04/06/2026
The Insta360 Ace Pro 2. Is it street worthy? 🤔
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When someone mentions “street photography camera”, what comes to mind? A compact mirrorless or an early 2000's digicam? Maybe a 35mm film SLR or pocketable point and shoot? There are many options to choose from, but I bet the last thing that comes to mind is an action cam. Well, Insta360 wants to change that with their Ace Pro 2 and Xplorer Grip kit, which turns their little box camera into something that feels like an actual mirrorless camera.
The Ace Pro 2 is an action cam from Insta360, and was co-engineered with a little company called Leica, you might have heard of them. This tiny box does boast some impressive specs: a 1/1.3” 50MP 8K sensor plus the Leica SUMMARIT 13mm F2.6 fixed aperture lens make for some sharp and detailed images, and the powerful dual AI processors take the image quality even further, creating images that can easily give you 20” prints or larger. The camera has an ISO range of 100-6400, and although it lists its shutter speed up to 1/8000, it can achieve speeds over 1/10000 with its electronic shutter (as seen on EXIF data). Images can have a variety of Leica engineered colour profiles applied to them and are saved in either JPEG, DNG, or as a Pure Shot JPEG, which is basically Insta360's proprietary HDR technology applied to the JPEG but it actually looks natural and not overcooked like most other HDR images. The camera gives users a choice between 50MP and 12.5MP images, which not only makes a difference in resolution but also the functionality of the camera, which I will discuss below. One other thing that really did impress me was the 2X digital zoom. I am not a fan of digital zoom, I almost never use it since it can worsen the image quality (IQ) by quite a bit, but in this case it actually looks like an optical zoom and does not noticeably lower the IQ, so for the first time in my life I actually do not mind using a digital zoom on a camera. When it comes to video the Ace Pro 2 delivers 8K at 30 FPS or 4K up to 120 FPS, but I'm not going to expand much more on the video capabilities (which are fantastic) since this is about how well the device functions as a street photography camera. The camera comes equipped with a 2.8” flip up touch screen, and can use proprietary interchangeable lenses and filters, such as close up, ultra wide, cinematic, ND, UV, and CPL.
Sounds like a capable action cam, but what makes the Ace Pro 2 a street photography camera? That would be largely due to the Xplorer Grip cage manufactured by Tilta, which gives the action cam a format and feel similar to that of a smaller digital point and shoot or a Micro Four-Thirds body. Think Ricoh GR or Olympus E-PL series in terms of size, just a bit more boxy. The metal cage itself is extremely sturdy with a pronounced hard rubber grip that makes holding the Ace Pro 2 rather comfortable, something I never thought I would say about an action cam. The cage also features a mechanical cold shoe shutter button, that is basically a lever, or plank of metal, with a cold shoe attachment on one end, and a small protruding bump facing down on the other end. You slide the shutter lever into the cold shoe of the cage, aligning the bump with the actual shutter button on the camera unit, then you can press down on it with slight pressure to take a photo or start a video. It is actually more responsive than I had anticipated, it's a simple concept and it works well.
When I first took the Ace Pro 2 Xplorer kit to the streets, I felt uncertain in its capabilities and performance as a street photography camera. The incredibly sharp 13mm equivalent Leica SUMMARIT super-wide lens was not a focal length I usually work with, and found myself using the 2X digital zoom quite a bit, which would be equal to a focal length I am much more used to and is perfect for street. Any uncertainty I had quickly melted away the more I used the camera and got used to its quirks. Normally, I prefer a camera with a viewfinder (VF) that I can bring up to my eye and compose a shot, but the Ace Pro 2 does not have any options for a VF, so I found myself shooting from the hip more often than eye-level thanks to its bright, high resolution 2.8” tilt screen. I also picked up the optional flip screen hood accessory which helps with reducing glare and increasing visibility in bright sunny days, and it also does a good job keeping the screen protected when you put the camera in your bag or pocket. The combination of the super wide lens, small body, and flip screen made for a naturally stealthy experience that was quite enjoyable. There were times when I was so engrossed in what I was doing that I completely forgot I was using an action cam, and not some small, robust mirrorless camera.
Although my experience with the Ace Pro 2 was overwhelmingly positive, it does have some flaws. The most glaring ones are the slight shutter delay and write speeds when taking photographs in the 50MP mode, especially if you are saving in DNG. What I had gathered from early review videos, the shutter lag problem was much worse at launch, but it seems to have gotten better after a few firmware updates. Personally, I didn't find it to be a huge problem and I was able to easily correct for the fraction of a second lag and capture subjects the way I intended. I suspect Insta360 will continue to iron out this problem with upcoming firmware updates. My other problem with this camera is unfortunately due to its hardware limitations, and that is the write speed and processing. When using the camera in all of its 50MP glory, it will require a few seconds to process and write the image to the card, and add a couple more seconds if you are shooting in DNG. And on top of that, the camera does not allow you access to other functions while it's saving, so you have to wait until it's done before you can do anything else. Switching to 12.5MP and JPEG only does fix this, and although the 12.5MP images are very good (you can still get 8” prints off of them, even with 2X digital zoom), it is a bit disappointing to know you are using a fraction of the cameras imaging capabilities. Again, this did not bother me too much, since my technique of taking photographs is to shoot once at the right moment instead of taking multiple shots at the same time and then choose the best frame later, so I didn't really feel limited by this problem as much as other people seemed to be from other reviews I watched and read.
After some use, I can say that the Ace Pro 2 Xplorer kit is a capable street photography and urban exploration camera. Although it does have a few factors that would put some people off initially, it does grow on you and feels good to use. The image quality from the Leica SUMMARIT lens, 1/1.3” 8K 50MP sensor, and dual AI processors is fantastic and is made even better with Pure Shot and Leica colour profiles. The cage and grip combo feels good to hold, and the lever shutter button makes taking stills easy and effortless. If you can look past the flaws, the Insta360 Ace Pro 2 has a lot to offer street photographers, especially if you are a content creator, or like to add some video to your photography page. It's a great all in one modular multimedia device that goes outside the box with what an action cam can be. Now when someone mentions “street photography camera”, I won't instantly think “action cam”, but it's definitely earned a spot on my shortlist of what I would use for street photography.
