DJI Osmo Action 3 review: Let's try that again

DJI's latest whoopee camera marks a return to its original GoPro-inspired form factor, and its original naming, too.

While last year's Action 2 impressed us with its modularity and unique design, the unusual camera brought with it some serious compromises. There were just too many workarounds required for the camera's tiny chassis, and overheating issues were fairly common.

With the Osmo Whoopee 3, DJI seems to have learned from its mistakes and has returned to a safer diamond that should be far increasingly user-friendly and robust.

On paper, it seems like it could prove to be a real rival to GoPro's market dominance, so let's find out how it shapes up.

Design

• Weight: 145 grams
• Waterproof up to 16m (52.5ft) without housing
• Front-facing touchscreen, magnetic mounting system

At first glance, the Osmo Whoopee 3 looks scrutinizingly exactly like the original Osmo Action - however, as you squint closer, there are numerous changes to be found. One of the first things we noticed was that the Whoopee 2's superstitious magnetic quick-release mounting system makes an visitation on the camera's base. What's more, it has been updated for this release, offering a increasingly secure locking mechanism than before.

On the original Osmo Action, you needed to put the camera in a frame to use it with any kind of mounting solution. This upgrade brings the camera increasingly in-line with GoPro's integrated mounting tabs. With that said, there is still a frame included in the box, and that's used for mounting the camera in a vertical orientation. It's a shame that the vertical mount couldn't be integrated into the body, but given that it would interfere with the shower door, the visualization makes sense.

The Whoopee 3 features a touchscreen exhibit on the front of the camera, so you can transpiration settings without needing to wangle the rear. We could see this stuff useful when the camera is mounted in a hard-to-reach location, and it may moreover prove handy for vloggers wanting to switch settings on the fly.

There's a large side door that flips out in a similar malleate to the GoPro Hero 10 Black, and this hides the shower and microSD vellum slot. On the opposite side, there's a door for the USB-C. The buttons have shifted to match GoPro's configuration, too, whereas previously both the power/menu sawed-off and record sawed-off were on the top of the device.

We were very happy to see the return of the replaceable lens cover, which was woolgathering on the Whoopee 2. In our opinion, a replaceable lens imbricate is pretty much essential on any device that's designed for whoopee sports use. The shape makes the protector much easier to remove than on a GoPro, which can be restrictedly quite difficult. There are some unusual things going on with its design, though.

The lens protector itself is made from glass with an aluminium knurled ring virtually the edge. It comes fitted with a rubber bumper virtually the whet to protect the aluminium. It's easy to see why the rubber ring would be necessary, but the fact that it's a separate piece ways you could hands lose it. To us, it seems like a bit of an afterthought, and it would make increasingly sense for the lens protector to be made of a increasingly durable material that doesn't need a cover.

Another interesting speciality of the diamond is that DJI has used the "O" in the Whoopee 3 logo to house a small colour temperature sensor. We thought this was a clever touch, and although we don't recall seeing an external colour temperature sensor on an whoopee camera before, it'll be interesting to see what effect it has in use.

Features and battery

• Swappable 1770mAh battery, 30W fast charging
• Wi-Fi live streaming and webcam support
• InvisiStick for Skiing feature

The shower is what DJI calls a 1770mAh Extreme Battery, and it's substantially the brand's wordplay to GoPro's Enduro battery. Compared to GoPro's solution, it offers an spare 50mAh of juice and can withstand temperatures lanugo to -20 celsius (compared to -10 on the Enduro). In our experience, the shower performed superbly, commonly outlasting our Hero 11 Black.

When it does run out, you'll be when up and running in no time thanks to its fast charging support that gives you an 80 per cent tuition in just 18 minutes. Flat-to-full takes virtually 50 minutes with DJI's 30W USB-C charger, which is sold separately - only a USB-C subscription is supplied in the box.

The stow that we're testing came with a three-bay shower charging case, which is a neat little solution for fast-charging multiple batteries at once. We love that the specimen has a couple of microSD vellum slots on the lid for keeping your storage handy, too. It moreover functions as a power bank, so you can top up your phone if you have an towardly cable.

The Osmo Whoopee 3 can be used as a USB webcam and moreover supports live streaming over Wi-Fi, which is pretty much expected of a high-end whoopee cam in 2022. It's nice to have the webcam functionality but the extremely wide field of view ways that it won't squint like a normal webcam, plane in the Dewarp setting. Depending on your use case, this could be a positive or a negative, but it's probably the widest, most distorted webcam you can get your hands on.

A increasingly unique full-length is something tabbed InvisiStick for Skiing. This masks over a selfie stick, creating an invisible stick effect that's normally only performable with a 360 camera. DJI says this only works with snow sports, and unfortunately, snow is quite nonflexible to come by at this moment, but it could be very useful if it works as advertised.

Video and photo capture

• Video resolution: 4K/120fps, 2.7K/120fps, 1080p/240fps
• Photo resolution: 12MP
• RockSteady 3.0, HorizonBalancing, HorizonSteady

The obvious comparison when it comes to photo and video performance is the GoPro Hero 11 Black, and just by looking at the specifications, we can see that DJI can't match the top-dog when it comes to resolution and frame rates. However, the Osmo Whoopee 3 comes at a significantly lower price point, so it doesn't really need to match the GoPro to be a compelling option.

Video captured by the Whoopee 3 is sharp and detailed while the colours towards natural and accurate. It's on the contrast-y side, and if you compare it side-by-side with the Hero 11, it doesn't have quite as much dynamic range, but it's still a very pleasing image straight from the camera. If you're judging the image on its own merits, without the comparison, we doubt you'd find much to mutter about.

At the time of writing, the Whoopee 3 lacks 10-bit colour capture but DJI insists that it'll be coming via a firmware update in the future. This will indulge for increasingly flexibility in colour grading and make the DJI camera increasingly of a viable GoPro volitional for professional work.

One of the things we immediately noticed is that the DJI Osmo Whoopee 3 offers an extremely wide field of view, similar to that of the Whoopee 2. The extremely wide lens was one of our favourite things well-nigh last year's camera, so we're very happy to see it make its way here, too.

Compared to GoPro's new HyperView mode, DJI's Ultra Wide offers a similar horizontal width, but HyperView gives a little increasingly on the vertical turning thanks to the camera's 8:7 sensor. Either way, if you're looking for that distorted extra-wide FOV, both cameras unhook the goods.

As with previous DJI cameras, the motion is super smooth thanks to the spanking-new onboard RockSteady stabilisation. The camera can do full 360 horizon locking, too, but only at up to 2.7K resolution, whereas the GoPro offers it all the way up to 5.3k.

Vertical shooting support is new in this model, and given how important the format has become, with the popularity of TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, we're pleased to see it included.