DJI Osmo Action
MORE THAN JUST A GOPRO CLONE.
WE WERE REVIEWING the DJI Osmo Action in a park, when a friend said – “Oh cool, a GoPro!” – it gave us that sinking feeling we get when someone calls our Android tablet an iPad, but that’s what you get when a product dominates a category. It also hits the point home – DJI has taken more than a few design cues from GoPro.
The Osmo Action has a similar big-lens, rear-screen style and uses very similar housing to the entire Hero7 line, and the same mounting system too. Having said that, the DJI Osmo Action is definitely not a GoPro.
First off, it’s two-tone grey body looks very DJI, especially alongside the Osmo Mobile 3 – they look like a part of the same family. The Action isn’t matte with a rubbery finish either, instead sporting a solid metal body with a textured, grippy band that seamlessly wraps around its frame on its left, right and top-side.
Its screen is a quarter of an inch larger than that of the GoPro Hero’s at 2.25 inches, and that extra size is welcome, as is its 16:9 aspect ratio, making it feel much, much larger when shooting in that aspect ratio than the 4:3 GoPro display.
Touch sensitivity is on-point and is helped along by an intuitive menu system. The primary display gets just as bright as the front one – 750 nits but it is a bit crisper at 325PPI.
Video quality of footage captured on the Osmo Action is both crisp and slick, taking on the GoPro Hero7 and 8 head-on.
Its image stabilisation, 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 stabilisation, 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 stabilisation, you’re out of luck as it caps out at 16:9 60fps at those resolutions.
Screen-on time and Wi-Fi connections to a phone will be the biggest drains to the Osmo Action’s 1300mAh battery. You’ll be able to get through a full day out grabbing 30-second to two-minute clips shot at regular intervals, but if you’re planning on getting long bouts of footage, pack a power bank or a spare battery.
DJI’s first attempt at an action camera is a triumph and has earned a place in the market, even after GoPro launched the Hero8 Black. The Action packs a larger, 16:9 touchscreen and a front live-view display, while still delivering solid video quality and stabilisation.
If you use a lot of mounts, hate cases and want the smallest mountable body around, or love GoPro’s Timewarp 2.0 feature, the Hero8 Black is the obvious choice.
For vloggers who want to maximise on savings, a selfie-screen and/or have other DJI products, like an Osmo Mobile 3, then the Osmo Action could be just the ticket, delivering fantastic video and photo capture in good lighting, solid construction, and a fair price.