DJI
DJI Osmo 360
DJI's first 360 camera arrived with the two square 1:1 sensors from the Action 6 programme, which is the most interesting thing about it: a square sensor wastes less of the lens's circular image than a 4:3 one, so more of the light the fisheye collects ends up in the sphere. The result is 8K at 50 fps — a frame rate only the Insta360 X6 matches among the 360 cameras here — 170 Mbps, 10-bit across every format, D-Log M, 120 MP panoramas, and a single-lens mode that runs 4K120 with a 155° field of view. It also carries 105 GB of usable internal storage, which — like the 128 GB in Kandao's QooCam 3 Ultra — removes the write-speed argument that sinks so many 360 shoots. Against the Insta360 X6 it gives away half the bare waterproof depth, and DJI's reframing app is younger than Insta360's.
Sensor area against the rest of the catalogue
Derived from the standard optical-format table rather than copied off a spec sheet, because makers print a fraction that hides it. The table and the arithmetic.
Battery, with the small print
- Maker’s claim
- 1 h 40 min at 8K30 panoramic, lab conditions at 25 °C
- Third-party test
- None collected. We publish a tested figure only where a named outlet has run one and stated its conditions.
What a reframed clip is worth
This camera records 7,680 px across a full 360°. A normal 16:9 clip pulled out of it uses only the slice its field of view covers, so at a typical 80° reframe the usable width is about 1,707 px — roughly 1.7K.
7,680 × (80 ÷ 360) = 1,707 px
An estimate. Stitching, supersampling and the projection move it by a few per cent either way. How this works.
Specifications
Features
- ●Two square 1:1 sensors, the same design as the Osmo Action 6
- ●8K 360 at 50 fps
- ●Single-lens mode at 4K120 with a 155° field of view
- ●10-bit across every video format, with D-Log M
- ●105 GB of usable internal storage plus a microSD slot
- ●120 MP panoramic stills
- ●170 Mbps ceiling
Strengths
- +8K at 50 fps rather than 30, which among the 360 cameras here only the Insta360 X6 matches
- +105 GB of internal storage removes the microSD write-speed failure mode entirely
- +10-bit on every format plus D-Log M for grading
- +Doubles as a 4K120 single-lens camera with a proper wide field of view
- +120 MP panoramas, level with the Insta360 X6 for the highest-resolution stills here
Drawbacks
- −10 m bare waterproofing, half the Insta360 X6's
- −100 minutes at 8K30 is quoted under 25 °C lab conditions and drops in cold
- −No GPS
- −DJI's 360 reframing tools are newer and less capable than Insta360 Studio
- −The lenses protrude and are not user-replaceable, unlike those on the Insta360 X5 and X6 and the GoPro MAX2; DJI sells clip-on protectors instead and says they are not for use underwater
What owners say
Summarised from owner discussions and published long-term reviews.
DJI's first spherical camera arrived into a market Insta360 had to itself, and the discussion about it is almost entirely comparative. The two things owners consistently pick out are 8K at 50 fps — which only Insta360's newer X6 has since matched — and the price, which sits well under the Insta360 X6 while matching it on several headline numbers.
The square 1:1 sensors are the engineering reason the frame rate is possible: a square crop wastes less of the circular image a fisheye projects, so more of what the lens gathers reaches the sphere. Add 105 GB of internal storage, 10-bit on every format and D-Log M, and it is a serious first attempt.
Where owners hesitate is water and software. Ten metres bare against the X6's twenty is the specification that decides it for divers, and Insta360's reframing tools have a long head start that DJI has not closed. Several threads describe owners weighing selling an X5 for one and talking themselves out of it on the software alone.
What owners like
- +8K at 50 fps rather than 30 is the specification owners in cross-shopping threads keep coming back to — it is what makes reframed slow motion usable
- +105 GB of internal storage removes the microSD write-speed failure that ruins 360 shoots
- +Owners repeatedly note it undercuts the Insta360 X6 by a wide margin while matching or beating it on several specs
- +10-bit on every format with D-Log M, which is grading headroom the competing 360 cameras do not all publish
- +The single-lens 4K120 mode makes it usable as an ordinary action camera as well
Common complaints
- −Ten metres bare is half the Insta360 X6's, and owners who dive treat that as decisive
- −DJI's 360 reframing software is newer than Insta360 Studio and owners who have used both find it less capable
- −The 100-minute runtime figure is quoted under lab conditions at 25 °C and drops in cold
- −No GPS
Questions owners keep asking
Osmo 360 or Insta360 X6?
What is a square sensor doing in a 360 camera?
How deep can it go without a case?
Does the internal storage actually help?
DJI Osmo 360, head to head
Cameras people look at alongside it
More from DJI →
Two firsts arrived on the same body: a variable aperture on an action camera, and a square 1:1 sensor instead of the usual 4:3. The aperture stepping f/2.0 to f/4.0 matters most in bright conditions, where every other action camera has to throw away light with a shutter it cannot slow down or an ND filter you have to remember to bring. The square sensor matters in the edit — the camera measures the full 1:1 frame, so a widescreen crop and a vertical crop come out of one take without either being a stretched afterthought. DJI puts the imaging area at a 4:3 one-inch equivalent; worked off the standard optical-format table the named 1/1.1-inch format gives about 96 mm², still roughly triple a GoPro Hero 13's. Add 8K30, 20 m of bare waterproofing, 64 GB of internal storage and a four-hour battery rating and it is the most complete spec sheet in the category.
Not an action camera, and it lands in this catalogue because it is the thing people cross-shop against one and then buy instead. The reason is the 1-inch sensor — 116 mm², tied for the largest here with GoPro's MISSION bodies — behind a three-axis mechanical gimbal rather than a software crop. Mechanical stabilisation costs nothing in resolution and produces a specific look: a floating, locked-off glide that digital stabilisation approximates but never quite reaches. The rotating 2-inch screen flips to vertical and the camera reconfigures the whole interface, which is why it took over travel vlogging. The trade is everything that makes an action camera an action camera. There is no waterproofing at all, the exposed gimbal is fragile, it is rated only to 0 °C, and nothing mounts to it but a tripod thread.
Insta360
Insta360 X5
Replaceable lenses arrived here first, and they changed the economics of owning a 360 camera. The fisheye glass on any spherical camera sticks out past the body and gets scratched — it is the category's defining failure mode — and on the X5 a scratched lens is a twenty-minute swap with a part you can keep in a bag. Around that, dual 1/1.28-inch sensors with roughly 2.4× the area of the X4's drive 8K30 supersampled down from an 11K capture, and a triple-chip stack runs PureVideo for low light. Fifteen metres of bare waterproofing, 2400 mAh, 135 minutes at 5.7K30. Against the newer X6 it gives up 8K50, 10-bit and 5 m of depth; against everything else, it is still the 360 camera most people should buy.