DJI OSMO ACTION 6 | Variable Aperture & 1/1.1" Sensor

0:00 All right, here it is.

0:00 The brand new DJI Action 6.

0:03 Right now, I have this macro lens on here

0:05 just because I think it looks really cool.

0:07 Almost as cool as I look right now with my little neck phone mount thing.

0:10 Don't make fun of me, but usually it doesn't have this on here.

0:13 A standard protective lens.

0:14 First thing we'll notice is the larger sensor, but also an F2 to F4,

0:18 which means a variable aperture in an action camera.

0:21 Something we haven't seen before.

0:22 So, plenty of interesting things to check out on this camera.

0:25 Now, DJI is a sponsor, so they gave me early access to this camera.

0:28 I'm going to put it through some real world use and at the end

0:30 I will tell you my favorite and least favorite thing about this Action 6.

0:34 Let me throw this macro lens back on because it is pretty cool.

0:37 Here is the first shot we got with it.

0:39 God, that's pretty cool.

0:40 That is cool.

0:40 You could even hear it.

0:41 How close are you to the bird?

0:42 Like 6 in.

0:44 I think it was like this close.

0:45 Cuz this hummingbird maybe 6 in.

0:48 Okay.

0:47 This hummingbird is like this big.

0:49 But I like the sound.

0:50 Sounds like a Star Wars shape.

0:52 Oh, the lightsaber.

0:54 You actually get a little depth of field.

0:56 Look, the background's blur.

0:57 Oh, yeah.

0:57 So macro lens combined with slow motion.

1:00 That's so cool.

1:00 Just like look at how it just like scoot forward.

1:03 The way their heads are like super stabilized like on a gimbal.

1:08 240 frames per second.

1:09 At least you could see it flapping.

1:10 It's crazy how fast they are.

1:12 So 240.

1:12 What?

1:13 1080.

1:13 1080.

1:14 Really?

1:14 We need like 600 frames per second.

1:16 We need the Ember full screen.

1:17 You could see a resolution.

1:18 His tongue.

1:19 Look at his little tongue.

1:20 Is that his tongue?

1:21 Yeah, his tongue was sticking out.

1:22 Oh my god.

1:22 That's its tongue.

1:25 Yeah.

1:25 Wo.

1:25 Oh, it's like

1:26 that's how they get the nickname.

1:27 Yeah, that's how they do it.

1:28 When you put in a different lens,

1:29 the macro doesn't know that you changed the lenses or No.

1:31 Yeah, it did automatically.

1:33 Oh, that's cool.

1:33 Also, the larger one over 1.1 in sensor in here is now a perfect square.

1:39 I like that.

1:39 I like that, too.

1:40 I think it's the future.

1:41 It is the future.

1:42 I feel like we're reaching the end of the days where we

1:44 have to like decide like are we shooting for Instagram or for YouTube?

1:47 Square.

1:47 It's like shoot for both.

1:49 So, do you think cropping into that sensor

1:51 will look the same as this true vertical here?

1:54 Should.

1:54 We don't have to do that vertical mounting crap.

1:56 Yeah, I hate committing to just one.

1:58 I get a really good shot, it's like.

2:00 But also, when you have it as like a helmet mount,

2:02 a lot of times you're estimating.

2:03 So, it's also really nice to have that flexibility to slide the frame

2:07 up or down if you kind of miss your angle a little bit.

2:09 But the big question is, does the image quality actually look better?

2:12 So, here we are on the brand new Action 6

2:14 as well as the Action 5 right next to it.

2:17 Here's how it's looking.

2:18 Less blowout right here in the sun.

2:21 Little more detail on my face on the six.

2:23 So, I think I'm seeing an improvement.

2:26 Let's kind of explore different lighting here.

2:28 Completely default settings, skin tones, face closeup, backlight, front light.

2:38 We definitely get more dynamic range.

2:40 Yeah, I noticed it more with the tripod.

2:42 The sexiest tripod in the world, of course.

2:45 Yes.

2:45 Let's take a look at some low light, though.

2:48 More exposure out of the six.

2:49 But you could also tell the six is pushing harder.

2:51 Like it's lifting the ISO a little bit more.

2:54 Yeah.

2:54 Is what it looks like.

2:55 The six is definitely not afraid to boost,

2:58 but you could also see a little bit of the side

3:00 effects of like the noise come up a little bit with it.

3:03 Again, this is all fully automatic on the camera.

3:05 And then of course there's the low light mode called super night.

3:09 Action 5 has a super night mode.

3:11 Yeah.

3:11 Wow.

3:11 Have you never used it?

3:12 I've never used it.

3:12 I didn't even know I had it.

