DJI Osmo: The Pocket Camera that doesn’t Skimp on Stabilization

Shailendra N.

April 2, 2019

The promise of DJI’s Osmo Pocket handheld video digicam isn’t about supplying you with the equal raw video or audio high-quality that you would get when recording with a DSLR and an external mic. as a substitute, here’s a digital camera that prioritizes an easy, compact kind factor to support you seem a whole lot more skillful with a camera than you truly are.

modern vlogs, with their tight enhancing and a lot of organising shots, take a lot of precision and endurance to shoot, and that’s where a digital camera like the Osmo Pocket comes in. over the past decade, YouTube vlogging has developed its own vogue of cinematography, with fantastically framed time-lapses serving as commonplace scene transitions between succinct monologues. besides the fact that children here is designed to create an impression of effortlessness, its execution is the rest but. DJI’s new digital camera is full of points which are designed to close this gap.

At its core, the Osmo Pocket has a three-axis stabilized gimbal that ensures your photos is clean and looks skilled even for those who’re operating without the assist of a tripod. It’s additionally received extra advanced performance like aid for time-lapses and action-lapses that make the different staples of the vlogging genre a ways less demanding to trap.

DJI’s $ 349 Osmo Pocket shoots in HD or 4K resolution, and when you’ve captured your pictures, you can offload it by the use of a USB-C cable to your laptop or export it without delay to your cellphone via the DJI Mimo app. It’s a really equipped camera, however falls wanting being the all-in-one vlogging powerhouse that it aspires to be.

the centerpiece of the DJI Osmo Pocket is its three-axis stabilizer. It’s a compact and expert mechanism, and the Osmo Pocket is eager to remind you of this. every time you turn the digicam on, the gimbal rotates one way and then the other with a pleasing click on, adore it’s doing a morning stretch after getting out of bed.

As a whole, the camera feels solidly built, however the gimbal mechanism looks mild. You’re now not going to take the Osmo Pocket to many of the locations the place you’d use a GoPro Hero 7. DJI’s digital camera isn’t water resistant, and i be concerned about dropping it onto concrete, let alone the usage of it to capture myself snowboarding down a mountain.

the center piece of the DJI Osmo Pocket and it’s three-axis stabilizer.

DJI’s handheld digicam is an awful lot better suited for vlogging. Its lengthy tackle is designed to be held instead of strapped to the aspect of a helmet, and its gimbal received’t even be able to stream appropriately if you don’t provide the camera adequate house.

beneath the digital camera, there are a pair of buttons — one multifunctional and one for recording video and taking photographs — and a small one-inch touchscreen. The camera also comes with a small, detachable pair of connectors (one USB-C and one Lightning), which you attach to the digital camera. These then enable the Osmo Pocket to be fastened to the backside of a mobilephone and held horizontally to let you control the digital camera the usage of your cell’s touchscreen or switch your pictures. When not in use, the connector will also be flipped around so it doesn’t protrude.

The one-inch screen is tiny, so it’s got a primary consumer interface that’s designed round four menus that every swipe in from a different aspect. that you can use these to alternate settings like the resolution you’re the use of or putting the digicam in selfie mode. As you’d predict from a touchscreen of this dimension, making an attempt to use it without delay is a bit of a ache. The menu options are small and hard to faucet accurately, and swiping the bottom menu upward can also be a challenge if you happen to’ve got the mobilephone connector accessory inserted beneath it.

happily, until you’re perpetually switching between resolutions or frame rates, most of the services you’ll are looking to use can also be accessed from the multifunction button, leaving the monitor for more straightforward tweaks like atmosphere the part of the body where you desire the graphic uncovered or making a choice on an object for the digicam to instantly preserve in center of attention.

The digicam’s one-inch monitor means that you can exceptional-tune its settings, however this will also be a ache as a result of its size.

conserving the camera’s multifunction button turns the Osmo Pocket on and off, urgent it once toggles between video and stills mode, two presses recenters the digital camera, and three will flip the camera into selfie mode. there will essentially actually be people who need greater immediate access to the digital camera’s superior features, however for me, the quick-access choice safely coated the things I vital instant entry to whereas the use of the camera.

in case you want more instant entry to the digicam’s advanced functionality, attaching it to a smartphone is a superb option to obtain that. The simplest issue is that this turns the Osmo Pocket from a tool that can effortlessly be used with one hand into whatever thing that appears like it wants two hands to operate adequately. For me, this change-off doesn’t make sense.

Attaching the camera to a smartphone gives you a bigger viewfinder and more straightforward access to its controls.

and not using a mobilephone attached, that you could shoot within 10 seconds; the usage of a telephone provides a few seconds of setup. With the Android device i used to be the use of (a Pixel 3), the telephone become artful enough to open the accomplice DJI Mimo app immediately each time I plugged the digital camera in. It turned into under no circumstances as quick as opening the camera app on my mobilephone, however became speedy adequate that I infrequently overlooked some thing that i used to be desiring to catch.

although there are a fair quantity of further points like time-lapses, panoramas, and movement-lapses for those that desire them, the Osmo Pocket is at its most appropriate when you’re just running, shooting, and letting the three-axis gimbal do its work.

i was well-nigh ready to consider that i used to be going to with no trouble create Kubrick-esque consistent-cam pictures earlier than I begun the usage of the Osmo Pocket for myself, however the truth changed into much more modest. sure, which you can are attempting to regular your pictures so they flow through an area, but in my event, you’ll at all times be able to see the camera bob a bit of with each step you take, no count number how careful you’re. if you take much less effort, then your pictures begins to appear to be a scene from a primary-person taking pictures online game, and that’s especially true if you are attempting running with the digicam.

