World’s first 360 camera ND filters for Insta360 One R NOW AVAILABLE from Freewell

The world’s first ND filters for consumer 360 cameras, which I posted about previously, are now available for purchase for Insta360 One R!  And what’s more, I found out that the ND filters are optical glass not plastic.  Details below.

Freewell, a company that creates filters for action cams and drones, created the world’s first ND filters for consumer 360 cameras, which are now available for purchase for the Insta360 One R.  The filters range from 2 stops (ND4) to 10 stops (ND1000).

ND filters can be used for videos to intentionally add motion blur to use the 180 degree rule for shutter speed, which can make a video look more cinematic.  For photos, ND filters are even more useful, by allowing long exposure shots in bright conditions to create images such as a smooth river.  Until now, ND filters have been available only for rigs or professional 360 cameras.  But now, for the first time, they’re also available for a consumer 360 camera.

But how good are these filters?  A Freewell representative informed me that all filters are made of optical glass with 16 layers of multicoating.  This likely means that it will have less glare than plastic filters.  The filters are also waterproof, dustproof, and scratch proof.  As for distortion, Freewell worked closely with Insta360 so that the filters will have the exact same curvature as Insta360‘s lens guards, which means that you’ll be able to use the One R’s lens guard stitching mode to eliminate any stitching issues or distortion.

Update: I also asked Freewell if they intend to develop ND filters for other cameras such as the GoPro MAX.  Unfortunately, he said that at the moment they have no plans of developing filters for the MAX because they haven’t gotten support from GoPro and without such cooperation, they said it is very difficult to create such a filter.

The Insta360 One R ND filters are now available directly from Freewell.  I will be testing this ND filter and I will post my analysis as soon as I get them.  Let me know in the comments if you have any questions, or want to see specific tests.