Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Do We Need This Tiny Pocket Camera In 2019?”.
[ Announcer ] The Vision Council sponsored this video. ( upbeat music, ), Fun fact. I started my first YouTube channel with my dad over a decade ago and for those first few years we built it mainly on the back of cameras like this. In a world before quality, smartphone cameras and before Sysco came along to purchase and then discontinue this product Line it was little camcorders like the Flip Video that helped wean people off video tapes and onto YouTube. Flash forward to 2019 and the camera I’m using to show you this relic is what you might call the new generation of Flip Video.. It’S from DJI the company. You might know, as the make of all those drones I keep crashing..
Maybe that’s why DJI didn’t send me a review sample of one of these, but that’s okay.. The Mobile Nation’s Team bought a handful of them to help cover CES back in January, and I’ve been using it ever since, well, sort of. More on that in a second.. The question is, after all, that time is the Osmo Pocket worth it Well, first off, if you have even an ounce of gadget lust in you, you’ll probably fall for this hardware.
In person, it’s even smaller than it looks. If you’re buying it to take the place Of a smartphone gimbal, well just look how tiny. The camera is gyro stabilized across three axis and this being DJI. That gimbal is pretty amazing, keeping the scene steady.. Obviously, there’s a limit to that.
You’Re still gon na get a little bounce from walking and shooting. But it’s reliable and it’s idiot proof. If the camera’s rolling the the gimbal is doing its job.. It also comes with at a great little carrying case, so you don’t have to worry bout screwing up the gimbal when it’s in your pocket or in your bag., The camera’s easy to operate too. Even if you’re not great at rule number one.. The tiny touch screen offers a few settings on its own and, if you plug the camera into your smartphone with the included adapter, you get a lot more functionality., Including the ability to manual steer the gimbal. You’ll notice a few times in this article. I will use an accessory to do that, but it costs extra.. The reason I do that is, generally speaking, it’s a lot more ergonomic to shoot with the camera by itself., You can recenter the gimbal with a double click of one of those two buttons and switch to selfie mode with a triple click.
( chuckling ). Maybe you can already see where my first complaint is gon na come in.. The field of view on this lens is only 80 degrees., So for blogging be prepared to stretch your arm a bit unless you wan na pull a Mangeli.. The effect is exaggerated by the postage stamp display, but the camera also crops in even further in some shooting modes like slow-mo., So 130 degree field of view GoPro. This is not., And just so we don’t have to come back to GoPro I’ll, say it here that company’s HERO7 is waterproof down to 33 feet without the need for a housing.. Dji has teased a waterproof case for the Osmo Pocket, but at press time it wasn’t available for purchase..
Now sure the HERO7 doesn’t have the fancy gimbal of the Osmo Pocket, but its electronic stabilization is incredible.. Now DJI has a ton of experience, making solid hardware, which I pretty much immediately put to the test on day. One of using it. You’ve probably notice those little dings on the casing. It’S because I accidentally skipped it across and asphalt parking lot. And it still works. Just as well as it always did. The footage you’re seeing in this review is a mix of samples across several different software versions. Even the earlier ones had more than enough quality to contribute to videos.
Like my review of the Hyundai Kona AV., It’s still a tiny camera, so don’t expect miracles in low light., But with resolution options up to 4K60 and slow motion up to 120 frames. A second you’ve got versatility and quality across a pretty wide range of formats., And I do love the automatic face and object tracking too. So again, yeah gadget, lust, satisfied.
And all that’s well and good in a vacuum, but folks from personal experience ever since mid February, The Osmo Pocket has mainly sat unused in my bag.. If I need specialty equipment, the GoPro HERO7 have proven itself a great action camera. And the rest of the time I’m suing smartphones..
The Google Pixel 3 offers stabilization. That’S nearly as good.. The iPhone 10S has remarkably well balanced video.
If phones from LG, HUAWEI and Samsung have wide ultra wide and telephoto options for framing., And if you want similar FOV options on the others, you can buy third-party lenses.. All of the phones I just mentioned are water and dust resistant. And because they’re phones, you can do things like live stream and wirelessly upload footage without he need for an accessory.
Still going. Some smartphones have more slow motion options. Too., Sony and Samsung offer bursts up to 960 frames a second and look for the most part. Those smart phones have camera software, that’s reliable., It’s gotten better over time, but I seldom have been more frustrated than when dealing with DJI software.. I couldn’t even update the Osmo Pocket successfully, the first time.
It brought back horrible memories of setting up the Spark. Another good example plug this camera into another device and half the time. It will try to charge that other device instead of the other way around., And then there are the issues everyone reported on, even at the height of the hype., The difficulty the camera has in maintaining auto focus on a subject and as you can hear, the sub-par Auto quality., Despite my complaints, the Osmo Pocket definitely has a place in the market. I can easily see it in the tool box of film makers or established YouTubers..
By established, I mean people who have the budget to drop not just $ 350 on the camera, but also the $ 109 extra for the gimbal control knob and the base and the mount., All of which you want take it from me.. So it’s a solid camera with impressive technology. It’S just for a small subset of customers..
Everyone else should probably just stick with their smartphone or their GoPro.. The days of the Flip Video are over for a reason. Folks. Stick with me, through the break and I’ll tell you which phone camera I’m most looking forward to this season.. If you’re like me, you spend most of your day in front of some kind of screen.. In fact, the average working American stairs at screens for almost eight hours, a day., Something our eyes weren’t designed to do.. It’S no wonder that over half of Americans report symptoms of digital eye strain from blurry vision to neck pain to headaches.. So when The Vision Council offered to send over some URock glasses from modern optical with lenses from ZIESS Group, I felt like I was taking an overdue step to you, know save my eyeballs. And it doesn’t hurt that they look pretty great too..
The Vision Council sponsored this video for more information on digital eye strain check out the link in the description, below. Camera teaser time at the end of March. I will be in Paris for the launch of the HUAWEI P30 smartphone and I’m really hoping that HUAWEI, which has done a ton of work on its still photography, applies that same effort to its video side. This time around..
Frankly, it’s never been the company’s strong suit. So I’m crossing my fingers. Also coming up before the end of March. A Nokia 9 PureView review stay tuned for that.
And let me know what you use, whether it’s a DJI Osmo Pocket or a GoPro or just your smartphone. Drop. A line in the comments subscribe to The Mr. Mobile on YouTube and visit me on Instagram at the same handle.
Until next time, thanks for watching and stay mobile, my friends. ( upbeat music, ) .