For the last few weeks, I have been filming with the brand new GoPro Hero 13 Black and the new DJI Action 5 Pro action cameras. To mix things up a bit, I also tested them against and Apple iPhone. Can your older "professional" model iPhone produce video that competes with these new state of the art action cameras? Let's find out.
The whole idea of using an iPhone as an action camera is not a new proposition. However, using an iPhone instead buying an action camera is a stance my fellow business partner Lee Morris has been vocal about for years now. Back when DJI released their Action 2 cube-sized action camera, Lee found that the quality of video coming off his brand new iPhone 13 Pro was just as good, if not better, than the footage from a dedicated action camera.
I don't disagree that the actual video footage from a "pro" level iPhone could be as good or better than an action camera—after all, the sensor is larger, and the phone has three unique lenses. However, truth be told, I honestly don't know how the iPhone would stack up against something like the latest offerings from DJI and GoPro. Perhaps Lee is correct and I've been fooled by all the fancy marketing surrounding these action cameras. Well, that's what I seek to find out in the video above.
If you aren't up to speed on the video offerings from these brand-new action cameras, let me summarize some of the most noteworthy features for those of us who shoot for YouTube, supplement our photography businesses with video, and perhaps even shoot commercial video from time to time.
GoPro Hero 13 Black
- Price: $399 Base, $449+ with accessories
- Sensor size: 27.6 MP 1/1.9" CMOS
- Frame Rates (16:9 aspect ratio): 5.3K at 24, 30, and 60 fps. 4K at 24, 30, 60, 120 fps. 2.7K at 240 fps
- Max field of view: 177 degrees at f/2.5
- Stabilization Modes: HyperSmooth 6.0
- HDR Video: 5.3K at 24 and 30 fps. 4K at 24, 30, and 60 fps.
- Internal Memory: none
Read the full specs on GoPro's website.
DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro
- Price: $349 Base, $449+ with accessories
- Sensor size: 40 MP 1/1.3" CMOS
- Frame Rates (16:9 aspect ratio): 4K at 24, 30, 60, 120 fps. 1080 at 240 fps
- Max field of view: 155 degrees at f/2.8
- Stabilization Modes: RockSteady 3.0
- HDR Video: 4K at 24, 30, and 60 fps.
- Internal memory: 47 GB
Read the full specs on DJI's website.
For this comparison, Lee and I thought it was only fair to use an older iPhone because many people have a second iPhone lying around after upgrading to a new one. Also, a new iPhone can cost 2-3 times as much as one of these action cameras, so using a used or older iPhone would be the only way this test would be comparable from a price point. Since my current iPhone is the 15 Pro and Lee just upgraded to the iPhone 16 Pro, the best "desktop drawer" iPhone we had was his iPhone 14 Pro. Below are the specs for this smartphone just for comparison.
Apple iPhone 14 Pro
- Price: $400 - $650 depending on used condition
- Sensor size: 40 MP 1/1.28" CMOS
- Frame Rates (16:9 aspect ratio): 4K at 24, 30, 60 fps. 1080 at 120 fps. 720 at 240 fps
- Max field of view: 120 degrees at f/2.2
- Stabilization Modes: Action Mode
- HDR Video: 4K at 60 fps.
- Internal memory: 128 GB to 1 TB
Read the full specs on Apple's website.
Of course, the newest iPhone 16 Pro offers 4K at 120 and 240 fps slow motion and has some other minor upgrades as well.
Results
What did I find after filming a bunch of footage using all three of these cameras? It's impossible to explain the differences in video quality in a post, so definitely watch the video above to see exactly how each camera did with resolution, dynamic range, stabilization, and slow motion. For me personally, after syncing up all the files so I could toggle back and forth between them all, my preference was usually the DJI Action 5 Pro. There were times when the GoPro Hero 13 looked more natural, and some of the slow-motion options on the Hero 13 also made for better footage. However, when it came to low light, ease of use, and dynamic range in normal 4K/60 fps settings, to my eyes, the DJI Action 5 Pro looked best nine times out of ten.
That being said, the real reason for this test wasn't necessarily just to compare the two action cameras. What did I think of using a fairly new iPhone Pro as an action camera? The phone did surprisingly well in bright light and in situations where grabbing a phone out of your pocket for a quick capture was all that was required. However, once I needed to mount the camera to a moving vehicle or place it in and around water or even mount it to your body, the iPhone simply felt out of place. Many times, it even felt reckless to place such an expensive camera phone in situations where it could easily be broken or destroyed. The low-light video footage was by far the worst, and the cropped resolution quality was a deal breaker when the action mode stabilization was turned on. Add to that all my frustrations trying to locate and download the footage off the phone onto my PC—it made the process difficult at best and a nightmare much of the time.
To really understand how these cameras all compared side by side, I'd again recommend watching the featured video in this post. While Lee Morris might feel like the iPhone in his pocket is always the best action camera for him, I am excited to say I'm keeping the Action 5 Pro and delegating my iPhone for personal use only.
