The Osmo Action is an action cam that pulls out all the stops to deliver everything you need to document your best action-packed life. Read on the following DJI Osmo Action review to learn more about this action camera.
Contents
DJI Osmo Action Review
1. Design
The Osmo Action is a really well put together gadget. Its waterproof metal frame is coupled with grippy, textured rubberized sides for a great in-hand feel. The Action’s buttons are also easy to press and deliver a satisfactory amount of click feedback, so even if you’re wearing gloves, you can fire it up and start recording without much faffing.
Slide down the flap on the left side of the Action to unveil a water-sealed section containing the USB-C port and a microSD card slot. At the base is a battery component, on the front is the camera, which is accompanied by a small, square 1.4in the display. Around the back, it’s all screen, with a 16:9, 2.4in LCD display, featuring a pixel density of over 300PPI – nice and sharp.
The Osmo Action ships with one housing and an adhesive mount, so out of the box can easily be affixed to a car, helmet, or anything else you can tack it onto, though you’ll have to pick up a microSD card separately if you want to get the recording.
2. Features
When it comes to shooting modes, the Osmo Action matches the GoPro Hero 7 Black in most areas and edges it in others.
Both can shoot detailed 4K video at 60fps (more on that below) and have excellent electronic image stabilization. Impressively, DJI’s RockSteady stabilization largely matches GoPro’s HyperSmooth, which has been the gold standard for smoothing out action camera videos since it landed in September 2018.
The Osmo Action also edges its rival by including an HDR video option (although this sadly doesn’t work with its RockSteady stabilization) and a manual mode that’s more versatile than GoPro’s Protune.
This lets you push the shutter speed up to 1/8000s (handy for freezing action in bright sunshine) and down to 120 seconds (useful for long exposure photos).
The Osmo Action also offers a similar range of trick shots to choose from, including a slo-mo mode (240fps in 1080p), voice control, and the option of shooting timelapse and hyperlapses.
3. Performance
When it comes to video quality, the DJI Osmo Action impresses on most fronts, though its forte is definitely vlogging. Unlike the GoPro, across resolutions, it meters everything for faces by default, and this makes them the focal point from an exposure point of view. It also produces more vibrant skin tones and colors in general, so you won’t need to edit your footage to get the best from it.
4K footage captured on the Osmo Action packs a good amount of detail, and in good light, can be cropped in on in post-processing by about 20-40% for Full HD content without breaking down too much. Dynamic range is fair, and we found ourselves totally ignoring the HDR mode as a result – especially given the fact it deactivates EIS. Low light performance is grainy and noisy, very similar in quality to that of the Hero7 Black, so when the lights drop, pick up your smartphone.
From an ergonomic point of view, the front touch screen is also incredibly handy for self-shooters. Despite the fact the lens is super wide – so you’re almost guaranteed to get your face in the shot, the selfie screen means you can frame up background elements, and with strong brightness, outdoor visibility impresses too.
4. Picture quality
Video quality of footage captured on the Osmo Action is both crisp and slick, taking on the GoPro Hero7 and 8 head-ons.
Its image stabilization, called RockSteady, may not be as held-together as the Hero8’s Boosted HyperSmooth 2.0, which applies an aggressive crop factor, but it’s in the same league as both GoPros’ default stabilization, juddering with heavy impact while keeping standard shake looking nice and clean.
Where the Osmo Action falls behind on this front is 4:3 video; if you’re looking to shoot 4:3 4K or 2.7K and want RockSteady stabilization, you’re out of luck as it caps out at 16:9 60fps at those resolutions.
On the subject of resolutions, the Action shoots up to 4K 4:3 at 30fps or 4K 16:9 at 60fps. 720p and 1080p framerates climb up to 240fps, though RockSteady caps out at 60fps irrespective of resolution. As for photos, they’re captured at 12MP.
In the settings, you can set the Osmo Action to prioritize exposing for faces, which is recommended for vloggers. Additionally, you can choose between two color profiles, normal and D-Cinelike, which is flatter, grabs broader dynamic range, and is better suited when capturing footage that you plan on editing.
Excellent lighting results in excellent video across resolutions, with plenty of detail throughout the scene. You can keep that fisheye ultra-wide look, or de-warp your image in the settings, reducing the angle of view, which at its widest is around 148 degrees.
In conclusion, this is the DJI Osmo Action review. Hoping that you find it helpful.
