The Osmo Pocket has made a serious impact in the casual creator community over the last few years, and started a new category of cameras. It’s not an action camera, not a full-size gimbal, not a phone gimbal — it’s found a unique space.

For many people, a phone isn’t quite enough but a mirrorless is too much, and the Osmo Pocket holds a lot of appeal. It’s small, it always captures smooth footage, it looks better than an action camera, and it’s easy to use.

DJI’s latest iteration on the idea is the Osmo Pocket 4, which was released in April, and they recently sent me the Creator Combo for review.

Before we take a deeper dive, I should acknowledge that right now, the market is becoming more crowded, and issues around supply in the USA remain. Insta360 recently launched a competitor, the Luna (which I haven’t tried) and DJI themselves have teased a more advanced version of the Pocket 4, the Pocket 4P, which includes a 3x zoom lens.

While I can’t say much more about the upcoming 4P right now, watch this site for a review sooner rather than later. Right now, the Pocket 4 is the best that DJI have available, and it’s absolutely worth considering for many kinds of video makers.

Let’s begin by considering who this camera is for.

The audience

While some users are happy shooting on their phones, it’s not a great fit for everyone. Many budget-minded consumers don’t have the latest iPhones and aren’t looking to update. Others who do have the latest iPhones don’t want to use those phones in potentially risky environments, or risk running out of battery or space.

A regular mirrorless camera might fit the bill, but it’s probably a bit big for some and too daunting for others. Adding a gimbal would make for a much heavier, bulkier package, and there are too many moving parts for many casual creators to consider. What about action cameras? Without tracking, and without zooming, they’re not quite the right fit either. And a 360° camera is probably too wide.

The ideal user of a small gimbal camera like the OSMO Pocket is probably anyone who shoots video outdoors or on-site, rather than on-set, and who doesn’t want to fuss about the details of f-stops and exposure. It’s a camera that likes to be hand-held, though if you pop it down on a tripod or flat surface, it’s happy to follow you around. Although you can use it like an action camera, the gimbal head isn’t really designed to take all the sudden movements of fast sports.

Still, an all-in-one smooth, multi-purpose camera, that isn’t a phone, has plenty of applications. A consulting client who works in yacht-building and wanted to make videos about the process is a good example of where the Pocket fits in well, and many social media content creators would probably love it too.

However, if you regard yourself as a more “serious” filmmaker, I wouldn’t discount it. Manual controls are possible, you can shoot in Log, you can disable sharpening and noise reduction. As someone who regularly covers events, this is the ideal camera for walking through a crowd without attracting much attention. My main interviews will still be on a GH7, but I’ll be able to catch all kinds of smooth tracking shots in spaces where a full-size gimbal just wouldn’t fit.

In short, this camera could suit a lot of people. What does it look like?

The hardware

A small camera is mounted on a tiny gimbal head, atop a stubby body. The camera is protected as it faces into the gimbal when powered off, and the gimbal is protected by a sturdy piece of plastic that must be removed before use. (I suspect many users will prefer to use a rigid bag to protect the camera rather than this gimbal clamp.)

A screen is positioned just below the gimbal, and flicking it into landscape powers on the gimbal, spinning the camera head into action. It’s ready to shoot within a second or so. Spinning the screen reveals two buttons beneath it, new on the Pocket 4, which control zoom and a function of your choice. Below these two new buttons, you’ll find a joystick and a record/power button.

Aspect ratio makes a difference here. If you’re a landscape shooter, flicking the screen will be the main way you’ll power it on and off, and this flick feels more satisfying than you’d expect. Portrait users miss out, instead having to hold down the power button to power up, and they won’t see the zoom or custom buttons at all.

There’s a microSD slot on the side, but you may not need to use it. With ~107GB of built-in storage, you can just turn the camera on and go. Built-in storage is ridiculously convenient, and fast to offload when connected with USB-C.

As there’s only one lens, you’ll be zooming digitally, and since the 4K mode is advertised as lossless 2x zoom, we can infer the sensor is 8K. Zooming in 4x still looks OK, but you will sacrifice resolution to get there. For a gradual zoom, you can switch the joystick to control zooming rather than direction, or if you don’t mind jumping, you can use the zoom button to move between 1x, 2x, and 4x.

My hands are a little too big to comfortably hold the Pocket 4, so I prefer to attach the included clip-on tripod attachment. This small, plastic handle moves the USB-C port from the bottom of the camera to the back, and also adds a tripod mounting socket. As a small tripod is included in the kit I tested, I’ve found that leaving the tripod attached to the tripod adapter made the most sense for me. It’s easy to clip the adapter to the main camera body, and though it appears quite long when it’s all connected together, if you don’t have a tall jacket pocket handy, it’s easy to click it apart and store it in the provided bag.

