New Insta360 Luna Ultra

I’m not going to go over every single detail of the Luna Ultra in this video. I’m going to stick to the basics, things that you need to know about the hardware and the functionality. You can watch the full walkthrough in my original video here.

Which Luna Ultra Package Should You Choose?

If you haven’t purchased the Luna Ultra yet, there are a few different packages you can choose from. There’s a basic package, and here’s everything you get in it: the camera, a hard-shelled protective case, a wrist strap, a charging cable, and a tripod base. This base essentially attaches to the bottom of the camera and gives you a small tripod, just enough to set it down and keep it stable if you’re filming on a desk. It also gives you a 1/4-20 thread at the bottom, so if you want to attach the camera to other accessories like extension poles or a wider, more stable tripod, you can do so from that attachment point.

Another popular package is the creator combo. You get everything from the basic package — the camera, hard shell case, bottom tripod base, charging cable, and wrist strap — but in addition, you get a wireless microphone that connects directly to the camera, a wide-angle lens to increase your field of view, and a carrying case where everything fits nicely. On top of that, you get an extra battery handle. It’s similar to the tripod base but slightly bigger, with the same built-in tripod and 1/4-20 thread on the bottom, but it also has a battery built in that gives you extended recording time when attached.

One thing to keep in mind: if you start with the base kit (camera only), a lot of these accessories can be added later. Insta360 also sells extra accessories for the Luna separately, including the microphones.

A Tour of the Hardware

Let’s take a quick look around the hardware and how everything works. The hard shell case has a button on the side to open it. You want the screen side facing down when you place the camera in, and it shuts with a click. There are two storage spots inside — one for the wide-angle lens, which is held in magnetically, and one for the optional black mist filter lens. There’s also a spot at the top to store your microphone, which clips down inside.

If your kit came with the wide-angle lens, it connects magnetically and will only go on one way. It’s only for the standard camera and slightly increases your field of view if that’s a priority for your shots.

Now let’s look at the microphone. When you purchase it, it comes with a wind screen, which you should definitely use if you’re filming outside to cut down on unwanted wind noise. By default there’s a clip on it for attaching it, but you can remove the clip to use the included magnet instead, which makes it easy to pin to your clothing. I’ve already created a whole video about these Mic Pro transmitters from Insta360, but in short: there’s a power button you press and hold to turn it on, and a record button so you can use it independently as a field recorder at any time. The big feature of the Insta360 Mic Pro is that you can change the front face using its E Ink display — right now mine just says “Insta360,” but in the app there are different graphics you can choose, and you can even upload your own custom graphics or photos.

On the camera itself, the front screen is also a touch screen for adjusting settings, and it’s one way to power the camera on — just rotate it and the camera powers on, rotate it back and it powers off. The other way is to press and hold the shutter button (the one with the red dot). Down at the bottom there are buttons: the shutter button for starting and stopping recording, and two joysticks. The one on the right controls zoom level. The one on the left is a 5D joystick — press up, down, side to side, and it’s also a button with various functions I’ll cover shortly.

Below the screen are two shortcut buttons you can program to do different tasks. At the bottom is a USB-C port for transferring data and charging. On the back is a removable windscreen for the built-in microphones. There’s also a rubber door for installing memory, which I’ll cover in a minute.

One of the really big features of the Luna Ultra is its removable front plate. There’s a button on each side, and when you press them, the whole front face pulls right off and becomes a remote. You can power the camera on while it’s detached and have full use of all the controls — it even has a built-in microphone at the top, so your camera can be mounted away from you and you’ll still pick up audio if you’re talking.

Memory Storage and Charging

The Luna Ultra does not come with a memory card, but it does have 47GB of built-in internal memory. It also has a memory card slot so you can expand storage further. That 47GB will get you some recording time, but it fills up fairly quickly depending on how much capturing you plan on doing, so I do recommend picking up a memory card. I’m using a 512GB Insta360-branded card, though a lot of brands will work — my favorite is usually SanDisk Extreme Pro. I’d probably recommend a 256GB or 128GB card. To insert it, open the side door, with the graphic side facing down, and slide it in until it clicks. In the menu system you can switch back and forth between built-in memory and the memory card for where you want to record your footage.

Charging the Luna is extremely simple — plug the included USB-C cable (or any USB-C cable) into the bottom. A graphic on screen shows how much power is in the Luna and, separately, how much is in the remote, because the Luna keeps the detachable remote charged without you having to plug it in separately. If you have the battery handle attached, it will charge both the handle and the Luna at the same time through USB-C, and you can also charge the handle independently. One thing that does not come with the Luna Ultra is a charging brick — you’ll need to provide your own standard USB-C charger. I like the Anker 65-watt charger for this kind of gear. The Luna supports quick charging, getting to about 80% in roughly 20 minutes.

