Insta360 Ace Pro 2 Travel Camera Review: Two Weeks in Greece

Characterful home in Ano Petali, Leica Natural, Sifnos, Greece, Insta360 Ace Pro2

Vintage Camera Vibes in an Action Cam?

My initial impressions review of the Insta360 Ace Pro 2 as a stills camera has become the most-read article on Yarko On The Go this year. That first test left me intrigued: the Ace Pro 2 was fun, versatile and capable of surprisingly characterful photos, but its shutter lag, ergonomics and image-quality quirks kept it from truly replacing a dedicated point-and-shoot.

Several months, a few firmware updates and a few plane tickets later, I took the Ace Pro 2 to Greece for a more demanding test: could it actually work as a travel camera for two weeks abroad?

I brought backup. The Ace Pro 2 shared my camera bag with a Leica M10-R and Ricoh GR III while travelling through Athens, Sifnos and Milos. That gave me the chance to use it for street photography, landscapes, family snapshots, video and eventually scuba diving—and, more importantly, to see which camera I actually reached for when a photograph presented itself.

So, can the Insta360 Ace Pro 2 replace a traditional travel camera? Not quite. But after two weeks with it, I think its strengths as a compact hybrid travel camera are considerably more interesting than I first gave it credit for.

Guess I wasn’t that subtle. Woman exits a cafe, Kastro, Sifnos, Greece, Insta360 Ace Pro 2

Ace Pro 2 as a Travel Camera: At a Glance

Travel-camera consideration	My experience
Daylight stills	Good, especially for social and web use
Leica JPEG profiles	Characterful; Leica Natural was my preferred travel profile
Battery life	Excellent with the Xplorer Grip Pro
Portability	Great in a sling; a little bulky in a shorts pocket
Shutter response	Still slower than a dedicated compact camera
Low-light stills	A clear weakness
Video	One of the strongest reasons to carry it
Water and rugged use	A major advantage over my traditional cameras
Replace a GR III?	No—but it makes an excellent secondary travel camera.

Still Life in an alley, Ano Petali, Sifnos, Greece, Insta360 Ace Pro 2

Cameras, cameras everywhere

One of the first things I noticed on this trip to Europe was the cameras and in particular -point-and-shoots. The hype is plentiful online regarding the resurgence of the camera (vs the smartphone) for photography, but it was quite reassuring to see the shift playing out before my eyes. Of course the Fuji X100Vi was prevalent, but with it other Ricohs, Canons, and more including the fresh out-of-the-box Leica D-Lux8 in my wife’s hands. (A birthday present received just a week before we flew). They weren’t all new either, some of the little digital cameras I saw were 10+ years old and others were shooting film. Cool!

It makes sense then that Insta360 would find it attractive to market one of their flagship action cams as an entrant in the burgeoning renaissance of dedicated cameras, but does it belong in that pack, or is it a pretender in point-and-shoot clothing? What follows is a distilled perspective of the strengths and weaknesses of the Ace Pro 2 for shooting stills on vacation.

Woman descends the stairs, Kastro, Sifnos, Greece, Insta360 Ace Pro 2

Where the Ace Pro 2 Shines as a Travel Camera

Size and Travel Portability

For the first time in my travels, I decided to bring a sling bag to pair with a backpack on this trip. The Bellroy Lite Sling was the pouch of choice along with the Bellroy Lite Travel Pack 30L on my back. The Ace Pro 2 with Xplore Grip Pro easily fit in the sling along with my usual every day carry items including the Ricoh GRiii, giving me an opportunity to easily choose which camera to shoot with. (At times I even had my Leica on my neck strap as well, but frankly things started to get heavy and unwieldy at that point.) The Ace Pro 2 was easy to take in and out of the bag quickly, though the lack of cover for the lens protector occasionally made me nervous about scratches. My solution? - A wrist sweat-band I brought along and stretched over the camera when in the pouch. Not an elegant solution perhaps, but an effective one it turned out. To be fair, the flimsy automatic lens protector on the Ricoh doesn’t inspire a ton of confidence that it’ll survive bumping along in a pouch with other items either.

In a pocket however; the Ace Pro 2 does feel a bit bulky, particularly in the pockets of a light pair of shorts, which is what I wore the entire trip as it was 36 degrees C every single day! (Packing pants was a waste of space, it turned out). There are some other challenges with pocket-ability that I touch on later in the article.

