Why I switched to filming with DJI | Honest Osmo Action 4 review
By John Milbank
Consumer Editor of Bennetts BikeSocial
26.06.2024
Date reviewed: June 2024 | Tested by: John Milbank | Price: £289 | dji.com
As I write this review of the DJI Osmo Action 4, the brand is plastered all over my social media feeds. That’s partly because the algorithms know I’ve been researching the camera, but also because companies push hard to get their new products promoted by influencers. Sometimes those influencers are paid, sometimes there are affiliate links that see the content creator getting a kick-back for every product sold.
I’m not an influencer. I produce videos (and written articles like this) to help raise awareness of, and build trust in, Bennetts (which pays me a salary); that means it doesn’t matter one bit to me or my employer whether you buy a product. So trust me when I say that the Osmo Action 4 has made me look differently at how I film a lot of my videos, making me leave the three GoPros I’ve bought over the years in the drawer, and reaching far less often for the Insta360 X3. Here’s why…
The DJI Osmo Action 4 is good value
There are regularly deals available on most tech, but looking at prices at the time of writing, here’s what the most popular choices cost:
Now of course the Insta360 cameras are more than ‘just’ single-lens action cameras – they can film everything, everywhere, all at once, then you simply reframe the footage later. This is truly incredible, and can make for some great shots, and some brilliantly creative angles. The DJI Osmo Action 4 promises a feature that allows you to remove selfie sticks, but it can only be used on clips of two minutes or less, and as you’ll see in my example, it’s hopeless on a bike.
On the other hand, as the Insta360 doesn’t see what’s close to its sides, top or bottom you also can’t typically see the stick that it’s attached to, giving you the effect of a camera floating on its own (like a drone). I should make it clear here that I’ve no intention of stopping using the Insta360 X3 that I have, but it’s going to be used a lot less because…
The Action 4 has a genius mounting system
While the DJI uses the same GoPro mounts I’ve built up over many years, it doesn’t have any on the camera. Instead, it has a magnetic clamp that snaps VERY securely to the Action 4, with the GoPro mounts on the bottom. If you only ever leave the camera in one place this seems unnecessary, but as soon as you move it to another location, it takes just seconds to snap it off one fixing and onto another.
Let’s say you have it mounted to your helmet, then you want to pop it on the bike – just lift it off and snap it onto the other mount. A LOT quicker and easier than faffing with a GoPro thumbscrew. Oh, and the DJI thumbscrews are also much better designed than the GoPro ones, which makes it far easier to get some leverage without resorting to tools.
Spare magnetic mounts cost just £15, or if you buy the Adventure Combo you get two mounts, along with an extending selfie-stick, battery case and two more batteries for £379.
In my experience, DJI beats GoPro easily here, and while the Insta360 needs no faffing about to mount (just stick it anywhere and the horizon levelling will sort it all out), it’s rather bulky to fix to a helmet, and its other limitations need to be considered…
DJI Osmo Action 4 & Insta360 X4 in Spain
3,387km of testing
Horizon levelling is not great on motorbikes
Shove the Insta360 anywhere on the bike and you’ll still end up with perfectly level footage once you’ve processed it on your phone or computer. That can make for some incredible angles, but it can also make for rather undynamic shots. Bikes lean, but when shooting in 360 the horizon stays completely flat (you can have a tipping horizon in single-lens mode).
The DJI Osmo Action 4 does have a horizon levelling mode, but I don’t use it as I prefer the dynamic view of the horizon tipping from side to side in Rock Steady and Rock Steady+ as you ride. Motorcycles are meant to be fun and exciting, so I want to capture that.
Action cameras don’t have optical image stabilisation – instead they compare each frame then move the footage around to smooth things out. This is limited by how much ‘extra’ the sensor can capture, and of course in a 360 camera it’s covering everything, so should generally give the best results, but I have found some situations – most noticeably when the camera’s hanging off the side of the bike on a selfie-stick – where the DJI actually looks a little smoother. Ultimately the Insta 360 irons out the most vibrations in most situations, but it’s sometimes at the expense of a dynamic shot
Single lens action cameras are a LOT harder to break
I’ve destroyed one Insta360 camera by having it fall off a scooter a low speed, and damaged two to the point that marks on the lenses can be seen in footage.
