With the new DJI Action 2 and the slew of improvements, we’ve seen with both DJI and the GoPro, one would wonder if the original DJI Osmo Action is still relevant in 2022. I say yes, and like every digital media creation tool, understanding the limits of a specific piece of gear allows you to maximize your creativity.
For example, the HDR mode on Osmo Action still outperforms the HDR mode in the DJI Pocket 2. That said they’re two different cameras targeted to different needs and both do their job very well. I use exclusively the DJI Pocket 2 with wireless microphone to VLOG my introductions to the Trevor Carpenter PhotoChallenge. Understanding the differences between any two pieces of equipment will again help choose the best camera for your specific needs at any given time.
I for one still enjoy my Osmo Action. You can’t beat the value for the money and the offerings of filters to maximize your creativity are well priced as well.
Once in a while, I’ll leave with my compact Osmo Action and a few filters. I always bring a mini tripod, a stake to hold the camera in sand and a vice clamp to assure I can mount the camera to railings, posts and other objects.. Last week I decided to bring the Osmo Action to the NE Florida Intercoastal waters and play with my Osmo Action.
I brought some ND filters including my Freewell ND1000. This allowed me to do some long exposure photography as well as some timelapse videos.
The above 4K timelapse is made of 1/2 second exposures at ISO 100. It basically is as-is out of the camera except for the logo. It’s rendered in the full color profile of the Osmo Action. I’ve tried variable ND filters and they are at best horrible on the Osmo Action. I expected that with the extra wide lens, the Freewell VND filters barely work at minimum settings. However Freewell’s ND1000 filter and they’re other variants of ND filters work very well. I’ll often use their ND32 or ND64 on really bright days and really enjoy the quality of their filters.
Although many of the long exposures I took with the DJI Osmo Action equipped with the Freewell ND100 ND Filter were quite good. I decided to stack all 11 images of this series into one image.
Apart from the usual stacking procedure in Photoshop, I had to apply the built-in lens correction in Camera RAW first and then export the DNGs in order to work with opticly corrected images when creating the image stack.
I truly still enjoy playing around with my Osmo Action, I’ve even used it in the production of my last Photo Challenge of the 2021.