Activating and Updating the Firmware

Before you can use the Luna, you need to activate it and update the firmware, and the easiest way to do that is through the Insta360 app. You don’t need the app to use the Luna once it’s updated, but it’s a great companion app that I’ll cover later in this video. I can’t demonstrate the activation process since mine is already activated, but essentially you power on the camera, follow the language prompt, and connect it to the Insta360 app. The app should detect your Luna right away — if not, tap the camera icon or check under “other devices” for the Luna label, then tap connect and confirm on the camera screen. It’ll prompt you to join Wi-Fi, go through activation, and download the latest firmware, which takes about five minutes depending on your internet speed and how busy Insta360’s servers are.

Breaking Down the On-Screen Menu System

At the top right of the screen is a quick visual reference of your battery — tap it to see the Luna’s charge and the remote’s charge separately. At the top left is your remaining storage, shown as recording time based on your current settings (for example, 4K30 might show 18 hours and 40 minutes). On the left-hand side in the middle is the icon for automatic tracking, which I’ll cover shortly. At the bottom left is the mode icon (video, photo, time-lapse, etc.) — you can also switch modes by tapping the center of the screen and swiping. For every mode, Insta360 plays a short video showing you what it does, along with a description.

At the bottom of the screen you’ll see your resolution and frame rate, which you can tap to adjust. You can set resolution, frame rate, and aspect ratio (16:9, a more cinematic ratio, or square), and switch between landscape and portrait orientation. There’s also a rotate button to flip the camera between forward and reverse facing, which can also be done with the joystick.

Above that is your zoom level — tap to step through 1x, 2x, 3x, 6x, and up to 12x, or use the sliding joystick on the side, which jumps through the same levels with a press, or zooms smoothly with a press-and-hold. At 12x the camera also functions almost like a macro lens for close-up footage.

Swiping down from the top brings up the main menu, broken into a few categories. This is where you switch between SD card and internal storage for recording, and where you’ll find storage management for formatting (which deletes everything, so make sure your content is transferred first). There’s also a settings panel for things like beauty mode, filters, and Pro Mode, which lets you fine-tune white balance, exposure, and color profiles. Swiping from the left brings up the playback menu, where you can preview footage, adjust playback audio, delete clips, check the settings used for a shot via the three-dot menu, and filter or batch-select footage between internal storage and the memory card.

Three Ways to Start Recording

There are three different ways to start a capture. The most common is the shutter button — a quick press starts recording, another press stops it. The Luna also supports gesture control, which is handy when the camera is mounted away from you and facing toward you. You have to enable it first in the settings menu under gesture control; once enabled, a hand icon appears on screen, and you can give a palm gesture to start recording or a peace sign to take a photo.

If your camera isn’t facing you, that’s where the removable remote comes in — detach it and you can start and stop recording or adjust settings from wherever you are. The third method is quick capture, which starts recording automatically as soon as you power the camera on. This has to be enabled in the menu too, and it’s handy when something happens quickly and you don’t have time to power on and dial in settings — though I wouldn’t leave it enabled all the time, since every power-on will start a recording.

Shooting in Vertical: Three Different Methods

For creators capturing for both widescreen platforms and short-form vertical content, the Luna Ultra gives you a few options. The first is tapping the resolution settings and selecting landscape or portrait — note that filming in portrait this way caps your resolution at 3K, which is still more than adequate for social media. The second option is “self adapt,” which automatically switches between landscape and portrait recording based on how you’ve rotated the screen — landscape stays at 4K, and rotating to portrait switches you to 3K. With self-adapt enabled, the camera won’t auto-power-off as you switch orientations, so you’ll want to use the shutter button to power off manually when you’re done.

The third method, and the one to use if you want maximum resolution, is what Insta360 calls “true vertical” — simply turn the camera on its side. You’ll get a message confirming true vertical shooting mode, and you can still shoot in 4K or even switch up to 8K. The only adjustment is that the gimbal’s range of motion feels a little different in this orientation, so it takes some getting used to.

Using the Joystick and Customizable Buttons

The joystick moves the camera up, down, and side to side. When filming handheld, it’s not all that useful since you can just move the camera by hand, but it’s great when the camera is mounted and stationary, or when you’ve detached the front screen and are using it as a remote. A single press on the joystick starts tracking, a double press recenters the gimbal, and a triple press rotates the gimbal.

The two buttons below the screen can be customized for a single press or double press, based on whatever makes sense for your workflow. By default, a single press on the left button rotates the camera, and a single press on the right brings up filters. You can change these behaviors under “customize buttons” in the settings menu.