Due to the fact that the lenses have to stick out on either side they’re incredibly vulnerable, and expensive to replace. The new Insta 360 X4 has replaceable lens guards that will certainly offer some protection, but there’s a limit to what they can do, and they can introduce some flaring.
The DJI Osmo Action 4 has a lens cover that can be quickly and easily unscrewed, and replacements cost £19. I’ve damaged several of my GoPro Hero 7 lens covers with sparks from my angle-grinder while filming lock testing, but luckily I was able to replace them. Now though, they’re no longer available from GoPro for that model (though there are aftermarket versions), and the Hero 8, unbelievably, didn’t have a replaceable cover at all. From the GoPro Hero 9 until the current Hero 12, the lens covers are the same and – at the time of writing – cost £11.99, but are out of stock.
I’ve no qualms allowing my DJI to get dragged through foliage at 60mph as the lens cover is very, very tough. If it does get marked, I’ll buy another.
The DJI’s front touch screen is genius
There are two screens on the DJI Osmo Action 4 – the main one on the back and another on the front. What makes this really stand out though is that, besides being able to see the whole view from either side (something I hadn’t realised was so handy until I used it), you can access ALL of the controls from the front screen as well as the back, which can save a lot of hassle if you need to tweak some settings.
Don’t worry about accidentally changing settings though, as when one screen’s in use for control, the other locks itself, and needs a swipe to release.
The GoPro Hero 12 has a front screen, but it’s not touch-sensitive. The Insta360 doesn’t need two screens as it doesn’t matter which way around it is when you’re filming. Unless you use it in single lens mode, then you can choose which lens is active…
Unsponsored, unbiased comparison of the Insta360 and DJI
The Insta360 X3’s single lens mode isn’t that good
Besides the fragility of a 360 camera (and its price), I always though the Insta360 X3 was the most versatile action camera I’d used. It shoots in 5.7K in 360 mode, or 4K single lens, but let’s talk about that for a moment…
5.7K covering the entire sphere translates to just 1080P once a wide 16:9 view has been chosen. Zoom in tighter and the resolution drops. The new Insta360 X4 shoots at 8K in 360 mode, but that’s actually about 2.7K once edited. Still impressive, but if you can get the shot with a single lens camera, not only will it require less editing, it’ll also be a lot better quality (and allow for a bit more latitude to crop in if needs be.
The problem is that the Insta360’s 4K single lens mode simply doesn’t offer the same level of quality as the DJI Osmo Action 4, and since working on the video above I’ve started taking a little more time to carefully mount the Osmo to get what is – generally – far better quality footage.
If you were only going to buy one camera, and you wanted the 360 option (perhaps you even want to watch it back in a VR headset), then the Insta360 is of course well worth the money, but I’m finding it far less frequent that I NEED that ability – it’s surprising just how much can be done with a single lens.
The current GoPros can shoot at up to 5.3K. I haven’t had the chance to try this, but it’s potentially a big plus point, and should allow some cropping.
If you want to shoot at high frame rates in order to slow your footage down, your choices are more limited…
Low light performance is a bit of a mixed bag. In my testing, the Insta360 sometimes performed better than the DJI when stabilising in the dark, but the Osmo Action 4’s larger (1/1.13”) image sensor produces noticeably better quality footage.
I now use the DJI as my second camera when shooting my pieces to camera (PTC) in the garage. This is a low-light environment, but leaving the camera on stock settings does a good job. I’ve started toying with manual settings – which are very easy to access, and to save as custom presets – to lower the shutter speed and hence ISO, but overall I’m happy with the results.
Would I use the DJI as my main camera? No, not unless I really had to as I bought myself a used Canon XA70 camcorder a while back, which allows me to shoot extremely high quality 4K footage. This is what you’ll see as the main PTC view in all my newer videos.
You can get more natural, cinematic shots if you DON’T use a 360 camera
Most motorcyclists will just pop an action camera on their bike or helmet, then capture some great footage, but the ability to fit ND filters to single lens cameras makes a huge difference. You can’t fit them to the Insta360.
Both the DJI Osmo Action 4 and the GoPro Heroes have the option to fit ND (neutral density) filters, which reduce the amount of light reaching the sensor. As there’s no adjustable aperture in an action camera, the only way to make an image darker is to increase the shutter speed and/or reduce the ISO (sensitivity). On a bright sunny day, shutter speeds can get very high, which makes for a sharp still image, but rather unnatural-looking motion.
