Review: DJI Osmo Action 6

Autumn is normally action camera season. This has always been the time of year that GoPro, Insta360, and DJI announce new cameras, but 2025 disappointed. GoPro and Insta360 both stuck with last year's models. Fortunately for gadget lovers, DJI came through with the Osmo Action 6, a small, but worthwhile update to DJI's flagship action camera.

The new Osmo Action 6 can be hard to get your hands on in the United States, and its future (including support) is uncertain given the DJI ban. But if you can score one, the variable aperture, increased video specs, and improved mounting system are all compelling upgrades.

Take Six

Photograph: Scott Gilbertson

The DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro has been our top pick for the best action camera since it debuted. While I personally like the GoPro Hero 13's color science better, the Action 5 Pro is a better camera for most people thanks to its superior low light performance, lighter, more compact form factor, and better battery life.

Aside from the overly contrasty look in the default color mode, two things always bothered me about the Action 5 Pro. The first was that the magnetic mounts were directional. For whatever reason, I always seemed to put it on the wrong way and then have to turn it around to get it to stick. It's a small thing, but day in and day out it gets annoying. The other thing that bothered me was the lack of zoom and/or 8K video—both features are in the Insta360 Ace Pro 2.

I am happy to report that the Osmo Action 6 introduces a new, larger sensor that brings with it much improved color rendering and dynamic range. It also gets a variable aperture lens for even better low light performance, interchangeable lenses just like the GoPro Hero 13, and yes, 8K video and lossless 2x zoom à la the Ace Pro 2.

It's worth noting that some of what you're going to read here won't be found in other reviews because the 8K 30 fps video capabilities were not added until near the end of 2025, when DJI delivered a firmware update which enabled 8K video. So if you see those initial, rushed reviews going for that Google juice, saying that the Action 5 tops out at 4K—well, they're wrong now.

The new sensor is a 1/1.1-inch chip and it's square, which means you can shoot once and crop to various formats, including the evil that is vertical video. One caveat there is that shooting in custom mode for the largest possible use of the sensor and then cropping to 16:9 does not produce as good of footage as shooting in 16:9 mode. I can't figure out why this would be, but I've done multiple tests, and it is. Possibly the same is true for vertical video, but no one cares because all vertical video is crap.

The other, better benefit of the larger sensor is that the stabilization feature doesn't crop as much so you get a wider field of view with stabilization enabled than you do with the Action 5. This is also true of horizon leveling, which can now be set to either 45 degrees in either direction, or 360 degrees.

Variable Aperture

Probably the most exciting feature in the Action 6 though is not the new sensor, but the variable aperture lens. Yes, DJI put teeny tiny aperture blades in there to allow the lens to shoot at f/2 to f/4. The idea is to improve the low light capability of the camera without sacrificing too much depth of field. So you can use the f/2 to shoot while surfing at sunset and then stop down to f/4 when vlogging back at the hotel, or something like that.

Low light performance is better, as you would expect with a wider aperture lens. The video is cleaner and sharper than either the Action 5 Pro or the Ace Pro 2. And that's true whether you use SuperNight mode or not. You can really see this shooting D-Log—the ungraded footage is much brighter and sharper. I would say it's a full stop brighter.

Alas, there is a good bit of noise still and the codec does show its limitations at times. The only way I know around this is to increase the bitrate, which unfortunately isn't possible in the Action 6 (the only camera I'm aware of that lets you shoot in high bitrates is the GoPro and that requires using the GoPro Labs software). Overall though, for most people, the Osmo Action 6 is going to give you the best low light performance of any action camera currently on the market.

I think it's also worth noting that there is a potential danger here. DJI has put a mechanical piece inside a camera that often gets put through the ringer—will the aperture end up failing on people two years down the road? DJI has probably done a good bit of testing, but the real world is different than lab tests. I would be particularly worried about high vibration environments like mounted on the handlebars of a bike, which happens to be my main use for an action camera. I know far to many people who have destroyed cameras just from keeping them in a handlebar bag, let alone mounted to the actual bike. Unfortunately, only time will tell.

