DJI Osmo Pocket 4 Brings Big Upgrades to Pocket Video Shooting

DJI’s Osmo Pocket 4 was announced in China today as the long-awaited successor to the incredibly popular Pocket 3, featuring a number of upgrades that sharpen image quality, make the whole thing a lot easier to operate, and provide the kind of stability you rely on on a daily basis. This camera’s 1-inch CMOS sensor has been upgraded to provide fourteen stops of dynamic range and ten-bit D-log color.

Video capture now supports 4K at 240 frames per second, allowing for silky smooth slow-mo films that catch fast-moving action in a manner that the old Pocket 3 couldn’t, and the results are significantly more lifelike for it. Photos have increased to a snip at 37 megapixels, due to some considerably improved processing, resulting in clearer shots right out of the box. The Osmo Pocket 4 retains the tried-and-true three-axis gimbal for stabilisation, but the controls have been improved to make it much easier to operate. The five-direction joystick now allows you to move the camera at various speeds or spin it on its axis with a single button press, while the two new buttons below the lovely, rotating 2 inch OLED screen allow you to zoom in one, two, or four times and save groups of settings for rapid recall.

Subject tracking has been updated to version 7.0, and it is now much more accurate, able to follow people, animals, or vehicles at four times zoom, and will lock on to your chosen face without sacrificing focus. You can even register your favourite subjects so the camera prefers them in a crowd, or simply tap on them to switch targets in mid-shot. One of the most useful new features is the ability to start and stop tracking or recording using simple hand motions, which is ideal for solo makers who don’t have anybody else to handle the camera.

Forget memory cards, the Osmo Pocket 4 has a convenient 107GB of internal storage, which is ample for most things, and files transfer at speeds of up to 800 megabytes per second, or you can use a microSD card when you need a little extra juice. Battery life is also quite good, with 4 hours of 1080p recording on a full charge, and if you run out of energy, a quick top-up from flat to 80% will just take 18 minutes, allowing you to continue filming with only a few brief breaks.

A four channel recording setup significantly improves audio quality by neatly separating voices and background noise, allowing you to hear what you want to hear. The built-in mics handle ordinary tasks, but if you need something a little more professional, DJI’s wireless mics have you covered; no connections are required because of direct support. To help with dimly lit or backlit settings, they’ve included a tiny magnetic fill light that snaps on and off and offers three levels of brightness as well as three color selections. In-camera editing features include film-style color presets and a gentle ‘beautify’ option that just smoothes out skin for those all-important selfies or video calls with friends.

Prices start just shy of $500 for the base model, alongside pricier bundles that include a tripod, wide lens, fill light, and / or a microphone. The full creator kit costs roughly $730 on the high end. However, things are a little more complicated for people in the United States, as the camera will not be available on store shelves or on the official website until it receives federal approval. DJI was able to get other devices into the states despite similar concerns, but this one is being completely stopped from release because it’s a whole new ballgame.
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