Used deliberately, a fast shutter speed can make zombies look more scary (28 Days Later) and action sequences more gritty (Saving Private Ryan), but generally, natural-looking motion blur is achieved by shooting at a shutter speed of twice the frame rate. On the 25fps timeline I edit in, that means a 1/50th of a second shutter speed.
This screen grab from the video footage shows how great it can look when the shutter speed is reduced
By simply slipping the ND16 filter over the lens cover of the Action 4, I was able to set a shutter speed of 1/50th, and auto ISO to get a fantastic, blurry effect that looked much faster.
BUT… using low shutter speeds means the camera isn’t able to analyse the footage to stabilise it as well, so be careful how and where you use it. Mounted to your helmet, your neck’s stabilisation will smooth out most vibration, but fixed to the bike you do have to be careful.
ND filters are also available for the GoPros, though they’re a bit more tricky to fit. Having said that, I’d be less worried about them falling off than I am with the DJI.
It’s also worth knowing that Insta360 now allows you to add motion blur to an image, but from what I’ve seen it’s not very good, leaving a noticeable gap around the sharp main subject.
The DJI Osmo Action 4 is MUCH faster to start than the Insta360
I like to use my cameras in quick-start mode, which means they’re powered off while I ride, but I just need to press the record button for them to boot up and start recording immediately. When I press record again, they stop and power down.
The DJI takes just 1.7 seconds to boot up and start recording, while the Insta360 takes 9.63 seconds. A neat feature of the DJI is also that when you hit the record button to power off, it counts down for three seconds to give you a chance to keep the camera on if you want.
Recording this way means I can easily get a day out of the DJI or the Insta360 as the cameras are only on when I’m recording what I need. In testing though, I got the following recording times when the cameras were sat on the desk at between 24°C and 27°C:
Something I really like about the DJI is the optional Multifunctional Battery Case, at £55. This holds up to three batteries (each cost an additional £25), showing their status and allowing you to charge them all in one go via a USB-C port.
This port also doubles as an output, so you can use it as a power-bank (theoretically, its capacity with three fully-charged batteries would be 5,310mAh), and you can store two microSD card inside too (though I find that a bit fiddly).
It’s clever design like this case that makes me really like DJI…
The green bar at the top of the display (it’s on the back too) shows the recording level of the wireless mic. It works the same way with the wired mic plugged in too
I really like the DJI ecosystem
Before reviewing the DJI Osmo Action 4, I’d bought myself a Mini 3 Pro drone from a mate. The battery case there is great (though unlike the drone’s batteries, the Osmo Action 4 doesn’t automatically discharge to 60% after a few days, which I do find frustrating), and the whole experience, besides needing to keep it regularly updated, is great.
Then, after a lot of research, I bought myself a brand-new DJI Mic 2 kit, which is incredibly easy to use, and proved invaluable when I interviewed Merseyside police officers for the best motorcycle locks video. What’s utterly genius with this kit is that the mics and receiver are kept charged by a separate battery in the compact storage case. When you open the lid, they all show their charge level, and when you lift them out they power up and connect automatically.
The drone is more fiddly to use, but that’s partly down to regulations, however I like that, generally, the devices are all fairly intuitive to use once you’ve got your head around one of them. Maybe it’s down to the typeface and graphics, but I find the consistency to be helpful, especially when I’m rushing to get some work done.
The DJI has some great accessories – here are the 10 best
On its own for £289, the DJI Osmo Action 4 includes the camera, one battery, a frame that allows you to mount the camera vertically, a quick-release magnetic mount, a curved self-adhesive base and thumbscrew, a USB-C to USB-C charging cable, a lens hood (which replaces the tough protective lens cover and isn’t something I’d ever use), and some pads that pack out GoPro-style mounts, so are handy if you have some of the cheap aftermarket ones that don’t fit well.
There are various combo packs available that can save a lot of money, so what you want will depend on your needs (and what you already own), but here are my recommendations for the 10 best Osmo Action 4 accessories in order of decreasing priority for motorcyclists:
Additional magnetic mounts | £15 Great for swapping between locations. Combined with a clamp and some GoPro mounting parts, I’ve got all I need (watch out for some cheap aftermarket GoPro mounts that are a sloppy fit or brittle plastic).
