Quick Answer: It’s worth upgrading to the DJI Osmo 360 II if you want top image quality even in challenging shooting conditions, powerful software tools to make your final footage look perfect and the ability to quickly replace a lens if it gets scratched.
The novelty of capturing footage in 360 degrees has officially worn off. If you’re already shooting with an older 360 camera, you know you won’t miss the action, but you also know the frustration of muddy low-light footage, blown-out highlights and the tedious process of trying to reframe your subject in post. The real question isn’t whether your camera caught the shot, but whether the final export is actually sharp, dynamic and cinematic enough to use.
Enter the DJI Osmo 360 II. It represents the next generation of imaging technology developed across multiple product lines, including on the DJI’s original Osmo 360 and the Avata 360 panoramic drone. It arms creators with smarter, lightning-fast subject tracking that hones in on your target and keeps it framed with zero guesswork.
CNET editors are fans of DJI’s Osmo series, including them in their best 360 cameras for 2026 and best action cameras for 2026, as well as their picks for excellent vlogging cameras. DJI’s first-generation Osmo 360 camera already had some of the largest sensors available in consumer 360 cameras and a fast lens that performed well in low light with solid internal storage. The second-generation Osmo 360 II improves on those specs with an upgrade to 8K/60, better image quality in difficult conditions and a user-replaceable lens. CNET’s editors named it one of their Best of IFA 2026 picks, along with nearly 20 other global publications including Mashable and PCMag.
If your current 360 camera is struggling to keep up with your workflow, the Osmo 360 II provides every reason to finally make the upgrade. Here’s what you need to know.
The next generation of DJI’s panoramic imaging technology
DJIDJI didn’t build the Osmo 360 II‘s panoramic smarts from nothing. The camera represents the fusion of a series of improvements in panoramic imaging and a fusion of innovations from multiple product lines.
The hardest problem in any 360 camera is stitching: blending two ultra-wide lenses into one seamless sphere without a visible seam down the middle. DJI first worked that problem out on drones, whose fisheye cameras must make sense of a scene despite constant motion and swinging light. That stitching know-how landed in a handheld camera for the first time with the original Osmo 360, which also introduced a clever square-shaped sensor that captures more of the circular image a 360 lens actually produces, rather than wasting a quarter of a traditional rectangular sensor on corners the lens never uses.
From there, DJI pushed that same stitching tech even harder by putting it back into the air in a dedicated panoramic drone, the Avata 360. High-speed flight is about as tough a stress test as stitching software ever faces.
The Osmo 360 II is where all three generations’ worth of lessons finally come together in a single camera. It takes the square-sensor idea further, jumping to native 8K video at 60 frames per second and 14.5 stops of dynamic range — enough range to hold onto real detail in both a bright sky and a dark doorway in the same shot. It inherits a stitching algorithm toughened by all that time in the air, now tuned specifically to fix the one place 360 cameras have always struggled: subjects or objects passing close to the lens, right along the seam. And it wraps all of that in quality-of-life features that allow creators to start filming faster and streamline their workflow, like Spotlight Follow, Twist to Shoot and one-tap NFC Connections to transfer footage.
Is it worth upgrading to the DJI Osmo 360 II?
It’s worth upgrading to the Osmo 360 II if you want top image quality or if you work in demanding shooting conditions. The camera’s advanced 1/1.1-inch square sensor — an industry first for 360 cameras — is paired with AI SuperNight 2.0 for cleaner low-light footage, making the upgrade particularly appealing for people who regularly shoot fast action, sunsets, nighttime city scenes or other challenging environments.
The DJI Osmo 360 II also addresses some practical limitations of the first generation. Ultra-hard, user-replaceable lenses make damage less intimidating on a camera whose protruding fisheye lenses are inherently exposed. Spotlight Follow can also reduce the work required to turn 360 footage into a conventional subject-tracking video.
Here’s a full breakdown of the hardware and software upgrades on the DJI Osmo 360 II.
DJI Osmo 360 II hardware innovations
DJI- Custom HDR square sensor: Instead of traditional cameras’ rectangular sensors, which waste about 25% of their space for 360 capture, DJI built a custom 1/1.1-inch square sensor that perfectly fits the circular 360-degree image field, delivering an effective image area equivalent to a full 1-inch sensor.