The standard lens on the Action 6 still offers a nice 155 degree field of view, though there are some new FOV options, the best being the new "Natural Wide" which is a bit wider than the standard Dewarp mode, but still keeps vertical edges pretty straight. The lens remains, to my view, the best lens you can get in a action camera, with less distortion than the Ace Pro 2 or the GoPro Hero 13 Black.

Photograph: Scott Gilbertson

In addition to the standard lens there is also now an ultrawide Boost Lens available separately for $146. It increases the FOV to 182 degrees and as with GoPro's interchangable lens system, the Action 6 automatically recognizes the lens when you attach it and adjusts settings without you needing to do a thing. Alas, this feature is not there for the ND filters, which is where it's really nice on the GoPro. DJI's ND filters still just fit onto the lens and it's up to you to adjust setting accordingly.

There are a couple of things to keep in mind about the boost lens versus the ultrawide lens for the GoPro Hero 13: the 1:1 video mode doesn't work with the Boost lens, nor does the full horizon leveling features. Possibly this could be addressed in a future firmware update, but for now, if you need those two things with your ultrawide lens, the GoPro is a better choice.

To round out the GoPro idea pilfering, DJI has also introduced a new macro lens which is not yet available, though you can pre-order it.

With a new sensor, I was really hoping for better color rendering and the Action 6 does not disappoint. Gone is the often very harsh, contrasty footage of the Action 5 Pro. The Action 6 instead has a lot more shadow detail and nicer color overall. That's not necessarily a qualitative statement, either. You can actually see that there's a wider range of color in the footage using the vectorscope in your favorite video editor (I do all my editing in DaVinci Resolve).

Not only is the color much better, there's less of the weird magenta shift in skin tones that plagued the Action 5 (particularly when shooting into the sun). I also noticed a lot fewer lens flares. As an added bonus, the aperture blades to produce halfway decent sun stars.

There are a number of other small tweaks as well. As noted above there is now a lossless 2x zoom feature. The bummer is you have to stop shooting, turn it on, and then go back to shooting. Hopefully that can be addressed in an update. The internal storage is up to 50 GB, from 47 GB in the Action 5 Pro and it uses the same 1,950-mAh Extreme Battery Plus, which gets you just over 2 hours of 4K footage with stabilization enabled. The magnetic mounting system is also no longer directional, just slap the camera on the mount whichever way you want and it will lock in place.

Finally, the microphone is ... OK. Not as good as the Ace Pro 2, but capable of usable audio even in windy conditions. Of course I wouldn't expect DJI to make the audio too good. The company does after all have some wireless mics to sell. Frankly, if you want great audio from any action cam, get an external mic.

Lastly, about that 8K footage that arrived with the firmware update—since that arrived late, I haven't had as much time to test it as I'd like, but the footage I have is roughly on par with what I get from the Ace Pro 2. That is to say, it's marginally better than 4K, useful when you want to crop in, but not like Red camera quality 8K footage. It is a tiny lens and sensor, after all.

Should You Upgrade?

Photograph: Scott Gilbertson

That depends what you have now. If you've got the Action 5 Pro, that's a tough call. I don't like the color and overly contrasty look of the Action 5 footage in its default shooting mode, but otherwise it's still a great camera. The main point of improvement in the Osmo Action 6 is that the low light footage is indeed objectively better (and the new magnetic mount, which is huge as well). If it were me, I'd upgrade for those two things alone.

If you're trying to decide between the Action 6 and the Insta360 Ace Pro 2, I would say the Action 6's ability to shoot 10-bit Log makes it more capable, and the low light performance is better. At the same time, the Ace Pro 2 has better audio without a mic and there's now the Xplorer Grip case to make it more like a point and shoot pocket camera, which is surprisingly fun.

Between the GoPro Hero 13 and the Action 6, I still like the GoPro for its color science, which to my eye is more realistic. But if you're shooting Log anyway, then that advantage isn't there. The Action 6 has better battery life, and less distortion in my experience, but Hero 13 Black has more lens options and automatically recognizes ND filters, which is really nice. There's also GoPro Labs which extends the Hero 13's capabilities.

The truth is the action camera world is fragmenting somewhat and it's harder to recommend any one camera as the complete Swiss Army knife. If I had to do that right now, the Osmo Action 6 would be my pick for its low light performance. 2026 is shaping up to be an interesting year for action cameras, and we're already off to a great start.