DJI’s Osmo 360 II certainly makes it easy to capture 360 degree footage for panoramic views and multi-camera captures from a single device, though there’s still some quirks in the process that may be problematic for some.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Simple fast capture for 360 or 180 degree video | Some functions are strangely 360 camera only |
| Replaceable lenses if they get scratched | No direct export to standard file formats |
| Good low and shifting light performance | Cutting down 360 video involves predictable quality losses |
Score: 4/5
Ethical disclaimer:
DJI sent me the DJI Osmo 360 II used in this review, and they’ve indicated that it isn’t expected to go back to them.
An easy way to get a soft review via freebies, right?
Maybe for some… but not me. I disclose everything upfront at ART because I do think that’s the way it should be. I review products based on what they are, and in no way on whether or not they’re a loan product or something that’s staying with me permanently.
That way you get an untainted review, and I keep to the journalist ethics that I’ve used for more than 25 years now.
For more on ART’s Ethics position, see here.
360 degree cameras aren’t a new category, but I’ll be direct here; it’s one that I’ve largely avoided reviewing in the past, partly because a lot of the earliest models were difficult to work with, and partly because it works mostly with a shooting style that favours action scenes where an audience might want to see all the way around a subject.
Getting a 360 degree panoramic view of, say, a parachute jump is a quite spectacular thing, but in many cases you don’t (or wouldn’t want to) see the cinematographer if the subject in question sits in one spot, and that’s most of the kinds of filming I’ve done to date.
The argument generally placed here is that a 360 degree camera acts as its own “multi” camera setup, because you can catch every angle and edit after the fact without having to set up lots of gear or miss a given shot. That’s a little more interesting to me, but I am coming from this from a first timer’s perspective – and I feel that’s also important to disclose upfront.
Design
The DJI Osmo 360 II is a vertically positioned camera with dual lenses at the front and back. My own frames of reference here go truly old school, but if you remember the truly ancient Cisco (originally Pure) Flip Cameras, the design really reminds me of those.
Why yes, I have been working as a tech journalist for a long time. Why do you ask?
One appealing aspect of the DJI Osmo 360 II’s design is that, like those Flip cameras of decades past, operation is kept deliberately simple. Beneath the rear lens sits a 2 inch 314×556 pixel touchscreen, and below that simple buttons for starting and stopping recording and switching the view from the front or rear lenses.
There’s a power button on the right hand side, and beneath that there’s a latch that covers the USB-C port used for data transfers. On the left hand side there’s a larger latch, beneath which you’ll find the battery compartment, as well as a microSD card slot… which you might not need.
For most of these kinds of cameras a fast microSD card is a must, but the DJI Osmo 360 II comes with its own inbuilt storage; 128GB of it officially, though only around 105GB of it is usable as file storage. That’s certainly enough to get you going, and for some users might be all they’d ever need.
The base of the DJI Osmo 360 II features a standard tripod mount hole, as well as magnetic attachments for DJI’s own accessories. The model that DJI sent my way is officially the “Adventure Combo” version, which retails at $1,079, compared to the $899 for the “Standard” combo.
The difference between the two is that the Adventure Combo version also scores you three 2150mAh batteries compared to the Standard model’s single battery, plus a quick-release adaptor mount and an accompanying “invisible” selfie stick.
These work quite well, and could be extremely useful in a straight vlogging sense, as long as you’re careful.
Why do I say careful? Mostly because the warning label on the selfie stick made me initially giggle, then feel quite terrible about giggling.
That’s because they state in no uncertain terms
DO NOT use the extension rod during thunderstorms to avoid lightning strikes.
No, really, it does say that.
See? Though I can’t help but think of Homer Simpson every time I read this.
At first, I thought, well… that’s Darwinism in action for you, and I giggled, before realising that the only reason that you’d put that kind of warning on there is because it’s going to have happened to someone at some point… which is quite grim, really.
So… yeah.
Don’t go out in thunderstorms and put any kind of metal rod up towards the sky, people.
Just in case that wasn’t clear to somebody, somewhere.
While thunderstorms are out, a little light water shouldn’t stress the DJI Osmo 360 II too much. Officially speaking, DJI rates it at IP68 and good for usage in up to 10m depth of water, though it does (or will… it’s not seemingly available at the time I’m writing this) sell a specific deep water case for it.
As always, “water resistant” and “water proof” are different things, and to be clear my own timing hasn’t permitted me any underwater testing of the DJI Osmo 360 II specifically. I’m not sure that the visual refraction of water would work well with 360 video without some lens protectors or refractors in place anyway…
Whether you opt for the Standard or Adventure kits, both come with a protective rubber “hood” for the camera that reminds me of those hoods that they put on birds of prey.
