As one of the few standalone gimbal cameras on the market, DJI’s Osmo Pocket range has always been a kind of niche product family. But it certainly had its Fans and offered things like portability, smooth video and decent image quality. Now, three years after the Pocket 2, DJI has unveiled the Osmo Pocket 3 with some major improvements. This includes a large 1-inch sensor that significantly improves image quality, especially in low light conditions. Another important change is a larger screen that can be tilted to the side, as well as advanced subject tracking. Other features include 4K 120p shooting, 10-bit d-LogM for improved dynamic range, faster autofocus, and more.
With all these additional talents, the Pocket 3 could serve as a standalone vlogging camera, but it is also considerably more expensive than its predecessor. To find out if it’s worth the extra money, I ran extensive tests to see what it can and cannot do.
The DJI Osmo Pocket 3 is a relatively easy-to-use portable camera, small enough to carry around and easy to maneuver in tight spaces. It is stabilized by a 3-axis gimbal to make the shots smooth and fluid. It can rotate, tilt and roll over a wide range of 303, 278 and 283 degrees.
At 5.5 inches long and 179 grams, it is a little heavier, but almost as compact as the Pocket 2 (117 grams and 4.9 inches long). At first glance, it looks like its predecessor, but on closer inspection, some major changes appear.
The first thing that stands out is the 2-inch 16:9 screen, which has almost five times the area of the Pocket 2’s 1-inch screen. Best of all, it rotates sideways and automatically rotates the camera accordingly, allowing you to shoot in landscape or portrait mode without having to dive into the settings. However, keep in mind that switching to vertical video mode does not rotate the camera as the DJI mini 4 Pro drone does. On the contrary, only the video is cropped and the resolution is reduced from 4K to 3K.
I would call the menu system on the touch screen of the Pocket 3 counterintuitive, as it slides to the sides or touches icons to access the features. Without a lot of visual clues to guide you, you have to remember all the features.
The other striking feature is a larger camera head, inside which there is a 1-inch 9.4 MP sensor with a true Diagonal of 16 mm. This is almost three times the 1/1.7-inch sensor of the Pocket 2. knowing DJI, we could see the same sensor on upcoming products such as mini-drones and Osmo Action Cams.
DJI Osmo Pocket 3 test image gallery
The 20mm fixed equivalent lens has a relatively fast f/2.0 aperture. The large focal length means that it is not ideal for portraits or product shooting. It has a digital Zoom twice to double that, at the cost of a certain resolution.
There are only two body buttons left, Recording and gimbal control. The microSD card is still on the left side, with a USB-C port on the button as before. If the position of the latter is unfavorable, the handle provided will move it to the side.
The battery life is excellent for such a small device, with 135 minutes available with the 1,300 99 mAh built-in battery and the optional 950 mAh battery grip at 240 minutes. In addition, the Pocket 3 can go from 20 to 80% charge in just 16 minutes, so DJI is finally adopting fast powered for its devices – which would also be nice to see on its drones.