- Native 8K resolution: Thanks to the efficient square sensor design, the camera captures massive native 8K video at 60 frames per second with no need for software upscaling.
- Expanded shooting modes: The Osmo 360 II also pushes slow motion to 4K/240fps (up to 64x with DJI Studio), timelapse to 16K, Vortex panoramas to 8K/120fps and adds HDR to its 120-megapixel 360° photos — all upgrades over the original Osmo 360.
- Replaceable lenses: Lenses in 360 cameras are infamous for scratching easily. The Osmo 360 II features ultra-hard, user-replaceable lenses, so creators can shoot fearlessly and swap out lenses quickly if they do scratch without replacing the entire device.
- Massive internal storage: The Osmo 360 II includes 105GB of built-in storage, so you can record weighty 8K files even if your removable memory card fills up.
DJI Osmo 360 II software and processing power
- Drone-grade image stitching: All 360 cameras stitch two images together, which can leave a visible seam. DJI eliminated this problem by adapting the rigorous algorithmic stitching technology they perfected on the Avata 360, DJI’s dedicated panoramic drone.
- AI low-light performance: The camera boasts a massive 14.5-stop dynamic range and AI SuperNight 2.0 processing. This pulls rich details out of high-contrast scenes like bright sunsets or dark city streets, which are often hard to capture.
- Action-ready controls: It includes Spotlight Follow to automatically keep subjects centered, one-tap editing features, and physical twist-to-shoot and gesture controls designed for users who are moving fast in complex scenarios.
DJI’s imaging color science makes shots look great in any lighting
DJI’s imaging color science helps the Osmo 360 II produce more natural, detailed color across the unpredictable lighting conditions common in action footage. If you’re biking through a forest or skiing on reflective snow, its 10-bit color will preserve the details in the bright skies and dark shadows thanks to the camera’s wide dynamic range.
For everyday users, that means footage will look more polished straight out of the camera, with richer colors and fewer blown-out highlights or murky shadows. And more advanced creators can always smooth out the gradients later with D-Log M.
FAQ
Does the DJI Osmo 360 II produce footage that holds up in professional color grading?
Yes, particularly for an action camera. The Osmo 360 II records 10-bit color in every video mode and supports D-Log M, providing substantially more latitude for adjusting exposure, contrast and color than standard 8-bit footage. With 14.5 stops of dynamic range, you can easily preserve information for highlight and shadow recovery too.
Is the stitching quality on the DJI Osmo 360 II seamless enough for professional work?
Yes. The Osmo 360 II combines footage from its two ultra-wide lenses using a new AI-driven stitching algorithm built on data from earlier Osmo 360 and Avata 360 footage. DJI designed this generation specifically to fix the close-range misalignment that has challenged 360 cameras in the past, historically the hardest case for any stitching algorithm to get right.
How well does the DJI Osmo 360 II handle high dynamic range in bright outdoor scenes?
The Osmo 360 II has 14.5 stops of dynamic range up from 13.5 with the original. The additional latitude matters when you are filming bright skies, reflective water, snow or any subject that moves between sunlight and shade. This is one of the Osmo 360 II’s strongest specs.
How does the DJI Osmo 360 II handle low light without noise ruining the shot?
DJI addresses a traditional 360-camera weakness with a large 1/1.1-inch sensor and AI SuperNight 2.0. Larger sensors collect more light than the small sensors traditionally found in action cameras, and SuperNight also uses computational processing to suppress noise and preserve detail in dark scenes. This means that dusk, nighttime streets, interiors and other challenging light environments are considerably more practical for filming.
Is the 8K video quality on the DJI Osmo 360 II noticeably better for travel footage?
The benefit is less about watching in 8K than about reframing from 8K. A 360 camera spreads its resolution across an entire sphere, and the conventional 16:9 shot you eventually export uses only part of those pixels. Starting with 8K/60fps gives creators more detail for cropping, stabilization, subject tracking and changing perspective once you get to editing. Reframed shots from travel footage look sharper and provide more choices in post-production.
