Hi I'm Gordon from camera labs and this Is a review of the DJI osmo pocket 3 a Compact camera aimed at vloggers and Content creators launched in November 2023 and costing around $500 or pound or Around 600 with the accessory bundle the Pocket 3 continues dji's cunning plan of Essentially taking the camera and gimbal From a drone but mounting them on a Carrying handle instead now I'm sure There's more to it than that but it Still resulted in one of the most Compelling series of vloggin cameras to Date the latest pocket 3's headline Upgrades include a larger 1-in type Sensor with phase detect autofocus 4K 120 and 10bit video a bigger 2-in screen Which cleverly rotates improved tracking And a more convenient wireless Microphone option before delving in Though a quick note about the pocket 3 Sensor commonly described as being 1 in But actually closer in surface area to Your thumbnail to be fair that's no Different from the 1-inch type sensors You'll find in Sony's zv and Canon's g7x Series I just wanted to make that fact Clear and the bottom line is it's still Comfortably larger than the previous Pocket 2 sensor which should hopefully Mean lower noise better dynamic range And maybe even the potential for some Shallow depth of field effects we'll Find out in just a moment oh and this is
Not a sponsored review in fact DJI Couldn't even bother to contact me about The pocket 3 so I went out and bought One with my own money I then handed it Over to my good friend and vlogging Expert Ben Harvey who knows way more About these kind of products than I do So over to you Ben thank you Gordon for Those of you who don't know me my name Is Ben Harvey I'm a photographer and I Make landscape photography videos here On YouTube as well as tutorials and gear Reviews and the reason that Gordon has Asked me to show you around the new Pocket 3 is because I use a variety of Cameras to document my life and Sometimes that requires an action camera To deal with the elements or just to go Unnoticed let me give you a quick tour Of this camera this is the size of the Camera without any accessories and it Will do everything you need it to but a Attached to a tripod the microphone Receiver is built into the camera Therefore the camera and the wireless Microphone is everything that you need To make this setup work to switch the Camera on you simply thumb the screen Clockwise which will turn on the Gimbal And the screen and there's also an Option to automatically record upon Startup you can also choose in the Settings which direction the camera Faces when you're turning it on to start
Recording you simply press the red Record button the joystick allows you to Move the gimbal around double tap the Joy stick to recenter the camera or Triple click to flip the camera around In the opposite direction exactly as per The previous models on the side you've Got a Micro SD card slot there's a Microphone on each side and a third Microphone on the back of the device to The base of the camera is a USB C Port Which allows for charging and data Transfer side by side you can see that The pocket 3 is a little bit bulkier Than the pocket 2 but it feels Comfortable and well made it's also Worth noting that the pocket 3 is Actually smaller than the pocket 2 when When you consider that the pocket 2 Required the Do-it all handle to speak With the wireless microphone whereas the Pocket 3 that's built in now once you Add the handle extension to the pocket 3 Their proportions start to look similar Now as Charming as the size of the Standalone pocket 3 may seem once the Screen is open the grip is a little bit Awkward and you'll appreciate the small Handle extension which puts your fingers And your thumbs in a more comfortable Position you're also going to benefit From a thread on the base of the camera Which you can attach a mini tripod or on A larger tripod to get it up to eye
Level if you attach the battery handle Then the camera does become Unnecessarily long but it's still very Comfortable to hold and of course you'll Benefit from a much longer battery life More on that in a bit now before we Delve into the specs let me set the Scene for why so many people are excited About the release of the pocket 3 the Wish list for anyone creating video Content is for great image quality crisp Audio stable footage and of course the Dream is for all of that to fit in your Pocket now on my desk here is a Selection of small cameras that you Might describe as pocketable that is Until you want to use filters benefit From external audio or you need to add a Handle just to make it more comfortable To hold quite quickly your action camera Will go from looking like this to Looking like this now if you're rigging Out an action camera a phone or a 360 Camera then take into consideration that These all require digital stabilization And that means faster shutter speeds all Right here's a quick demonstration of Why you shouldn't be using an action Camera with slow shutter speeds so at The moment I'm keeping the camera still And this might look like a great picture But I've set my shutter speed to 150th Of a second and if I start to move with The camera you might see that the
