- Could the Osmo Action 4 actually be
DJI's best Action camera yet.
(suspenseful music builds)
Let's find out.
(upbeat rock music)
Okay, so the issues with the Action 3
were definitely on my mind,
and I was really anxious to see
how the Osmo Action 4 was gonna perform.
But with its 1/1.3" sensor,
155 degree ultra wide angle field of view,
shooting up to 4K120, in 10-bit color and D-Log M,
I was so impressed with the specs
and was hoping to be equally impressed with the footage.
(upbeat music continues)
And honestly, I was.
The image quality didn't disappoint.
As soon as I saw the footage and used the camera,
there was no doubt that the Osmo Action 4
was gonna become one of those top picks for a lot of people.
The quality of the footage is really clean and clear
and DJI included such a welcome setting.
Sharpness.
Finally. (chuckles)
Now you can set the level of sharpness you want
in the camera,
and you can also set the desired level
of noise reduction too.
In my pre-release version, I just have three levels
which are high to low,
but upon release there'll be a firmware update
which will upgrade this to five levels of sharpness
and four levels of noise reduction.
- [Train Announcer] Good afternoon everyone.
Shortly we'll be arriving into London Paddington
where this train will terminate.
So please make sure you have all your belongings with you
before leaving the train.
(train rumbling and squeaking)
- It really feels like DJI are going for
a really pro experience with the Action 4,
especially when you throw D-Log M into the mix
which just gives you so much more flexibility
when it comes to color correcting and color grading,
and then just getting the highest quality footage
that you can from the camera.
So yeah, it's awesome to see D-Log M in the Action 4.
But even if you shoot in the normal color profile
you're still gonna get some awesome results.
(traffic buzzing noisily)
'Cause the reproduction in the Action 4 is so good.
DJI really do colors nicely,
so it doesn't look like that typical action camera footage
and you just get really nice-looking skin tones and colors.
But if you're looking for an HDR feature
you're not gonna find one
because DJI have made sure
that you get the best dynamic range from the Action 4.
So there's actually no need for
a specific HDR mode in the camera.
So what did you think about that audio?
Because that just came straight from the Action 4.
No external microphone attached at all.
Just the inbuilt camera mics.
I didn't think it sounded too bad at all.
(gentle music)
All right, how's my battery life looking?
Alright, got 29%, so it's actually doing all right.
I've got a decent amount left.
And whilst I'm on the subject of battery life, actually...
You're gonna have more than enough filming all day
if you go with the Adventure Combo.
I shoot exclusively in 4K
and I found myself getting
over an hour from just one battery,
even with the occasional 120 FPS footage,
which looks so good by the way.
Slow motion footage definitely has its place
but if you use it with the Osmo Action 4
then you're gonna get such smooth footage.
It looks so good.
So imagine, if you shoot in 1080,
which I guess a lot of people still do.
So I've actually put together a few clips
so that you can see what the footage looks like in 1080p
and I've put that in a separate video
and there's a link in the description to that
so you can actually check that out.
But if you do shoot in 1080,
then you're gonna have loads of battery life
for getting loads of different footage
and shooting long time-lapse sequences as well,
if that's the kind of thing you wanna do.
Speaking of which, time-lapses look pretty good as well.
The Action 4 has a few preset options for time-lapses
but you can also customize it yourself as well.
And I'd highly recommend using some ND filters.
DJI has some, and they basically just allow you to
have a slower shutter speed
that you can get more cinematic motion blur
and it just creates a really cool effect.
(bright electronic music)
So here's something new.
When it comes to low light filming,
DJI's added a new setting, Low Light Image Enhancement.
I've just run so fast to catch my train.
So it tries to just give you the best quality footage
in low light when shooting in the normal color profile.
So not D-Log.
It's a good job I've got an action camera
'cause it's raining.
I knew I should have brought my coat.
I knew it.
Even for this little short walk to the car.
Just seeing how the image stabilization holds up
but also just seeing what the image quality
looks like in low light
with this enhanced low light setting.
I feel like I'm shouting, I've got my earbuds in.
Yeah, I was definitely shouting. (chuckles)
I'm really annoyed at myself as well
because I was so caught up
in filming the first bit of this video
that I completely forgot to buy a train,
not a train ticket, a car parking ticket.
And I realized at like five o'clock this evening,
I got to the car park at two o'clock, I think,
and it was like half five.
And so I bought a ticket anyway
(car zooms past)
at the time that I remembered
in hopes that a traffic warden,
or a ticket warden hadn't been round yet.
But I'm really, really hoping
that I do not have a ticket because, (sighs)
it would not be ideal.
(record scratch)
Alright, that's enough of that.
Let's see how the stabilization looks
in normal filming conditions.
So normal lighting with a bit of speed.
(upbeat electronic music)
I just had a look back at the footage,
just the little bit that I did there
and it looks really good.
I've got the stabilization set to RockSteady+
so that's the highest level of stabilization
that you're gonna get with the Action 4.
And I think it did a really good job.
The footage looks really smooth,
so I'm gonna put it into RockSteady
and see what that looks like
because that's just one level below RockSteady+.
And just see how smooth that is as well
because that also gives you a slightly wider field of view
'cause RockSteady+ crops things quite a lot.
(relaxing lo-fi music) (wind fluttering)
So one of the other features that I really love
is the Quick Switch button
because it allows you to quickly switch between
photo, video, time-lapse mode
but you can also customize it
so you can put whatever you want in that menu as well.
And the other thing is,
so when I was out on my bike
and I had the Action 4 on my helmet.
I wanted to make sure that I was definitely in video mode.
And so the Quick Switch button actually
allows you to have a voice prompt
so you can actually hear what mode you're switching to
or what you're switching to in that menu.
- [Quick Switch] Photo, Video, Slow Motion.
- So if you accidentally hit photo or time lapse
or something else and you want video,
then you're gonna get that audible feedback.
So I just found that to be really, really handy.
Also, all the clips that I did before
where I was talking into the Action 4,
I was using the microphones that came from the camera,
but this time I've actually got
the DJI wireless mic attached
and this is the audio that you're hearing
and that's the audio that you just heard as well.
And yeah, this is what it sounds like
because you can attach external microphone via USB-C
and the DJI mics work really well
and the audio sounds really good as well.
So yeah, this is what the audio sounds like
with an external mic attached.
(chilled-out lo-fi music)
So just like the Osmo Action 3
wasn't really meant to replace the Action 2,
the Osmo Action 4 is also
not a replacement for the Action 3.
DJI intends for the Action 4 to be a camera
for those who are really active outdoors
and want high image quality footage and advanced features.
So it's here to sit alongside the Action 3
which is intended moreso for people
who want a really easy setup
and something that's just gonna give them great footage
without having to fiddle around with too many settings.
So if you're looking for a pro level action camera
then the Action 4 is definitely one to consider.
And I'll show you how it holds up
against the HERO11 in my next video
because I know that's gonna be a burning question
that a lot of you have.
Oh, I think, I think I'm all right.
I think I'm alright.
(sighs) I do not have...
I don't have a ticket!
(people cheering) So good.
This is probably not the best test of the audio
because I'm losing my voice.
Not feeling great today
but I thought I'd come and paddleboard
because the rest of the week
is looking pretty (bleep) for weather.
So yeah, this is what the audio sounds like.
I'll probably do a better test
when I've got my voice back properly.
But yeah, just thought I'd come out and
just come on the water today,
bring the Action 4 with me.
(chilled-out lo-fi music)