Since the original Osmo Mobile debuted in 2016, DJI has introduced a new model practically every year. They’ve gently but steadily improved. Is the OM 5 the best yet? It’s one-third the size of the OM 4 and has a telescopic selfie pole.
This makes it more adaptable. But, most crucially, the smaller size means you’re more inclined to utilize it rather than leaving it at home.
Furthermore, the extra button makes it easier to use, and a new ShotGuides feature in the app ensures that even beginners can obtain great-looking images.
It is, however, a scaled-down model with a smaller battery that does not last as long and cannot charge your phone. It’s also more pricey than we’d like, especially if you want the optional mount with an LED fill light.
Nonetheless, if you want a gimbal for more steady footage, it should be on your shortlist.
DJI Osmo Mobile 5: Specs
- 3-axis gimbal
- Battery life: up to 6.4 hours
- Charging time: 1.5 hours (10W charger)
- Mechanical range: Pan: -161.2° to 172.08°, Roll: -127.05° to 208.95°, Tilt: -101.46° to 229.54°
- Weight of Compatible Phone: 170-290g
- Width of Compatible Phones: 67-84mm wide and 6.9-10mm thick
- Bluetooth 5
DJI Osmo Mobile 5: Design & Features
The telescoping pole is the main new feature, other than being notably smaller than its predecessors. This has been seen before, but not on DJI stabilizers. It can be beneficial for moving your phone away from you in selfie videos (and images), as well as in a variety of other circumstances.
It folds down to 174.774.637 mm, making it virtually pocketable — if you have huge pockets. It’s 100g lighter than the OM4 at under 300g, but with the magnetic clamp that attaches to your phone, it’s 324g. But it’s still the lightest gimble I’ve tried.
Despite the fact that the clamp appears to be the same, DJI claims that it has been changed to be compatible with more phones. It can accommodate phones weighing between 170 and 290g and measuring between 67 and 84mm in width, which is pretty much all of them.
If you have a slim phone, such as the iPhone SE2, a sticky pad is provided in the box to bring it up to the minimal thickness by padding out the existing rubber on the clamp.
A tripod, as well as a soft travel pouch, are included in the box. This time, there is no Combo package, but you can select between two colors: Sunset White and Athens Grey.
When inexpensive gimbals like the Zhiyun Smooth Q3 have built-in fill lights, it’s a shame this is only available on the OM5 if you buy the separate Fill Light Phone Clamp (left), which is rather pricey at £42 / US$59.
It features its own battery (charged through USB-C), three brightness levels, and three different hues of white, ranging from warm to chilly. It performs a good job, but the LEDs can only face you: you can’t move them to face away from you to light a subject you’re photographing.
Different clamps are conceivable because, like the OM 4, the OM 5 uses magnets to hold the clamp to the gimbal.
This time, however, the clamp is your only option: there is no adhesive-backed magnet to affix straight to your phone or phone cover. It’s probably for the best because there’s less danger of human error and trying to apply the sticky magnet to a phone or case that hasn’t been carefully cleansed.
DJI has maintained the controls the same, with the exception of moving the Mode/Power button to the side – above the zoom slider – and replacing it with a new button. It has two functions: a single touch switch between video and photo modes (or whatever you pick in the Mimo app), and a double press adjusts the orientation of your phone from portrait to landscape or vice versa.
The smaller 1000mAh battery has almost 2.5x the capacity of the OM 4’s and DJI promises a maximum runtime of 6.4 hours. That is in ideal conditions with a perfectly balanced phone. If you don’t place your phone in the clamp evenly, the motors have to work harder, and the battery will run out sooner.
The 6.4-hour battery life should be sufficient for almost everyone, but there is no USB port for charging your phone, so you can’t transfer any of the power to your phone if it’s getting low, like you can with the Osmo Mobile 3.
In terms of performance, the OM5 does an excellent job of smoothing out movement whether you’re standing, walking, or running. With one exception, it is equally effective as its predecessors. That’s the joystick, which isn’t analog. That is, you cannot adjust the pan or tilt speed by how far you push the stick in a certain direction.
