We would hit record on the GoPro, fire up the drone and off we went. Flying blind it would often times become disorienting trying to figure out what way the drone was headed. You’d be looking at your timer trying to guess how much time you had left on the drone battery before it would simply fall out of the sky. A 10-minute flight was about the max and the excitement would be high when the drone miraculously returned home. Upon landing, we’d stop the GoPro and run to download the data and excitedly look at the wobbly and often times unusable footage, but what a time it was. Aerial filmmaking at your fingertips!
That was about the time that my DJI and GoPro worlds separated. GoPro continued to hone in on the action sports camera world while DJI took off with the drones and continued to work on the advancements of its various camera sensors, etc. I recently acquired a DJI Osmo Action 4 camera ($299 at Amazon), and it’s leveled up my game.
A shot captured with this contrast, angle, and detail could only happen on a cation camera – and only on the DJI Osmo Action 4. Photo: Scott Sporleder
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First impressions of the DJI Osmo Action 4
This led to the development of the DJI Osmo Action 4, the recent iteration of DJI’s continuing evolution in the camera world. I recently had the opportunity to take one of these mighty little cameras with me on an adventure to Dubai. This is a fierce little camera that packs quite a punch.
Right out of the gates there are a lot of similarities with a GoPro, it’s physical size and shape, the button setup, as well as the functionality.
Crisp detail and vivid colors stand out with the DJI Osmo Action 4. Photo: Scott Sporleder
The differences come as you dig in and get used to the different interface. Within a few times using it one can get acclimated quickly to the features of the Action 4. For me, the thing that stood out is the quality of the videos and images that the Action is able to capture. Building on what is certainly some great technological leaps in sensor development, the Action 4 produces a superior image to that of the GoPro, from the baseline colors of a standard image to smoothness of the vidoes.
Check out the difference in contrast in the two images in this scroll gallery:
The difference in colors between this image and the next shows the versatility of the camera. Photo: Scott Sporleder
The Burj Khalifa looks equally intimidating, however. Photo: Scott Sporleder
It’s been a fun journey witnessing the advancements of cameras over the last decade and the addition of DJI making small, robust action cameras is, in my opinion, welcomed in what can only make the tools for us filmmakers better.
