Osmo Action Camera- A Review

This is by far no way an electronics or tech blog, but as a travel blogger and for many other types of blogs there are some electronic and tech tools that we use to complete tasks that helps with what we do. With that said I will be giving a review on the Osmo Action camera that I recently purchased.

The point and shoot camera, Olympus fe-310, that I had from ages ago gave up on me. Suddenly the batteries could not stay into place causing the battery door not to stay closed, so I decided I would look for a new camera that had the ability to take pictures and also shoot vidoes with stabilization, since the old camera shot videos but had no stabilization. When a video has no stabilization it causes shakiness in the video making it terrible to watch.

I went on a hunt looking for the right camera, searching on Amazon, Google, Bestbuy.com, watching videos after videos on YouTube trying to compare and see which one would be better for me. It had to have the point and shoot ability as well as videos with image stabilization, but I also wanted something within a certain price range.

The GoPro Hero9 came out late 2020 and there were lots of reviews about it, as well as the Osmo action, the Osmo pockets, and those cheaper action cameras, various vlogging cameras like the Sony ZV-1 and so on.

At one point I thought about going with the hero9, but a lot of folks were talking about the hero9’s screen freezing up and having to take the battery out and putting it back in to resolve that issue. The Sony ZV-1 was way out of my budget and as far as the lower cost action cameras such as the Akaso brave based on reviews it just made more sense for me to go with something else above their grade.

I also thought about the Osmo pocket 2. It’s a cool camera that can fit in the palm of my small hand, but I kept wondering if I would be ok with the size of the screen and while you can attach it to your phone for a wider screen I didn’t see the purpose in that for me to still have to use my phone if I am going to spend that much money on a camera. I wanted to be hassle free and still have something small enough that I can take with me While I am traveling to anywhere if it’s even just the park.

Finally, I decided to go with the Osmo Action after months of watching videos and reading up on it and comparing it with the others.

The Osmo Action is a tiny camera that can fit in the palm of your hand. The dimensions without the casing is approximately 2.5″ X 1.5″.

After purchasing and testing it out here are my likes and dislike about the camera;

Things I don’t like about the Osmo Action

It doesn’t have a zoom feature
Video playback on the app is horrible
It gets hot really quickly – During the initial set up you receive a warning about some parts of it getting hot and can scorch you.
It doesn’t come with a carrying case.
You have to remove it from the casing in order to charge it.

Things I Like about the Osmo Action

It has a voice command – I think this is my favorite because I can tell it what I want it to do.
The fact that it has 2 screens – The front screen is great when taking selfies of yourself or a group.
It has a wider than usual field of view – When taking pictures it picks up more than what you bargained for. For example, if you are taking a picture of one flower in a garden, you will get the whole garden in the view.
I like the AEB photo option – This feature takes multiple shots of the same thing and gives you different options to choose from in terms of brightness.
You can edit from the app
Even though not great you are able to playback your videos and photos from the app and on the camera itself
It does take some very good pictures
I like that it keeps recording even when the screen goes to sleep.
It is waterproof without any additional casing – but only to 11 meters deep.
The size is small and it’s easy to carry, even with a small selfie stick attached, it fits in my purse easily.
That it connects to the app wirelessly without buying any additional equipment.

As I mentioned above the Osmo Action does not come with a carrying case. However, it comes with a casing over the camera that gives it some protection and allows for it to be attached to a tripod or selfie stick. However, that does not offer any protection for the screens and the lens if it should fall, so I ended up buying a carrying case for it and in addition a short tripod.

There are screen and lens protectors on the market that can be bought to protect the lens and screens and if you are looking to get close ups on this camera since it has no zoom feature as I mentioned before, there are macro lenses on the market for it that will allow you take close up shots.

To see how the pictures look taken with the Osmo Action click here . To see my first video done with the Osmo Action click here.

Nicky