DJI Action 2

The DJI Action 2’s video performance may be more respectable than groundbreaking, but its advanced magnetic mounting and mode system not only works great – it also sets it apart from all its competitors in the action cam market. It’s a camera that performs well (especially when it comes to image stabilization) but its real value is its tiny, light body and it can be easily mounted to a variety of things – even the front of your shirt – and adapts quickly. Suitable for various jobs.

Introduction

DJI is the leading country mile in the market for camera drones, but in the case of action cams it still plays a distant second flute to GoPro. Action 2 feels like a daring attempt to give something a little different, not just to get caught up with GoPro’s hero line.

Although the first DJI wanted to imitate the action hero, its replacement wanted to stand on its own merits. It does this mainly through its innovative modular design, through which the main camera unit can be attached to various mounts or modules to enhance functionality or add features.

A bold design is one thing, but can Action 2 outperform its great rivals in terms of performance and image quality?

Design

• Modular add-ons add versatility
• The camera can be worn
• OLED touchscreen

The main unit of the Action 2 is small, measuring 39 x 39 x 22.3 mm, and weighing 56 grams. This makes it much smaller and lighter than any Hero-class GoPro, so much so that DJI claims that it is a wearable as well as an action cam.

To that end, the box has a magnetic pendant: slip it around your neck and Action 2 can be firmly attached to your shirtfront. This makes it an effective and quite discreet first-person body camera.

The camera is currently available in two different packages: the Power Combo comes with the main unit, the power module (which extends the battery life to 180 minutes and adds a microSD card slot), the lanyard and a small USB-C cable for charging. The dual screen combo offers the same selection but adds a magnetic ball-joint adapter (which will fix the camera to anything with a tripod or GoPro-style mount) and replaces the power module with a front touchscreen module (which includes an OLED touchscreen), microSD Slot, four extra mic and a battery boost that gives the combined package 160 minutes of recording time).

The original unit is made from chic look, premium-felt metal and offers water resistance at a depth of 10 meters. Used without the power and / or front touchscreen module, its battery lasts about 70 minutes when recording 1080p video and has 32GB of internal storage.

The DJI says the core unit is drop-proof and dust-proof as well as waterproof. It has a gorilla glass lens cover to prevent scratches and dings. However, it should be noted that none of the modules offer the same water protection – so if you are going to dive, make sure you remove them first (or invest in DJI’s dive case, which has space for one of the modules next to the main unit and waterproof depth Extends up to 60m).

Modular action cams are nothing new, but I haven’t seen anything as glamorous as the Action 2. One module firmly clicking on the other has a satisfying stigma and (thanks to a clip that backs up the magnetic pull) a real feeling connection.

Unlike the GoPro you don’t have to go around with screws, clamps and the like to make everything feel a bit faster and easier. The ability to remove Action 2 from a vlogging handle and clip it to your bike in four or five seconds is a real boon.

Given that you can use magnetic mounts to fix all kinds of fast-moving contraptions (paddle boards, cars, skateboards or, in our case, bikes) to the camera unit, it’s reassuring – although I wasn’t so sure when I got both the camera and front touchscreen module. Everything is fine when I pile up my bike mount and ride fast on a rocky road. To be fair, it was maintained, but it felt and sounded a little uncertain.

App and UI

• Only a single physical button
• The best way to control DJI app settings
• The app is not perfect: Wi-Fi link is disconnected after one minute or more of inactivity

Above Action 2 there is a single physical button, which is responsible for both power and recording. When the unit is powered on, it is turned on (quickly) by tapping the button, when a long press turns it on and starts recording immediately using your last saved settings. When it is driven, a short press stops recording on / off or takes a photo, while a long press gives it power. So far, so simple.

If you want to go into the weed with the settings and other options, it’s all through the small back touchscreen, but fortunately it’s all very straightforward and the touch sensitivity seems just right.

Sometimes you have to tap one of the dinky icons a second time before registering the first, but with a combination of finger dabbing and swiping in general, anyone familiar with the modern day user interface will be able to quickly find and change the options they are looking for.

Although it’s easier to control things using your smartphone and the DJI Mimo app. Open it and turn on the camera and the two devices should quickly detect each other, the app gives you a prompt to link them. This creates a Wi-Fi connection between the phone and Action2, allowing the app to act as a viewfinder, editor and remote control for the camera.

The app is not perfect. The Wi-Fi link is disconnected just a minute or so after inactivity, which means you have to tap the on-screen button repeatedly to restore it. I had a lot of trouble trying to transfer large video files from camera to phone for editing and playback. Often the transfer is halved, only the file seems to be completed because it was not actually transferred. In some cases, the app will crash completely.

If you’re working on a newer handset than my iPhone 8, you’re more likely to be lucky – but hopefully, the Mimo will be updated in the coming days or weeks to improve stability.

Performance

• Some problems with overheating the device
• You will then need to wait until the unit cools down to record a follow-up clip
• The performance is otherwise quite impressive

Let’s get to the main point about the performance of Action 2 now: it tends to overheat and it limits its power at higher resolutions.

Hold the camera to 4K or even 2.7K and record and you’ll get just a few minutes of footage before you hear the warning and everything will turn off to cool down. I’ve handled clips longer than 10 minutes before this happened, but online complaints suggest that some users (probably those who live in warmer climates) are only getting five minutes or less.

This may be understandable on a hot summer day in Greece or southern Spain, but it’s amazing in November in the UK – and probably annoying if you want to record a long clip. Not only is your recording unexpectedly short, but you’ll have to wait until the unit cools down to record a follow-up clip.

This is a shame (and hopefully will be mitigated or corrected by future firmware updates) because the performance of Action 2 is otherwise quite impressive. You can record 12MP stills or videos at different resolutions and frame rates, and although it doesn’t match 23MP stills and GoPro Hero 10 Black’s 5.6K / 60fps performance, 4K at 120fps is quite respectable.

In addition, the 155º field of Action 2 is wider than the Hero 10 Black, which means you can fit more into the frame. You can shoot video in 8x slo-mo or 30x hyperlapse and livestream your footage via YouTube, Facebook or RTMP.

Action 2’s excellent use of RockSteady and HorizonSteady electronic image stabilization (EIS) will result in a crop, which means a tougher approach. When you see improvements in stability and smoothness, though, you probably won’t notice anything: HorizonSteady (which is debuting in this camera) does a great job of keeping everything level, especially when you’re rocking around.

If the ambient light is good, the quality of the image itself is decent. The blue sky and skin tones in the videos look realistic a real pop. When the sun is visible you will see some flames, but not big ones. When the fiery chamber sinks toward or below the horizon, however, as the footage of Action 2 begins to flatten and granulate, too much detailed noise is lost. This isn’t a huge surprise in terms of camera size, but the absence of even some sort of stacking “night shot” mode for stills is a little weird.

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