The best camera is the camera you have with you at the time. Is the DJI Osmo Pocket the best everyday carry camera? Lets find out!

The DJI Osmo Pocket is a tiny 4K camera with a built in 3 axis gimbal. A gimbal is a device that counteracts camera body movements to keep the camera still for smooth video or vibration free photos.

Specifications

• 1/2.3” CMOS sensor, 12M
• Shoots 4K and 1080 video at 30/60fps in auto. If connected to a phone, in pro mode it can do 24, 25, 30, 48, 50 and 60fps
• 1080 120fps slow motion
• 12mpx photos in jpg, pro mode can do RAW
• 80 degree FPV f2 lens
• Time lapse and motion lapse videos
• face and object tracking
• 875mAh battery

The Gimbal is a Game Changer

What makes the Osmo Pocket amazing is the built in gimbal, considering the camera is less than 5″ long. It’s roughly the same length as an iPhone 5. Normally camera gimbals are huge and cumbersome. You’re lucky if you can fit it in your backpack. The Osmo Pocket can fit in your pocket!

Why are camera gimbals so awesome? For photos, it helps you get sharp photos by keeping the camera still.

For video, it’s a game changer. Nobody wants to watch shaky video. The tiny gimbal on the Osmo Pocket is awesome!

It has three gimbal modes, tilt lock, follow and FPV. Think of each mode as how much help the camera will get from the gimbal.

• Tilt lock – the gimbal will lock the up/down axis on the horizon. The camera will follow the left/right axis
• Follow – the gimbal will follow the camera movement up/down/left/right axis slowly and smoothly
• FPV – this mode is like the follow mode but the movements are faster and not as smooth as follow mode

Tilt lock and follow modes can face and object track.

For a tiny camera, the gimbal works surprising well! Even when I ran with it filming my dog the video was super smooth.

This allows for smooth video in even low light situations. Digital stabilization like the Hypersmooth in the GoPro HERO 7 works great in bright daylight but falls apart in low light situations.

BTW the Osmo doesn’t make a good FPV HD camera. It’s definitely not designed for this. The CMOS camera needs to be vibration free otherwise you will get massive jello. I already tried this for you just incase you get ideas. The GoPro Hero7 Black with the Hypersmooth will do a much better job in this situation.

Tracking

The Osmo Pocket can track objects and faces! The face track is a great feature to use for self filming like vlog style or instructional. For tracking single subject shots it works great! It tracks very well and quickly.

When tracking more than one subject that’s when things get tricky. Default it will center the object it’s tracking in the center of the frame making the other subject off center. This makes the composition look weird.

I found if you are tracking a baby running around useless. If you lock on a face, the face needs to be stay in frame for it to track. If that face turns or runs out of frame the gimbal will freak out and do weird stuff.

Overall a good feature if used in the right situations.

Video Formats

In full auto mode, the Osmo Pocket can shoot in 4k/1080 in 25/30/50/60fps and 120/1080 in slow mo. If connected to a smartphone it can shoot 4/1080 in 24/25/30/48/50/60/120(1080).

Time Lapse

The times lapse feature in the Osmo Pocket is pretty sweet. Not only does it do regular time lapse but because of the gimbal it can do motion time lapse. Normally to do this with a regular DSLR you need a lot of big and expensive equipment to program the movement of the camera. With the Osmo Pocket you can set this up in a couple of seconds!

Photos

Don’t buy this camera if you are looking for something to mainly take photos. Your smartphone will do a better job at taking photos. The Osmo Pocket is a video camera that can happen to take videos.

I found the focus and shutter lag horrible. The shutter lag on the Osmo Pocket is about .5 to 1 second delay. This is useless if trying to photograph a baby.

As for the focus, even in perfect lighting conditions sometimes the camera will focus on the background. This brings us to the next topic.

Flaws

The Osmo Pocket has two major weaknesses, focus and audio.

Overall the camera does a fair job on the focus but for some reason the camera has a hard time figuring out what to focus on. Normally a camera will focus on the closest subject but it seems like the Osmo focuses on the brightest subject. If you are doing a vlog style shot just talking into the camera frontlit, sometimes the camera will focus on the brighter background.

In certain situations the audio can be good. I found the audio to be extra bad in noisy environments. It has a tinny vocal boosted sound. I think it has something to do with the internal processing where it has too much noise reduction and vocal boost.

DJI plans to release a 3.5mm jack adapter that will let you connect an external mic.

Accessories

The camera itself is great out of the box but who wouldn’t want some accessories to make it easier to use?

Osmo Pocket Finger Case – Because the camera is so tiny it’s a little bit hard to hold. It uses a smooth plastic for the body so it doesn’t inspire confidence when you’re sticking it out your car window to film something. That’s why this Osmo Pocket case is a must!

This case adds a finger holder in the back to ensure you never drop the camera even when filming is sketchy situations. It makes the camera much easier to hold and adds another function that the camera lacks, a 1/4″ tripod mount.

The back of the has a 1/4″ female threaded hole that lets you attach it to a tripod, external recorder, extension rod (notice I didn’t say selfie stick) or any other accessory for 1/4″ attachments.

JOBY Gorilla Pod – This is a perfect little tripod for the Osmo Pocket. Small, light and adaptable. Lets you attach it in weird places or used as an extension stick.

Lighting Extension Cable – This phone extension cable lets you access the PRO modes without the camera attached directly to the phone.

USB-C to USB Adapter – The Osmo uses an USB-C connector on the bottom so this adapter will let you use the more common micro USB connectors to charge.

DJI Controller Wheel – The Controller Wheel plugs into the accessory bay and adds a physical wheel and two additional buttons. The wheel lets you manually control the up/down and left/right pan tilt of the gimbal. The two additional buttons lets you select the gimbal mode, flip the camera around and lock the camera position.

Conclusion

Despite the minor gripes with this camera, the Osmo Pocket is still a freaking awesome camera. A tiny 4k gimbal camera that can fit in your pocket. It’s the perfect camera to have with you all the time and document your life or your baby growing up.

Once the 3.5mm microphone adapter jack is available, it will could be the ultimate vlogging setup.

If you found this post helpful, it would be super cool if you purchased the components from my store or purchase items from my Amazon links. These posts are expensive and take a loooong time to make so the purchases make it possible for me to keep making them. Thanks in advance, I greatly appreciate it 🙂