Because of its features and small size, the Insta360 ONE RS 1-inch 360 Edition is a great choice for recording underwater 360 photos and videos: it’s capable, affordable, portable, easy to use and reliable. The dual 1-inch sensors of the offer exceptional dynamic range and low noise even in very low light. The result: stunning 6K 360-degree underwater videos and 21MP photos.

This guide explains what equipment you need to shoot underwater 360 with the Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition, and how to set everything up.

Recommended equipment for shooting underwater 360

There’s a few things we need other than the camera:

• Camera: Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition (up to 6K recordings)

• Spare vertical battery: Insta360 ONE RS Vertical Battery Base (One battery lasts for 1 hour continuous recording)

• Memory card: Sandisk Extreme Pro microSDXC 128GB (Can store 2 hours recording at 6K-30)

• Underwater housing: Mantis RS360 (rated to 250m / 820ft depth)

• A Monopod/Tripod and a way of attaching it to the housing. For example:

  • Best360 Monopod

  • Ultralight AD-1420 1” ball mount with o-ring and removeable stud (2x)

  • Ultralight ball clamp

Preparing the Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition for diving

The Insta360 ONE RS 1-inch Edition includes a mounting bracket that holds the three modules (lens, core and battery). For better heat transfer and stitching performance, the Mantis RS360 housing was designed to work without the mounting bracket. Please follow these steps to remove it:

Recommended camera settings for shooting underwater 360 video

We’ve tried all settings and determined that the following configuration provides the best results when shooting underwater 360 with the Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition:

Recording mode (swipe right from left edge of screen):

• Recording mode: Video

Video mode (tap on bottom edge of screen):

• Video mode: 6K 2:1/30

  • The camera will record at 5888x2880 pixels

  • To record at 6144x3072 pixels change the framerate to 25fps

Configuration settings (swipe down from top edge of screen):

• Quick capture: On

• Indicator light: On

  • This is necessary to see the recording status. The light is not visible in the recording.

• Sharpness: Low

• Brightness: Low

• Voice control: Off

• Automatic screen rotation: On

• WiFi: Auto On/Off

• Screen auto sleep during recording: On

Recording settings (swipe left from right edge of screen):

• Color: Standard

• Shutter: Auto (1/100s in Manual mode)

• ISO: Auto (1600MAX in Manual mode)

• Ev: 0.0

• WB: 6500k

• Isolated Exposure: Off

Notes:

• Quick Capture is required for the housing button to work as designed.

• The indicator light is required to see the recording status during recording.

• Sharpness: Low settings means no artificial sharpening is applied to the image during recording.

• Voice control, WiFi: Auto On/Off, and Screen Auto Sleep are settings to safe battery life.

• The side with the screen will be the forward direction in the recording and show in the center.

Installing the camera into the Mantis RS360 housing

After the camera is set up and battery fully charged, it’s time to put it into the housing. One feature we love about the Insta360 One RS is that it doesn’t drain the battery quickly when turned off. This allows us to prepare everything at the dive base and helps avoid accidents when setting this up in a rush on a busy dive boat.

Pay special attention to the following items:

Performing pre-dive checks

Before jumping into the water we want to make sure we haven’t forgotten anything. The following list checks all important points to make sure everything works as expected:

1. Confirm the Insta360 ONE RS is charged and properly seated

2. Confirm the USB-C port plug is installed on the camera’s charge port. If the port plug is not available we recommend to cover the port with electrical tape, in case any drops of water fall into the housing during opening.

3. Confirm the O-ring is in place, undamaged, and free of debris.

4. Confirm the O-ring is not getting pinched while the housing is closed.

5. Confirm both latches are fully closed.

6. Press the housing button to power on the Insta360 ONE RS and start recording

7. Observe display to confirm that the Insta360 ONE RS is starting up and recording.

8. Confirm the status LED on the back is blinking red to show the camera is recording.

9. Press the housing button to stop recording and turn off the Insta360 ONE RS.

Recording underwater video with the Insta360 One RS 1-Inch 360 Edition

As a rule of thumb, try to align the front and back of the camera with points of interest, and the sides (where the stitch line will be) with open water.

It’s important to remember that the camera’s side showing the screen will be the forward direction in the recording. For most applications you’ll therefor want to ensure that the screen is facing away from you during recording. You will then see the REC light facing you.

Underwater, color and detail decrease very quickly with distance, so make sure to get close to your subject. But if the subject is too close the video can be uncomfortable to watch, particularly with VR goggles. As a rule of thumb, we recommend a distance of 1m/3ft for smaller animals and plants, and 2m/7ft for larger animals or structures.

That’s also more comfortable for the animals as we don’t want to stress them unnecessarily.

Starting a recording

With the Mantis RS360 housing it’s very easy to start a recording underwater:

1. Press the housing button to turn on the camera and start recording.

2. Observe display to confirm Insta360 ONE RS is starting.

3. Confirm the recording LED is blinking red to show the camera is recording. The recording LED is shown on the other side from the camera screen. This is usually the side facing you during recording.

4. The side with the screen is the forward direction in the recording and show in the center.

Stopping a recording

It’s also easy to stop a recording.

1. Press the button to turn on camera and start recording.

2. Observe display to confirm Insta360 ONE RS has received the command.

3. Confirm the status LED has stopped blinking.

With the camera off, no more battery is being used until you start another recording.

Post-dive checklist

After the dive is before the next dive! Follow these tips to make sure you can enjoy your camera and housing for many years:

1. Place the enclosure inside the provided neoprene bag to protect the domes while getting out of the water.

2. Rinse the enclosure with fresh water after use and place it in a bucket or similar for half an hour before opening.

3. Wipe the housing with a towel and hold it upright when releasing the latches, so that no water can drip inside.

4. Place the housing on a soft cloth to remove the camera.

5. Charge the camera and make a backup of the card.

   • Please use a 5V/2A power adapter to charge your ONE RS.

   • If the battery is not connected to the RS core module it can only be charged with a USB-A to USB-C cable.

6. If you notice any salt build-up on the housing, you can remove it easily with a little bit of vinegar and a soft cloth or nylon brush.

7. Don’t close the latches when storing the housing for a longer time because it can wear out the spring.

8. Store the camera and housing in a dry place and away from the sun.

Stitching with Insta360 Studio

Insta360 provides the free Insta360 Studio 2023 for macOS and Windows which can stitch the video from the two lenses into equirectangular 360, tiny planet, crystal ball. and re-framed “regular” video. You can download Insta360 Studio from the One RS download page.

Insta360 Studio has limited stitching and color correction settings, but they are quite useful and can produce good results. Here are the settings that we found worked best for us:

• Stitching: Normal

• Stitching Optimization: Optical Flow Stitching

• Stitching calibration: Do not calibrate. Or reset calibration.

• Image Processing: Aqua Vision 2.0

  • Hue: between -40 and +40

  • Strength: between 50 and 70

Insta360 Studio export settings for 360 video

• VR goggles:

  • Resolution: default, e.g. 5888x2944

  • Bitrate: 120Mbps

  • Encoding Format: H.265

• YouTube VR:

  • Resolution: 7680x3840 (YouTube no longer processes 6K video, only 4K and 8K)

  • Bitrate: 120Mbps

  • Encoding Format: H.264

• Further editing:

  • Resolution: default, e.g. 5888x2944

  • Bitrate: 200 Mbps

  • Encoding Format: H.264 or ProRes 422

Enjoy your dive with the Insta360 ONE RS 1-Inch 360 Edition!