Handlebar mount | £35 I wasn’t that impressed with this mount at first, as I was used to some Insta360 versions that are more of a claw design. The closed loop of this seemed to limit what I could attach it to, but in the end, grab rails, crash bars and handlebars have all been fair game, with the clamp accommodating 8-16mm with the removable insert, or 22-35mm without it. It’s strong, compact and gives an excellent range of motion. And unlike the claw designs, if it gets loose it’s less likely to fall off. Just don’t lose that 8-16mm insert.
Mini extension rod | £35 I have the GoPro version of this, which is a bit shorter and doesn’t have a ball-joint head, so isn’t as versatile, but these things make for great mini tripods, as well as a handy way to hold the camera.
1.5m extension rod | £35 Extending from 0.3m to 1.5m, if you want a selfie-stick this is great, but I use it to hang the camera out away from the bike. It’s got a ¼” standard tripod thread socket in the base, but annoyingly you’ll need an adaptor if you want to use it with the handlebar mount. I use this heavy duty clamp from Insta360, which costs £39.99, though I don’t recommend mounting the camera direct to it without the arm as it transmits vibration. This RAM Tough-Claw double ball mount (which was also a previous Insta360 option) gives better vibration control without the arm, but is more bulky and costs £51.99.
3.5mm audio adaptor | £45 If you’re going to be shooting with the mic on your helmet, this is a great way to capture your voice. You’ll need to buy a separate lavalier mic, but with the adjustable gain on the Osmo Action 4, you should be able to set it up well. I didn’t used to like shooting helmet camera footage as it’s what everyone does, but I will be doing some when I ride the Zontes off-road, and down to Spain. Keep an eye out for that here. If a mic’s plugged in, the additional USB-C port allows you to still charge the camera, but note the slight issue I had with this below. Also be aware that the adaptor can be knocked out slightly if you catch it in a certain way, though I found this didn't affect the recording.
GPS Bluetooth remote control | £69 I usually just use the quick-start mode, but for when you can’t reach the camera, the remote control is excellent. It also allows you to display data the speed, route, direction, total distance and elevation on videos that you export from the camera via the DJI Mimo app on your smartphone. Without this remote, you can only access G-force and inclination angle on videos (which is still cool to show how far you leaned). Two straps are supplied, so you can fit it to the bars or your wrist.
ND filter set | £55 For more control over your shutter speeds, these are essential. My only concern with them is that they simply push on. I’d be tempted to use a little tape to ensure they stay in place when riding, but that’ll make them less quick and easy to swap. They didn’t fall off while filming the shots in the video above. The filters come in a set of ND8, ND16 and ND32, which reduces the light by 3, 4 and 5 stops respectively, and are made of anti-reflective Corning Gorilla Glass.
More batteries | £25 each Claimed to work down to -20°C, I rarely need additional batteries, but they are great to have. If you think you’ll need them, I’d recommend buying the camera as the Adventure Combo for £379 – this works out better value as you get two more, the charging case and the 1.5m stick with an extra magnetic mount.
Chest strap mount | £35 With a quick-release mount that fastens to the front or back of the harness, this is a great way to get footage, but limited for motorcycle use really. Worth considering though, especially as an alternative to sticking your camera on your lid.
Mic 2 transmitter | £89 You could perhaps fit this in your helmet, but really it’s ideal for capturing great quality audio while attached to your jacket or top using the built-in clip or magnet. It connects seamlessly to the Osmo Action 4 to record audio with the video, and the levels are shown on the camera’s screen. It also has 8GB (up to 14 hours) of internal memory, and it can record 32bit float, which gives you a lot more latitude to fix audio that’s peaking too high. I’d already bought myself the Mic 2 kit for £309, so this was less useful for me, though it’s handy to have a third mic in addition to the two attached to my main XA70 during interviews. Another option is to buy the Osmo Action 4 adventure vlog combo, which costs £468 and includes two extra batteries, the charging case, 1.5m extension rod, an extra magnetic mount, and the Mic 2, so saving £115 in total.
Using manual control opens up even more creative options
There’s very little I don’t like about the DJI Osmo Action 4
Reliability is vital when it comes to a camera that you need to grab and quickly shoot action with, so the fact that I’ve sometimes charged my GoPros the night before a shoot, then powered them up to find they’re flat the next day can be incredibly frustrating. To be fair, that’s the only issue I had with them, but so far the DJI Osmo Action 4 has been totally reliable. Except in one situation.
