DJI Osmo Action

Hands on: The Osmo Action has some things that we don’t see in the Hero 7 Black. The most noticeable difference is the Action’s front-facing selfie screen, which is a game-changer for selfie footage. Instead of having to open an app, you can actually glance down and check your framing on the camera’s front-facing screen.

There’s no question that DJI has made an impressive camera, especially for a first try at a pure action camera unit. It’s without question competition for GoPro…but, I’d stop short of calling it a GoPro killer. It’s not that today, though, I believe they have the majority of the right hardware in place to advance their position over time.

All in all, DJI truly impressed us with the Osmo Action, which is their first attempt at an action camera – an area where GoPro, despite all its problems in recent years, is still the market leader. For the first time, with the DJI Osmo Action, I have a feeling that GoPro is getting a contender that can truly be problematic for their core business. The Osmo Action is not perfect, and despite the fact that I still prefer the image from a GoPro, there are a series of mighty impressive innovations in the Osmo Action that could convince a lot of existing GoPro users to upgrade to the new DJI camera, rather than another GoPro. If DJI manages to optimize image processing, GoPro will have a very serious contender with the Osmo Action.

Hands on: However, DJI’s move into action cameras is a risky one. Even GoPro, whose name is synonymous with the category, is working its way back from a tough couple of years. While DJI owns the drone category, can it dominate in a completely different area?