DJI Osmo Motion 3 Evaluate: Cheaper and Practically as Good as a GoPro

Each iteration of DJI’s motion digital camera will get higher, from the unique with its colour entrance display screen, to the second model with its intelligent modular and magnetic design, to the most recent, which is in some ways a synthesis of the most effective elements of the primary two. Design-wise and functionally, there’s a lot to love right here.

If the brand new Osmo Motion 3 had been going up in opposition to the GoPro Hero10 it will be very aggressive. Sadly, the GoPro Hero11 is already on the scene and the Osmo struggles to compete with video and picture high quality. That mentioned, in the event you don’t want vertical video, 5.3K-resolution footage, or the 27-megapixel stills of the Hero11, the Osmo Motion 3 is extra reasonably priced and nonetheless is an excellent motion digital camera.

Osmosis

The primary Osmo Motion introduced a colour display screen to the entrance of the motion digital camera, a transfer that GoPro later copied. Now DJI has upped the ante once more by including a touchscreen to the entrance of the Osmo Motion 3, permitting you to not solely body photographs, but additionally management the digital camera as nicely. Utilizing your fingers to regulate a tiny display screen may sound cramped, however it works surprisingly nicely. I had no bother adjusting primary settings like mode and taking pictures decision.

DJI additionally introduced the most effective a part of its Motion 2 digital camera—the highly effective magnetic mounting system—within the type of a quick-release mounting system. That is the primary mounting system I’ve used that trumps the GoPro in some ways. It is by far the quickest, best method to transfer, for example, between a versatile tripod and a helmet mount. There is no unscrewing and twiddling with the threaded screws of GoPro mounts.

Positive, there are third-party quick-release mounts for the GoPro that provide comparable performance, however they aren’t as easy and stylish as what DJI has accomplished with this magnetic mount. Regardless of what you may assume, it’s exhausting to by chance knock these magnets off—it by no means occurred in my testing, which included just a few makes an attempt to hit it as exhausting as I may with out breaking the digital camera.

The opposite place the Osmo Motion 3 impresses is battery life. DJI claims 160 minutes. I solely managed 140 (with the rear display screen off, the entrance display screen used about half that point), however that’s nonetheless leaps and bounds past the GoPro Hero11’s 70 minutes, which appears downright paltry. Additionally spectacular is the recharge time—I used to be capable of get the batteries absolutely recharged in 52 minutes. DJI can also be promoting what it calls a “multifunctional battery case,” which is a really slick case that additionally serves as a charging hub, powering up three batteries at a time. Throw that in your bag and also you’ve acquired nicely over six hours of taking pictures time earlier than you want to recharge. To shoot the identical size of time with the Hero11 would require six batteries.

Lights, Digicam, Motion

To date so good. Externally, the Osmo Motion 3 is chock stuffed with intelligent improvements. The place it’s much less spectacular is the sensor inside. The Osmo Motion 3 sticks with the 4K decision of its predecessor. More often than not that may get the job accomplished, however I’ve discovered that the Hero10 and Hero11’s 5.3K video decision is useful once you wish to crop into the footage and nonetheless export to 4K. I’m additionally keen on taking pictures at 5.3K for the flexibility to drag out higher-resolution nonetheless photographs.

The Osmo Motion presents the identical body charges at 4K as you’ll discover in different motion cams, permitting for 120 frames per second at 4K and 240 frames per second in 1080p, which is loads of frames to get these dramatic slow-motion photographs you crave. Whenever you swap to 120 fps, the Osmo will warn you that at 25 levels Celsius (77 levels Fahrenheit), the digital camera will overheat in 9 minutes.

Whereas high-quality video is part of the equation, what you really need in an motion digital camera is a good stabilization system. DJI’s RockSteady isn’t fairly GoPro easy, however it’s fairly shut. The principle time you’ll discover some noise and blurring is in low mild (indoors for instance). This wasn’t actually a problem in most of my footage, however the GoPro Hero11 did clearly outperform the Motion 3 in low-light conditions.