As part of the launch for the Insta360 Luna Ultra, the company held a major event in Wetzlar, Germany – and in attendance was Max Richter, the company's co-founder.
While the Luna was the main attraction, with the event taking place at the home of Leica – a brand which defined portable cameras – I couldn't help but remember that, in the last few months, we have also seen and heard some other very interesting rumors from Insta360.
Namely the possibility of a compact camera, perhaps even with an interchangeable lens (ILC).
I asked Richter if he could share any information about those rumors and, to my surprise, he was a little more forthcoming than you might expect.
While I didn't walk away with the product name, Richter definitely leaves me with the strong impression that something like that is in the roadmap.
"It doesn't end here – in the future you can expect more also on the traditional photography camera space."
Wow. No cameras are more traditional than Leica's, so I then asked him if the company that owned the hotel we were meeting in ought to be a little worried.
Insta360 has had an engineering partnership with Leica for seven years, resulting in several co-branded products, though I have heard the term "Legacy company" used to describe one of the greatest names in the history of photography more than once.
He reassures me (and Leica): "No, I don't think [they should be worried]. They are a close partner and we can't announce any details, but Insta360 has a bigger vision to become one of the world's leading content creation tools, and really we get there step by step."
He talked about having first met the Leica team in 2019 at CES, and the "legacy" he says is paired with a "young upcoming technology company". He talks about Insta360 learning a lot about "imaging excellence and internal processes" from Leica.
There was also an Antigravity A1 drone on display. Antigravity isn't technically Insta360, but the company was 'incubated' by it and Richter seemed very knowledgeable about the drone when I asked.
I was especially interested, after the launch of the DJI Avata 360, whether there would be an alternate controller for the A1 drone that didn't require FPV goggles. This is an option for DJI customers and sidesteps the need for a second person to join you when using the drone for safety reasons.
"We get a lot of market feedback for this," he tells me. And, after considering his words, lets me know that "we definitely listen to market feedback," but he can't announce anything just yet.
It would seem a sensible move, though, especially as new drones are still difficult in the USA – but accessories aren't an issue.
Which gets us on to the wider global prospects for Insta360 and some of the company's other interesting products – like special editions of the kind that used to come from Japan.
"If you are community user, driven and bold enough to bring the ideas to life, there is tremendous opportunity."
He cited the Ace Pro 2 Explorer bundle that creates a point-and-shoot camera – a concept he says is doing well in Asia-Pacific and was a DIY idea from Facebook.
"It's in our DNA that we're very user-centric… still our founder, JK [Liu Jingkang], is very active on Facebook, he still checks the Reddit comments, so we're very very community driven."
So that might just be the answer. Keep asking the forums and, eventually, you can get anything you need!
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