Good day, folks. Shawn here from Air Photography. In my latest video, I focus primarily on the video quality difference between the new DJI Osmo Action 6 and the Osmo Action 5 Pro. I captured a variety of footage on both cameras simultaneously so you can see if there are any real differences between them.

After reviewing this footage multiple times, I have to be honest with you. There’s not really a lot of difference in most scenarios.

I think in some situations we get slightly better quality on the DJI Osmo Action 6, especially in low light. But I’m curious what you think after watching the footage yourself.

Side-By-Side Footage Results

It might be hard to tell the difference on YouTube, especially on a small screen. Throughout my video, I cropped some clips so you can get a better view.

I also played some footage at full screen, back to back, so you can get a good feel of what each camera offers.

As you can see from the comparisons, the footage was pretty close. The Osmo Action 6 does perform slightly better in some scenarios, but I’m really curious what you thought of the footage.

New Square 1/1.1-Inch Sensor

One of the big upgrades on the Osmo Action 6 is its new square 1/1.1-inch sensor.

Right on camera, you can capture in 16:9 or 9:16. Or better yet, you can capture in a perfectly square aspect ratio.

That means later in post, you can do your own cropping. You’ll be able to capture once and crop to different aspects without losing any resolution.

Auto-Detecting Lens System

Another interesting upgrade is a new lens series that the camera automatically detects.

DJI has introduced a new FOV boost lens that allows you to capture a field of view of 182 degrees. As soon as you attach the lens, the camera sets itself up for you automatically.

They also have a new macro lens with a minimum focus distance of 11 centimeters (4.3 inches), allowing you to get nice and close to certain subjects.

Variable Aperture Changes The Game

Another interesting change is that the Osmo Action 6 now has a variable aperture.

Some people are on the fence about whether that’s useful on an action camera. But it does allow you to get a little more creative and really fine-tune things the way you want.

For general action shots on a mountain bike, it’s not really all that necessary. But a lot of people use these action cameras for other purposes these days, like vlogging and cinematic shots.

That adjustable aperture lets you create some shallow depth of field effects. Being able to go all the way down to f/2.0 is supposed to really help in low light situations.

If you don’t want to use it, you can disable the feature and just set a fixed aperture.

Should You Upgrade?

For some people, this is going to be a really good upgrade. Some of these features might be very beneficial to them.

For others, if you already have an Osmo Action 5 Pro and you’re happy with it, you may not find the need to upgrade.

If you’re coming from an older action camera like the Action 3 or Action 2, then something like the Action 6 is definitely going to be a worthwhile upgrade.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments. Has the video quality of the Osmo Action 6 been improved? Are some of these new features and capabilities something that really interests you? Or do you feel this is just another incremental update?

Hopefully you enjoyed this video and found it had value. Thanks a lot for watching and I’ll see you in the next one.

Check out my Air Photography YouTube channel for more drone and camera reviews.