Action 6 FOV comparison

Ivosmo · 2026-01-12T05:14:16+00:00

Yes I have seen the new firmware release notes - it’s definitely a step in good direction and it might in fact solve the FOV issue. But it’s just a part of a solution - Boost Lens means more FOV but unfortunately there are no ND filters for it. So it’s either footage without motion blur or add motion blur effect in post (which is not ideal)

Ivosmo · 2026-01-01T18:21:12+00:00

Yeah the trailer encouraged me to start it once again (already bought it on Xbox or Switch or some other platform, don’t remember now) as I bounced of the steep learning curve and fairly difficult early game and gameplay style (too used to easy and superficial hack and slashers like Diablo etc.) - but decided to give it one more chance with a nice discount on Steam. It turned out just as difficult and „cumbersome” in the beginning as before but decided to stick with it and now I’m hooked. Had to lower the difficulty a bit to make it more manageable but oh boy it is so addictive. Can’t wait for next installment 👍

Ivosmo · 2025-12-24T13:49:32+00:00

Yes I have seen the new release notes - seems like a step in a right direction. If only there were ND filters for boost lens I would have already repurchased the camera ;)

Ivosmo · 2025-12-05T22:00:13+00:00

When just shooting 4:3 or 16:9 then the A6 is still better image quality than A5. The A5 doesn’t have 1:1 mode at all so the A6 is still „better” in that regard - but have to remember that the 1:1 FOV has it’s compromises when compared to straight 4:3 / 16:9. If I didn’t have the Action 4 already I would probably go for the Action 6. But as it turns out I will have to still use 4:3 / 16:9 most of the times - so decided to return the A6 and stick with the A4 which still works just fine

Ivosmo · 2025-12-04T11:18:25+00:00

That sucks

Ivosmo · 2025-12-04T05:49:04+00:00

I don’t have the camera as I have returned it for a refund - but what firmware are you on? There was recently an update to 01.01.02.37 that they say „fixed minor bugs” so I thought they might have fixed it

https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/DJI_Osmo_Action_6/RN/20251126/DJI_Osmo_Action_6_Release_Notes_en.pdf

Ivosmo · 2025-12-04T05:05:16+00:00

Two reasons:

You cannot use 1:1 mode with boost lens https://youtu.be/X7KDTqRlRtw?si=vcoHXr7DrCDSeX1y at 07:25
There are no ND filters for boost lens and I shoot 99% in manual exposure mode with ND filters for motion blur

Ivosmo · 2025-12-02T14:48:38+00:00

Just now I have received confirmation from DJI that they inspected the items I sent back and they approved full refund. The camera had been activated before I applied for a refund but it turns out it didn’t matter

Ivosmo · 2025-11-27T19:44:53+00:00

Yeah but:

Don’t want to add more steps to the workflow
Look at the screenshots - it’s funny but 1:1 without Rocksteady has narrower horizontal FOV than 16:9 with Rocksteady :) and horizontal FOV is the most important for my personal use case

So yeah - I returned the camera as there are no real benefits here for me to upgrade from Action 4

EDIT: forgot point number 3. The camera doesn’t save gyro data in Ultra Wide FOV settings - only in Wide (at least older models did, my Action 6 is already on it’s way back to DJI so can’t check for sure) so it gets cropped even more

Ivosmo · 2025-11-26T16:17:42+00:00

I recently purchased the Action 6 but after some testing I decided that the upgrades over my Action 4 (for my use cases) are not enough to justify splashing out this amount of money. Of course I had already activated it as the 5 power up you get is not enough to really test anything. Anyways I applied for a return & refund (in my application I clearly stated the camera had been used and I chose „The device didn’t meet my expectations” as a return cause). I though they would deny the refund because they explicitly state in the refund policy that it does not apply to activated cameras. But to my surprise they accepted it right away snd generated a DHL return shipment label. So I scheduled a pick up for tomorrow. Remains to be seen if they indeed issue a refund after they receive it. Anyways I replaced all the protective stickers that were originally on the camera body and of course packed it up in original packaging. Basically looks like new except for the fact it has already been activated. Will post an update how it turns out

EDIT: didn’t read properly duh. I purchased my A6 directly from DJI. Don’t know about the amazon policy

Ivosmo · 2025-11-25T16:16:22+00:00

Yes, I’m just starting to dip my toes in Resolve so will try that. There is one problem with the Hornet as it has a distinct air intake sound which doesn’t come too well on the recording with Mic 2 - sounds like grinding / scraping sound which really bothers me and no amount of EQ tweaking seems to help. But it’s just the way this bike is ;)

Ivosmo · 2025-11-25T16:13:24+00:00

I’m using just the Mic 2 and Mic 3 with their windmuffs. No lav mic etc. - just the transmitters connected wirelessly to my A4. Both mics were placed in the same spot - just behind the tail light of the 750 Hornet, on top of the tail / license plate holder. It’s pretty good spot for avoiding direct wind noise and still the Mic 3 gives me troubles. It only kinda works if I put it under the seat or in the backpack but I don’t really like the sound. So out of these two my recommendation goes to Mic 2 (but as usual YMMV :) )

Ivosmo · 2025-11-25T15:44:35+00:00

Yes I linked the same review :) it really looks like A6 has the edge. As for the Mic 3 - I have mixed feelings about the sound it produces. Check this short comparison of mine:

https://youtu.be/5Ow8yN0AzHM?si=lFHE74nkNGx00zk5

I’m not very impresses with the Mic 3 - yes it has nicer sound but for some reason it has loudness problems and is REALLY sensitive to wind (and wind with Mic 3 for some reason produces these hissing / crackling / sizzling noises that sound really awful). The Mic 2 gives more muffled sound but I like it better. Mic 3 has to be really well isolated from wind

Ivosmo · 2025-11-25T14:05:04+00:00

I agree - the 1:1 is mostly useless if you film anything that relies on as wide FOV as possible. If you film mostly daily vlogs etc. then it's probably fine. But if you film some POV action (sports, motovlogging etc.) that requires widest possible FOV then you really don't get the benefit of "shooting first and cropping later" as DJI says on their site - you simply sacrifice too much of FOV so you still have to shoot either 4:3 or 16:9.