3:14 Yeah.

3:14 Haven't you been shooting on the Action 5 for years?

3:16 But never super.

3:18 Yeah.

3:18 It makes a difference.

3:20 Oh, you want to know why you should use it?

3:21 Yeah.

3:21 Yeah.

3:21 Yeah, sure.

3:22 Okay, so this is my iPhone 17 Pro Max

3:24 compared to the Action 6 in Super Night mode.

3:27 Just look at the detail in the hair.

3:29 Like the windows up above in the building.

3:30 It just looks sharper.

3:32 Yeah, I prefer the the Action 6

3:34 when it gets really dark, you know, clearly way more exposure.

3:37 Yeah, I can't see anything on the 17 right now.

3:38 Nothing.

3:39 But of course, this is the iPhone 17's ultra wide view.

3:42 But let's say you don't turn on super

3:43 night and you're just using regular DLOG M.

3:45 We're already seeing some grain on your face here.

3:47 Yeah.

3:48 I know that the iPhone 17 looks better.

3:50 Yeah.

3:50 So, in DLOG M the low light is actually not as good,

3:53 but you turn on super night and it leaprogs it.

3:56 But in Super Night mode, you have to be in 16 by9.

4:00 You cannot shoot one by one in super night mode.

4:03 Okay.

4:03 Okay.

4:03 So, there's there are these trade-offs.

4:05 But how nice is it that you can just take

4:07 a camera this size and put it in your pocket?

4:09 It's like, oh, now it's a little vlog camera, right?

4:12 So, like let's say you don't even want to wear these microphones.

4:14 Uh, here's a little vlog sample of when we were

4:17 in Pasadena and all of a sudden we started hearing

4:19 a bunch of these green parrots.

4:21 What?

4:22 Red crown Amazon.

4:24 Wa!

4:24 Look how many there are.

4:27 And they are loud.

4:29 Woah.

4:30 It sounds like you're in the middle of the Amazon forest right now.

4:32 But then it just looks like this.

4:34 I have noticed once in a while the stabilization

4:36 is better on the six in Super Night Mode.

4:38 Five.

4:38 You sometimes see a little bit of that like movement jitter.

4:41 Uh, Action 6 does seem to be a little bit better

4:43 at smoothening out the stabilization and then like looking at the tree,

4:47 you definitely get more detail on the six.

4:49 I think the color is more true on the six.

4:51 Again, it maintains a little bit more highlights here, which I like.

4:54 All right, so I got the macro lens on so I could bring the focus

4:57 in and show you this little microphone

4:58 which is connected to this camera right now.

5:01 So, this is what you look like right now.

5:02 And I have you on face focus, so it should be pinpointed,

5:06 focused on me, and maybe a little bit of background blur.

5:09 feel like this is a really awesome little minimalist vlog setup to, you know,

5:13 capture things like me learning how to wheelie.

5:15 Okay, I still don't know how to wheelie.

5:17 I can get the front up, but I just can't keep it up.

5:20 You know, old man problems.

5:21 I can't keep it up.

5:22 Up we go.

5:23 Woo, man.

5:24 Nope.

5:25 Wheelie time.

5:25 I'm up.

5:26 Oh, that's not bad.

5:27 Woo!

5:29 Woo!

5:31 All right, so how about we pop you over to chin mount now.

5:34 Take a little tripod, fold it up.

5:37 Woo!

5:38 Here we go.

5:38 We're up.

5:39 We're up.

5:39 We're up.

5:40 And then I can't.

5:41 Let's get you on the handlebar now.

5:42 Going up.

5:45 I'm still up.

5:46 Oh, that was the best one.

5:48 Soon, I'm just going to do an entire video just in a wheelie, you know?

5:50 I'm just going to be like, "Hey guys,

5:52 welcome to another video." But I can't do that right

5:55 now cuz otherwise I will definitely break my neck.

5:57 What other fun angles can we do?

5:59 How's this angle?

6:00 So, I'm going to bring the focus in so you get the tire in focus.

6:04 Woo!

6:05 Okay.

6:05 Okay.

6:06 Okay.

6:06 Yeah.

6:07 Oh, that was not a bad one.

6:09 Quality is not looking bad, though, right?

6:11 I mean, it's a gloomy day,

6:12 and that's usually where a lot of action cameras will kind of fall apart.

6:15 Like, all action cameras look great in direct sunlight.

6:18 But, uh, today's a gloomy day,

6:19 but I love the idea of having my entire vlog setup,

6:21 including mics and selfie stick that I'm holding right now,

6:24 and all this other stuff, all fit into this little tiny fanny pack.

6:27 And yes, I am wearing a little fanny pack.

