I just got ahold of the DJI NANO action camera. As my first action camera, I thought I would share my initial thoughts & impressions of it. This post is not sponsored by DJI, so I am sharing my own unbiased opinion.
Why Did I Buy the DJI Nano?
Why now & why this specific model? There are several reasons. Firstly, as I have repeatedly warned, electronic prices have been trending upward. Even last-generation devices are being marked up rather than priced down as they are phased out like they used to be. It may be years before we see the type of price decreases that we use to as items were phased out. Additionally, there have been intensifying rumours of supply constraints specific to Japan in the form of import restrictions. Overall, I wanted to beat the market & get the NANO while I could before it gets marked up or otherwise becomes unavailable. As for why I got this specific model, already having the DJI Pocket 3 as well as my Samsung Flip 6, the reason is that it is compact & discreet in comparison to those. I primarily intend to use the NANO to shoot hands-free, utilising the included necklace attachment for easy point-of-view recording. I find that getting out my phone is intrusive since I have to hold it & draw attention to the fact that I am recording. Same with the DJI Pocket 3. For first-person-perspective shots with either of those devices, I need to carry around a chest harness mount then strap it on when I want to shoot. The result is much bulkier & ungainly, drawing undue attention to the fact that I am recording. Specific to my phone, I always worry that I might drop & seriously damage it in the process. As cool as they are, Samsung’s Flip series aren’t known for durability or ruggedness at all, & being without a phone for weeks due to an accident is not a position I wish to put myself in. With the NANO, I can easily wear it & nobody even knows that I’m recording. I also don’t have to worry that an accidental drop will cut me off from the world as it would with my phone. It is still a fairly large lens, so I think anybody paying attention would notice it immediately. I would not recommend it for 100% covert recording for that reason, but spying like that is not my intent. I simply want an unobtrusive, discreet way to record various events & attractions that I visit or overhead views of product unboxing/testing. At this point of what I suppose you would call my video career, it seems that the faceless videos I post get more traction than those of me talking. Maybe one day I will surpass this level, but in the meantime, I think this camera will give me a great edge in recording the types of videos that seem to perform best on my TikTok, YouTube, etc. Lastly, I am already somewhat locked into the DJI ecosystem, possessing not only the Pocket 3 but also the Mic 2. Therefore, buying another brand without the compatibility was less appealing than just sticking to something I was already familiar with & had both hardware/software for.
What Is the Performance Like?
So far, so good. I had been worried since numerous reports of overheating issues occurring within less than 10 minutes were rampant at release, but this does not seem to be the case with my model. Whether that is due to an upgrade of the hardware or firmware, I am not sure, but in my initial testing I got over 20 minutes shooting at maximum settings with no signs of overheating. Feeling safe, since I personally never record any longer than that, I cut off the overheat testing at that point to check out other features. I had initially mistaken the screen timeout for overheating. This occurred less than two minutes in, but after a slight bit of research, I realised all I needed to do was swipe right on the screen to set the timeout to “never” & the issue has not returned. I should also note that there is on-board memory capacity so, unlike the Pocket 3, you do not need an SD card before you can record anything. I opted for the 128GB, rather than the 64GB model, due to memory shortages being a driving force in global technology price increases. I tend to shoot everything in 1080p, but it is good to know that I have the 4K option there if I ever happen to want or need it. I do not think that we are at the point where most platforms fully welcome 4K, but since I am uploading to social media in an effort to become monetised, I do not think wasting space to have a 4K video that only anyone at my own home can see is worth the sacrifice. Just to mention the one real problem I’ve had so far, the DJI Mimo app not exporting my edited videos to my phone. The app will say that it is exported, but it does not appear in the DJI Exports album or anywhere else in my gallery. It takes several tries to push it through &, however many tries it takes, that many copies are pushed to the album when it finally does work (today, I had to push it through 7 times &, when it finally went through, I ended up with 7 copies of the same video). This is annoying & frustrating, but I cannot blame it on the NANO particularly since I am not sure if it is the camera, the Mimo app or even my phone itself. I intend to contact DJI support to see if they can provide some help with this.
Do I Recommend This Camera?
I do. Many reviews that I watched & read prior to making my own purchase warned that it is not a true action camera, but that is not my intended purpose anyway. I do not plan to take my NANO kayaking, rock-climbing or on a motorcycle (especially since I no longer have one). I simply want to use it for both event videos & product unboxing/review videos. If your intentions are the similar mine, I would definitely recommend it. A closed model such as the DJI Action series would likely be better for you if you are planning to partake in more extreme activities such as outdoor sports, etc.
As I mentioned above, prices may soon go up due to shortages of memory at an industrial scale &, if you are in Japan, additional import restrictions may further limit or cease availability. Therefore, I would advise getting it sooner rather than later.
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