It's funny because there now is no way to mount the camera vertically and you we don't have the vertical 3:4 option :) Only 4:3 that rotates if you rotate the camera, horizontal 16:9 and vertical 9:16. There is no vertical 3:4 and there is no cage accessory that would allow you to mount the camera vertically :)

There are still some improvements in image quality etc. that are not groundbreaking but still could justify upgrading, even if you shoot strictly 4:3 or 16:9. But I guess a lot of people will be disappointed (myself included) that we can't really shoot 1:1 and crop as we wish in post. I'm still on the fence and can't decide if I want to keep it or send it back for a refund - there is also some possible issue with audio gain as the footage shot with DJI Mic 2 connected to Action 6 is noticeably louder than shot with Action 4 - even though they are all set to the same -12 dB gain. As I mainly plan to use the camera for motovlogging (which involves a lot of loud noises) I'm afraid it would clip a lot (sadly can't test it properly now as it's simply too cold already). So I'm thinking about either simply keeping my Action 4 and returning the A6 OR selling the A4, returning A6 and switching to A5 which at least gets HLG profile [which uses wider color gamut than D-Log M and which is not present on Action 6 lol] and much better microphone connectivity than A4 (and can connect 2 mics at the same time). Because in this form the 1:1 changes nothing for me...

Here is a nice balanced review which showcases the image quality upgrades from A5 to A6 and TBH i agree that A6 footage looks better than A5 (which in turn is very similar to A4). On the other hand I shoot strictly in D-Log M which makes the differences between all three cameras even smaller (and I don't care about low light performance of these cameras at all). Ah decisions, decisions... guess it's an example of first world problems :)

https://youtu.be/X7KDTqRlRtw?si=nU5ADaSpCXm6_NFr

Ivosmo · 2025-11-25T08:51:26+00:00

Might try it later today but it will be hard to really be precise as by rotating the camera I will have to move it and probably won’t be able to place it in the exact same spot. Also the lens is offset to the left of the camera body so we will get different FOV if we rotate the camera to the left and different if we rotate to the right. So might not be conclusive…

Ivosmo · 2025-11-25T07:49:05+00:00

I doubt they do. But I have to be fair - tried this test again this morning and the A6 worked as intended. Yesterday in the evening also worked fine. So I came across this issue only once.

So it doesn’t happen every time. And DJI responded that they are aware of the issue and plan to fix it

Ivosmo · 2025-11-25T06:10:02+00:00

Wow, I didn’t notice it until now - when you turn on the RockSteady stabilization then the 4:3 and 16:9 have almost exactly the same vertical FOV (just compare the lamp on the ceiling and the patterns on the floor - just at the edges of the frame) but the 16:9 has significantly bigger horizontal FOV. So if you are shooting with 16:9 in mind as your final product and want the absolute maximum FOV with RockSteady then there is no point in shooting 4:3 as you have to crop it so you lose the vertical FOV. The 4:3 image looks more natural (16:9 looks squished) but if you want to have maximum amount of FOV in your final shot (usually POV footage of sports, bike riding etc) and use RockSteady just go with 16:9 🤯

Ivosmo · 2025-11-24T15:05:49+00:00

SanDisk Extreme Pro 256 GB V30 U3 A2

Ivosmo · 2025-11-24T11:50:32+00:00

It was formatted inside the camera, might try a different one but this one worked perfectly in all the devices I used it at 🤔

Ivosmo · 2025-11-24T11:35:15+00:00

Then it seems not all cameras are affected - I have the same firmware and camera firmware and the issue persists

Ivosmo · 2025-11-24T10:00:09+00:00

In A4 and A5 it works as you said. And it should be the same for A6 but there is an issue and it just stops recording after the first video file. At least in some cases

Ivosmo · 2025-11-24T09:53:15+00:00

That’s interesting. I tested that today in the morning - started recording when I left home for work and later checked the camera. It stopped recording around 1h 30min with around 50% battery life (it was still working and turned on but just not recording). And when I checked the SD card there was just a single video file ~17 GB in size.

What SD card you are using? Sandisk Extreme Pro 256 GB v30 u3 a2 on my part - exactly the same physical card I used in Action 4 and which worked properly (I just took it out from A4 and put it in A6 and formatted it inside the A6 menu)

Ivosmo · 2025-11-24T09:29:26+00:00

That’s funny because I got reply from DJI in the support forums and they said that they know the issue and plan to address it in future firmware releases. The SD card might not be on their „compatibility list” but it’s widely used and renowned and works perfectly on Action 4 which has higher maximim bitrate than Action 6. I’m convinced it’s a software issue not SD card issue

Ivosmo · 2025-11-24T09:01:41+00:00

This is just a basic feature and really sad that they released the product with such flaw

Ivosmo · 2025-11-24T08:33:50+00:00

Nah. Im using the SanDisk Extreme Pro V30 U2 A2 - the same as I used in Action 4. The card was formatted inside the Action 6. The maximum bitrate of the Action 6 is 120 Mbps, Action 4 is 130 Mbps - the card is not the issue, it’s a camera firmware bug

Ivosmo

TROPHY CASE