Hey guys, today we are comparing the OM5 to its predecessor the OM4.
We'll do some tests comparing the differences
and you can decide if it's worth it. I purchased both these gimbals myself
and have been using them for the past few weeks. Welcome back to Reviews For Life.
First, let's compare what's inside the boxes. Both have the same items
but the OM4 has an extra magnetic sticker this is used as an alternative to the magnetic clamp.
But DJI recommends that you don't use it with a phone case. Personally, I do prefer
using the magnetic clamp more but it's a lot more aggressive on my phone case. The magnetic
clamps can be interchanged between the two gimbals and the same goes with the tripod legs.
In both cases everything fits nicely inside the pouches so there's no difference here.
Something that really caught my attention though is just how small the om5 is
folded up. It's roughly the same size as my phone and easily fits in my pocket.
Though the OM4 is bigger, so this doesn't work as well.
That said there's two things that really stood out to me about the om5 folded position. The first is
that the pan motor can swing 180 degrees quite freely. To me this doesn't feel very secure
and feels like it's putting a lot of stress on the motors. The second thing is that in order to
fold this up you have to detach the magnetic clamp and then you can fold it. Now this would have made
sense if they kept the magnetic sticker but for the OM5 they didn't so I reached out to DJI and
they said that the magnetic clamp can be stored inside the included carrying pouch. I mean that is
a solution but it's not as convenient as the om4. To me this design feels like a step backwards.
As for other features the biggest one is perhaps the selfie stick. If you've done vlogging before
you'll greatly appreciate this. The top of the selfie stick does include a hinge so
you're able to bend it 90 degrees. It's quite stiff and you'll need two hands so there's no
worries about using a heavier phone. Other changes include the grip
it's narrower and the rubber texture is moved to the front where the fingers rest.
This means you do have to change your grip a little but it's still very comfortable to hold.
Battery size is also reduced by over half- from 15 hours down to 6.5. The whole control section
has been changed quite a bit; they moved the power button off to the side making landscape and
portrait its own thing, and the zoom slider has also changed but it doesn't affect performance.
You still charge the gimbal through usb-c but the phone charging port has been removed. One thing
that isn't mentioned much is the joystick and I'm quite surprised because it has been completely
redesigned. In short it's a lot better. First of all they added this rubber ring around it so it's
easier to grip but also it can no longer spin. If you've seen my previous om4 video that was one of
the biggest complaints I had. They also changed the joystick to be a four-way button instead of
the slider. Functionally, this doesn't change anything so nothing is lost here I'm pointing
this out because I actually use the joystick quite often so these changes are greatly appreciated.
Next let's talk about the most important thing stabilization.
The om4 is on the left and the om5 is on the right.
I have disabled the in-camera stabilization and this is with the selfie stick contracted.
Side by side that om4 is smoother. Next we'll extend the selfie stick.
In this case the selfie stick exaggerates the shakes more. And for this next section,
I re-enable camera stabilization with the om4 on the left and the om5 on the right.
To me, they look identical and I didn't notice any jitters in the background.
Let's compare it again with the selfie stick extended.
This time the camera is a bit further away but we still get a very smooth footage.
Something I have seen people talk a lot about is the poor range of motion and I'll confirm it it's
worse than the OM4. For the tilt you get about 90 degrees on the OM4 and 40 degrees on the OM5.
For the pan you get about 220 on the OM4 and 200 on the OM5. Now that could be a deal breaker for
some but there are workarounds- like if you needed the extra tilt you can pull out the selfie stick
and adjust it manually. So technically you get 40 more degrees than the om4 but just like the phone
clamp this solution isn't very elegant. Personally this reduced range does annoy me because it means
I can't get as much freedom from my time-lapse shots. Once again, this is another step backwards.
As for software it's pretty much the same between the two since they share the same
app. All the features are still there like video recording panorama and time lapse.
And my phone still has the same quirks, like no 60fps no slo-mo and no secondary cameras.
To get everything perfectly level you still have to go through the app for calibration
and adjustments. Maybe the biggest difference is that the OM5 has three different follow speeds.
That's right you get slow medium and fast while the OM4 only has slow and fast.
If you're wondering, this just controls how smooth the footage looks from the gimbal.
At the time of recording DJI has removed the Mimo app from the Google Play Store,
and you have to download it externally. Now on the OM5, DJI claims that they've
upgraded the active track from 3 to 4. It improves responsiveness recognition capabilities and has
a new automatic face tracking feature. During practical use I couldn't tell much difference
and tracking performed roughly the same. But what separates the OM5 is that selfie stick.
It raises up the phone so that you're no longer getting an image of up my nose
and instead something much more flattering. I think this particular piece of software on both
gimbals is very mature and as the saying goes if it's not broken don't fix it. Finally let's look
at the price at the time of recording the OM5 is going for $179 CAD and the OM4 is $149 CAD.
So is the extra 30 dollars worth it? Well let's summarize. The OM5 has a smaller form factor
which makes it easier to pocket and carry around. The joystick is completely redesigned and is much
easier to use. Selfie stick is a useful feature especially since it's built into the gimbal.
As for disadvantages, the smaller size does mean the OM5 has a smaller battery.
There's no magnetic sticker included in the accessories. Gimbal arm can swing well folded
so the gimbal is never fully locked. There's a smaller controllable range of motion especially
in the till axis. The phone clamp doesn't attach to the gimbal when folded. And finally, it's more
expensive. With all these negatives it seems like DJI has taken one step forward and two steps back.
But to vloggers, this selfie stick can make those trade-offs worth it. Even fully extended
the gimbal's able to produce stable footage. For me, although I don't v-log, I find that I
end up reaching for the OM5more because it's smaller and the selfie stick is fun to have.
Alright that's it. If you've enjoyed this consider liking and subscribing thanks for watching.
The magnetic clamp can also be interchanged between...