Review: DJI Osmo Action 4 Camera

DJI’s latest version of its action camera, the Osmo Action 4, looks like its predecessor, but under the skin there are plenty of upgrades that make it a worthy GoPro competitor. The Action 4 features a new, larger sensor, better low-light performance, and more support for professional settings like Log video capture.

Sticking with the magnetic mount system of the previous model, while improving the sensor, means the Action 4 one-ups the GoPro on a few fronts, including just how easy it is to move this action camera from mount to mount.

DJI’s Osmo Action 4 arrived just before the new GoPro Hero 12. I will have a full review of that camera ready soon, but in the meantime I will note where I think the Hero 12 comes out ahead and where I think the Action 4 is a better choice.

The announcement for the Action 4 touts the new 1/1.3-inch sensor, which the company claims offers better low-light image capture. While the larger sensor does mean more light-gathering capability (and it’s larger than both the previous Action 3 and the new GoPro Hero 12), I found the results to be a mixed bag.

Shooting footage of a sunrise side by side, I found that the GoPro came up with a better exposure. I was able to match the look with the DJI, but I had to resort to manual settings, which you’re never going to do in most scenarios where an action camera makes sense—e.g., hiking, biking, and climbing. That said, in actual darkness, shooting around the campfire, I much preferred the results of the Osmo Action 4. Not only did it reveal more detail in the shadows, but the color rendering—always tricky when you mix firelight and electric light—was much better than what I got from the Hero 12.

Suffice it to say that in some scenarios, the Osmo Action 4 wins, and in others, the GoPro Hero 12 takes the cake. Don’t read too much into low-light performance though. While DJI’s sensor is an improvement, no sensor this small really does well at night. Most of the time, in daylight, I found the performance of the two cameras very similar.

I usually try to shoot Log video and do my color grading in software. The Action 4 can shoot in 10-bit D-Log M which gives you higher dynamic range footage, which then allows more color correction flexibility when editing. This trumps the Hero 11, which does not support true Log recording. To complicate your buying decision, the Hero 12 does support Log recording.

While the design of the Osmo Action 4 is essentially unchanged from that of the Action 3, there is one tiny, but important, difference: The lens-protector thread size has changed, so the lens protectors are not interchangeable, and any filters that rely on that thread may also be incompatible with the new model. On the plus side, the rubber ring that was always falling off the Action 3 is now permanently affixed on the Action 4.

Other new features include some improvements to audio recording in windy situations and support for the InvisiStick in all video modes. The InvisiStick is DJI’s very long selfie stick that the camera will automatically edit out of your footage, much like 360-degree cameras do. A small, new feature that I really like is the ability to customize sharpening and noise reduction by a number system rather than just a series of presets.

The Osmo Action 4's battery life remains excellent. I got 72 minutes shooting 4K at 120 frames per second, the Action 4's most demanding setting. Many of the various “combo” options also include the battery charging case, which can juice up batteries to 80 percent in just 18 minutes.

Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of action cameras is how easy they are to use on a day-to-day basis when you’re shooting with them. It’s here that DJI and its quick-release magnetic mounting system just blows the GoPro out of the water. The magnetic mount is genius. I said it in my review of the Action 3, and I’ll say it again, GoPro has to come up with a magnetic mount system. Unfortunately, there's no such thing with the Hero 12.

DJI hasn’t changed a thing about the mount system as far I can tell, and that’s great news. This mounting system is rock solid, dead simple to use, and makes moving your camera between mounts so easy. I own a GoPro, so after I send back the Osmo Action 4 test unit, I have to return to unscrewing my camera every time I want to switch mounts. (Third-party magnetic mounts for the GoPro, like this one, are available, but I have not tested them).

The other ease-of-use feature I really like on the Osmo Action 4 is the front touchscreen. When you mount the camera facing you, it’s easy to switch modes or tweak settings, because the front screen is also a touchscreen and works just like the back screen. Not so on the Hero 11 or Hero 12, where you need to turn the camera around to access settings.

Finally, the other place the Action 4 is nicer to use on an everyday basis is the dedicated Q or quick-settings button. This button brings up a settings screen that allows you to quickly change the settings of the camera. You can program in all your favorite modes, and with a single button press you can move from shooting 4K, 60-fps video footage to a custom photo profile (or any other custom profile/shooting mode you want). It’s the ability to jump between both shooting modes that the GoPro lacks; you have to first switch shooting modes, then switch profiles within that mode. It's more cumbersome than the Action 4.

Despite how much I like using the Action 4 on an everyday basis, there are several places the GoPro Hero 11 and 12 outshine it. The big one is the GoPro’s ability to shoot 5.3K, 60 fps video. I like 5K not for its resolution but for the ability to crop footage after the fact and still have 4K video. The other use I have for 5.3K footage is grabbing still images from it. With the GoPro, those are nice 24-megapixel images. But I recognize these nitpicks may be edge-use cases for most people.

GoPro comes out ahead in still photography, according to my side-by-side testing. The RAW files have a much better dynamic range and are sharper. Again though, most people are probably shooting video primarily, so this may not be a factor in your decision.

So should you get an Action 4 or a GoPro Hero 12? This is hard. Or easy, depending on how you look at it. Both the Action 4 and the GoPro Hero 12 are great cameras. No matter which one you get you’re going to be capable of producing amazing videos.

The Action 4 has a better mounting system, better menu system, better battery life, and recharges faster. That said, I liked the footage from the Hero 12 more in most of my side-by-side tests. (The exception, noted above, was night footage.) The other place the Action 4 has an advantage is that the footage will integrate better with DJI drone footage, and it pairs nicely with DJI’s microphone, which is one of the best mics I’ve tested. Between the three of those, you have a well-integrated ecosystem of moviemaking tools a GoPro alone can’t match.

In the end, I think if you have never owned an action camera before, the Action 4 is the better choice for its superior ease of use, thanks to things like the Q menu system and the front touchscreen. If you have a GoPro and want a second camera, or you just like the GoPro’s color rendering, then sticking with the Hero line probably makes more sense.