DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro Camera and Lens: What’s Changed?

With today’s announcement of the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro, there are plenty of changes to digest when it comes to the new camera’s capabilities. But the primary consideration for most is the simplest: is the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro camera better than the Osmo Action 4, or the GoPro Hero 13?

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The announcement dressed the Osmo Action 5 Pro in the usual marketing fineries, highlighting the varied use cases for the Osmo Action 5 Pro, but did little to mention the new camera technology. A 1/1.3” CMOS sensor sits inside the camera’s body - the same physical size as the Osmo Action 4, and physically smaller than that of the GoPro Hero 13 - but with a major boost in resolution. DJI claims the Osmo Action 5 Pro can take 40MP stills, along with 4K 120FPS video. Compared to the Osmo Action 4, which had a 10MP sensor capable of 4K 60FPS, this is a significant boost. Similarly, the GoPro Hero 13 lags behind with its 27.6MP sensor - though the Hero 13 is capable of 5.3K 30FPS video on maximum settings.

Lenses, meanwhile, are a different story. The comparison of Field-of-View to focal length isn’t quite an exact science, and most action cameras refer to their lenses in FOV terms. The Osmo Action 5 Pro has a 155° lens, which is less than 10mm in equivalent focal length: an ultra-wide-angle. This is the same FOV as the Osmo Action 4’s lens, and it boasts the same aperture of f/2.8. In this regard, we have to give the prize for the best optics to the new GoPro, with its 12-39mm f/2.5 equivalent lens - to not even mention the range of lens accessories GoPro are releasing. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with the Osmo Action lens, but we tend to prefer a little versatility in an action camera lens.

Overall, the sensor on the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro camera has been improved, whilst the lens is retained from that of the Osmo Action 4. So if you’re needing better image quality and a deeper resolution - without too much concern for depth-of-field or brightness - then the Osmo Action 5 is well worth ordering today!