DJI’s first action camera has become sensational, but we still have to wait for the perfect camera in every way.

Introductory

Over the years, I’ve read articles on the net countless times that started with this whip: a GoPro killer camera has arrived. I honestly admit, I myself lived with this once or twice, but then each time it turned out that the camera that looked good on paper wasn’t that it didn’t become a killer, but it couldn’t even approach the current GoPro series.

The American camera manufacturer has been buried several times. In fact, the initial momentum has slowed somewhat, sales have declined, all thanks to better and better Chinese cameras. It is difficult to show something new on this front, as the used chip sets and sensors are available to all manufacturers, in principle at least anyone can build hardware on them. GoPro could do one thing, trying to thrive in the premium segment from the start. Fortunately, they didn’t even think of competing with cheap Chinese dumping, and now we can say they made a good decision after all. If you are looking for a premium camera, you have not really chosen another brand, at least so far…

We didn’t love DJI because of its cameras, they made a big one on the drone front. They have created birds of amazing quality and today, quite deservedly, have become market leaders. Somewhere, however, it was not unexpected that they entered the action camera market. They’ve been placing super image recorders on their drones for years, so the experience was there. They knew they had to build a good camera, they could put software behind it, you could have said it would have been weird if they hadn’t tried the premium action camera market.

They tried, just as GoPro tried to make drones. For Americans, this didn’t come together so much, meaning it’s not at all obvious that DJI would manage to get into the camera market from the opposite direction, i.e. from the drones. They started by introducing their first gimbal, which allowed us to make quality, shock-free videos with our phone. Then came the DJI OSMO Pocket, which was a gimbal and a camera at the same time, it worked very well, it was loved by the market and the users as well. And now here’s their first bloody action camera, the DJI OSMO Action, which can loosely oust the GoPro’s seven-week series from the throne based on specifications. In this article, I will try to answer whether he succeeded.

Packaging, accessories

I don’t know have you noticed this anymore that the more expensive gadgets we buy, the less accessories we have. Cheaper cameras come with a wrist-worn remote control, a tripod and a stack of recorders. In contrast, the box designed with minimal design in OSMO Action has almost nothing. Two fasteners, a screw, a Type-C cable and a separate box for the battery. The basic set is just enough to start using the camera, if we want other accessories, we need to open our wallet again. While the DJI OSMO Pocket already has a lot to offer, even from a third-party vendor, the action camera has almost nothing yet. Sure, new yet, so hopefully there will be accessories, I’m speciel really looking forward to an external microphone, but nothing anywhere for now.

External

If you’re not angry we’re going to run through these mandatory points quickly, then anyone cares about what it’s like to use the camera. So from the outside it’s just that it’s a typical action camera. There are, of course, a few things that make things interesting, like the front panel display, which is finally not a monochrome status indicator, but a real TFT panel that we can use in selfie mode. The back display, of course, occupies the entire back cover, is touch-sensitive, making the setting child's play. We find 3 physical buttons, the on / off switch at the top, the firing key for shots and photos, and when viewed from the front, there is a quick mode switcher on the left, but I'll cover that later.

The camera is covered in softer plastic all around, the edges are made of hard, knockable plastic. Its grip is very good, it absolutely doesn’t slip, it fits me much better than the rubber of the GoPro, which loves to age off the camera in a few years.

I haven’t talked about the memory card dock and USB port yet, they are hidden behind a small door on the right side under the mode switch.

More importantly and externally, the camera is waterproof to a depth of 11 meters without any external cases. This means that it has a door, buttons, but also a microphone. For example, the battery is secured not by one but by two retractable pins, and it is also emphasized in the instructions for use that water resistance is only ensured if the pins close properly and do not show an orange color. Understand this is that there is an orange paint behind the drawn pegs, so when they are in place, it doesn’t show.