While filming for the video test, the Osmo kept shutting down while I was thrashing the vibey single-cylinder Zontes. I thought there was something wrong with the camera, but it turned out that it was caused by the Insta360 heavy duty clamp transmitting the vibration straight to the camera and causing it to malfunction. Severe vibration can affect any electronic kit, and after borrowing a GoPro Hero 11, I found that did exactly the same thing. As soon as I switched to the DJI handlebar mount, or the Ram double-ball mount, there was enough damping to solve the issue, so this is something definitely worth keeping in mind.
Interestingly, the Insta360 didn’t suffer any issues with vibration, no matter how I mounted it, which is likely down to its shape influencing the resonant frequency.
Something else I had was that while filming audio from a Rode lav mic connected to the 3.5mm adaptor in Spain, I noticed that it would take anywhere between about 2 seconds (when the camera is in 'light' sleep mode having recently been turned off) to 14 seconds when waking from 'deep' sleep, with the record button to power up and instantly start filming. This is a delay as the camera 'sees' the mic, and results in the on-camera mics being used until it switches. Once the green mic bar appears, all is fine. I got used to this, so it ended up as just a frustration, but it can also be worked around by first powering up the camera, then hitting record when you want to film – the mic will connect immediately then.
The only other gripe I’ve had with the Osmo Action 4 is that it can be possible to unlock the battery door if you fumble clumsily with it.
I’ve never had issues with overheating on any of the action cameras I’ve used, despite them getting very hot over prolonged use, including shooting long sections in the garage, though I know it can be an issue for some.
Finally, I use an Android phone, and the DJI Mimo app is not available on the Google Play Store, so you have to side-load it from the website. Some people won’t like the potential security implications of this and it is disappointing. You could avoid downloading the app, but it’s needed for updating the Action 4, remote shooting, and adding dashboard items like GPS and G-force data. The Mimo app IS available on the Apple App Store, so there’s no need for sideloading with iOS.
The Osmo Action 4 compliments the rest of my kit perfectly, making it that bit easier to capture what I need
DJI Osmo Action 4 review: Verdict
I’m not going to stop using the Insta360 X3 as it can help me easily get some unique shots, but over the last few weeks I’ve realised how – with a bit of thought – a lot of them could also be captured with a single-lens action camera. And the quality is significantly better.
My GoPros were long overdue an upgrade, but I’ve had concerns about their reliability. The DJI Osmo Action 4 offers great video quality, excellent stabilisation, brilliant audio and some truly valuable features.
Photography has been my hobby since I was at school, shooting on Zenits and processing film in the cupboard under mum and dad’s stairs. My first own camera was a Minolta X700 (I still have it), then when I started working in media I bought a used Canon EOS 5, then a used EOS 3. That was the start of me sticking with Canon as I built up a collection of lenses that are still going strong today. I went digital with a Canon 20D, then onto a 60D and now an 80D, which was also my video camera until recently. While the lenses made no difference in the decision, I’m comfortable with Canon’s user interface, so the XA70 was an obvious (if scarily expensive, even second-hand) choice.
I’m not a fan-boy of any brand, but I like things to just work, and not get in the way of what I’m doing, so having the DJI Osmo Action 4 now too, I’ve got all I need to shoot almost everything.
Besides the XA70, it’s the Action 4 that’s the workhorse, but the Insta360 X3 is a real creative bonus. During interviews the DJI Mic 2 kit is incredibly valuable, and when the opportunity arises, it’s great to have the DJI Mini 3 Pro. The only question I have now is whether I invest in a DJI Pocket 3… it is my birthday soon.
How does the DJI Osmo Action 4 compare to the Insta360 X4 and the Insta360 X3?
Since writing this article, I've tested the Insta360 X4. You can watch the video below, and read the full review of the Insta360 X4 here, but in summary the Insta360 X4's increase in resolution is a real advantage over the Insta360 X3, but it's best in bright sunlight. During my testing in low-light, the benefits were a fair bit less, and when shooting at night, I found the X3 to be better. The Osmo Action 4 remains, for me at least, the most valuable video camera for use on a motorcycle.
DJI Osmo Action 4 vs Insta360 X4 vs Insta360 X3
In-depth, honest review of the new Insta360 X4
Do you own any of the kit discussed in this article? Tell us what it’s like, or ask us questions about it at bikeclub.bennetts.co.uk.
