BERLIN – November 14, 2026 -- Director David Leitch ran up to 20 Insta360 X5 cameras at once on individual heist scenes of "How to Rob a Bank", according to camera maker Insta360. A typical shooting day used seven or eight of the 360-degree cameras, so the 20-camera peak is about 2.5 to 2.9 times that load by our calculation.
Insta360 says the film is in cinemas. Its cast includes Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz and Anna Sawai. The camera is also part of the plot: the film's social-media-savvy robbers livestream their heists with the X5, and footage shot on it appears in the finished film.
Leitch's team chose framing in post-production instead of on set
In pre-production, Producer of Digital Sequences Jimmy Johenning showed Leitch and main-unit cinematographer Jonathan Sela how to pick a frame afterwards. He gave them an iPad and let them explore the 360-degree footage in real time. Leitch says that when a shot was needed and a 360-degree camera was running, the team could create it.
Post-production supervisor Jacob Donohue gives an example. If a shot first showed a gun barrel and Leitch later wanted to see the person holding it, the team reframed the same footage. On motorcycles and in moving vehicles, the team designed camera movement in post-production. Insta360 says this was hard or practically impossible to do physically at those speeds.
The production wore out 20 to 30 lenses but only about two camera bodies
Johenning says the crew went through 20 to 30 lenses and about two camera bodies. That works out to 10 to 15 lenses per body lost. Both lenses of an X5 could be swapped in under a minute, which kept cameras in use on set.
The compact cameras went into positions larger equipment could not reach: inside the money bag as robbers stuffed, spun and swung it, and behind a stack of banknotes being flipped through. David Myrick, Director of Photography of the YouTube unit, says the cameras offered options beyond dollies, Steadicams and cranes. Johenning credits FlowState stabilization and 360-degree horizon lock with steady, level images on vehicles and actors.
Insta360 footage entered the edit as ProRes alongside 35 mm film
The film uses two looks. Composed 35 mm footage carries the characters' lives and emotions, while the robbers' own videos of the heists were meant to look dynamic and self-shot. The team had tested the X5 in pre-production before choosing it, according to the release. The company did not disclose how much of the final cut comes from X5 footage.
The team selected frames in Insta360 Studio and then transcoded the clips to ProRes for DaVinci Resolve and Avid. That let the 360-degree material sit next to footage from conventional film cameras in the edit. Donohue says the team was satisfied with how the footage looked on the big screen.