Battery Life with the Xplorer Grip Pro

On the days I focused on the Ace Pro 2 for photography, I rarely had a situation where power got low enough to need a battery swap. With the Xplorer Pro Grip fully charged, there’s plenty of juice to take me through a day of still shooting even with some video thrown in as well. In stark contrast, I typically bring 3 spare batteries for my Ricoh GRiii for a dedicated day of photography. So, top points for battery life from me.

Ease of Use

Power it on and shoot! This is what the point & shoot ethos is all about and when travelling it just makes so much sense. One doesn’t always have a free-hand for manual focus or even to balance a larger camera to help compose a shot, for that matter. The Ace Pro 2 is easy to shoot horizontally and vertically, and I found myself doing the latter more often than you might expect given the availability of wide crop options. it also looks enough like a “regular camera” that nobody really bats an eye at it as you snap away throughout the day. Switching off the front panel indicator light and display aids in increasing the subtlety of the camera -particularly as daylight begins to fade.

Textures catching my eye outside a shop in Kastro, Sifnos, Greece, Insta360 Ace Pro2

Leica JPEG Profiles for Travel Photography

For the purpose of this trip, I focused almost entirely on the Leica Natural profile for my Ace Pro 2 JPEGs. On the camera screen, the images display a slightly nostalgic saturated colour palette with decent sharpness and dynamic range. These generally, but not always, coincided with what I’d see when I sent the images to my phone, though on the laptop, or Mac Studio sized screen, the limitations of the image quality begin to show themselves. If you’re sharing your photos mostly on socials, the output is often adequate and needed minimal editing if any to get to a point I was happy with. To me, these JPEGs remind me of some old film stocks I shot in the past, such as Agfa Vista, although the tonal contrast and gradient here seems a bit less refined, almost cartoonish at times, but with some sense of charm.

Colourful fishing boat homes in Milos, Insta 360 Ace Pro 2

Zoom and Field of View

While prime lenses are my weapon of choice, there’s something to be said for being able to zoom in on a subject or scene. I didn’t always remember the function was there (as neither of my other cameras offer this feature), but if I was mindful of it I think I would have made more use of it. (The toggle is on the front of the shutter button mount)

There are multiple fields of view as well from De-Warp to Linear to Megaview and more. I generally tried to stick to the FOV that gave me the least distortion, which best suits my style of photography. That said, there’s a lot of fun and creativity to explore with the other settings depending on your surroundings.

Why the Ace Pro 2 Works as a Hybrid Travel Camera

Decent stills and video in the same compact yet robust package? The thesis sort of writes itself for travel use, doesn’t it. It may not be the absolute best at both, but it’s not bad either. It’s durable enough that you’re not too stressed taking it to the beach, on a boat, or even for a swim -but not with the grip mounted! On that last note, a follow-up article from this trip on the Ace Pro 2 as a scuba-diving camera is coming soon! I’m definitely not doing that with the other two cameras…

Vespas and blue-domed Churches, must be Greece, Insta 360 Ace Pro 2

Church of the Seven Martyrs, Kastro, Sifnos, Greece, Insta360 Ace Pro 2

Katro, Sifnos — Home with a view, Kastro, Sifnos, Greece, Insta 360 Ace Pro 2

“If you’re sharing your photos mostly on socials, the output is often adequate and needed minimal editing if any to get to a point I was happy with.”

— Yarko

Where the Ace Pro 2 Struggles for Travel Photography

Image Quality: Resolution, Fringing and Blooming

This camera is not for the pixel-peepers, but is it fair to call that a struggle? In the occasional arms-race that is camera specs, it can dissuade some people, and if you like to print your photos, or look at them on larger screens, then this camera is not going to astound you. That doesn’t mean the images can’t be characterful, or “good”, but if low grain a lack of fringing and high sharpness are of key importance, this isn’t the tool you’re looking for.

