My New Camera: The DJI Osmo Pocket 4P

I write dark stories, but I also want to show how they come about and where they take me: readings, visits, walks through Leonberg and small moments between chapters. That’s why I bought the DJI Osmo Pocket 4P (the Vlog Combo), and I’m really happy with it.

Why not just use my phone?

For a long time I filmed with my phone, and to be honest, I always felt a little on edge doing it, because something on it is always pulling at your attention, a message here, a notification there. The Pocket comes out of my bag, I flip the screen, and it’s ready to go, vertical or horizontal, whichever I need. That way I can walk down the street and simply talk. It feels much more natural, and I’m nowhere near as tense as I was with the phone.

What won me over

Small and light. The Pocket 4P is just under 16 centimeters long and weighs 230 grams, so it fits in any bag.

Steady footage on the move. The camera sits on a three-axis gimbal that evens out the movements of my hand, so the footage stays smooth even when I’m walking and talking. It can also follow a subject (DJI calls this ActiveTrack), which is handy when I’m filming alone and I’m in the shot.

A beautiful picture. The main camera has a 1-inch sensor and a 20 mm wide-angle lens (full-frame equivalent), wide enough for me and the street behind me. The second camera works at 60 mm with an f/1.8 aperture and is meant for portraits or for moments when I can’t get any closer, say, from the third row at a reading. I love the image, even in the evening when the light is starting to fade. DJI quotes up to 17 stops of dynamic range for the main camera, in the flat D-Log 2 color profile meant for editing.

Easy to use. To film vertically, I just rotate the screen, and the camera shoots natively in 9:16 at up to 3K, exactly the format Reels and Stories need. It shoots landscape too, in 4K at up to 60 fps, and the main camera goes up to 240 fps for slow motion. Three microphones are built in, along with 103 GB of internal storage and a slot for microSD cards of up to 1 TB.

The Vlog Combo

I went for the Vlog Combo because it comes with the accessories I would otherwise have had to track down one by one. It includes a wireless clip-on microphone (the DJI Mic Mini 2 transmitter), a fill light whose brightness and color temperature can each be set to three levels, a mini tripod and a grip with a 1/4-inch thread. It also comes with a carrying case and the Osmo FrameTap remote, which shows the live image on its own touchscreen. In the photo at the top, the camera is standing on that mini tripod, so at a reading it can stand there while I sit at the front and keep an eye on the picture on the remote.

What I use it for

I use it to shoot short videos for Instagram and Threads. I’m planning behind-the-scenes clips while a new book is taking shape, readings and book events, and walks to the places in Leonberg that appear in my stories, such as the Pomeranzengarten or the old town. Maybe one day all this will turn into a proper vlog you can come along on.

What comes next

Over time, I’ll share what the Pocket 4P captures in Leonberg on Instagram and here on the blog. If you’d like a closer look at the camera, the link is below (affiliate link).