Best DJI Action 2 Settings for Cinematic MTB POV

Like all action cams, the DJI Action 2 automatic settings always tend to be all over the place, creating inconsistent, amateur-looking films.

This is why it’s recommended to use semi-manual settings.

After months of riding and recording in various weather and lighting conditions, testing video settings and accessories, I found the best settings for MTB for my DJI Action 2.

Find my current camera setup here. There I list all gear I use to make quality MTB POV videos for the Suspension Traveler YouTube channel.

Sample Footage

Here is some test footage using these exact settings. I only did color correction in an editing program, taking advantage of the flat color profile. Brightness and exposure were left untouched by me and all automatically done by the cam:

In order to gain access to the full list of settings, you need to activate the PRO setting on the second page of the main menu. The detailed video settings are accessed through the menu on the right side. See the pictures below for reference.

So, there you have it. Those are the semi-automatic settings that record cinematic, well-balanced footage that looks more like what you experience through your own eyes. Read on further down for a deep dive into what each setting does.

Just by changing a couple of very simple settings on this camera it really does make a huge difference in how we capture the awesome things we do out there so that we can share them with our friends.

It makes sense to capture it as close to what it looked and felt in real life. The standard auto setting on this camera is just really far away from that.

Settings Explained

Resolution: 2.7K or 4K

I’m sure you know this one: pixels count in relation to the aspect ratio. But there’s more to it in an action cam!

The way stabilization works is through software. The camera actually crops into the frame a little bit to be able to seemingly “remove” movement from the picture. That also means the real captured resolution of the final video is a little lower of the actual file. That’s why 1080p will look more blurry and a minimum of 2.7K is recommended.

I switch between 2.7K and 4K depending on the available memory storage. If you got a 4K monitor to enjoy all those pixels, the higher resolution is even nicer to look at. It’s incredible fidelity to experience.

Framerate: 30 fps

This is what produces the natural motion blur, similar to what you would see through your own eyes. Framerate of 24, 25, and 30 are a big part of what makes video footage cinematic. Bonus points for making you seem to ride faster, every other setting being the same.

Although I usually film in 25 FPS with every other camera, for fast POV shots I believe 30 FPS works best.

Often 60 fps are used for fast-twitch action footage that still looks crisp. 50 or 60 FPS give your footage a sharper look without motion blur so trail features are more pronounced.

Extremely high fps above 60 frames allow for slowing footage down for a slow-motion effect. At regular watch speeds, there is no tangible difference between 60 and 480 fps. Your SD card may disagree as it fills up much quicker.

30 and 25 frames per second allow for natural motion blur, that not only looks very cinematic and professional but as a bonus also makes the footage look faster than with a higher framerate.

Image stabilization: Rocksteady 2.0

On a bike, it’s critical to use any one option, preferably RockSteady 2.0

Horizon leveling is not recommended for biking, because the footage becomes unrelatable for viewers of a two-wheeled sport, where the lean angle is crucial. Ever seen MotoGP dashboard videos with horizon leveling? The entire excitement of the sport gets lost.

Above and beyond a stable image is the most important feature of any camera strapped to your helmet, chest or bike. I used to own the first generations of GoPros, but any mount beside the helmet mount was completely unusable because of the shaky footage. Now chest mounts are all the rage.

Even if the head is the most stable part of your body on a mountain bike, it still vibrates and shakes quite a bit on the trail. Your eyes can adjust to this and now can your Action 2 cam with high-tech image stabilization.

White Balance: 5600K

WB Setting is one of the biggest difference makers. When left on auto, the camera will constantly color correct, while not knowing what it sees. If the screen is full of green grass, or brown dirt, it will choose a white balance that reduces green or brown from the image.

This is an outdoor camera. And sunlight has a color temperature of around 5600 Kelvin. Easy as that. Set it once and never change it again. You wouldn’t want your white balance to change from clip to clip or even worse within a clip. In addition, white balance will destroy the warm natural hue during sunsets – a period also called the golden hour. On a cloudy day, 6000K may be okay too to avoid a blue hue.