The satisfactory of the pictures I captured with the Osmo Pocket changed into also decent. colorings are vibrant (if a dash oversaturated). There’s a bit little bit of noise when you’re shooting in 4K, however the element turned into often decent. alas, the camera’s low-light efficiency wasn’t reasonably as robust. I recorded a good volume of pictures on city streets late at night, and there changed into a whole lot of noise visible within the ensuing pictures.

For essentially the most half, which you could get away with pointing the digital camera at whatever you are looking to shoot and urgent the record button, however you’ll still deserve to be organized to manually adjust settings with a view to be certain your shot isn’t overexposed or underexposed. At one aspect, i tried to trap a constructing towards a bright afternoon sky, and the detail of the building became virtually fully misplaced in shadow as a result of I didn’t faucet the building to inform the Osmo Pocket to expose for it.

The aforementioned time-lapse feature is likely one of the actual highlights of the Osmo Pocket. it might both do a static time-lapse or it will possibly pan between two features. establishing the latter is incredibly standard to do; you location the Osmo Pocket on a sturdy surface after which bodily rotate its gimbal to indicate the time-lapse’s birth and conclusion facets. The only difficulty right here is that the Osmo Pocket isn’t exactly designed to be stood up like this, and i turned into consistently involved that the wind was going to blow it over every time i tried shooting a time-lapse backyard. A wireless module gives the digicam a much wider, more good base, and it also allows you to wirelessly control the Osmo Pocket from your telephone, nevertheless it’s an not obligatory accessory that prices around $ one hundred.

The Osmo Pocket is also capable of taking pictures in sluggish motion, the place you’ll be in a position to catch at a hundred and twenty fps to create a 30 fps video. unfortunately, when i tried the mode, the footage got here out searching very noisy and grainy, and it turned into a particular step down from the digicam’s commonplace fine. within the end, this become the mode with which I spent the least period of time, which is a shame since it could have been one of these beneficial function.

Qualms in regards to the fine of its gradual-motion recording apart, ordinary, I preferred the pleasant of the video photos that the DJI Osmo Pocket produced. youngsters, audio was extra of a letdown. a part of it is an ergonomic oversight. The Osmo Pocket has two microphones, one simply above the recording button and yet another on the backside of the equipment, and if you’re not careful, you’ll rub your hand everywhere both of them as you alternate grip positions. I received more advantageous at no longer retaining the camera “wrong” with some follow, however eventually, the Osmo Pocket’s audio always sounded adore it was recorded from a small developed-in microphone — because it become.

on account that how geared the Osmo Pocket is towards the vlogging genre, it’s fair to expect improved sound first-class from it than a standard tiny video camera. DJI sells a small USB-C to microphone jack converter for the camera, and there are additionally mics accessible that join without delay over USB-C. You’ll are looking to assess that third-birthday celebration add-ons work before purchasing one for yourself. in case you intend to do any serious vlogging with the Osmo Pocket, I’d significantly think about choosing up an external mic to make use of with the camera.

that you can additionally use the DJI Osmo Pocket to take images. which you can swap to this mode instantly by means of tapping the multifunction button once. i used to be stunned via how much I enjoyed this mode, for the reason that capturing photos is essentially an afterthought with a camera of this form. It’s not that the photos are peculiarly first rate — I’d say they’re about on par with a regular smartphone camera — but right away taking them is very handy to do. every time I take a photo with a smartphone or standalone digital camera, I always ought to pause momentarily before I take the primary shot to prevent blur from the motion of me elevating the digicam. With the Osmo Pocket, this wasn’t almost as a lot of an issue. I may move the digital camera around, pix, and agonize a ways much less about making sure it became steady before urgent the shutter button. That’s the magic of the gimbal at work.

if you’re a more considered photographer, you then’ll possible do more desirable with a correct digicam. In certain, I regularly found it hard to body subjects correctly with the Osmo Pocket. now not best is the digicam’s monitor in fact small, but the stabilization meant that it can be tough to tilt the digicam to be sure the scene became degree. I’d try to tilt the digital camera, and it might work to cancel out the flow. It became often a irritating event.

DJI’s Osmo Pocket does a superb job of providing on the capabilities of its form factor. It’s compact, convenient to use, and that i appreciated the high-quality of the video photos it produced (notwithstanding its audio falls wanting its aspirations as a vlogging digicam). however it’s a more durable camera to advocate than different moveable solutions for capturing video on account of its cost and shortage of versatility. It’s now not as rugged as an action cam, and it’s no longer as low-cost as a standalone gimbal for your existing smartphone.

The DJI Osmo Pocket is a superb instance of a gadget that’s designed to fit a selected form element. It really is tiny for the job that it does, and if that’s the overriding priority for you, then there’s little else obtainable like it. but when you don’t want the ergonomics and pocketability, then you definitely may be more desirable served through a more general purpose choice.