In the jungle, the quiet jungle, the DJI Osmo 360 II sleeps tonight…
It’s not a pretty thing, but it should do for protecting both lenses of the DJI Osmo 360 II.
Performance
Setup of the DJI Osmo 360 II is nicely simple; pop in a battery, fire it up, set your language preferences and you’re basically ready to start shooting.
At a technical level, what you’re shooting with is a pair of Dual 1/1.1-Inch Square CMOS sensors capable of shooting at up to 8K 60FPS, with support for up to 4K/240fps slow motion, and a lot of tweaking depending on your precise shooting needs within those specs as well.
The DJI Osmo 360 II’s features can be modified within the camera, with most functions either accessed from on-screen icons or swiping around the screen to find the function you want. There’s options within the UI for either single camera shooting at up to 180 degrees, or full 360 degree shooting, though the former setup is considerably more limited in ways that don’t always make sense to me.
I totally get why features that need both lenses in play to work won’t function with a single lens, but then there’s features like timelapse that only works with the 360 camera.
If you want a timelapse, it has to be recorded in panoramic style, and while you could edit that down after the fact, it feels downright weird to me that a feature that’s often found on simple Android smartphones can’t be managed on a more technically capable camera such as this.
The other catch that occurs to me with regards to editing as though the DJI Osmo 360 II was just a bunch of cameras is that while you can capture at up to 8K, if you’re shooting across that whole 360 degree panorama, each camera “view” that you’re slicing down to will be substantially lower in quality terms. Outside of a massive sensor there’s no practical way to get around that, of course.
The other complicating factor with shooting with the DJI Osmo 360 II is that the output files are rather specific to DJI’s own applications; either the DJI Mimo app for smartphones or DJI Studio for PC or Mac. You can plug the DJI Osmo 360 II into a computer and download the files you’ll find on there, but they must be processed through DJI Studio first before something like DaVinci Resolve will even look at them.
DJI’s contention with the DJI Osmo 360 II is that it’s improved on the prior model (which, again, I stress, I’ve not tested) because the lenses are removable and user-replaceable, but also because low light performance has been boosted with a “Supernight” setting that captures more light. I don’t have a comparative camera to say how much better it is, but it does manage some light shifts quite nicely; while much of my testing was in enviroments private to me, this walking video down Sydney’s Devonshire St Tunnel shows off how it handles variable light quite nicely:
That’s just the front-facing camera in Boost Video mode; in order to make the most out of the DJI Osmo 360 II, even with potential quality issues it’s obviously smarter to shoot in full 360 and edit after the fact.
So what does that look like?
360 video editing is an art I can’t claim to have huge levels of skill at, and here I did find DJI’s Mimo app a little more easy to use than the full DJI Studio, which had a tendency to crash, at least on the Mac when I tried it.
Here’s a sample walk in Hornsby, NSW with the full 360 degree effect, if you really want to stare up my nose while I walk…
(Depending on your browser, you may need to open this separately in YouTube as its own page to get the 360 controls… YouTube can be fussy like that)
Here’s the edited video with some selected viewpoints in a more standard 16:9 style format, after just some simple keyframing in the DJI Mimo app.
I can see the appeal here, for sure, though if it does interest you, I’d suggest investing in the additional battery packs; without them you’re looking at maybe 30-50 minutes of recording time per battery, and slightly less if you’re shooting continuously.
I wonder what the battery capacity is? There’s no way of knowing, really…
The DJI Osmo 360 II also gets notably warm when you’re shooting for any length of time, especially at higher bit rates.
DJI Osmo 360 II: Alex’s Verdict
The DJI Osmo 360 II is a nice camera, and I can see the appeal of having a single device for vloggers to do simple multi-camera work with, while at the same time seeing the limitations within the model as it stands. I’m not going to tell you that it’s best in class or worst in class, simply because this is an area where I can’t speak to specific experience with prior models or competitors in its class.
For what I do with YouTube, would I use a camera like the DJI Osmo 360 II?
Possibly. It’s definitely a convenient way for me to do those walking videos I enjoy, and there’s scope for things like quick product reviews or first takes at product launches, for example.
I do wish its files were a little more accessible to other applications, and my own tests uploading to YouTube do suggest that there can be some issues with the speed of processing, especially for full 360 degree panoramic video files. I’d also still love to know why timelapses aren’t feasible for that front-facing camera, because that makes little logical sense to me…
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