The accessories

If you want to, you can trick the Pocket 4 out quite a bit.

Though I found the battery life to be acceptable, if you need more runtime, and you can’t just connect a battery bank, you can purchase an alternative tripod adapter with a battery included. The main camera body draws from this adapter first, and it provides a noticeable boost to power, though it’s taller still than the included, unpowered tripod adapter.

Also available is a 0.75x wide-angle lens that connects magnetically. That may sound like a lot, but 0.75x doesn’t expand the view by a huge amount, and it does tend to curve any straight lines in shot. Also, as it stops the camera from folding away, you’ll need to remove it before powering down. Still, if you need a wider look (more like an action camera) the magnet means it integrates very well, and I’m sure it’ll come in useful in tight corners.

Also magnetic, a fill light can snap onto the back of the gimbal, and two buttons allow you to cycle through three levels of brightness and three different color temperatures. If you’re trying to talk to the camera at night, this will save your shots.

If you’d like to use an external microphone, the DJI Mic ecosystem can connect without an external receiver, and shows audio levels at the top of the screen. The DJI Mic Mini is small, easy to wear due to its dual magnetic/clip system, and is a great option when you need to step away from the gimbal.

You can, of course, control the gimbal with the DJI Mimo app. If you need a larger view of what you’re shooting or what you’ve shot, reach for your phone.

The modes

Video mode can capture at up to 4K in the regular landscape video mode, at a frame rate or 24/25/30/48/50/60. Data rates of ~80Mbps at 25fps and ~100Mbps at 60fps are high enough (for HEVC) to avoid most visible compression artifacts, and the data rates for slow-mo go higher. 

Portrait mode does compromise on resolution a little here as it doesn’t record in 4K, but 3K (1728x3072px). Since portrait video is rarely delivered at more than 1080×1920, this still leaves plenty of room to reframe in post, but if you want to deliver to both aspects, shoot in landscape. Alternatively, for the absolute maximum resolution in portrait, keep the camera in landscape mode, and hold it sideways.

In slow motion mode, you’ll find various speeds up to 240fps, with a pre-conform back to a more “regular” frame rate. Although dedicated slow-motion modes on most cameras usually don’t include audio, the Pocket 4 actually does record audio in a sidecar AAC file — nice.

Though there does seem to be a slight resolution penalty from shooting slow-mo — and a slight crop — a larger issue is that you can’t use D-Log in slow-mo, so you will compromise on dynamic range. If you only need the action a little slower, consider shooting 60fps instead.

Pushing time the other way, there’s a Timelapse mode with a few sub-modes, so you can create a Hyperlapse while moving, or a Motionlapse which pans between custom waypoints if you want. 

There’s also a Low Light mode, topping out at 30fps, and again, no D-Log. This helps in very dark environments, though you can’t disable noise reduction or sharpening in this mode. As ever, add light if you can.

While two photo modes are included, I suspect most users will continue to reach for their phones or a dedicated stills camera. If you do want to use this for stills, you can get decent results in RAW, JPEG or both. There’s a “SuperPhoto” mode that can capture 33MP (7680x4320px) in 16:9 or 37MP (6144x6144px) in 1:1, plus a panorama mode that combines 3×1 or 3×3 images into a larger still.

Unfortunately the composite panorama produced is much smaller than I’d like (only 4096x1606px) but the original images are also recorded, so you can use Photoshop’s Photomerge feature to do better — I could produce 6142x2380px after cropping. If you want the maximum possible resolution, you might do better taking a few SuperPhotos and manually panning between shots.

Let’s dig into the details. 

The specs and the options

The 1-inch sensor can record in 10-bit D-Log (not D-Log M, as found on the Pocket 3). It can capture 14 stops of dynamic range in this mode, and though I haven’t tested this in a lab, in comparison tests outdoors with my GH7, I definitely found it harder to make the Pocket 4’s image clip. Many will choose to shoot in Normal mode rather than D-Log, and though this mode is more contrasty than I prefer myself, it doesn’t clip much either.

For creators spending time outdoors, with constantly changing conditions, taking a “mostly auto” approach with the Pocket should work well. Still, most readers here should choose the “Pro” mode, which opens up more controls without forcing you to set everything manually. Auto exposure, manual exposure, or the halfway house of fixed shutter with auto ISO (with various ranges available) are all options here. You can also tap-and-hold on the screen to lock exposure if you prefer.

Note that there’s also a flicker reduction setting, so if screens are your main concern, you may not need to lock the shutter speed. If you do want to play with shutter speed, you’ll find some extremely slow options here, including 1/4 second in video mode or up to 4 seconds in stills. On the other hand, if you’d prefer to keep the shutter at 1/50 or 1/60 for a “natural” motion blur, you can add magnetic ND filters. (But remember — the 180° rule isn’t actually correct, it’s just that 1/50 to 1/60 looks about right. More here.)