Background is the camera's trying to Stabilize the background and what's Digital stabilization does is it Requires faster shutter speeds to enable That stabilization now based upon my Test you cannot go slower than one/ 100th of a second you therefore can't Use video friendly shutter speeds with Any of these these small cameras and Further still their low light Performance suffers because of this Requirement for a faster shutter speed And this is why the pocket series of Cameras is different to everything else On the market it doesn't rely upon Digital stabilization it's got a Physical 3axis gimbal removing all of The shakes and the bumps plus filters And audios are integral to its design There are other cameras on the market That have a 1-in type sensor but they Don't fit into your pocket especially When they're rigged out with microphones Filters or they're on a g All that said action cameras have their Purpose they are rugged waterproof and Have a form factor that makes it much Easier to mount them in obscure places In contrast the pocket is a delicate Camera with moving parts and shouldn't Be exposed to water or expected to Survive a tumble if you're snowboarding The camera which is built into the Gimbal shoots in 4k up to 50 frames per
Second with audio or 100 frames per Second without audio which will Automatically be slowed down for Playback now if you are wanting to shoot Vertical video then the good news is That the pocket 3 has got you covered Not only does it have a vertical screen It also records 3K video in camera by Utilizing the height of the sensor on The pocket two you literally have to Rotate the camera around 90° in order to Create a video that was vertical format With the pocket 3 the gimbal stays Horizontal and you still get 3K output So this is what the straight out of Camera video footage looks like when Shooting vertically the one type sensor Of the pocket 3 is positively video Oriented doing away with a previous high Resolution of 64 megapixels on the Pocket 2 in favor of better image Quality and larger pixels according to The spec sheet the photographs from the Pocket 3 are approximately 9 megapixels Which confirms that the 4K video is Making the most of the width of the Sensor the pocket 3 has also got the Ability to shoot in 10bit delog which Allows more flexibility when grading the Footage here's the same scene shot in a Standard picture profile next to the Ungraded 10bit footage which has a very Flat look to it and now with the lot Applied which was downloaded from DJ's
Website to give it a bit more contrast And saturation the standard picture Profile is still a little bit flat when You compare it to the graded log footage Which is surprisingly accurate Especially in terms of the rendition of The color of my orange jacket now based Upon my tests I would be shooting in Dlog and applying a lot if you want to Get the most out of your pocket 3 one Final note the 10bit log is not an Option if you're shooting in 4k slow Motion if you delve into the menus You'll see that there is a new product Showcase mode which prioritizes objects Closest to the camera which is ideal if You want to show your audience products And you don't want to worry about the Camera focusing on your face you can see From this demonstration here that the Focusing is very quick and very accurate Now the same as the pocket 2 the pocket 3 has got a 20 mm equivalent lens but if You buy the Creator combo kit you do get A wideangle adapter they did that for The pocket too this will take it up to The equivalent of a 15 mm lens so if you Take a note of how wide this Frame is at The moment I'll keep my hand There and now you can see got about this Much more room so this might be the look You're going for slightly wide angle Lens um but you can see this tree here Behind me is starting to get a bit of
Curve to it now although that tree is Leaning if I take the filter Off you'll see it's straighter so you do Get a bit of distortion with this but That's the wide angle look so according To the spec sheet the minimum focusing Distance of this camera is 20 cm which Is exactly the same as the pocket 2 so I've not got face detection enabled on This and I would say that's about 20 cm So hopefully this is focusing on the Leaf uh any closer than that I'd say It's probably not going to be completely Sharp what's that it's probably 15 cm if That's focusing then that is Outperforming what the spec sheet says So there you go that's the minimum Focusing distance now the lens is a 20 Mm equivalent the same as the pocket 2 Although the fixed aperture is now Reduced from f1.8 on the pocket 2 down To F2 on the pocket 3 the increase in Sensor size easily makes up for this Though providing more background Separation and better low light Performance on that topic the iso ranges From 50 to 6,400 but if you're in night Mode this opens up to ISO 12,800 16,000 you can see here from These video clips I shot last weekend When I took it out to photograph some Fireworks that it handles low light Really well and the focusing is also Very well behaved okay I have enabled
