Insta360 Luna Pro Hits the Streets of New York – Leica Summicron Lens, 8K Dolby Vision, Times Square Creator Event

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by Johnnie BehiriToday

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Insta360 marked the global launch of the Luna Pro with a creator event at its new Times Square flagship store, sending around 20 photographers and videographers on a color-themed photo walk through Midtown Manhattan. The half-day format paired an in-store briefing with real-world shooting between Times Square, Bryant Park and Rockefeller Center. It was also the first public outing for the Leica partnership since the single-lens Luna Pro joined the Luna Ultra in the lineup.

The Luna Pro is the second camera in the Luna Series and the more affordable one. It drops the Luna Ultra’s second telephoto module and keeps the main imaging block: a 1-inch 8K sensor behind a Leica Summicron lens at F1.8 and a 20mm full-frame equivalent field of view. Video runs to 8K30 with Dolby Vision, 4K120 and 1080p240 for slow motion, plus a native 4K30 vertical mode that oversamples from 6K rather than cropping. Insta360 pairs that with 10-bit I-Log, ACES support for grading, built-in timecode for multi-camera sync, a three-axis gimbal with Deep Track and Rapid Focus, a detachable 2-inch OLED touchscreen, and 47GB of internal storage. The camera has been available worldwide since last week at $599.99 / €529 / £469 for the Standard Bundle, in Cosmic Black or Stellar White.

A color hunt through Midtown Manhattan

The event opened inside the Times Square store with an introduction to the Luna Pro and a short tutorial covering basic operation, shooting modes, color settings, and NFC transfer to the Insta360 app. NFC is one of the small workflow additions on this camera: a compatible phone connects to the app with a tap, which matters when you are handing footage around a group rather than sitting down at a desk.

From there, the participants, among them four Leica-affiliated photographers, were split into red, yellow and blue groups, each with an Insta360 staff member, and sent along a fixed route from 1515 Broadway through Times Square, Bryant Park and Rockefeller Center. The brief was to hunt for saturated color, strong contrast and distinctive visual moments, which is a sensible test for a camera whose selling point is the Leica color pipeline. The Luna Pro ships with Leica Natural, Leica Vivid and Leica Chrome profiles baked in, alongside I-Log for anyone who would rather build the look in post.

The afternoon closed back at the store, with the groups comparing their favorite frames from the same route. Insta360 says the point of the session was to show how differently 20 people interpret the same three locations with the same camera, which is a fair description of what a street photo walk does, whatever the hardware.

Why the Times Square store matters

The flagship store is worth more attention than the walk itself. It is Insta360’s first physical retail presence in the United States, and it opened in the same week the Luna Pro went on sale in the US.

Max Richter, VP of Marketing and Co-Founder of Insta360, framed the event in those terms: “Luna Series is built for creators who chase light, color and motion. Hosting this community in the heart of New York, one of the world’s most photogenic cities, was the perfect way to put the product to the test and capture real-world stories together.”

Six years of Insta360 and Leica

The Leica relationship predates the Luna Series by a long way. It began in January 2020 with the co-engineered ONE R 1-Inch Edition, a 5.3K 1-inch wide-angle module for the modular ONE R action camera that Leica went on to sell in its own stores. The ONE RS 1-Inch 360 Edition followed in 2022 with two Leica co-designed 1-inch sensors for 6K 360 capture. According to Insta360, the two companies formalized the arrangement in 2025 with a global strategic partnership covering the imaging sector, and by the time the Luna Ultra launched at Leica’s Wetzlar headquarters in June, the count stood at six years and five co-developed products.

The Luna Series is where that partnership moves from lens modules into a full camera category. The Summicron name is one Leica reserves for its F2-class optics, and on the Luna Pro it is paired with in-camera Leica color profiles rather than just a badge on the front. What the branding does not change is the sensor behind it. Insta360 has not published a stops figure for the Luna Pro, and for now, nothing indicates the Pro version differs from what we measured in our Insta360 Luna lab test.

Full disclosure: This article is sponsored by Insta360. Editorial content, product context, and links are CineD’s own.

Price and availability

The Insta360 Luna Pro Standard Bundle is available now through the Insta360 Store, Amazon, and selected retailers worldwide at $599.99 / €529 / £469 (European and UK prices including VAT). Accessories include a Wide-Angle Lens, a Black Mist Filter, and the POV Head Tracker. For more information, please visit the Insta360 website.

Would a Leica color profile and a New York store tip you toward the Luna Pro over an Osmo Pocket 4, or do you wait for lab numbers? Let us know in the comments below!