After studying lots of footage and checking some raw files examples, I think DJI applies a fine beauty filter to smooth the skin cause I just don't understand why it lacks sharpness like it's slightly defocused. This softness in the face (and not clothes so it can't be the minimum distance) is really bugging me. Ca DJI confirm this, can it be disabled? I also checked some raw photos and the softness isn't there.

GoPro also did that I think

Hello there andrei193. Thank you for reaching out and forgiving out these information. Kindly please post some sample photos showing the issue for us to be able to see and can assist you in this matter. Thank you.

DJI Stephen Posted at 9-20 21:19
Hello there andrei193. Thank you for reaching out and forgiving out these information. Kindly please post some sample photos showing the issue for us to be able to see and can assist you in this matter. Thank you.

As soon as I get a little spare time I will compile some samples.

andrei193 Posted at 9-21 00:01
As soon as I get a little spare time I will compile some samples.

Hi there andrei193. Thank you for the reply and for this information. Kindly please keep us posted for further assistance. Thank you.

DJI Stephen Posted at 9-20 21:19
Hello there andrei193. Thank you for reaching out and forgiving out these information. Kindly please post some sample photos showing the issue for us to be able to see and can assist you in this matter. Thank you.

Actually there are a lot of reviews on youtube, which are comparing Action 3 vs Hero 11 video quality.
I'm looking for new action camera as well. Osmo Action 3 would be ideal for me, since I don't need 5,3K and other gimmicks. But the lack of sharpness is stopping me. When you put side by side videos/photos, you can see big difference

You can check let's say this comparison:


Screenshot of it, where it's visible difference of sharpness.


Another video was taken in a cloudy conditions:


And the screenshots for comparison:

Got my OA3 and it is charging now.
Will make a review/test video with it later and will test out the sharpness against my Gopro 10 also.

Going to make a new post with the video later today probably.

johansenfoto Posted at 9-21 04:58
Got my OA3 and it is charging now.
Will make a review/test video with it later and will test out the sharpness against my Gopro 10 also.

Looking forward to watch your reviews!

MaSky Posted at 9-21 04:21
Actually there are a lot of reviews on youtube, which are comparing Action 3 vs Hero 11 video quality.
I'm looking for new action camera as well. Osmo Action 3 would be ideal for me, since I don't need 5,3K and other gimmicks. But the lack of sharpness is stopping me. When you put side by side videos/photos, you can see big difference

Hi there MaSky. Thank you for the reply and for these information that you have given and posted. I will forward these information to the designated DJI Department for attention. Thank you.

MaSky Posted at 9-21 05:23
Looking forward to watch your reviews!

https://forum.dji.com/forum.php? ... D781%26typeid%3D781

I have found both the Action 2 and 3 seem to look quite soft with fine detail. I suspect that more processing is going on in camera with GoPros to make them look sharper. So I apply sharpening in post and the Actions look a little better, except with one thing ….. close focus on faces. I also suspected some kind of beautifier because at distances of 1 to 3 feet, my face doesn’t look sharp but the background is. I checked close focus for the lens and see it’s at 0.3m, but doesn’t seem anything like that for me unless they mean ‘tolerable’ or ‘poor’ focus but useable?

Iancraig10 Posted at 9-29 00:36
I have found both the Action 2 and 3 seem to look quite soft with fine detail. I suspect that more processing is going on in camera with GoPros to make them look sharper. So I apply sharpening in post and the Actions look a little better, except with one thing ….. close focus on faces. I also suspected some kind of beautifier because at distances of 1 to 3 feet, my face doesn’t look sharp but the background is. I checked close focus for the lens and see it’s at 0.3m, but doesn’t seem anything like that for me unless they mean ‘tolerable’ or ‘poor’ focus but useable?

Yes. Exactly my opinion also. I also suspect bad calibration of the lens. I hope DJI takes notice and fixes it in the next batch.

Isn't the GoPro quite a bit more expensive?  Maybe it's partly a matter of getting what you pay for.

I guess so. So maybe we shouldn't compare the Osmo with GoPro. The Osmo isn’t even close to my GoPro 9 in detail.

If it is a lens thing on the Osmo, then really, it needs changing for something better!
The point of my post was to try to work out whether it's lack of 'in camera' processing or a cheap lens. Are you thinking along the lines of a cheap lens?


Now it looks as though dji have noticed and are working on a firmware fix for the lack of sharpness!

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osmonauta Posted at 10-13 05:13
If I get what I pay for, then how do you explain this? If you consider that the iPod Touch has the capability to go online, connect to BluetTooth headphones, download and use apps, etc, etc, if you were to remove all that functionality and only leave the camera in, how much would that cost? 50 bucks?

https://forum.dji.com/forum.php? ... =276750&pid=2874834

Well, if a camera doesn’t focus properly because it’s cheap, I’m glad I bought an expensive and sharp GoPro 11 in that case.

Well I was hoping I would get one of the "magic" ones that seem in focus. Not sure how the early tubers got theirs semi decent. I do not expect miracles with low light, or things other cameras can do with larger sensors. But, being out of focus is a deal breaker. I can see if it focused far off or at least few feet away. I can't use it in any situation as it looks like I am using a cheap knock off cam from the $1 store. If it were not a gift I would drag it back down to the store for full refund.
That being said. How can a company have a decent product and slowly get worse over time? my OA1 is light years ahead of this thing in usefulness and still gives great vids.

In another thread there's a comparison between the Action 2 & 3, very carefully done with loads of samples, which shows very clearly that there's no resolution difference between the two.  Except that it didn't show faces, unfortunately.  So, setting that one aspect aside, why wasn't there this torrent of criticism of the Action 2 resolution?  Overheating, yes, but I don't recall any concern over resolution.  But if it's indeed some kind of processing of faces that's an actual problem, then that should be fixable in firmware.  And if there's a bad batch of Action 3 devices out there, that's fixable by exchange (tedious, but there it is).

MaSky Posted at 9-21 04:21
Actually there are a lot of reviews on youtube, which are comparing Action 3 vs Hero 11 video quality.
I'm looking for new action camera as well. Osmo Action 3 would be ideal for me, since I don't need 5,3K and other gimmicks. But the lack of sharpness is stopping me. When you put side by side videos/photos, you can see big difference

Those Videos and Pictures shows exactly my problem, the focus and sharpness which comes out from OA3 looks like its from a 360P Video, but not from a 1080P/4K Video!!! I use an actioncam mostly for bicycle recording at fields and forest, but it looks terrible with the sharpness at trees, grass and so on. I still hope it can be fixed with an Firmware, if not OA3 will be send back...