6:28 They're so convenient.

6:29 Oh, look, I have a visitor.

6:31 Oh, he's following me.

6:32 Also, I have the mic just on my shirt, magnetically attached.

6:35 Going 20 miles per hour right now.

6:37 How is the wind sound?

6:39 I mean, I've been really impressed with the uh sound cancelling of the DJI mic.

6:42 So, now here we are at 30.

6:45 How does it sound?

6:46 So, these are definitely wideangle cameras, not telephoto lenses,

6:50 but sometimes you're walking to lunch and then all

6:53 of a sudden you see a fire and you're like,

6:55 "Okay, well, let me stand back and zoom in a little bit."

6:58 This does have a 2x zoom option which is supposed to maintain that quality.

7:02 Look at the the detail difference.

7:04 Look.

7:04 See, you can actually see the fire.

7:06 Oh, and then the firefighters above it.

7:07 Firefighters are so freaking cool, though.

7:09 That's a crazy job.

7:10 I think this is the first time I've ever actually seen

7:12 firefighters roll up and put out a fire in a building.

7:15 Did you see them roll up?

7:16 Yeah.

7:16 We're grabbing coffee and we all just started rolling up and we're like,

7:19 why are there so many trucks here?

7:20 And then we look over and see the smoke and be like, oh, okay, okay, okay.

7:24 But it was just like the movies, you know,

7:26 they roll up backdraft soundtrack playing

7:28 in the background and they're walking in slow motion.

7:30 I was very inspired.

7:31 Oh, okay.

7:32 I think it's time for a career change

7:33 because my job will be replaced by AI soon.

7:36 So, the dynamic range here.

7:38 So, if we look at the

7:39 the people here in the foreground.

7:40 Yeah.

7:40 Also, if you want to stylize the footage and bake in a look into the footage,

7:44 there's a bunch of filters like this is FD at 30%.

7:47 So, you have your filter and you can

7:49 adjust how strong you want it to be applied,

7:51 but also you kind of have to commit to it.

7:54 So, personally, I don't think I'd use it,

7:55 but I did think it actually looks kind of cool.

7:58 Yeah.

7:58 I also like that you can adjust the percentage on it as well, right?

8:01 Cuz if it's too strong, it's like, there's a couple different filters.

8:05 This is WT at 100%.

8:07 It's more vibrant.

8:08 This is NV 30%.

8:10 It does kind of feel deserty,

8:11 but you definitely see some loss in dynamic range, right?

8:14 It's like crunchier.

8:15 But also with film looks, no one by one.

8:17 Oh, okay.

8:18 I'm guessing it's because applying these film looks,

8:20 it requires a little bit of that processing.

8:22 So, you have to take it away from that one by one processing.

8:25 But, of course, we have 10 bit DLOG M and that will

8:27 give us a little bit more flexibility with the footage,

8:30 full access to the dynamic range.

8:32 And I just applied the default L onto both of these.

8:35 Definitely some color differences in DLOG.

8:37 And that could also have something to do with the white balance, right?

8:40 Yeah, cuz it's almost seems that the white balance

8:42 on each of the cameras act a little differently.

8:46 Yeah.

8:46 So, apparently this thing up here is the white balance sensor.

8:49 Oh, is that right?

8:50 Here, my skin tones have a little bit more reddish.

8:53 You see a little bit more of that pink in skin tones.

8:55 And again, this is DLOG M with the default L.

8:58 And I should also mention that this is still pre-production firmware.

9:01 So, there's possibilities of them tweaking on some of these things still.

9:04 Sometimes you see the benefits of the dynamic range, right?

9:06 Like with Carrie Walkan, it's still protecting the sky,

9:08 but it elevates the grass a little bit more.

9:11 I think they're both supposed to be 13 1/2 stops dynamic range, but

9:14 it's a little better.

9:15 Yes, it is.

9:16 But at the end of the day, we do have that square sensor,

9:19 which makes a huge difference.

9:20 For all you FPV pilots out there,

9:22 we can shoot unstabilized and then stabilize it out with gyroflow

9:26 so that you have custom control over how you want to stabilize.

9:30 So, in the 1x1 aspect ratio where we're maximizing the sensor,

9:34 we are, I believe, limited to 60 frames per second.

9:37 So, not super slow-mo, but we're recording the whole sensor.

9:40 So, it makes sense.

9:41 That was nice.

9:42 So, that's at 60 frames per second.

9:43 So, now I'm going to go into 120 frames per second, and I'm in the 4K 4x3.

9:48 I'm also going to split screen it with the Action 5,

9:50 so we can kind of compare, see if there's any difference there.

