Lastly, a worthy GoPro rival

DJI is a serious participant within the digicam market with its drones and gimbals, so why hasn’t it had the identical success with motion cams? The reply is straightforward: GoPro. The corporate’s Hero lineup has provided superior picture high quality and stabilization. The identical goes for Insta360’s motion cams, which have caught the general public’s creativeness.

Now, DJI’s taking one other shot at its rivals with the $350 Osmo Motion 5 Professional, which is maybe the most important improve but on this collection. Almost every thing on the within has modified, from the sensor to battery life and storage. Nonetheless, it seems to be similar to its predecessor, the Osmo Motion 4.

Video high quality solely goes as much as 4K on the brand new mannequin although, in comparison with 5.3K for the most recent GoPro Hero 13 and 8K for the Insta360 Ace Professional 2 launched final week. Nonetheless, the Motion 5 Professional surpasses its rivals in a number of key areas and it’s simply DJI’s finest motion digicam but.

Lengthy battery life and inside storage

The Motion 5 Professional now boasts the longest battery lifetime of any motion cam and it’s not even shut. Due to the higher-capacity 1,950 mAh battery (up from 1,770 mAh), it will possibly shoot 4K 60p video for properly over two hours and 1080p for 4 hours. By comparability, the GoPro Hero 13 can solely go 88 minutes at 4K 60p with a similar-sized battery. One other rival, the Insta360 Ace Professional 2, can run a bit greater than 90 minutes on the similar decision.

With the non-compulsory charger (out there within the $400 Journey Combo with two additional batteries), it takes about half-hour to totally replenish a battery. Three batteries ought to be sufficient for most individuals to shoot a complete day at 4K 60p with out recharging — fairly spectacular for an motion digicam.

One other huge improve on the Motion 5 Professional is the 47GB of inside storage, in comparison with zero earlier than, on prime of a microSD slot. This lets you nonetheless seize a further hour or so of 4K 60p footage while you replenish your reminiscence card. Neither the Hero 13 nor Insta360’s Ace Professional 2 have any inside storage.

At 5.15 ounces, the Motion 5 Professional is a bit smaller and lighter than the Hero 23, which weighs 5.6 ounces. On prime of that, the Motion 5 Professional is waterproof all the way down to 66 toes by itself, which is double the Hero 13’s restrict. If you really want to go deeper, DJI’s waterproof case extends the utmost depth for this machine to almost 200 toes.

DJI elevated the rear OLED show’s measurement from 2.25 to 2.5 inches by shrinking the bezels — a small change that makes the touchscreen menus simpler to make use of. The 1.4-inch entrance OLED panel can be barely larger than earlier than. Each screens are sharp and straightforward to see in daylight with as much as 800 nits of most brightness.

The Motion 5 Professional’s textured physique offers a agency grip, and the file and energy buttons are bigger and fewer stiff than on the Motion 4. Settings might be modified from the rear show by swiping up and down or aspect to aspect, although it may be arduous to recollect the place settings are. You too can join your smartphone utilizing the Mimo app to function the digicam and achieve entry to enhancing options. An fascinating addition is the brand new strain sensor that exhibits how deep you’re diving or your altitude when climbing — a helpful function that rival cameras lack.

One factor I’ve liked about DJI’s previous few motion cameras is the magnetic mounting system. It allows you to immediately clip the Motion 5 Professional to almost any accent, together with automobile, bike, helmet and chest mounts, with out the necessity to fiddle with screws or clumsy brackets. That mentioned, GoPro lastly applied its personal magnetic mount on the Hero 13 and the Ace Professional 2 has an identical system as properly.

DJI has fallen behind its primary rival within the space of optics, although. GoPro’s Hero 13 now helps non-compulsory detachable lenses, letting you modify from a typical huge angle discipline of view to ultra-wide, macro and extra. Whereas they’re pretty costly, it’s a pleasant choice if you need one thing apart from the same old motion digicam look.

Sharper video and topic monitoring

With a brand new 1/1.3-inch 40-megapixel sensor, the Motion 5 Professional has a sensor that’s the similar measurement as its predecessor however is sort of 4 instances sharper. It’s a lot bigger than the GoPro Hero 13’s sensor with greater than double the world. That additional measurement helps the Motion 5 Professional produce clearer photographs with extra element, particularly in decrease mild.

