Insta360 Luna Ultra: Ultra Telephoto Lens, Stage Mode, new firmware

Insta360 has released a new Ultra Telephoto Lens for its Luna Ultra gimbal camera, as well as a free firmware update adding Stage Mode, 15x zoom, and 4K vertical video.

Insta360 has released a new Ultra Telephoto Lens for its Luna Ultra gimbal camera, alongside an impressive-looking firmware update that makes it more capable in more scenarios. This adds enhanced telephoto capabilities, a new Stage Mode, 4K Vertical Video, and other shooting features.

The new lens extends optical range by 1.5× and attaches via a snap-on magnetic mount. covering the main camera lens. This extends the camera's range to 90mm to 450mm with the new firmware.

In-camera zoom increases from 12× to 15×, equivalent to 300mm, powered by Luna Ultra's dual imaging chips, while AI Remosaic reconstructs detail lost during digital cropping. 15× zoom is available in Video, PureVideo, Stage Mode, and Photo, with 4K30 recommended.

Stage Mode and Stage Audio

The new Stage Mode is designed for long-distance shooting at concerts, festivals, theaters, and other live events. It includes dedicated image processing for keeping on top of focus and exposure in complex stage lighting situations, face-specific filtering to reduce interference from objects such as glow sticks, and tuned exposure and white balance for coping with event lighting. A tracking model trained on concert footage improves subject recognition and reacquisition at high zoom in low light.

It also adds two new audio modes, Stage Audio (focused on the stage) and Ambient Audio (stage plus venue atmosphere), and can be paired with the Ultra Telephoto Lens. Users can also capture Live Frame photos while recording in Stage Mode without stopping recording, which is a useful new feature. Zoom Live adds smooth zoom-in shots to Live Frame capture. Live Frame photos now support simultaneous Beauty Mode effects and cinematic filters.

4K vertical

4K Vertical Video supports 4K30 vertical shooting via 6K oversampling, and is triggered by simply rotating the gimbal’s screen to shoot vertically. It doesn’t provide quite the same performance as landscape shooting, however. It supports up to 6× zoom, with only up to 3× currently recommended (Insta360 explains that telephoto image quality at 3–6× zoom is still being optimized ahead of official release).

Pricing and availability

The firmware update is available now for free for Luna Ultra users via the Insta360 app. The new Luna Ultra Zoom Bundle includes everything in the $769 Standard Bundle plus a Carry Bag and the Ultra Telephoto Lens, priced at $889.