9:52 Now, on to the 240 frames per second in 1080p, the lower resolution.

9:57 Actually, I've never seen my swing before.

9:58 Slow-mo is like great analysis, isn't it?

10:01 Like when I would throw a baseball in my head, I look just like Yamamoto.

10:04 Like, and then I look back at the pitch.

10:06 More like Yama No.

10:09 So, still got good slow-mo.

10:10 Nothing too different from before, I think, though.

10:12 Oh, look at this.

10:13 There's also an option to connect wireless earbuds.

10:16 I happen to have the new AirPods,

10:17 so I don't know, maybe the sound quality wouldn't be awful.

10:20 All right, so I have these earbuds connected now.

10:22 How does it sound?

10:22 If it sounds pretty good, that that would actually be awesome.

10:25 I know in the past when I've tried this, the sound quality was just awful.

10:30 Like clearly awful.

10:31 Like not even close awful.

10:32 Now, by default, if I shoot in square,

10:34 you'll notice these black boxes in the corner, which kind of makes sense.

10:36 I mean, the lens is a circular projection and the sensor square,

10:40 so that's probably the edges of the lens,

10:42 but I do have the option to hide the crop grid,

10:44 which seems to crop in a tiny bit.

10:46 And now I don't have any of those boxes in the corner.

10:49 And now I've gone ahead and turned on horizon balancing.

10:51 So, I should be able to turn the camera

10:53 upside down and the footage should still look fine.

10:56 And we're going to go all the way around.

10:57 So, yeah, you don't have to crop in as much for horizon balancing.

11:00 Kind of nice cuz then I don't have to really

11:02 care too much about making sure the camera's level.

11:04 I just hold it however.

11:06 Of course, we're going to want this back

11:07 lens for the best minimum focus distance, right?

11:09 But I feel like DJI has done a good job putting relatively

11:13 large sensors in these cameras while

11:15 maintaining pretty good minimum focus distance.

11:17 So, how does it look?

11:18 I'm probably like a a foot and a half right now.

11:21 But also, we have a variable aperture.

11:23 And at first, I wasn't sure if it was going

11:25 to make using this camera maybe a little bit more complex.

11:28 But honestly, everything just kind of works in the background.

11:30 Everything's very automatic.

11:32 So, if I go into like super night mode,

11:34 it'll just open up the f2.0, give me the most amount of light possible.

11:37 And also, apparently, it detects when it needs more depth of field,

11:41 you know, a better minimum focus distance, then it will close down to f4.

11:44 Now, I know F2 and F4 doesn't sound like much,

11:46 but it's actually a full stop in each direction.

11:49 Meaning, when you open up to an F2,

11:50 like in super night mode, that's double the light.

11:53 Now, they also claim a 4hour battery life,

11:55 but of course, that means setting it to full HD,

11:58 turning off the screen, the Wi-Fi, all that stuff that I'm not trying to do.

12:00 So, real world, I'm getting still 3 hours of battery life in 4K one by one,

12:07 which is ridiculously good.

12:09 It's still going, guys.

12:12 Really?

12:11 Oh my god.

12:12 I was in 4K 24 now.

12:13 30 frames per second or set the bit rate to high,

12:15 it lasted about two and a half hours.

12:17 Still really good.

12:18 I mean, that was one of the things that really stood out

12:20 to me with the Action 5 was how ridiculously good the battery life was.

12:24 It does appear to be the same exact battery that we had in the five.

12:28 So, interchangeable.

12:29 So nice not having to carry around extra batteries,

12:31 especially if you're just out for a few hours.

12:33 If we look at it next to the previous five, it is tiny tiny bit bigger.

12:37 If you can see, it's it's honestly barely noticeable, but just slightly bigger.

12:42 So, it won't fit in like the same cages or whatnot,

12:44 but also no red, which I like.

12:46 It's a little bit sleeker here.

12:48 And also, the way you open this up is slightly different.

12:51 You know, before it was like this button.

12:53 They did also update the mount and bottom right here so

12:56 that it can magnetically attach and kind of click in in both directions.

13:00 So, does that mean the previous version

13:01 of the Action 5 is no longer compatible with this?

13:03 Well, it it just magnetically fights it a little bit, right?

13:07 it it's kind of hard to see on the camera.

13:09 But if I just kind of wrestle it in a little bit, it's fine.

13:12 It locks in.

13:12 It's secure.

13:13 Now, what if I take the new camera and put it into an older mount?

13:16 It still kind of does the same thing where it kind of wrestles it a little bit,

13:19 but I feel like it's easier to put the new camera on the older one.

