DJI Osmo Action 5 is recently released. It surely would have some worthy upgrades over this previous model – I have an Action 2 while my brother has Osmo Action 4, and I can see the betterment in almost all aspects. Still, as I had the chance to use Osmo Action 4, I wanted to write, in the end, a short review because why not?
Technicalities
- I have a decent command of Photoshop while having absolutely no idea about Premiere Pro. Hence the videos I’ll share below are not edited in any way. Stabilization, overall light and color balance, ISO settings… also are all untouched.
- I’m more of a photographer than videographer. Hence I’ll review as a “photographer” that did some videos. Someone that knows better surely would do a lot better job than I.
- I’m not even sure if Google indexes this site. I am not paid for the review, neither I was provided a free copy of the camera. I mean, of course my brother didn’t sell or rent it to me, he paid for the camera and I borrowed on our trip to Southeast Asia and Japan. All I say below are my very own ideas based on my second view of the videos it took – and some of them I’ll share below.
I primarily look for the bads than goods, hence let’s start with that. The caveats are big for my taste, which are shared with its brother Action 2 making me wonder if they are a DJI problem, but overall I’m rather satisfied with the camera.
The Bads
Rear Side Stabilization: Let’s say that you’re on transport and recording a video from the rear window. Albeit horizon balancing is on, horizon shifts towards one or another side. See the footage below:
You saw that the horizon tilted for some degrees once the big building came into frame. Right? This happens often, almost all the time, when you’re recording from the rear window. This doesn’t happen, thankfully, when you’re recording fast action with horizon balancing when the camera is directed front (or behind).
Low-Light Performance: It’s bad. Simply and plainly bad. Now, I use a D3400 and D750, with the full-frame camera is there (not only but also) for better quality images in low-light. I know that the smaller the sensor, the higher the ISO, the lower the image quality and stabilization, but just like my Action 2, Osmo Action 4 struggles greatly under such conditions. Here is a 20 minutes long sample video which should give you more than enough idea:
As the last Turkish philosopher Fatih Terim said, what can I do sometimes? It’s the football that’s the football.
Over Sharpening: The edges of literally anything in the frame are a tad more accentuated than what it should be for my taste. In the videos above and below you’ll find it, hence I’m not adding another one for this point.
Now that the bads are done, let’s continue with the neutrals.
The Neutrals
Shadow(s) Recovery: Another reason that I love my D750 is that I can play with the shadows the much I like. Osmo Action 4 doesn’t deliver bad shadows, by far not, yet there’s something with it that I can’t explain.
Sound Recording: I don’t expect good quality audio from any built-in microphone, especially while recording outside (or in uncontrolled environment in general). The camera doesn’t disappoint, it manages to record audio but don’t expect much from it. If you want clear sound, you have to have a separate microphone. Surely sound quality would develop a lot in a controlled environment, but still don’t expect much from it. The microphone (or microphones, am not sure) are there because they have to, not to provide good quality audio recording. I doubt any camera has good quality microphone, which is why I consider this negative a neutral.
The Goods
(Please remember that almost all goods are in good lighting conditions)
Exposure Control: Most of the time exposure is off by .3-.5EV. Look at the video below:
This is the case in almost all videos. With the small screen of the camera, and not checking them via the DJI Mimo app, I didn’t realise it. Yet, as it’s a consistent “problem” and can easily be fixed by only changing the exposure setting in the camera, it’s no problem. Also as it’s underexposed only slightly, it should be no problem to fix it in post-production without (much) quality loss).
Color and Contrast: Like exposure control, color and contrast are, 9/10 (or more) times, as they should be. It’s not as sature as I at times would like, but that’s for the better: Add saturation in post-production and you’re good to go. Anyway, if you’re after more professional looking videos, you better shoot d-cinelike color mode and edit as per your taste later.
Fringe Control: I shot in many conditions and high-contrast scenes was one of them. Not even in the harshest of conditions I saw fringing. It’s controlled to the perfection.
Tonal Range: I didn’t expect much given the small sensor, but it didn’t disappoint me at all. It’s not comparable to what my beautiful D750 does of course, but which such tiny camera is?
Stabilization: As long as you don’t shoot rear-size and in low-light conditions, stabilization is wonderful. What non-low-light conditions mean is a big question, given that not night but even towards evening can at times (or more?) is considerable as so, but so long that there’s (enough) light, stabilization is simply amazing.
Overall Conclusion
The camera has certain limitations. Don’t shoot when there’s not plenty of light, don’t shoot from the rear window, and set it in-camera to +3 or .7 EV exposure compensation, and you’re almost good to go. The videos above are, again, unedited. They surely can get a lot better in better hands than mine. Still, once you’re outside the limitations, they by far are not bad. Give it a shot, maybe you’ll like it. Who knows?
For ~200-250 US$ with the additional battery set, I’d get it. For more, I doubt so. Also the bells and whistles that come with would probably be useful for you. Don’t pay over 250 US$, though. There are discounts with action cameras almost all the time. Wait for the chance and get then.
