DJI’s Osmo Action 6 has an adjustable aperture to let in more light

After initially launching exclusively in China last week, DJI has announced a global release (not including the US) of its new action camera, the Osmo Action 6. The camera isn’t a radical departure from the physical design of last year’s model, but DJI is introducing some innovative new functionality. For example, it features an adjustable aperture that uses a mechanical iris (rather than relying on software tricks) and a larger square sensor that offers more flexibility when you want to crop shots at different horizontal and vertical aspect ratios.

As with many of DJI’s launches over the past year, including the Neo 2 selfie drone, the company has not confirmed whether or not the Osmo Action 6 will be available in the US. The Chinese price starts at 2,998 yuan, or about $422. In Europe it starts at €379, in the UK £329, and in Japan 61,270 yen, or about $396.

Last year’s Osmo Action 5 Pro, like action cameras from DJI competitors like the GoPro Hero 13 Black, used a fixed aperture at f/2.8. The aperture on the new Osmo Action 6 can be opened to f/2.0 to let in twice the amount of light and improve the camera’s ability to capture high-quality video in low-light conditions. The aperture size can also be narrowed to f/4.0 to reduce the amount of light entering the camera. This increases depth of field and brings into focus more of what’s in the frame, and can eliminate the need to use opaque neutral density filters when conditions are very bright.

The Osmo Action 6 uses a new 1/1.1-inch CMOS sensor that is larger than the 1/1.3-inch sensor found in the Action 5 Pro, but its square shape is similar to the square sensor Apple is now using in the front camera in the iPhone 17 lineup, allowing the iPhone to take landscape photos and videos without rotating the phone. The Osmo Action 6 offers similar shooting flexibility, but the advantages of this square sensor are especially apparent during post-production, making it easy to crop and reformat videos to different aspect ratios, including portrait formats for smartphones and social media, while keeping the action in the frame.

The camera can capture videos at up to 4K/120fps in a 4:3 aspect ratio, but its slow-motion capabilities improve to 240fps with the resolution downscaled to 1080p, and can be boosted up to 960fps using interpolation to create extra frames between frames. The internal storage gets a small bump of 50GB that can be expanded using a microSD card of up to 1TB.

DJI claims the Action 6 can record for up to four hours straight using its 1,950mAh battery, but keep in mind that the company’s testing takes place in ideal conditions while video is only captured at 1080p/24fps. Battery life will decrease when shooting at 4K resolution and higher frame rates, or while using it in temperatures that drop below freezing. DJI says the camera can function properly in temperatures as cold as -4 degrees Fahrenheit, and remain waterproof to a depth of more than 65 feet.