Review: Checking out the DJI Osmo Mobile 6 gimbal

DJI released the Osmo Mobile 6 3-axis smartphone gimbal, here to steady your videos. Should vloggers and content creators take note? 

The Osmo Mobile 6 offers the ability to create ultra-smooth videos, giving you the ability to create smooth movements and panning, offer alternate viewpoints, follow subjects automatically even when mounted on a tripod, and pull focus. Let’s find out more.

Note: DJI sent us the DJI Osmo Mobile 6 to review and keep. However, this is a completely independent review. All thoughts about this gimbal are our own.

Pros

• Solid classy build
• Mimo app has numerous tutorials, instructions, and useful information for ease of use
• Easy to use
• LED screen shows battery life and mode
• Side wheel allows zoom or focus control
• Numerous modes for video
• Long battery life
• Works well with free Mimo app
• Absurdly strong magnetic phone mount for quick setup
• Tripod stand deploys easily for smooth video

Cons

• For Android users, the Mimo app must be downloaded from the DJI website, not from Google Play
• Some features are not available for Android smartphone users

DJI Osmo Mobile 6 — Technical specifications

All of the technical specifications for the DJI Osmo Mobile 6 are from the official DJI website.

General

Dimensions:

Unfolded: 276×111.5×99 mm (L×W×H)
Folded: 189×84.5×44 mm (L×W×H)

Weight: 

Gimbal: Approx. 309 g

Magnetic Phone Clamp: Approx. 31 g

Compatible Phone Weight: 170-290 g

Compatible Phone Thickness: 6.9-10 mm

Compatible Phone Width: 67-84 mm

Battery

Type: Li-Po 2S

Capacity: 1000 mAh

Energy: 7.74 Wh

Charging Temperature: 5° to 40° C (41° to 104° F)

Operating Temperature: 0° to 40° C (32° to 104° F)

Operating Time: Approx. 6 hours and 24 minutes (measured under ideal conditions with the gimbal fully balanced)

Charging Time: Approx. 1 hour 24 minutes (measured with a 10W Type-C charger)

Gimbal Charging Port: USB-C

Gimbal

Mechanical Range: 

Pan: -161.64° to 173.79°
Roll: -120.30° to 211.97°
Tilt: -101.64° to 78.55°

Max Control Speed: 120°/s

Wireless Mode

Model: Bluetooth 5.1

Software

App: DJI Mimo

Grip Tripod

Dimensions:

Length: 138 mm
Diameter: 32 mm

Weight: Approx. 72 g

DJI Osmo Mobile 6 — Ergonomics and build quality

The smartphone gimbal has a classy feel and feels solid. All of the controls feel well-made, well-machined and robust. The gimbal is very comfortable to hold, partially owing to the contoured shape of the handle. Also, the controls are well-placed ergonomically, making it easy to change modes, zoom, or focus easily.

Quick Launch

Interestingly, the Osmo Mobile 6 powers on instantly upon simply unfolding it. This allows you to get going faster, or at the very least, eliminates one more step. If using an iPhone, the Mimo app will also launch automatically. Nice.

The gimbal feels robust when unfolding it. This quick launch feature might seem frivolous when reading it, but I quickly grew to value it when creating videos.

DJI Osmo Mobile 6 — In the field

Prior to this review, I had never used a gimbal before. I don’t typically do video, instead doing primarily photography. Initially, I had recommended that someone else write the review. However, I decided that some perspectives from a first-time user might be valuable to some.

Given that, let’s start off with the twenty-nine-cent question: How easy would a feature-packed gimbal be to use for a first-time user? 

I’m relieved to report that it’s rather easy. Within minutes, I installed the app onto my iPhone SE 2020, paired it with the gimbal, read the tutorials, and was creating much smoother videos. 

The gimbal has an extension rod. Simply pull on it and it extends up to almost 8.5 inches. This allows you to get some distance for selfies or get some height. I found that you can use it for low perspectives that sweep close to the ground as well.

Magnetic Phone Clamp

The magnetic phone mount clamps easily to your phone, supporting phones up to 3.3″ wide. From there, the very strong magnet latches onto the gimbal. Simply line up the dots and PLOP! Your phone is firmly attached.

If the magnet mount is not quite aligned, the Mimo app and the system indicator on the status panel blinks red, letting you know right away. It’s that easy. This magnetic alignment detection function is a new feature of Osmo Mobile 6.

Mimo app

Part of the reason the gimbal is easy to use is due to its well-designed app. The gimbal pairs with its Mimo app beautifully. Installation could not be easier. 

After the two were paired, which took several seconds, I was pleased to find that the Mimo app gave a quick tutorial, pointing out the controls for the gimbal and more. Not only that, it offered links to additional videos. Very nice. The connection was rock solid, never faltering.

While the Mimo app is available to iPhone users in the iTunes App Store, the app is not available to Android devices in the Google Play Store. Android users must instead download the file directly from DJI’s website. Further, some of the app’s features are not available for Android phones.

Status Panel

Beginning from the top of the gimbal controls, the status panel informs you when the device is connected to the app by showing a green light. Underneath this light is another battery icon light indicating the remaining battery charge. If the remaining charge falls under 20%, it turns red. And to the right of this is an indicator showing which mode the device is in. This is a new feature that has been added to this model.

Mode Button

The “M” button allows you to switch between gimbal modes. This is located next to the indicator showing which mode it’s in, a nice logical placement. Pressing the “M” button three times places the gimbal in “Standby” mode.

The default mode is Follow mode, which offers general stabilization, and is probably the most commonly used one. The next is Tilt Locked Mode. This keeps the camera horizontal regardless of how you are moving to the gimbal. It also has FPV mode, which assigns all three axes to follow the main subject no matter how the subject moves. And finally, the gimbal also has a very fun Spin Shot, which helps with rotating the camera for circular motion shots. 

Record Button

Underneath the “M” button is a red record button. This allows you to start and stop recording a video. Or if you are in photo mode, this will serve as a shutter button. The button is reasonably large and raised, providing ease of use.

Switch Button

This button, which shows two curved arrows, allows you to physically change the orientation of your phone from horizontal (landscape) to vertical (portrait). Those who wish to switch quickly between capturing video for TikTok, YouTube shorts, Instagram Reels, Facebook stories, or standard video will especially appreciate this easy-to-use feature.

As it is a switch button, you may also toggle between video and photo mode if you press it three times. 

Side Wheel

A welcome new feature for the Osmo Mobile 6 is the side wheel. You can easily reach the side wheel with your thumb. This allows you to either zoom or adjust focus. To me, the zoom knob seemed a little sensitive. I found that it was easy to zoom in or out a little too quickly. Do bear in mind that this was the first time that I’ve used a gimbal, and do not know how it compares to other gimbals.

You could use the focus control to pull focus, shifting from a person or element in the foreground to another person or element in the background. This would add a considerably more professional appearance to many of your videos, setting you apart from other smartphone users.

Not tested but worth mentioning

This gimbal also allows you to clamp an Osmo Mobile Fill Light Phone Clamp. This uses the same sort of magnetic mount as the smartphone and features LED lights on both sides of the clamp. These lights can be set to three levels of brightness and color temperature. 

You may also mount the light and a microphone on the gimbal if you purchase the Vlog Combo.

DJI Osmo Mobile 6 also uses ActiveTrack 5.0 to follow. This worked quite well on relatively still subjects or single subjects well. However, it began tracking someone else when that person walked in front.

The bottom of the gimbal handle features a mounting thread to mount the gimbal on the included grip tripod or other accessories.