If you’re out and about often and want a compact camera to record your street walks in a new city or a ski down wintry slopes, the recently launched DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro might be one gadget to bring along.
The compact camera from the Chinese drone maker is great for folks who do video logs of their travels, for exanple. Like its predecessor, the Osmo Action 5 pro comes with a front-facing screen that helps users frame themselves when shooting a video.
The new camera sports bright OLED screens, making it easier to use the camera under harsh sunlight. Helpfully, the touch-enabled screens are bigger than the Action 4, with the front screen at 1.46 inches and the rear at 2.5 inches. Great for chubby fingers to swipe across.
The Action 5 Pro’s three microphones provide excellent audio pickup for content creators who shoot numerous vlogs. The DJI Action 5 can also be paired directly with the DJI Mic 2 system for better vocal recording.
The camera can follow your every move using subject-tracking function, making creating presentation videos easy without a crew. The downside is that the video resolution is only up to 2.7K, and the camera can’t track if it is in vertical orientation.
The camera, while handy out of the box, can get some help from accessories sold separately. For example, the DJI Osmo Pocket 3’s mini gimbal system is the gadget to get for shooting a full 4K resolution clip for TikTok or Instagram Reels.
If you don’t like to bring a gimbal, the Osmo Action 5 has electronic image stabilisation to keep your shot steady. I tested the camera’s HyperLapse mode, which gave me a vibration-free video clip.
Water sports enthusiasts will also be happy with the Action 5 Pro since it can be submerged up to 20m deep. Advanced divers, however, will have to buy a diving case to bring the camera down to 60m.
Using the camera is pretty easy too. Just swipe the screen to the right and you can choose various capture modes for your video clip. In Hyperlapse mode, you can choose between people, clouds and customised settings.
The colours in the timelapse video and 39.9-megapixel photos are good, with good white balance and skin tones in good light, yet saturated enough to make a video pop.
Then again, if you are into photography, the Osmo Action 5 Pro still exhibits ISO noise and unwanted distortion for human subjects. You can record in Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG) or D-Log RAW video formats for more flexibility during post-editing.
The new camera comes with a new chip made with a 4-nanometre process. This offers more efficiency, which helps extend the 1,950mAh battery’s life to four hours – if you record in 1080p resolution and switch off the screens. This is much better than earlier Action 4’s 2 hours and 40 minutes.
If you don’t have a MicroSD card on hand, the Osmo Action 5 Pro has huge 47GB internal storage for your video clips. You should add a memory card, since the camera supports up to 512GB for more videos and photos.
Besides being an outdoor portable camera, the Osmo Action 5 Pro can double up as a webcam as well. It’s useful when you need a better camera system than the laptop’s, or if you want to move the camera around during a video presentation.
The camera can be mounted using its proprietary magnetic clasp system, which is easier than GoPro’s mount. It is also easy to mount the camera on various surfaces, including a harness, a bicycle’s handlebar, or a helmet. DJI has also included adaptor mounts for use with GoPro accessories and mounting systems.
For the DJI Action 5 Pro, prices start from S$489 for the camera, though the better buy is the S$629 Adventure Combo that includes an additional Quick Release Mount Adaptor, two additional batteries, a battery case and an extension rod for selfies.
You could say the DJI Action 5 is a simple, no-frills action camera that has broad appeal. If you’re after more versatility so you can reframe your video shots and create more special effects, then you might consider other options such as the Insta360 X3.
