Limits & tips

The camera is a mechanical gimbal with physical limits: Pathset makes the most of it.

Allow enough time for the zoom above all. Pan, tilt and roll cover a wide range of speeds, from very slow up to a sweep across the entire range in a few seconds. The zoom is the slow part: a segment with a large zoom range needs travel time accordingly, otherwise the zoom will not arrive.
Pathset cannot zoom slower than the camera (Osmo Pocket).
The Osmo Pocket only knows a few fixed zoom speeds. Even the slowest is brisk: the 4P zooms from 1× to 4× in about 7 seconds, the Pocket 4 in about 10 seconds. A slow zoom-in over 20 or 30 seconds is therefore not possible, not even in the manufacturer's app.

If a segment is longer than the zoom, Pathset places the zoom within it: zooming in ends together with the segment, so the camera first pans wide and zooms onto the target at the end. Zooming out starts right at the beginning, then the camera keeps panning wide. The pan always uses the full travel time.

The Insta360 Luna Ultra/Pro is not affected: it zooms continuously across the whole travel time.

Tip: if the zoom should fill the whole segment, choose a travel time about as long as the zoom. Or split the path into two segments: one with pan only and one with pan and zoom.
Zoom is time-controlled and therefore not accurate to the decimal. The target factor is approached over the travel time; small deviations are normal. For smooth zoom moves this is exactly right, don't rely on exact factors.
Image shift at the lens switch (Osmo Pocket 4P, Insta360 Luna Ultra). When the camera transitions from the wide-angle to the telephoto lens (3× zoom), a small image shift occurs that can be compensated in post-production. This is inherent to the hardware, Pathset has no influence on it; the video is recorded exactly as it would be with manual control. The Insta360 Luna Pro has only one lens and is not affected.
Range of motion. The gimbal has a limited pan and tilt range; very extreme angles cannot be reached.
Roll axis. In Pathset, roll is supported only on the Osmo Pocket; on the Insta360 Luna Pro/Ultra the roll field is hidden.
No hard stop to zero. The zoom cannot be stopped abruptly; it runs at a limited speed.
Values depend on the camera. Every camera has its own measured characteristics (speed, zoom range). Pathset selects the right device profile automatically; that is why paths look minimally different per camera.
Repeatability. Running the same path twice gives largely matching takes, useful for before/after comparisons, or the same move in different light. Small deviations remain normal; mechanics and a wireless link are not reproducible to the decimal.

Accuracy with the Luna Ultra

During the move Pathset reads the actual gimbal position several times per second and gently corrects any deviation, so moves stay in place even over many rounds. At the end of a stretch the Luna coasts on a little; Pathset eases this remainder (usually 1–2°) out slowly during the hold time — in the video you see at most a barely noticeable drift, no jump.

Tip: use a hold of 2–3 s at points that must sit exactly; without a hold the next stretch corrects it. On the Luna Pro, video moves run as before, without this correction.

Long recordings

With loops, moves easily run for an hour or more. Two things set the limit, and it is not the app but the camera:

Heat. With demanding settings (high frame rate, slow motion, 4K/120) the camera stops recording after a few minutes up to half an hour because of overheating; at 4K/30 or 1080p it lasts much longer. For long moves pick a moderate setting and give the camera some air.
Storage. An hour of 4K takes roughly 20 to 30 GB. The camera splits the recording into several files; when the card is full it ends the recording.

If the camera ends the recording on its own, Pathset stops the move within a few seconds and shows a red message ("The camera ended the recording itself …"). As always, the app must stay in the foreground; you can end the move at any time with "Stop".

Rules of thumb

Frame roughly via the live view first, then fine-tune in the edit card.
For a calm look, choose generous travel times.
Create the first waypoint with travel time 0 (fast approach, not yet recording) and start recording at the second waypoint.
Very slow moves are a strength: what shakes by hand runs smoothly when programmed.
Match zoom and travel time (Osmo Pocket): for 1× → 4×, about 7 s (4P) or 10 s (Pocket 4) is ideal. Longer segments are fine; the zoom is then placed at the end (in) or the start (out).
Hyperlapse for long moves: the camera speeds up the video itself. A 20-minute move becomes 40 seconds at ×30. With "Auto" the camera chooses the speed-up, so the video length is not known in advance.
Slow motion for short movements: the move runs in real time, the video gets longer by the factor. A 10-second move at 4× gives 40 seconds of video.
Hyperlapse or timelapse (Osmo Pocket)? Use hyperlapse for moving shots. In the Osmo Pocket's timelapse and motionlapse modes the firmware does not let the gimbal move.
Timelapse with the Luna Ultra: there, Pathset records the timelapse itself and moves the gimbal between photos, with zoom and, if you like, the 180° rule (see Editing a move). Currently experimental: slow pans can show small jolts, more about this.