How Subject Tracking Works

One of the most useful features on a handheld camera like this is tracking — not just for vlogging and locking onto your face, but for mounting the camera stationary and having it lock onto and follow other subjects. There are a few ways to start tracking: tap the auto-tracking icon on the left side of the screen and hit start, and the camera finds the most prominent subject (object or person) in frame. You can also adjust where in the frame it keeps that subject using the grid overlay and joystick, which is handy if you want to follow the rule of thirds. A single press of the joystick will also start tracking on the prominent subject, and double-tapping directly on a subject — a person, pet, object, or vehicle — works too. To stop tracking, just tap the screen or the joystick again.

Adjusting Gimbal Modes

In the settings menu there’s a gimbal modes section with a few options, each with its own description and preview showing what it does — some keep the camera locked forward, others allow full range of motion, and there’s an FPV mode if you want more creative tilting. Each mode also has a follow-speed sub-setting (slow, medium, or fast). Medium works well for most situations; I switch to fast when chasing my RC vehicles or filming fast action, and slow when I want smooth, cinematic footage. You can also adjust joystick speed in this same menu.

Setting Up the Mic Pro

If you buy the creator combo, it comes with an Insta360 Mic Pro transmitter. If you bought just the base camera, you can purchase the transmitters separately later, and you can actually connect two microphones to the Luna at once. As mentioned, these use E Ink technology for the face, so you can customize the look, and since it’s E Ink, it uses no power to display the graphic even when the device is off. If you already own a Mic Air — Insta360’s earlier microphone — that’s also compatible with the Luna Ultra, but this video focuses on the Mic Pro since it’s the better mic and the one included with the creator combo.

When you first purchase the Mic Pro, you may need to update its firmware before connecting it to the camera — that was the case with mine, though yours may already be more up to date. To update it, make sure the mic is charged using its USB-C cable, then launch the Insta360 app and power on the mic by pressing and holding its power button. Tap the camera icon in the app to connect, but note the mic won’t show up until you put it into pairing mode with a triple press of the power button. Once it appears, tap to connect and confirm on the device. If your firmware is out of date, the app will prompt you to update before showing the settings page. From there you can tap “custom setting” to change the wallpaper graphic, choosing from Insta360’s pre-made designs or uploading your own.

To pair the mic with the camera itself (separate from the app), power the mic on, then on the Luna swipe to the wireless mic menu, which has two slots for two microphones. Put the mic into pairing mode with a triple press, then select “microphone 1” (or “microphone 2” for a second mic) on the Luna and it’ll find and connect. You only need to do this pairing once — after that, turning on the mic will auto-connect it to the camera, and you’ll see a new audio meter at the top of the screen confirming the connection.

A few mic functions worth knowing: a single press of the power button while connected acts as a remote shutter to start and stop recording. A double press toggles noise cancellation, isolating your voice and cutting background noise (the indicator light changes color). Avoid a triple press while it’s already connected, since that puts it back into pairing mode. When you power the mic off, the camera automatically falls back to its built-in microphones.

As I mentioned earlier, the detachable front plate can also serve as a wireless microphone when removed — the screen will prompt you to switch to touchscreen remote audio reception, and once enabled you’ll see a green audio meter confirming it’s active.

PureVideo Mode for Low Light

Among the many shooting modes on the Luna Ultra, PureVideo is worth highlighting — it’s essentially the low-light or night mode. If you’re filming a dark interior, at night, during twilight, sunrise, sunset, or under a dark tree canopy, PureVideo will noticeably improve your footage thanks to the camera’s 1-inch sensor, mechanical stabilization, and AI processing from its three AI chips that help reduce noise.

Using the Insta360 App and Transferring Footage

You don’t need the Insta360 app to use the camera — some people only use it to update firmware — but it’s a handy extension of your setup. Once connected, the app shows the content currently stored on the device (you can switch between SD card and internal storage), lets you preview clips, and makes it simple to transfer footage to your phone or tablet. It also has built-in editing tools, shot labs, and pre-made templates, some with AI-assisted editing, which I may cover in a separate video. You can also use the app as a live-preview remote, with a virtual joystick to move the camera around and full access to your settings.

For transferring footage, you can also pull the memory card and use a card reader through USB-C — though that only works for memory-card content, not the internal storage. Alternatively, you can plug the whole unit directly into your iPhone, iPad, or tablet via USB-C, and the Luna will show up as a drive you can browse and copy files from. It comes down to personal preference and whatever method works best for you.

Wrapping Up

That’s my beginner’s guide for the Insta360 Luna Ultra. We’ve covered the basics to get you up and running with your camera. I’m planning more detailed videos on specific modes, because this camera is actually pretty powerful and has a lot of capabilities — including some really nice time-lapse and hyperlapse tools that I’ll save for a separate video. If you’re interested in this camera, stay tuned for those. Thanks a lot for watching, and I’ll see you in the next one.

This article is based on a video from Air Photography‘s YouTube channel. For more of Shawn’s content on DroneXL, visit his author page.