Instead, you must select Slow, Medium, or Fast in the MIMO app, and even Slow was faster than I had hoped. Plus, the movement wasn’t all that smooth. Another issue was that I had to re-calibrate the OM 5 every time I removed and reinstalled the clamp on a phone because it wasn’t completely horizontal. I’m hoping that these issues were caused by the beta version of the app I was using prior to the gimbal’s release.
DJI Osmo Mobile 5: App and shooting modes
DJI’s MIMO app has been present since the Osmo Mobile 3 and has gotten a new function for the OM 5’s launch: ShotGuides. There are numerous categories, each of which includes a video example of the different types of photos you can shoot.
When you tap Apply, a second video displays that show you how to get shot. Because they are overlays on the left so you can see what you’re filming at the same time, they are fairly small, making it difficult to understand exactly how to hold and operate the gimbal.
They’re not just videos, though: some alter the gimbal’s setting and how the joystick moves the camera to get more creative effects. In one image, for example, pushing the joystick left rotates the phone in a circular manner rather than panning left as normal.
If you tap ShotGuides and then switch to Story shooting mode, you may choose from numerous templates, TikTok-style, and be guided through shooting the individual clips that are merged to form a sequence. At the time of review, they included the Year of the Ox, Spring Festival, Party, Brisk, Sports, Fashion, and a variety of others.
Some, as I’ve previously complained, have animated text that you can’t edit or erase, but others don’t. Although the Story mode now provides video tutorials, they do not yet contain the ShotGuides feature’s shot styles and categories, so if you utilize those, you’ll have to merge your separate films together later.
The MIMO app includes an AI Editor, which takes a selection of footage you chose and generates a short film of the highlights, complete with music and effects. Because there are no settings, it’s hit-or-miss whether the style matches the mood you’re going for.
You can use the full editor (above) for more control, but the Templates mode stays the same as before, laden with unwelcome text and titles that you almost likely don’t want throughout your films, given that you can’t alter it to say what you want.
ActiveTrack has been upgraded to version 4.0, and in my tests, it performed admirably regardless of whether I used it on the front or rear camera.
The timelapse modes all function the same as before, allowing you a lot of flexibility over the interval and the ability to get the gimbal to move between two or more places (when on a tripod) to make a professional-looking clip with smooth movement.
The panorama settings, which require a tripod as well, do a good job of stitching the shots together.
It’s worth mentioning that the zoom slider only allows for digital zoom. If your phone has additional cameras, you may need to use the standard camera app to pick them because the Mimo app only uses the primary camera – at least on the phones I tested with.
What I did find handy were the regular hints and instructions that came in the app explaining how to use features and how to hold the gimbal to capture specific pictures.
DJI Osmo Mobile 5: Price and Availability
The OM 5 costs the same as the OM 4, which is £139 / $159. The optional clamp with fill light costs £42 / $59.
DJI sells the OM 5.
It’s a shame DJI didn’t provide the normal Combo pack, which could have included the extra clamp and a hard carry case: the clamp feels overpriced at those rates, bringing the total price to £181 / $218. To put it another way, you could buy two Osmo Mobile 3s for the same price.
At the time of writing, Amazon was selling the Osmo Mobile 3 for £69 / $79. You may read our complete review of the Osmo Mobile 3, but suffice it to say that it provides similar stability and a similar collection of capabilities (because it too uses the MIMO app).
Pros
- Compact
- Good companion app
- Extendable pole
Cons
- Digital joystick
- Fill Light clamp costs extra
- Can’t select different lenses in MIMO app
DJI Osmo Mobile 5: Conclusion
DJI phone gimbals are among the best available because the companion software matches the quality of the hardware. MIMO is wonderful for tracking your subject, taking MotionLapse videos, and capturing panoramic photos. The editing side of things may be enhanced with more text-free templates, but other than that, MIMO is great for tracking your subject, taking MotionLapse vids, and panoramic images. It would be fantastic if DJI could include support for switching between your phone’s cameras.
The lack of an analog joystick on the OM 5 is frustrating, as it means you’ll have to adjust the handle itself to get the best and smoothest photos. It’s a wonderful pick if you don’t mind paying a premium above competitors like the Osmo Mobile 3 for a smaller, lighter gimbal.
