- DJI Osmo Action 5 Vs 6 for photos - August 10, 2026
- Canada - August 6, 2026
- Thin Air, Full Throttle - July 13, 2026
I had no plans to buy a DJI Osmo Action 6 but as I mentioned in my Canada ride report I misplaced my Osmo Action 5 in route to Vancouver and that being once in a lifetime ride I decided to buy a new cam then I recovered my Action 5 later.
I’ve put my DJI Osmo Action 6 on eBay and will go back to using the Action 5 and this is a brief post about things I discovered relating to photo mode in the Action 6.
So what didn’t I like about the 6?
Well it has a new square shape sensor which I thought would be fine for when on a bike however you cannot take photos in square 1:1 format. The photo settings are either 4:3 or 16:9. So all photos are taken by cropping the sensor and not using it’s full resolution.
The Action 6 has 38MP square sensor which equals 6164 X 6164 pixels. Cropped to 4:3 it becomes 28.5MP and 6164 X 4623. However the photos from the Action 6 are 7168 X 5376. Some sort of upscaling is being applied (which is unwelcome by me).
The Action 5 has a 40MP 4:3 sensor which equals 7304 X 5476 pixels. The photos from the Action 5 are 7296 X 5472.
Is the Action 6 (or either cam) taking frame grabs from video? I don’t know but the quality is far better than any frame grabs I have seen from recent model GoPro’s so I am going to give DJI the benefit of the doubt.
The next thing is while the Action 6 says it has a variable aperture lens of between f2.0 and f4.0 every photo is taken at f2.8 same as the Action 5. The variable aperture, like the 1:1 full sensor imaging both only function in video mode and the cam has been dumbed down in it’s photo mode.
Those two things were enough for me to decide I would sell the 6 and go back to the 5 but there is one other small item I dislike about the 6 which is the sound to indicate it has taken photos cannot be heard when riding. I think this is due to the speaker being relocated rather than a reduction in the volume and while it is not essential but I have enjoyed being able to hear the 5 indicate it has taken the photos while with the 6 I was pressing the shutter a few times on some occasions never sure if it had taken the photo.
As far as image quality goes they seem fairly similar. Both reliably provide perfectly useable if not great quality images while dealing with shakes and movement and road glare and direct sun. Both are pretty good devices, but I don’t need two so my choice is sell the 6.
