When I reviewed the DJI OSMO Action 4 last year, I was impressed that it offered some advantages over the market leader. Now another year on and DJI have invested further into R&D and produced the DJI OSMO Action 5 PRO.
The latest model offers some material upgrades over last year’s model and will make even more people consider their options when purchasing sports action cameras.
Design
When it comes to sports action cameras, the objective for the design is to make it small and portable to enable its use in as many applications as possible. The chassis also needs to be large enough to house the optics for great video quality, as well as a large enough space for a battery that will last long enough to capture the video you need.
The industry now demands dual displays to allow detailed operation from the rear display and to allow you to frame the shot on the front.
On these metrics, I think DJI have done a great job of keeping the form factor in check, while improving the image quality and battery life.
The design iterates on last year’s model, while still enabling existing customers to leverage previous platform investments. This means you can leverage any mounting accessories and I really love the magnetic clip design that DJI use for their quick release. This makes moving the camera between mounts an absolute breeze.
For someone who regularly films content in the car, I need to take the camera inside to download the footage and being able to clip the camera in and out of it’s mount, is a really great experience, showing DJI has really though about their customers.
Features and Performance
To get existing customers to upgrade and to attract new customers, DJI needs to continue to improve their sports action camera with new features, particularly as they fight for market share from competitors.
This year, the DJI Action 5 Pro adds a range of new features that combine to be a really compelling offering. For those that have always bought the market leader, it’s definitely time to open your mind and consider DJI.
The Action 5 Pro boasts a new, Next-Gen 1/1.3-Inch Sensor with an equivalent pixel size of 2.4 μm and a high dynamic range of 13.5 stops, a full 1.5 stops higher than that of Osmo Action 4. DJI has coupled this with a 4nm high-performance chip to enable you can capture clear, sharp imagery with rich highlight and shadow details, even in challenging lighting conditions like urban nights or high-contrast scenarios like sunrise and sunset.
While the 1/1.3″ CMOS sensor is technically the same size sensor as last year, the new generation really does offer a noticeable difference in the resulting image quality.
One of the features DJI has upgraded is the battery life, with as much as 4 hours of recording and they’ve worked some magic to achieve recording in cold temperatures.. estimating 3.6 hours at -20°C!
DJI is also keen to talk about their High Dynamic Range for all video specifications, making the 4K/60fps footage you shoot in Low-Light conditions, look more incredible than ever before. If you find yourself in a night environment, with lots of lights and electronic signs, this becomes really obvious with a significant reduction in noise than last years’ model.
When it comes to the displays, I didn’t really have issues with what we had last year, but that doesn’t stop DJI from improving.. You now have 2x OLED screens that have a 16% larger screen-to-body ratio! This means you can see more pixels, making reviewing footage and changing settings easier than ever before. For times where you need to review footage on the camera, this extra screen size is really appreciated.
Something I’ve found out about myself is that I can and do forget the microSD card for filming. If you’re like me, then you’ll appreciate an included 47 GB of built-in storage. While this isn’t as large as a typical 128 or 256GB removable storage card, it’ll certainly be a great backup if you’ve got nothing else. This is a really welcome addition to the product feature list. The camera is capable of taking as much as a 1TB microSD card, with support for the Kingston Canvas Go! Plus 1T U3 A2 V30 microSDXC.
Issues and Opportunities
While there’s a lot to love, not everything is perfect. The following items are suggestions for improvement in future editions of the device.
With the DJI OSMO Action 5 PRO has a lot to love, not everything is perfect. When you unbox the camera, you get just 5 uses of the camera before they force you to download the DJI mobile app and activate the camera.
If you’re considering the out of the box experience, I’d remove this limitation, let new customers just use their camera as they want and perhaps remind them periodically that there’s extra features they’re missing out on by not registering and activating.
Price and Availability
The DJI OSMO Action 5 PRO is available now and starts at A$599.00 for the standard Combo. If you step up to the Adventure combo that includes the 2x additional batteries, a charging case, an extension rod, it’ll then cost you A$769.00.
DJI also offer a lengthy range of other combos including a Motorcycling/Mountain Cycling Combo, Hiking Combo, Diving Combo and Neck Mount Filming Combo, Vlog combo, Surfing Combo and Skiing Combo. You can head to the website for all the details on these, but effectively you’ll get the camera and different mounts based on your preferred social activities.
When we’re talking about price, it’s worth mentioning that the competition, the DJI HERO 13 Black is now also available, but starts at $50 more at A$649.95, making the DJI Action 5 PRO great value for money.
Overall
So having spent a few weeks with the DJI OSMO Action 5 PRO, it’s time to reflect on this journey and consider if I’d recommend that you buy this over the competition.
Having used both platforms, the Action 5 really has done a great job at coming a long way in its product evolution in a short period of time. The market leader has been in the game more than twice as long, but the Action 5 PRO really is a competitive product.
Personally I found that my needs for an action camera would be supported by either manufacturer, so given the price is cheaper on the DJI side, and existing investments in mounting accessories are compatible, I think I would recommend this over the alternative cameras.
At least at this stage, there’s not enough of a differentiation on the software side to help skey this recommendation and I hope in the next 12 months this really changes. I’ve never been able to leverage an app from either provider that offers a single touch ‘make video with AI’ kind of feature that really does leave me with a video I’d be ready to share to my social channels, this inevitably means there’s a video editing production pipeline to work through, taking valuable time and if you value your time, then your money as well.
The takeaway here is that DJI have invested the R&D necessary to upgrade the Action sports camera to make significant upgrades on last year’s camera, making it a compelling option. For those those looking to buy for the first time, would be a really great choice.