While I’m often happy to use auto ISO, I’ll still use manual white balance if I can, and this is definitely an option too. You can lock onto a K value (2000-10000K in 100K increments) and a tint of your choice, and you can also turn Texture (sharpening) and Noise Reduction up or down, though I’m pretty sure “0” doesn’t mean “off” here.

If you do tweak the settings, each mode will remember its own unique options. Be sure to configure your preferred settings in all the different modes if you want to ensure a consistent look across video and slow motion modes.

Autofocus has several different modes, including Registered Subject Priority, which locks focus on a specific known subject, or Showcase mode, to prioritise objects held close to the camera. 

By remembering a person (probably you, if you’re a solo creator) the Pocket 4 can snap focus onto you whenever you flip the camera around. Person tracking is solid, and if you reposition yourself in frame with the joystick, that position will be maintained as you or the camera move. To perform an orbit around an object or a person, you can simple double-tap on it on the screen, and then walk around — it’s quick and flexible.

The gimbal itself has several modes, including follow, tilt lock (better for walking) and FPV (for special dynamic shots) and there are controls over the speed of the tracking and the joystick. Happily, you can also set the custom button to lock gimbal direction, a feature I always find helpful when capturing a straight-line walk.

Lastly, if you plug the Pocket 4 into a computer you can use it as a webcam, and it also supports live streaming when you plug in a USB-HDMI cable. If you suffer with a poor quality webcam today, or simply can’t position your existing webcam in a good spot, this could be a great additional use for the camera.

The image

Does it look good? Yes it does. That said, image quality is subjective, and standards are different on every platform and for every different creator. Today, I’d regard the video from the Pocket 4 as certainly good enough for many modern video jobs. From time to time, you can see minor issues with moire, but I’ve only seen this a few times, with fine detail at an unlucky distance.

If you’re used to being on set with a cinema camera, the Pocket 4 will, of course, not replace that. A larger camera still shines when you need to change lenses, or record all day, or connect lots of external gear, or control every setting manually. I’ll still be using a GH7 for every main event. But out and about — or in a crowded conference floor at, indeed, an event — this is lighter, more stable, and produces an image that can, in more situations than you’d expect, produce a good-enough image.

In an era where Apple use iPhones to record their keynotes, we are fast approaching the day where shooters don’t have to choose a large camera to get a good image. When video capture is a more casual process, or you’re working alone, a simpler camera with a few more automatic options makes a lot of sense.

The sound

One aspect of this camera worth celebrating is that it can be set to record Spatial Audio, like the iPhone can. Even better, when an external mic is connected, the internal microphone can also be recorded, either to a second channel in the same video container, or to an external file. My GH7 can only do this if I connect an external audio device, and I wish it was standard on every camera.

The DJI mics themselves are very small, very light, and won’t cause most tops to sag. Their magnetic attachment connects either to a physical clip, or to the magnet itself, placed on the other side of a person’s clothes from the magnet. 

Conclusions

Obviously, many casual video creators will continue to shoot on their phones, and the image you can capture with a phone today can be great. The situation changes once you move away from sets and tripod, though. Without a gimbal, moving shots aren’t going to be as stable as a Pocket.

Though a phone gimbal is inexpensive, the setup is never as simple as pulling out a Pocket and flicking it on. There’s very little gap between thinking about capturing a shot and starting to record, and you can put a Pocket into places where you might not want to place a phone or a bigger rig.

Alternatives? I still really like the Osmo 360 as a great travel camera. While it lets me capture the whole world around the camera or a stable rectilinear view in one direction, an ultra-wide angle isn’t always the best solution. The same focal length issues becomes a limit for all kinds of action cameras, and a phone-on-a-gimbal isn’t nearly as convenient.

For the freedom to sometimes vary focal lengths, or to track movement in many different ways, the Osmo Pocket 4 is a great option with plenty of features packed in. While owners of the older Pocket 3 may not find quite enough to make them upgrade, any new purchasers should head for the Pocket 4 for true D-Log, better quality when zoomed, and better slow motion. This is a solid camera for any creators who ever head outdoors or through crowded spaces.

Due to the continuing DJI ban, Osmo Pocket 4 is not available through official channels in the US, but it’s available in Canada from ~CA$650, in Australia from ~AU$769, and in the UK from ~£410.

One more thing…

But hang on… isn’t the DJI Osmo Pocket 4P coming soon? Indeed it is. Though I have one here, details are still under wraps. It does have a true 3x zoom lens, and it does indeed claim to expand the dynamic range to a massive 17 stops, but for the other details, look for a review of that camera here soon.