DJI Osmo Mobile 6 Review: Smooth Operator

Price when reviewing

$159

Best Prices Today: DJI Osmo Mobile 6

For its sixth iteration, DJI has made some significant changes to its Osmo Mobile phone stabilizer.

One is the addition of a handy display to show what mode it’s in and the other is a combined dial and button on the side that can be used for zoom and focus.

The other obvious change is a return to black from the original model, although here it’s more of a dark charcoal gray and everything is plastic.

It’s well made, though, and feels nice and light in your hand.

Comparisons with the original are obviously irrelevant. The real question is: in 2023, is this the phone gimbal to buy?

Features and design

• Auto Power On
• The Mimo application launches automatically on compatible phones
• Telescopic boom

There’s certainly a lot to like about the Osmo Mobile 6. It’s very compact when folded, meaning you’ll be taking it to more places rather than leaving it at home.

There’s a soft bag included in the box, as well as a mini desktop tripod that lets you use the Osmo Mobile 6 hands-free – great if you plan on using it to record yourself while you’re doing something , or if you want to take panoramic photos of the photos taken at the exact same location.

Going hand in hand with this, Active Track 5.0 can automatically track a subject, even if they are walking behind a tree, for example.

Additionally, gestures let you start and stop hands-free recording, and it worked well during testing.

Like previous Osmo Mobiles, the ‘6 has a joystick that lets you manually control the gimbal, pan and tilt the camera while you hold it still.

But the beauty of a gimbal is that it can smooth out hand motion when you’re not holding it still. Say you twist your wrist to the left, the gimbal will help isolate your phone’s camera from that movement, but will slowly track it – and that’s what makes your videos more cinematic.

A trigger on the opposite side of the joystick can do several things, one being to lock the tilt when you hold it down. This is useful when moving around a subject as it prevents the camera from tilting up or down even if you tilt the grip.

Depending on how many times you press it, it can also do other things, like switch between video and photo modes and recenter the camera. Likewise, the mode and switch buttons have various functions.

Obviously the mode toggles between the different modes (Follow, Tilt Lock, FPV and SpinShot), but a long press turns the gimbal on and off – a bit confusing until you notice the power icon in the corner of the button .

When you switch between these four main modes, the screen displays the corresponding icon so you can see which one is in use.

The switch button toggles between the front and rear cameras, but a double tap rotates your phone between landscape and portrait.

The new zoom/focus wheel is also a button, and a single press toggles between these modes. At the time of the review there were no settings for this meaning you can’t adjust the sensitivity (I found it to be too sensitive, especially for zooming) and you don’t also cannot reverse the zoom direction. Naturally, I would spin clockwise to zoom out, but the default is to zoom in, with zooming out counter-clockwise.

When using manual focus, there’s no telling you when your subject is in focus, so you’ll have to rely on your eyes and your phone’s screen.

As with the Osmo Mobile 5 and Osmo Mobile SE, the OM 6 supports all recent iPhone cameras, which means when you zoom in on the range, the Mimo app will automatically switch to the correct camera. Android support is more limited, but you can find a list on the DJI website.

The other feature recent iPhone owners get is that Mimo automatically launches when you attach your phone to the Osmo Mobile 6 using the magnetic clip (which is reassuringly strong, even if it blocks some buttons on some phones).

Whatever the phone, the gimbal will automatically turn on when you unfold it, which makes it faster to start.

Useful in certain situations, the integrated telescopic pole extends from the handle by approximately 220 mm (8.5 inches). This makes it much easier to shoot high up – to get a better view if you’re in a crowd, for example – or close to the ground to follow a baby, pet or something else without bending too far.

Stabilization performance is very good, handling modern “heavy” phones without issue. DJI says it will cope with phones up to 290g, which means a 240g iPhone 14 Pro Max with a case should suffice.

The included clamp can hold phones up to 10mm thick and between 67-84mm wide.

Mimo app

While you can use some of the Osmo Mobile 6’s buttons and features with your stock camera app (or one of your choice), you’ll only get the full experience using DJI’s Mimo app.

It looks a lot like a stock camera app and closely mimics the iPhone version. There’s a carousel mode including the expected photo and video, but there’s also Slowmotion, Timelapse, and Hyperlapse. Only the first of these will depend on your phone’s capabilities, the second being a static shot taken using the tripod over a period of time, and Hyperlapse being a timelapse taken while moving, to speed up a trip, for example.

Dyna-zoom is probably the mode you’ll use the least, as it replicates the Hitchcock-style effect of zooming in or out while moving away or closer to your subject. This normally requires a cart, so it can be tricky to master using a handheld gimbal.

There’s also Story Mode which gives you dozens of shooting patterns for different styles, telling you how to shoot every shot in the story and automatically controlling the gimbal for some of them.

Android users will not find Mimo in the Google Play Store (like DJI’s other apps). The official reason for this is unknown, but regardless, it’s a pain for Android users who have to get the app from DJI’s website and change their phone settings to allow it to be installed. from an “unknown” source.

Pricing & Availability

The Osmo Mobile 6 is $159 / £145 straight from DJI’s website, but you can also buy it from Apple, Amazon and other retailers.

As we’ve seen before, if you want a magnetic phone clamp with a built-in LED fill light for vlogging, that’s an optional extra and costs $59 / £42.

This means that the Osmo Mobile 6 is one of the more expensive phone gimbals and you can get similar levels of stabilization from the cheaper SE model if you don’t care about the zoom wheel or the telescopic boom.

The latest SE has the same small status screen, Active Track 5.0 and ShotGuides, but costs just £95. The bad news is that it’s not available in the United States. Buyers can only choose the old OM 4 SE.

For more alternatives, check out our roundup of the best phone gimbals.

Verdict

As DJI so often does, it has once again improved upon a previous product and created a device that is the best of its kind.

The Osmo Mobile 6 certainly isn’t the cheapest, but if you’re using the modes it offers – both hardware and software – and want control over focus and zoom, it’s hard to think to a better option at the moment.

It’s a real shame that the app doesn’t allow you to adjust the sensitivity, so you’ll need careful controlled rotation when zooming in particular.

The new screen is also useful to let you know what mode you’re in, as well as an idea of ​​the remaining battery charge.

Although I haven’t mentioned it yet, the Osmo Mobile 6’s analog joystick is also a godsend, as it gives you more control over the pan and tilt speed compared to the Osmo Mobile 5 which, in my opinion, didn’t offer such control: either you pan/tilt or you don’t.

If the price is too high and you’re not in the US, the new Osmo Mobile SE is a better value alternative at under £100.