Software and telephone application

The DJI at OSMO Pocket had already given us impeccable camera software, so now all we had to do was port it to the action camera. It is really easy to use, after a few shapes everything is in hand. We can quickly set what we want. But the real kingdom is not this, but the Quick Switch button on the side, with which we can switch modes in a matter of seconds. With action cameras, it’s a bit like me to have finally found the Holy Grail. It’s already in its name, ACTION camera, but somehow I’m constantly lagging behind good moments. By the time I turn it on, by the time I select the mode, set what I need, the moment is long gone. Yeah, before I forget what I still love about it is the quick turn. Everything starts at an incredible speed and the recording can spin!

I made a short video of the menu, I didn’t make a sound under it either, but that way maybe it’s more visible what I’m writing about.

To use the camera, it is recommended to download a software called DJI Mimo to your phone. Through this, essentially all settings are accessed on the camera. At first glance, it’s very similar to a phone camera software for me, the only difference being that it doesn’t use the phone’s camera, but the DJI OSMO Pocket or DJUI OSMO Action image.

The interface is simple, clear, access to settings is not complicated, and this is an advantage rather than a disadvantage for me. I don't really know what it should have been, because there are those who think there is little that the program knows.

Use and experience

First of all, the DJI OSMO Action is an incredibly good camera, and it’s no coincidence that many people already see the GoPro mourner in the first version. He’s got the skills that make any video-lover wake up to the urge to own it, and they’ve built in novelties that I don’t really understand why he didn’t think of another producer first.

I’ve written above that the camera is incredibly fast to turn on, and while it doesn’t seem like a big deal, it does. In fact, one of the most important things to me. I can literally activate and start recording in a matter of moments, saving those moments that are considered important and interesting that are long gone by using another camera before I put my finger on the firing button at all. Fast mode switching is also such a novelty. You don't have to flick through the menu, two clicks and HDR starts, three and you can go to Slowmotion. This is fantastic too! The third is the front panel display. We clicked two on the back display with three fingers and the image has already switched forward. So far, if someone wanted to do a selfie, or don’t give God, walking down the street, he wanted to see if not only the city but he was in the picture, he could only guess what would be in the video. This is especially useful for videographers who make shows on Youtube, as they can now really record professionally set recordings without the need for a DSLR or fold-out rear display.

However, there are also shortcomings that cannot be addressed without a word. Such is the lack of using HDR and RockSteady together. HDR has many benefits, though I don’t like it too much. What can be written in his favor is that, for example, using this burns the image less than the bright parts, the disadvantage, in my opinion, is that it overcolors the image to my liking. I say this even if the DJI HDR feature handles this thing relatively normally because, for example, the GoPro HDR is specifically disliked because of the loud colors. So good myself I don’t care so much that there is no HDR and Vibration Reduction together because I wouldn’t really use it anyway, but the option would come in handy in some cases. Then there’s another shortcoming here that I don’t really understand, it’s the possibility of living. Okay, not everyone is pushing up live broadcasting on the net, but there are more and more people who would use this feature. You shouldn't add too much, as the phone software included with the camera is fast, there is no big delay in the picture, so this could be greatly expanded with a feature that pushes the image transferred to the phone sharp, straight to the net. I’m a little confident that since I think it’s just a matter of software, it will be resolved sooner or later.

I’ve talked above about the phone pro, DJI MIMO software, which in many places is characterized as a wooden bench, but I like it. Simple, transparent, we access all settings through it, so it’s never worse. If you got the Live option, you wouldn’t even have something to get involved in.

Before you read on, take a look at the test video I made, if possible, you can solve it, then of course in 4K resolution, because that's the way it is!

Of course, since it’s a camera, the most important thing is the quality of the image, and well, that’s what no one can complain about. Of course, as they say, and I quote here, tastes and slaps are different. I’ve read and heard the opinion that DJI OSMO Action cross-swallows GoPro in image quality, others swear that GoPro is better, and I’m not going to do justice in this debate.