Field of view (FOV): Wide or Ultrawide

A wider FOV can help with a couple of effects: the sense of speed and capturing reference points the viewer can identify with. Since on a bike both hands are occupied, the camera needs to be able to see a lot without moving the camera angle. The Action 2’s 155-degree FOV is arguably the largest right now and creates incredibly intense footage.

Take the comparison of the winning downhill world cup runs in Lourdes, France, in 2022 for example. The times are similar, but one looks way faster and more cinematic than the other:

Generally, a wide FOV is able to capture the ground, ahead on the trail and the bike as reference for the viewer within the same shot. A view from on top of the helmet sometimes only has a view of the trail ahead and much of the feeling gets lost for the audience since there are no reference points. No arms, no bike frame, no handlebars.

I like the regular (de-warped) setting for a natural view, but too much of the picture and peripheral view gets lost to be relatable for the viewer. Amaury Pierron’s footage is also more color corrected, which is easier to do with a flatter color profile, not the standard “Normal” option.

Color: D-Cinelike

Nothing is inherently wrong with the “Normal” color profile, which sports the popping colors you’d expect from an action cam. If those oversaturated and high contrast style is something you like, is completely subjective.

That being said, those saturated colors just limit the options for post color corrections and custom color profiles to really make the edit your own. If you like playing around creatively in an editing suite, D-Cinelike is perfect for you as it provides more freedom for creative exploration.

ISO: min. 100 – max. 3200

ISO maximum light sensitivity of the camera, and the Action 2 lets you define a range it can work with.

Normally, I set the ISO as low as possible because a high ISO means a grainy image. But light sensitivity (ISO) is what’s required for the stabilization to work well. I’d rather have a stable, grainy video than the other way around. White balance is the only setting you can leave at one value all the time. In daylight, a WB of 5500K is highly recommended as WB, FPS and EV are the greatest difference-makers and will make your footage look cinematic.

The choice is between jittery stabilization and a grainy image. Even with absurdly high max ISO, the camera won’t likely use those high values during daylight. During sunsets and low-light situations (in dense forests), you may even bump up the maximum ISO to 3200, which will lead to noisy (grainy) but stabilized footage.

Video compression: HEVC

This is just the video codec, without any impact on the bitrate like the GoPro 10 would have.

HEVC or High-Efficiency Video Codec H.265 can create smaller file sizes than the H.264 MP4 codec. So this will not actually increase the bit rate, but decrease the file size while keeping the same bit rate. The actual bit rate depends on the resolution, frame rate and video codec. Older computers may only be able to read H.264 files.

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Bonus tips and tricks

3×3 grid

Don’t be sleeping on this one! This underrated overlay is perfect not only to align the adhesive mounts on a helmet but also to find the perfect camera angle that captures the trail not just your front wheel.

Overexposure warning

This helps with optimizing the parameters of your manual settings. Overexposed areas are marked by zebra stripes.

There is no way to save overexposed footage (as I showed you above), but slightly underexposed one by brightening it up in editing software. The white, detail-less overexposed areas will stay detail-less. Darker details can be brought forward.

Screen off when recording

This should be as soon as possible on a mountain bike. While riding you’ll never even see the screen. So there is no use in leaving the screen on and wasting battery charge.

Orientation lock: off

This auto-detect works so well that there is no reason to turn it off. Also recommended for easy swapping between helmet and chest mount where the cam is upside down.

Fullscreen: off

This has nothing to do with recording format, only what’s displayed on the touch-screen finder. Both a 4:3 and 16:9 format will get cropped to fit “fullscreen” on the square screen.

to be able to see your actual frame including the peripheral space on either side, where you can look forward into corners or see the rider’s arms and handlebars

Snapshot: Off or Video

Using manual settings, you may not want to use this, and always check the screen before recording. Either way, Snapshot can be overruled by a long press on/off.

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