Videography
Yes, I know my DSLR can shoot video, but recently I decided to add dedicated video capacity, so I started looking at what's available. As for what to look at, well, I like to walk everywhere, so it was a no-brainer to go for something small and light, so action camera here I come.
The plan is to get something that can be head-mounted, so I can record some of my longer walks. Now, when thinking of this sort of thing, most people think of goPro, and yes, that's where I started.
First, what are my requirements beyond the ability to head mount? Well, it's going to be used for shooting long walks, so things like video quality, killer stabilisation, being water and sweat proof, as light as possible, and finally having good battery life.
Initially, I just did a Google search for action cameras to see what else was in the market, rather than just looking at GoPro. The results were interesting, with the two main players being GoPro and the drone company DJI, plus 1001+ generic listings.
While I like a bargain as much as anyone else, the generic listings, while some looked interesting, I was more than a little concerned about support and company longevity. In the past, I have had issues with some generic hardware vendors that just stop supporting products.
As a surprise to no one, I ruled out the generic cameras, and some of the very high end, horribly expensive options and narrowed the list down to GoPro and DJI.
At the time, my options where the GoPro Hero 13, and the DJI Osmo Action 5 pro.
With the technical specifications there where almost identical, with both meeting my requirements, with the GoPro magnetic power connection pushing that into the lead.
When I made the decision, it came down to the price, which is where the Osmo Action 5pro beat out the GoPro, and yes, I would have liked the magnetic power connection, but it was not worth the price difference, so yes, I ended up with the Osmo Action 5pro from DJI.
Osmo Action 5pro top
The DJI Osmo 5 Pro is the first action camera that I have owned, and with my use case being to record my long walks and general wanderings all over the planet, it looks like a good match.
After much research, I decided to make the default format for recordings 4K at 120fps. Impressive quality, yes, but it does need a serious amount of storage, and even with the camera having 47GB of built-in, I bit the bullet and added a 512GB SD Card.
Again, after doing some digging and taking advice from the DJI store, I ended up getting a Sandisk Extreme PRO 512GB, which, while not optimal for 4K at 120fps, is a good trade-off between performance and cost.
With that out of the way, I needed to get a head mount, which, it turned out, was not as painful as some people told me. It seems that most of this class of camera uses the same mount, so I ended up getting a generic aftermarket mount, which came in at S$12.
Why spend too much money, GoPRO makes a mount, but it was, at the time and in the tech malls of Singapore, hard to find and S$45. Interesting, anyhow, since getting back home, I did manage to get one to use as a backup. To be honest, the aftermarket one is just as good. Only time will tell if cheaper is as good as the more expensive ones.
Osmo 360 top
A little more than a year after getting the Osmo Action 5 Pro, while reading some of the tech news, I noticed that DJI released a new camera, this time a 360 degree one. Interesting, the question is could I justify a second video camera?
That decision was made for me after I visited the stunning Kek Lok Si Temple on Penang Island in Malaysia and found a ceiling in the prayer hall that took my breath away. Yes, it was up there with some I have seen in Europe.
While I did take many stills with both my D850 DSLR and the Osmo Action 5 Pro, to get the types of shots I wanted, I would need to either fly a drone or use a 360 degree camera, and with the chances of flying a drone being less than zero, the 360 degree camera was the only choice.
That was a big factor in my decision to get one of these cameras, then a few days later came my visit to the floating mosque, also on Penang Island, which basically made the decision for me.
The bad news was that it was the end of my visit to Penang, so no time to get one and revisit these places, and the horrible prices. I decided to get one in Singapore, which, as it happened, was the next stop on this trip. Again, good timing, as when I arrived in Singapore, there was a promotion on this camera.
The result: I managed to get one of these things at a killer price and even got a small discount for cash. The only issue was that these things were hard to find, as they were way too popular.