As a matter of fact, the image quality of the DJI OSMO Action is staggering. The lens system is not distorted, the colors are beautiful, the resolution is also perfect, because what 4K could be like. But the point is, this 4K is really 4K. Not just in pixels, but really. What do I mean by that? The fact that looking at a lot of cheap 4K cameras, actually in 4K resolution, it seems that there is some bit of nonsense in the thing. The leaves in the foliage of the trees do not separate. In the dust of the road, the pebbles are just hazy spots. The blades of grass, when blown by the wind, look more like rippling water than a multitude of thin fibers.

Well, using your DJI camera, you won’t experience such problems. Everything is amazingly detailed in the videos. The edges are perfectly smooth, not a single detail is lost. As I wrote above, if I can use the HDR-free shooting mode because I prefer the sky on the horizon not to be deep blue but as gray as in reality and on the rooftops the tile is not bright red but just a little dusty feeling, as it really is. So, for me, the colors are so good, and from that point of view, I emphasize my taste for OSMO to fit in better than GoPro.

What’s still very important, and one of the biggest differences compared to cheap cameras is how the camera handles sudden changes in light. Sure, it’s still slower than our eyes, but in this category, when you get out of a tunnel, it doesn’t take seconds for you to see something again in the burned-out image, the change happens in a matter of seconds. Of course, the reverse is also true, if you go into the shade from the sunny part, there will be no darkness in the recording for seconds, OSMO Action will quickly adapt to the changed lighting conditions.

There was no mention of battery and uptime, which could be a big disease for cameras. The electrons stored in the batteries with relatively small capacity are absorbed by the 4K resolution and the wifi connection with reality. This results in cheap cameras being able to immerse them in cobs in as little as 20-25 minutes, which, let’s face it, isn’t a good party. Luckily, at DJI, someone decided to cast a little spell on battery life. He swung his wand and got a 1300 mAh battery from somewhere. This is larger than the battery of an average camera, but not as much as the increased runtime would warrant, because at 1080p the two hours are available, but at 4K we also have a full hour on a single charge, which sounds pretty fabulous. Fortunately, this action camera isn’t just good on paper, it’s been described, you know, too.

Before we jump to the closing word, I have a DJI OSMO Action:

Closing Remarks

The thing is, I have already described almost everything that was desired of me above. For my part, I respect and appreciate GoPro for what it did for action cameras, as they were the ones who started this whole genre. Now, though, I’m happy because they finally had real competition in the DJI image. It’s not such a pulp competition, we can only produce a good camera on paper in a specification competition, but a real one who can hit the table and claim a place in the market. Somewhere I’ve heard or read an argument that GoPro has been polishing your camera through the seven series and let’s see how much better the DJI is because they made it good on the first try. I think that’s stupid, maybe so much of it is true that GoPro has a little more experience in construction and design, but I think they did nothing but use the best hardware available for each series. It wasn’t grinding, it was striving for the maximum, and DJI is really trying to compete in that. In the case of their drones, we’ve seen for years that they don’t know a compromise, they don’t let go of the price, rather more expensive, but they put in everything they think has a place in it. If they’re going to work this way on their cameras, as they did with DJI OSMO Action, then at GoPro you really have to tie your pants up because there can only be one real king and the second one will soon be forgotten

So at the end of the article a few more words about the price. In domestic stores, the price of the GoPro 7 Black, ie the top model and the DJI OSMO Action, is essentially the same, you can get them in the cheapest places for just under 120 thousand forints. The average is slightly higher than this, about 125 thousand forints, which is a lot of money for an action camera.

Of course, we know a better price, not a little, about 35 thousand forints better. You must use the coupon code BGILDJImo to make a purchase, you can add the camera to your cart here.

DJI OSMO Action action camera - HUF 91 - coupon code: BGILDJImo

Remember, choose duty-free EU Priority Line as your mode of transport!