13:23 Little less magnetic wrestling, but using the new camera with the new mount,

13:27 it definitely wants to attach and you just kind of click it in.

13:30 All right, so finally,

13:30 time for my favorite and least favorite things about this Action 6.

13:34 And I'll go ahead and start with my complaints.

13:36 Well, but rather they're more features that I want.

13:39 For example, I really like this macro lens,

13:42 but sometimes it could be a little bit tough

13:44 to tell if I'm actually in focus or not because

13:46 I'm trying to focus and I'm looking at a screen

13:49 this big or even the smaller screen up front.

13:51 I'm just looking at this, right?

13:53 I can ballpark it, but I have missed focus a few times.

13:56 So, my confidence level in the focus is a little bit off.

13:59 If there was just some sort of tool like

14:01 focus peaking or magnification or whatever just to, you know,

14:04 ensure that the focus is there, that would be nice.

14:06 But overall, I'm really liking this macro lens.

14:08 I love the idea that I could get some background blur on like an action camera.

14:12 Also, with this macro lens, I'm stuck in 4x3, which is great.

14:15 You know, that's what we used to have,

14:16 but now I'm kind of spoiled with this 1x one, that extra reach and size.

14:21 And with the macro lens on, it won't allow me to do that.

14:24 I'm guessing it's because then you would see the edges of the lens, right?

14:28 But, you know, you could give us just like those square boxes in the corners.

14:32 I'll take that.

14:33 So, maybe, you know, firmware update.

14:34 But anyways, I'll go ahead and switch it back to the regular lens.

14:37 Drop the macro lens.

14:38 This is an action camera we're dealing with.

14:40 So, um, should be fine.

14:42 Now that I've removed the macro lens, I can come back out here to square world.

14:45 I do kind of like how the square

14:46 perfectly gets fit right there in the front screen.

14:49 But notice I went ahead and turned on all the frame guides I can find on here.

14:52 You know, you have your rule of third

14:54 split and also some edge guides and whatnot.

14:57 But what I really want is just a line for my 16x9 horizontal and 16x9 vertical.

15:04 And I can't find that on here yet.

15:06 So that's another thing that should be a very easy ad.

15:09 And my final complaint is when I'm using these awesome DJI Mic 3es.

15:14 You can go ahead and adjust the audio levels right here.

15:16 And notice I have it down already all the way, right?

15:19 Minus 12.

15:20 And I can still clip.

15:22 Woo!

15:22 I'm still up.

15:23 Oh, that was the best one.

15:25 This is going to be A GOOD ONE.

15:26 YEAH.

15:27 And I know for a fact that this microphone could record much louder

15:30 sounds cuz if I download the 32-bit float internal audio out of here,

15:33 I can basically scream into this microphone.

15:35 So really, I wish this microphone could go further to like minus 20.

15:40 You know, I would love to have this microphone like

15:42 right here inside of my helmet and not have it clip.

15:45 By the way, isn't this setup kind of cool right here?

15:48 I think I'm going to start doing this more

15:49 thanks to the accessory mount on the Trix tripod.

15:52 Now, moving on to my favorite things about the Action 6.

15:54 Now, if you were to ask me before, what's your favorite action camera?

15:57 I would have said the Action 5 for a couple different reasons.

16:00 One, the insane battery life.

16:02 And also, we could pair two microphones wirelessly

16:05 straight to the camera without any modules or accessories,

16:08 which is freaking awesome.

16:10 Accessories like the wide angle and now the macro and ND

16:13 filter that we could slap on top of the lens,

16:14 so we don't have to unscrew anything.

16:16 Top tier image quality.

16:18 And now with the six,

16:19 we still maintain all of that, but of course with one by one, the square.

16:24 I mean, that's I think the big story here.

16:26 We all want open gate in our mirrorless

16:28 cameras and then DJI just comes out goes, "We'll just give you a square.

16:31 How about that?

16:32 A full-on square." Like, I definitely have to get with the times

16:34 more and start repurposing my videos for vertical.

16:38 And square definitely makes me more open

16:42 to that cuz I don't have to reshoot things twice.

16:45 Either that or you're cropping in uncomfortably close

16:47 to things and your composition never feels quite right.

16:50 you know, like square, there's breathing room for both.

16:53 Then from a technology standpoint,

16:55 definitely the variable aperture is very impressive and it

16:59 kind of is now also opening the door to like,

17:01 oh, you could have variable aperture action cameras.

17:04 Like, that's cool.

17:05 That's pretty much all I got for now.

17:07 I better start packing because I'm heading to Portugal.

17:10 If any of you have any uh travel tips for uh Lisbon, let me know.

17:15 And um I'll see you on the next one.

17:18 Bye.