DJI Osmo Mobile 6: The Ultimate Smartphone Gimbal For Travelers And Creators

The DJI Osmo Mobile has always been the best phone gimbal on the market, even though the latest flagship phones may have excellent video stabilization built in. Vloggers and influencers who want to make videos that look like professionals made them can still benefit greatly from having a separate 3-axis gimbal stabilizer. Remember that the Osmo Mobile 6 is the same type as last year's DJI OM5.

Pros

• Valuable is an adapter rod
• Long (8.5 inches) and well-built
• Excellent handling
• Quick and straightforward to set up

Cons

• iPhones are the only ones that have Quick Launch.
• Because it folds up, it reduces the range of motion.

What Is Still The Same As The OM5?

DJI says that the Osmo Mobile line will be changed once a year, but it would be too much to expect complete redesigns every year. Instead, DJI makes small changes to improve recording. The main new thing about the OM5 was its selfie stick-like extension rod.

With this, you can record videos from different spots. Not only was this a trick, but I also found it a valuable new tool I used. The extension rod that comes with the Osmo Mobile 6 is still there and looks the same as the last one. It also has better gimbal motors, which can now hold up to 290g, which is more than the OM4's ceiling of 230g.

Pricing

The OM5 costs the same as the Osmo Mobile 6: $159 from DJI. Why is this a good deal at this price? Because the Zhiyun Smooth 5 is its main rival and costs more. Interestingly, the DJI OM5 ($129 less) and the DJI OM4 SE ($99) are the best options.

Appearance

There is a difference between the Osmo Mobile 6 and the Osmo Mobile 5, which was a lighter gray. It looks more polished now. The Osmo Mobile 6 is more significant than the OM5, even though they look alike.

Quick Launch And Automatic On/off

The most significant change is that the DJI Mimo app can now be opened quickly and will turn itself on and off. When you use your phone and camera together, it takes longer to start recording. When you open the Osmo Mobile 6, the gimbal turns on and stays steady. If you fold the phone down, the gimbal turns off. You can still manually turn it on and off by holding the "M" button, just like in older models.

The sticky mount that comes with the gimbal connects your phone to it. The Quick Launch feature notifies you when to start the DJI Mimo App, making opening the app faster than opening it by hand. The new Quick Launch tool can only be used on iPhones, so Android users won't be able to use it.

New LED Status Bar

Something else that is very different from the OM5 is the new status screen that shows the current battery level and motion mode. The DJI Osmo Mobile 6 has four gimbal modes: follow, tilt lock, FPV, and spin shot. The LEDs that light up the marks make it easy to tell which mode is on. That's useful when you're not recording with the DJI Mimo App but with the camera app or a different app like Filmic Pro that doesn't show the current gimbal mode.

Side Wheel

One thing that the Zhiyun Smooth series needed was a side wheel that could be turned by hand. Our next phone is the Osmo Mobile 6. The wheel is easy to use; it lets you concentrate or zoom in by hand. If you press on the wheel, you can change how the focus and zoom work.

Cloning in and out is easy when you turn the wheel and change the focus length. The DJI Mimo app will say, "camera doesn't support selective focus" if you use an older phone model (iPhone 12 or earlier) or the Ultrawide camera on an iPhone 13 or 14.

ActiveTrack 5.0

ActiveTrack is DJI's engine for tracking objects, and Osmo Mobile 6 comes with ActiveTrack 5.0. DJI says this new ActiveTrack version finds things and follows them as they move even better than the last one. During tests, the ActiveTrack enjoyed no trouble following people, even when there were changes in lighting and surroundings. It still needs to be told about less important things, like dogs, but overall, it did a great job.

Performance

It's simple and quick to set up. Step one is to put your phone on the sticky clamp that comes with it. It's nice that the magnetic clamp's curved jaws don't press on your phone's side buttons, which can happen with some other phone gimbals, especially when your phone is in a case.

Then, use magnets to connect the phone to the rotating arm. After that, you're ready to go. Instead of balancing your phone by hand like past phone gimbals, the Osmo Mobile 6 does it for you. The gimbal's motors can handle even the most giant phones right out of the box, so you don't need other accessories or counterbalances.

The gimbal is very cozy, and the rod can be extended to shoot from high places without holding your arm up. Pressing the camera button twice lets you switch the view from portrait to landscape mode. Switching between the cams on the front and back is also easy. It will start tracking your face when you turn to the selfie camera.

The video quality is so excellent that you can catch someone purposely exaggerating how fast they're running. The stabilization works well. Because new iPhones and Samsung phones have optical picture stabilization that can handle a little shake and jitter, the Osmo Mobile 6 works great with them.

The DJI Mimo App is the best, while other gimbals have flaws. You can make landscapes and time-lapses of moving objects, among other things. That's not all. It comes with extras like "Story Mode," which helps you shoot with a mix of pre-set patterns and camera moves. You can edit videos with this app, but the DJI LightCut app is better if you want to edit videos more easily.

Conclusion

People with the OM5 might not want to switch to the DJI Osmo Mobile 6, but it is still the most effective smartphone gimbal on the market. That will change when DJI releases its replacement. Because the magnetic clamp turns the power on and off, you don't have to wait long to press the record button. DJI has also perfected every other aspect of a gimbal, from the settings to the software. DJI probably can only improve the next model if it already has everything they need.