In the Pocket

dji announced the osmo pocket this afternoon and i have a few thoughts. 

pros

1. purely in concept, it’s a great idea and a huge step forward from the prior osmo in terms of portability.

2. automatic face tracking in selfie mode will be a huge boon, what i didn’t see in the promo from today was whether the osmo pocket plays well with external microphones. if it does, then this could be the new perfect camera for travel bloggers. if not, then add that to the list of cons below.

3. the case looks pretty fantastic.

4. there is potential that this product could be integrated with other dji products. imagine plugging your osmo pocket into a dji tello-sized drone and achieving 4k60 on a micro drone. now that would be something to be excited about.

cons  

1. it seems to me that this is maybe too little, too late. with the gopro hero 7 and its gimbal-killing image stabilization, part of me wonders whether we should even care that there is a mini gimbal that is basically nothing more than a smartphone camera on a stick. keep in mind that gimbals hate water, so this might be a near toy, but it’s not going to be a one-stop shop; you’ll still need an action camera for the rainy days, so essentially the osmo pocket is a very pricey fair weather friend.

2. the 12 megapixel photo resolution is disappointing to me. yes, it’s 4k60 and that’s nice, but the truth is that a 12mp sensor isn’t enough to elevate this product to a buy for me. consider that the parrot anafi comes with a camera about the same size as that on the osmo pocket and it has a 21mp sensor.

3. the osmo pocket doesn’t yet add anything new to the market, but rather rearranges a few pieces that exist in other forms, and it costs way too much for what it is. let’s say you decide to buy an osmo pocket. it will make for a great second camera, but you’re not going to leave your iphone at home just because you have the osmo pocket, are you? no. it doesn’t replace your phone, and so as small as it is, it still expands the size of your mobile kit. for a lot less money (less than half the price), you can buy a snoppa atom folding smartphone and action camera gimbal, and from what i can tell, the atom will take up only slightly more room in your pocket or bag than this new offering from dji.

4. following on the last point, my iphone x has two levels of optical zoom with unique maximum aperture capabilities on each of its lenses, and given that i’m a moment lens user, my phone actually gives me a huge variety of camera angle and zoom options. with this in mind the osmo pocket is even less interesting and commercially viable, in my opinion. i can’t help but wonder, why wouldn’t dji mount a mavic zoom lens onto this new product? that alone would’ve made a huge difference in the value for money calculus.

5. as i previously mentioned, the osmo pocket has the potential to integrate into other products. that’s awesome, but a con for the moment is that unless those integration capabilities are exploited, the osmo pocket will never live up to its full potential.

as a total gear head, part of me wants to get my hands on one of these to play around with it. but i can’t see myself spending $350 on what is essentially an almost-outdated camera resolution. in summary, and with the admission that i have not seen or used this product with my own hands and eyes, i would say that this product would be better priced at $199, and that it would only become a serious buy if dji decides to find a way to integrate this with a folding, pocket-sized drone body in the future.