- In this video,
we're gonna do a direct, side-by-side comparison
of the DJI Action 2
and the GoPro HERO10.
So, I've been shooting a ton of footage with the Action 2.
And when I was in Alaska,
I had the opportunity to work with the GoPro HERO10.
And when I was with Jake and Josiah,
we shot a ton of footage side-by-side
to compare both of these
and really see what the difference is
between the two cameras.
And at the end of this video,
we're gonna go through some of the problems
that I've encountered working with both of these cameras
and my thoughts around which camera is better
after looking at all of these comparisons.
Now, obviously, the cameras themselves are very different.
The Action 2 has the modular, magnetic design
and the GoPro HERO10 is your typical GoPro,
with a screen on the back and also on the front.
Now, one of the other major differences
is the GoPro has 5K resolution,
and the Action only goes up to 4K.
However, I don't think resolution
really makes the biggest deal in the world
because when it comes down to it,
it's more about how usable the camera is
and how the image looks.
The resolution really isn't going to determine
how good a camera is.
So just to start off,
let's do 30 seconds of footage from both of these cameras
side-by-side so you can just see
how they look directly compared.
(electronic music)
So both of these cameras are positioned in a way
to do some vlogging.
So, it has the front facing screen.
On the Action 2, you have the screen module,
which you can put on the bottom.
It adds more microphones
and it gives you better audio on camera,
and the GoPro you have that front facing screen.
So here's an audio comparison, jumping back and forth.
We can also see how the cameras look back and forth.
All right, so we are walking through a,
a rainy.
- Very rainy,
very rainy.
- Very, very rainy.
Let's just do a little test here, side by side.
This is the Action 2.
- This is the HERO10.
- And this is the audio just outside.
No wind cover, no nothing.
Just straight out of camera.
- Yeah.
Pretty calm right now, other than the rain coming down,
it's not a lot of wind.
- By the way,
what are we doing here?
We're like out in the middle of,
I'm in Alaska.
I don't know when I ended up in Alaska.
- What are you doing in Alaska?
- I don't know.
I'm up here testing a camera.
- And we decided to go out in the rain
and the wind
and the nasty, just, like, you know, fall weather.
- This is my introduction to Alaska,
was pouring down rain while hiking to go find an ice cave.
- Yeah.
That's, you know, you only live once and,
and if you're going to do stuff with somebody,
you got to find somebody
that's just about as crazy as you are,
or pretty much as crazy as you are.
- Now, a big question that I get all the time
when I review a camera is how is it in low light?
Now, most of the time when you're using an action camera,
it's going to be in bright sunlight,
and both of these look good in bright sunlight.
But I went into an ice cave with Jake up in Alaska,
and I want to show you how these look side by side
when we were in this darker setting.
(electronic music)
- [Jake] Oh, that looks awesome.
- Just setting up a shot.
- [Jake] Setting up a shot in an ice cave.
(soft electronic music)
(water pouring)
- All right,
let's see how the low light works on this camera.
Just got in an ice cave
and a little Lume Cube.
I'm going to walk through this.
(soft electronic music)
All right, so we need to talk about stabilization
because that's one area
where these cameras differ a little bit.
So, in terms of stabilization,
the Action 2 does RockSteady 2.0,
which keeps the footage super stable,
but it doesn't do horizon leveling.
When you bump the camera down into 2.7K,
you have access to full 360 horizon leveling.
Now the GoPro has HyperSmooth 4.0.
Now, GoPro does have some horizon leveling,
up to 45 degree angle.
It's not a full 360,
but it does work for most situations
because 45 degrees is pretty far.
So let's take a look at the RockSteady
versus the HyperSmooth
and see how much they differ.
(upbeat electronic music)
All right, so now it's really check out the stabilization
of these two cameras on an FPV Drone.
Jake Sloan mounted them side by side
and he did a flight so we could really see
what the difference is between the two cameras.
(upbeat electronic music)
So, both of these cameras
have 4K 120 frames per second internal.
So let's look at the 4K 120 side-by-side
to see how the two cameras compare.
(upbeat electronic music)
So, both of these cameras offer
both time-lapse and hyper lapse.
So let's just look at some hyper lapse footage
to see how stable it is when you're moving this camera,
handholding it and walking.