This water was surprisingly dirty, Milos, Greece, Insta360 Ace Pro 2

Lens Flare

Occasionally, lens flare (where bright light enters a camera lens and reflects internally off glass, coatings, sensors etc. creating streaks or circles of light) can be used with great artistic effect, but in general most folks attempt to avoid it in their images. With the Ace Pro 2, particularly facing the sun (of course), it would occasionally create blocky or blobby unattractive streaks in the image. My guess is this is the fault of the protective lens cover rather than the lens, but it’s not the easiest component to remove/install and so once it’s on it’s generally left alone. Be mindful of your angles shooting in the direction of a bright light source and you’ll be fine, though it’s not always easy to spot it as you’re composing on your screen in bright surroundings.

Heat!

This camera gets hot! Leaving it on (as one does) while walking around allows the camera to begin building up quite a bit of heat which is felt primarily on the back where the screen is. It was enough that it was uncomfortable to put the camera in my shorts pocket after shooting for a while, and when I did, that leg got sweaty immediately. I suspect the culprit, at least partly, is the Xplorer Grip Pro which charges the camera as you go -a setting that can be switched off if you remember to do so. It’s not going to burn you, but at a few points it got warm enough as to be a bit alarming. This was certainly exacerbated by the high ambient temperatures typical in August in Greece of course, so perhaps not an issue for a vacation to the arctic circle? The camera itself (without the grip attached) is waterproof enough to swim with, so maybe an occasional dip to cool it off is in order. But, that means you need to pack along and reinstall the tiny USB port cover-door that you remove when attaching the grip. That is a piece that one can very easily loose given it’s tiny size, and something I stressed about occasionally on the trip.

Shutter Lag and Street Photography

Admittedly I’m getting used to it now, and in the context of capturing largely still scenes (buildings, textures, vistas), it’s a non-issue. But, a part of travel photography is capturing living moments around you, and to do so well you need to be in synch with your tools. The shutter button still lags, and the buffering is still slower than I’d like, but after a few months with the camera it’s something I’ve generally begun to naturally adapt my style for when using it. Still, if Insta360 is reading this, speeding it up would do wonders!

Low-Light and Night Photography

Things get a bit weird with Ace Pro 2 image quality shooting stills after dark. Zoom in and images get a bit muddy with sharpness falling off dramatically all over and highlights occasionally producing strange artifacts. Images begin to take on an almost cartoonish quality in some instances. It took me quite a bit of sifting through my shots to choose a few to share here, which I think is telling. Certainly, shooting in dark conditions will challenge any camera, but it felt particularly inappropriate to try too hard with this one. I eventually stopped taking it with me in the evening, unless I wanted to shoot some video, where it dramatically outperforms it’s low light still capability, and certainly the other cameras in my bag.

Foreground objects are decent, but what’s going on with the people walking on the right?

Enough light to sharpen things up, but there’s some lens flare again.

Is the Insta360 Ace Pro 2 a Good Travel Camera?

Would I travel with the Ace Pro 2 again? Absolutely. Would I travel with only the Ace Pro 2 if photography mattered? No. As a videography neophyte, the approachable nature of the Insta360 Ace Pro 2 when it comes to video makes for a compelling case to pack it along for the next adventure. It would undoubtedly always be paired, however; with a dedicated stills camera to capture the type of photos that resonate most with me. Saying that, and looking at this next image below, I can imagine a project or two that leverages the grainy, saturated, nostalgic quality that this little camera can produce. The thing about quirks is, once you get to know them, you can figure out how to leverage them. If you can do so reliably, then perhaps it becomes a tool with a very specific stylistic purpose (remembering of course, that there are other Leica JPEG profiles built-in to the camera to explore that aren't featured here ).

Quirky and Characterful (the camera and the kid), Ano Petali, Sifnos, Greece, Insta 360 Ace Pro 2

The Ace Pro 2 continues to grow on me, despite its limitations as a stills camera. The more you use it the more you begin to understand when to use it, and when to leave it in the hotel room.

Reflecting on it’s use during this trip:

It’s not going to win any image quality awards, but it will occasionally produce images you keep coming back to, pictures with a bit of emotion built-in that perhaps you’ll even print (in a small format)
It’s easy-to-use and non-”pro” nature encourages the silly shots, the texture shots, the photos you may not otherwise think to take but for a notion: “I wonder how this might look if…”
It’s not the only camera you bring, but you may miss it if you don’t

The Insta360 Ace Pro2 as a Travel Camera