Face tracking and before the sun comes Up just wanted to see how good a job This does of focusing on my face making Sure it doesn't lose my face so if you Keep a close eye on the background here The there are some outter Focus lights Are they pulsing at all is it struggling To focus on my face or is it doing a Good job now which kit should you buy at The time of of making this video there Are two bundle options you can buy the Camera on its own which includes the Handle extension and the carry case and That comes in at £489 or if you go for the creative combo Which is what I opted for that goes for £19 although many of the items in the Creative combo can be purchased Separately at the time of filming this The wireless mic 2 cannot be purchased On its own which means that if you want To get good audio you need to purchase The whole Crea combo kit if already own Wireless or USBC microphones then you Can plug those directly into the port on The camera however it is no longer going To fit in your pocket with the receiver Dangling off the end so at the moment at The time of recording this I don't have A set of ND filters for this camera They're not yet available however as Soon as they're out I fully intend on Using them so that I can get the correct Shutter speed of 150th of a second and
The motion blur starts to look natural Um but I just wanted to show you an Example of what the video footage looks Like at the moment I've got face Tracking on and I'm using the wireless Microphone that comes with the creative Combo kit in the creative combo kit You'll get the wireless microphone with 8 GB of internal storage a windshield a Built-in clip with a magnetic attachment As well as the battery handle a hard Carry case a wide-angle adapter a mini Tripod and a soft carry case now the Battery handle provides a quoted 62% of Additional battery to the internal Battery when you plug in the battery Handle it starts to charge the internal Battery on the camera the power supply Also prioritizes the internal battery so Once that's a capacity it then charges The battery handle almost like the Battery handle is an external battery Pack the mini tripod is a good size and Reassuring on a level surface the carry Case is welld designed and it holds the Wide-angle adapter via magnets there is Also space to clip on the microphone as Per the pocket 2 case the device is Larger than the carry case which allows You to lever out the camera as it's Quite a snug fit note that once the Camera is in the hard hard protective Case it will no longer fit inside the Soft carry case especially with all of
The other accessories the camera alone Is a very tight fit but with the Extended handle it definitely won't fit I would therefore consider the soft case To be for accessories unless you intend On assembling the camera each time you Want to take it out of the pouch overall My advice is to get the creative combo As the idea of attaching a microphone Receiver to a camera that has one built In seems counterintuitive and the whole Purpose of this camera is that it fits Into your pocket okay for comparison This is what the internal microphones Sound like from Arms Reach uh the pocket 3 has a total of three microphones one On the back and one on each side of the Device and that's what this sounds like And for comparison this is what the External microphone sounds like I'm Using the wireless mic which you can see Attached to my chest which is um held on By magnets through my top now one of the Features that DJI really don't seem to Be shouting about much in the specs they Talk about the resolution and the 1in Sensor and everything but this this External microphone that they've Redesigned which is why probably it's Not compatible with the previous Microphones is that this records 32-bit Float internally so there are quite a Few wireless microphones out there which Have internal storage this has got 8 GB