(upbeat electronic music)
So, both cameras have 1080P 240 frames per second,
which is super slow.
So, let's look at how different it is between each
and see if one is softer than the other.
(soft electronic music)
Okay, so we've done a bunch of side-by-side comparisons,
just kind of testing some things
as we had both cameras together,
but really,
let's look at how these cameras perform at their best.
So I'm going to do a minute of DJI footage
from a trip I just went on in Utah,
and then we'll look at the GoPro HERO10.
I have a bunch of footage from Alaska
from a different project I was working on
just before I went out to Utah.
And so this is a bunch of footage from that project as well.
(dramatic electronic music)
All right, so before we keep going any further,
I want you to go down in the comments
and let me know which camera you think looks better.
But I want to talk about some of the problems
that I encountered with both of these cameras.
So, one thing that's been coming up
is the overheating issue with the Action 2.
Now, when I was out filming in both Alaska and Utah,
I never had any sort of overheating issues.
However, when the camera was released earlier this week,
I saw a bunch of comments about how it's been overheating.
So I did some tests in my office here, and yeah,
I could get the camera to overheat
if I just run 4K 120 frames per second
and let it just sit there recording
for a long period of time.
So it's definitely something that DJI
is gonna need to address.
However,
when we were up in Alaska shooting with the GoPro HERO10,
we had the camera just randomly shut off.
It would have plenty of battery.
It would record 10 seconds and then it would just shut off.
And so, GoPro has been addressing some of these issues
and hopefully the fixes that are coming out
with firmware and batteries will help fix these problems.
Besides the shutting off,
we also had the GoPro completely freeze up.
And when it freezes, you can't do anything
but pull the battery out.
And when we pull the battery out, we lost that footage.
So the GoPro definitely has some issues
in terms of functionality.
And I would hate to be in a situation
where I had the GoPro mounted on, say,
the outside of the helicopter
and then we'd come back and it freezes
and we lose all that footage.
With the Action 2, we never had any sort of freezing issues
and we never had any sort of overheating
when we're actually using it out in the field.
Yes, it does overheat if you push it,
but it's not something that I really noticed
until people brought it up
and I did some strict test with it.
Now, one problem that DJI really needs to address
is on the menus.
So when you swipe down,
there's the card selection on the left.
And if you put your finger in kind of the same spot
and tap three times, you've formatted your card.
And this actually is a major issue because
when I was out filming, I shot an entire day of footage,
I had the camera down by my side, it was still turned on
and I must have had some water on the screen or something,
but the camera formatted itself.
And I pull it up and I lost an entire day of footage.
And on the GoPro,
your format button is really buried deep in the menu,
so there's no chance of you accidentally, like,
swiping and clicking.
And it would take a while to get to that format button.
Whereas the DJI, you swipe down,
tap in pretty much the same part of the screen three times
and you formatted your card.
After looking at all of this footage
and putting it all side by side,
honestly, not really one stands out.
Both cameras are good in different ways
and both cameras are good depending on the application.
If you wanted more of a POV style camera,
the Action 2 is awesome.
The magnetic mount works super well,
and I'm planning on mounting these throughout my Jeep
to do some overlanding videos,
because it's going to be super easy to just pop this off,
pop it somewhere else,
or like grab it and go get a shot outside
without having to, like, unscrew the GoPro mounts.
Now the GoPro has higher resolutions,
which is going to be good for some situations,
but resolution isn't everything,
I guess the final thing I want to say
if you've gotten this far in the video
is that it really doesn't matter which camera you choose.
It comes down to how you're gonna use the camera
and the kind of videos that you're going to create.
Because when you put these cameras side by side,
you're really just splitting hairs
in terms of what the differences are.
There's gonna be some things
that look better on the GoPro
and some things that look better on the Action 2.
And it really comes down to your use
and the stories that you're telling.
After working with these on two different adventures,
I definitely prefer the ease of use with the Action 2,
and the smaller size and the magnetic mount
just make it a more usable camera in my world,
and it's something that I can see myself continuing to use.
But you gotta remember at the end of the day,
it's whatever camera is going to help you capture
the footage that you need to tell your story.
So if you want to see more information about both cameras,
I'll put links down below in the description.
And next, if you want to learn more about the DJI Action 2,
I did a full review all about this camera.
So, make sure you check that out
and I'll see you on the next video.