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Just announced, the DJI Osmo Pocket ($349) is the company’s newest three-axis mechanical handheld gimbal. As the name indicates, it can easily fit in your pocket; standing around four inches tall and weighing all of a quarter of a pound – it’s the smallest handheld gimbal that DJI has ever made. Unlike the larger handheld gimbals in DJI’s Osmo series, this new model has a 1-inch touchscreen so you don’t need a smartphone to see what you’re recording. But for if you want a larger viewfinder, the Osmo Pocket does come with USB-C and Lightning attachments, so you can quickly attach either your iPhone or Android smartphone.
At first glance, the Osmo Pocket looks to be a real rival for the newest GoPros. It costs less and still has some impressive photo and video skills. It has a 1/2.3-inch sensor (80° FOV, f/2.0 aperture) and can capture 4K video at up to 60 frames per second at 100Mbps, and it can capture 12-megapixel photos, which is the same great quality as the newest batch of flagship smartphones. There are two built-in microphones on the device to can record audio, although videographers and vloggers will be happy that a 3.5mm adapter can be bought to add their own mic.
The Osmo Pocket is designed first and foremost, as DJI’s gimbals before it, to shoot really stabilized videos. And after using the Osmo Pocket for roughly an hour it works, as you’d expect, really well. The Osmo Pocket is capable of some other advanced shooting techniques, such as object and face tracking (called ActiveTrack and FaceTrack, respectively), so the camera can swivel automatically to keep the person or object in the frame. The Osmo Pocket is able to capture time-lapses, motion time-lapses, and 4- and 9-image panoramas, too.
Another neat thing is that with the Osmo Pocket, DJI also announced a new companion app, called Mimo, which allows photographers to shoot in a manual mode, so they can adjust things like exposure in low-light settings. The app enables the Osmo Pocket to take wide-angle selfies, as well as give them access to a “story mode” which strings multiple videos together you can share.
As mentioned before, it feels like the Osmo Pocket is really a new rival on the latest GoPro. Other than size and form factor, the big difference is that DJI’s new handheld gimbal isn’t nearly as rugged and adept for action sports. It’s not waterproof for starters, but you’ll be able to purchase a waterproof case allowing the Osmo Pocket to be submerged down to 60 meters. And although there will be other attachments available for purchase, the handheld form factor of the Osmo Pocket doesn’t really lend itself to be being worn with some accessory on a helmet or attached to your chest.