But this is recording 32-bit float into The microphone itself parallel to that It's baking in an audio file to the Video so what I found is if I bring the Microphone right up to my mouth I mean That is absurdly close and then I start To raise my voice the audio levels still Aren't clipping when I bring the video Files into Final Cut so not only is the Audio on this absolutely amazing and it Just seems to handle the volume I've got A backup 32-bit float file saved onto The microphone itself to enable this you Simply go into the menu and enable 32bit And switch on the audio to video sync These audio files are saved in a WB Format and you can plug the microphone Straight into your computer via a USBC Cable small cameras are well known to Have a bit too much sharpening applied So I shut the same scene in various Sharpness settings to see which one is The best here are three variations from Minus two on the left zero in the middle And plus two on the right hand Side now when I reviewed the pocket 2 For Gordon's Channel maybe 3 years ago I Came to the conclusion that the pocket 2 Was almost perfect but there was still Room for improvement with the low light Performance the focusing and the Tracking and the size of the screen now Let's head down to the seafront see if The focusing on the pocket 3 is any
Better right we're just doing a quick Tracking test I've double tapped on the Screen on my face and it's now tracking My face wherever I go so what I'm Interested in is accuracy if it loses me Does it then pick me back up again uh What is also interesting is whether or Not the tracking speed is nice as a Viewer as somebody using this camera I Would just get to grits with the fact That the tracking on it is quite quick And therefore just don't make quick Movements and then you'll get nice slow Subtle camera movements so let's talk About the tracking and see how this does Come on here we go if it still got me Okay now I reviewed the pocket 2 for Gordon about 3 years ago and that's got Active track 3.0 and I quickly came to the conclusion That that was not very good at all in The pocket three we now have active Track 6.0 and from what I can see so far this Is doing a much much better job at the Moment this is a very easy task for it To do I've been filming this clip for a Couple of minutes now and it's still Tracking the me I've not touched the Screen since okay next test this is a Little bit more difficult so I'm going To double tap on my face it is now Tracking me I'm going to get back on my One wheel and I'm going to go behind
These Columns still tracking me and we're Going behind the column out the other Side behind the column out the other Side it cannot handle those columns Right let's try something Different And does it still have Me it's still following me well done Pocket 3 here we go go Again around behind the columns nice Continuous Movement and it still has me so what I Can say is it's not foolproof however The active track on this is Significantly better and if I was at Close range I'll definitely trust it Something a bit more complicated like This you need to monitor that and it's Not just faces that this will track I've Just double tapped on the screen where This Leaf is and now it's doing a very Good job of just tracking this Leaf uh Within the limits of how far around the Gimbal will move so you can track Anything not just Faces Is it worth upgrading from the pocket 2 If you're the current owner of the Pocket 2 you will certainly be tempted To upgrade to the pocket 3 as it has Improved in some key areas let me show You how they compare side by side all Right so I have got the pocket 2 on that
Side and the pocket 3 on this side side By side same settings 4K 25 frames per Second no ND filters to make this Fair Uh the size of the screen is Significantly better on the pocket 3 um And the screen on the pocket 3 is way Way brighter there you go so that's what They look like side by side and as you Can see the ability to see the much Bigger brighter screen on the pocket 3 Significantly better looking at the Images side by side you can see that the 1-in sensor on the pocket 3 is providing A nicer separation between the subject And the background there's more dynamic Range witnessed by the blue sky on the Pocket 3 footage and generally the skin Tones have been much improved on the Pocket 3 better low light performance And the usability of a much larger Rotating touchcreen all improvements the Upgraded audio was an unexpected bonus As the pocket 2 audio was already very Good although the price tag was Initially more than I expected when you Compare it to other cameras with a 1-in Type sensor the pocket 3 is actually Pretty cheap now that the pocket 3 is Released some of you might be thinking Of down sizing so maybe you already own A 1-in sensor camera one of the Sony zv Range maybe a micro 4/3 crop sensor or Even a fullframe camera so on my right I've got the pocket 3 which has got my
Face being tracked making a very easy Job of it and in the left hand side I've Got the Canon R8 which is a fullframe Camera the 16 mm f2.8 lens and that's on The smallest gimbal that I can find that Will hold a fullframe camera which is The xan crane M3 so looking at the Images side by side is it worth carrying This around because my left ey Hurts already you tell me will I be Getting a pocket three yes this is mine Now Gordon is not getting this back if You've got any questions then let us Know in the comments down below Otherwise thank you for watching I'll See you in the next Video C
