Explore every setting of your DJI Action 4 explained in simple terms, unlock its full potential and find your unique shooting style.
I tested every video setting in countless MTB videos – you can take the shortcut with this guide.
Resolution
I’m sure you know this one: total pixel count. But there’s more to it in an action cam!
The way stabilization works is through software. The camera crops into the frame a little bit to be able to seemingly “remove” movement from the picture.
That also means the real captured resolution of the final video is usually a little lower. That’s why 1080p will look blurry and a minimum of 2.7K is recommended.
Framerate
This is what produces the true-to-life look by creating some natural motion blur.
60fps looks unnatural and sometimes even jarring as it doesn’t mimic what you would see through your own eyes. It’s also a big reason why footage LOOKS slow. Framerates of 24, 25, and 30 are a big part of what makes video footage cinematic.
For POV shots I believe 30 FPS works best as 24p can look stuttery. But it’s all personal preference!
At regular watch speeds, there is no tangible difference between slow-mo framerates of 60 and 480 fps. High FPS is completely unnecessary for MTB, tho your SD card may disagree as it fills up much quicker.
Rocksteady Image stabilization (RS)
On a bike, it’s critical to use any one stabilization option, preferably the RockSteady or even Rocksteady+
You may find that RS+ gets too narrow. I personally stick with the regular RS. It works incredibly well as is. And if the occasional bump gets through, it only adds to the immersion.
Horizon leveling mimics a gimbal that’s keeping the camera level. I don’t recommend it for biking POV, because the FOV gets way to narrow. It’s a cool effect tho, especially doing a follow-cam where the subject is in front like in the example video at the top.
Caution: Horizon Leveling crops into the frame dramatically to be able to keep the image leveled by software processing. This means the FOV is locked at “Dewarp”.
So, stabilization and FOV work very closely together.
Field of view (FOV)
A wider FOV can help with a couple of effects: the sense of speed, showing steepness and capturing reference points the viewer can identify with like handlebar, hands and bike frame as well as the trail ahead.
The wider the FOV, the more of that is in the picture.
Notice that a lot of the bike frame and even my helmet can be seen from this perspective.
The Osmo Action 4’s 155-degree FOV is arguably the widest right now (apart from 360° cams) and creates incredibly intense footage without an overly distorted look (looking at you, GoPro Hyperview!).
White Balance (WB)
WB is basically the overall color temperature ranging from red to blue – think summer sunset to overcast day. It’s measured in Kelvin. And it’s a big factor in how colors look in a video.
In the past, when left on automatic, the camera would constantly color correct. With the new Osmo Action 4, that changed and manual white balance is not as much of a game changer as it used to be.
So, it’s up to you if you leave it on auto, or set it yourself. Either way, it’s a set-and-forget option. Why? Because this is an outdoor camera. And sunlight has a color temperature of about 5500 Kelvin.
(Just make sure when you use Auto WB you don’t cover the sensor sitting in the “O” of Action 4 on the front.)
Exposure Value (EV)
Exposure Value is a measurement of how a scene is “exposed” or how well it’s lit. The camera is usually trying to aim for an EV of 0, meaning it’s well-exposed.
It’s doing that by adjusting the two options it has for exposure control: shutter speed and ISO. Action cams usually have a fixed aperture, so they can’t adjust that.
Especially outdoors, it struggles in some situations like patchy lighting in a forest or lots of bright, white snow in winter. Overexposure is usually the most common problem for MTB, so an EV of -0.3 can be quite helpful.
It means you’re telling the camera it should make everything a bit darker than it overwise would, preventing overexposure.
Shutter
Shutter speed determines how long the shutter is open and your camera’s sensor is exposed to light. A faster shutter speed lets in less light, and a slower shutter speed lets in more light. The longer it’s open, the more blurry each frame gets when there’s movement.
The new feature of being able to set a shutter speed range is a big deal for the OA4! It allows you to precisely set the limit while the camera can still adjust to changing lighting conditions.
This means even in dark areas, your footage will be guaranteed to be stabilized even tho the camera is in control of the shutter.
ISO
ISO determines the light sensitivity of the camera’s sensor. The higher the ISO number, the more sensitive the sensor is and the brighter the image gets. But more isn’t always better as high ISO also leads to grainy, blurry, desaturated footage.
So, a limit on the maximum ISO is a good idea! Especially in combination with a minimum shutter.
That way you’ll limit the negative effects that occur in low light. Additionally, you’ll keep darker areas realistically dark and don’t make them bright and mushy.
ISO 800 is usually enough for outdoor stuff. And even if it isn’t your video won’t be ruined since you set your minimum shutter. ISO 1600 will be enough for pretty much anything, but it also brightens up dark areas a lot. So it’s a personal preference.
Color Profiles
Nothing is inherently wrong with the “Normal” color profile, which sports the popping colors you’d expect from an action cam. If this saturated and high-contrast style is something you like, is completely subjective. On the OA4 I’d say it looks pretty realistic and well-balanced too. Plus, it’s now in 10-bit colors!
That being said, those saturated colors just limit the options for post-production color corrections and custom color profiles to really make the edit your own. If you like playing around creatively in an editing suite, D-Log M is perfect for you as it provides more freedom for creative exploration.
Sharpness
Sharpness is a processing effect that’s applied on top of footage. It will not increase resolution or bitrate. Instead, the sharpening effect will be applied in real time and is baked into your footage.
If that look is something you like or not, is up to you. But keep in mind, that you can’t remove it and high sharpness may look unnatural or even jarring to watch. It can also introduce weird visual glitches on gravel, leaves and grass.
Noise Reduction
Denoise or noise reduction refers to a processing effect to reduce or remove “noise” or grain resulting from high ISO in low-light situations. Overall it makes the image softer (the opposite of sharpness).
Beware: This effect will be applied at all times, when this setting is enabled! Leave on Low unless specifically shooting in low-light scenarios.
Low-Light Image Enhance
LLIE is DJI’s own algorithm to automatically detect low-light scenes and apply processing effects to reduce noise and grain. Use this instead of the global Noise Reduction setting to only have these effects when necessary.
Only available in Normal color profile and up to Wide FOV.
10-Bit Colors
10-bit color offers a significantly higher color depth than 8-bit color (1 billion vs 16.7 million colors), resulting in smoother gradients and more detailed color nuances. This is particularly noticeable on high-quality displays and when color grading.
Both color profiles “Normal” and “D-Log M” now support 10-bit so it doesn’t have to be enabled manually.
Audio Channel
Set the number of audio channels the video clips export with: Stereo or Mono.
Wind Noise Reduction
Again, this is a post processing effect coupled with front microphones being turned very low or off. The processing can sound unnatural and distorted. For extreme wind noises it can be beneficial.
But otherwise, turning it off is more than sufficient as the camera does switch to the bottom, wind-protected mic anyway when wind gets too loud.