You possibly can shoot 4K at as much as 120 fps, or 1080p at 240 fps for tremendous slow-mo. There’s a brand new twist, although, with “open gate” 4:3 seize at 3,840 x 2,880 decision, additionally as much as 120 fps. That squarish body makes it simpler to crop vertically for social media whereas nonetheless retaining full 4K width. One other new function is 10-bit assist for normal video as an alternative of simply D-LogM as earlier than. Nonetheless, the GoPro Hero 13 helps sharper 5.3K video that enables for much more cropping choices in publish. And the Insta360 Ace Professional 2 can shoot as much as 8K 30p video or 4K open gate just like the Motion 5 Professional.

As with different DJI merchandise, the Motion 5 Professional shoots brilliant and colourful video straight out of the digicam. Nonetheless, to my eye the colours look much less pure than on the GoPro Hero 13. Pores and skin tones aren’t as heat, and the colours are too intense for my style. The flexibility to shoot 10-bit colour in common mode is a giant assist, offering additional room to edit with out capturing D-LogM, which might be difficult for inexperienced persons. My desire continues to be to shoot D-LogM then apply DJI’s LUT in publish. That yields extra pure, much less saturated colours and provides you as much as 13.5 stops of dynamic vary in difficult lighting circumstances, like capturing in a forest on a sunny day.

Due to the larger sensor, the Motion 5 Professional is superior to the GoPro Hero 13 in low mild, with far much less noise and artifacts. If issues actually get darkish, the brand new Tremendous Evening Mode additional brightens video, however the aggressive noise discount utilized can create a synthetic look and scale back sharpness. Low-light high quality is much like the Insta360, as each have comparable 1/1.3-inch sensors. And whereas it’s not primarily a photograph digicam, the Motion 5 Professional can shoot 40-megapixel images in comparison with 27-megapixel stills for the GoPro Hero 13.

Video stabilization is paramount for motion cameras and a giant purpose why GoPro has dominated for thus lengthy. Nonetheless, the Motion 5 Professional is lastly as much as that stage with its newest RockSteady 3.0+ stabilization. I attempted it by way of a mixture of sports activities, together with biking, swimming and kayaking and it delivered secure photographs with not one of the minor weaving or jolting that I’ve seen earlier than. As earlier than, it additionally gives HorizonBalancing to maintain the picture stage even when the digicam tilts as much as 45 levels. One other mode, HorizonSteady, retains the picture stage even if you happen to rotate the digicam 360 levels.

A key new function on the Motion 5 Professional is topic centering and monitoring that lets creators shoot and not using a gimbal. As with different DJI merchandise (like ActiveTrack on drones), it detects a topic’s place and dynamically adjusts the composition to maintain them centered within the body. Although it’s restricted to 2.7K decision, it labored properly to border me close to the center of the shot throughout actions like biking and swimming.

Lastly, let’s speak about audio. On prime of the built-in microphones that provide respectable high quality, the Motion 5 Professional connects on to DJI’s Mic 2 transmitters over Bluetooth (as much as two at a time). These mics enable prime quality audio seize and routinely scale back noise, even if you happen to’re filming motion like a mountain biker on a gnarly descent. It’s simple to arrange and ought to be a success with creators, given the recognition of the Mic 2.

Wrap-up

The DJI Osmo Motion 5 Professional prices $350, whereas the Hero 13 Professional and Insta360’s Ace Professional 2 are priced at $400. The DJI beats each by way of battery life and is on par with its rivals on the subject of stabilization. The Motion 5 Professional additionally gives superior low-light and log footage, although I desire the GoPro Hero 13’s video straight out of the digicam.

Taking worth under consideration, the Motion 5 Professional is a really engaging choice. It’s among the best motion cameras I’ve used, with battery life properly above rivals, a stable waterproof building and full assist for DJI’s Mic 2. If you happen to really feel you may profit from the additional sharpness, then the GoPro or Insta360 is perhaps a more sensible choice. However, if low-light efficiency is vital, head straight for DJI’s Motion 5 Professional.