I Replaced My $5,000 Camera with the DJI Osmo Pocket 3?!

I just got back from South by Southwest where I placed this big setup with this teeny one let me tell you how the experience went this is the DJI osmo pocket 3 with its large 1-in sensor it's flip out screen and it's incredible built-in gimbal this is the best all-in-one camera that I've used to date and so for the past week this was my only camera for getting highlights at the festival exploring new spots in Austin and even snagging interviews and product demos so the question is how well did it do and do I regret leaving my usual gear behind now don't get me wrong I love my Sony A7 S3 it's what we're filming this video on right now and it along with whatever the latest DJI Ronin gamble is has been part of my video kit for the past few years and carrying a bunch of gear around like this during an event like Southwest was not something I wanted to do and so anything that could make it a little bit easier like the osmo pocket was definitely worth considering when it came time to pack my bags the pockets compact size saved me a ton of space and weight unlike my usual rig which usually tends to hog up over half of my bag the osmo pocket 3 and all its accessories that's including the DJI mic 2 which I highly recommend pairing with this it's battery grip a selfie stick and tripod feet fit nicely into just one compartment and so anything that I can do to make traveling less of a chore gets two thumbs up from me so this is already off to a great start now there are a lot of reasons you might want to consider the osmo pocket 3 but for me the biggest reason again is the fact that I don't need a dedicated gimbal like this it's built right in gimbals can usually be be awkward to use awkward to pack and when you're not using it where do you put it and so for me the osmo pocket 3 is eliminating the biggest hurdle when it comes to getting smooth footage because of this I felt like I was more engaged with what was actually happening at that moment I didn't have to do that awkward ninja walk or use two hands every time I wanted to film something and get that smooth motion and really it's as simple as just pointing the camera in the general direction of what you want to film and you're probably going to get something good when I went to check out mod bike's new easy sidecar ebike I handed it off to their founder door and he had no trouble figuring this thing out he even ran alongside me during my test ride and yes if it was either of these two cameras the results definitely would not have been that pretty but beyond those action shots it's also super easy to just get some really nice tilts or pans with a slight move of your wrist and you don't really even have to think about it but the other thing you don't have to think about is carrying a dedicated gear or camera bag for your setup because the idea here just like with your phone it's always in your pocket you pull it out when you need to and you just tuck it away when you're done I felt like I could capture quick moments that I normally wouldn't bother with my other setup sure I could have relied solely on using my phone but the beauty with the osmo pocket 3 lies in its ability to deliver high quality smoother and more professional looking footage all without having to drain my phone's battery and for an event like South by where I would leave my hotel early in the morning and not get back till about 7:00 p.m. this really did make a huge difference and as you've probably heard like a thousand times the best camera is always the one on you unlike my usual gear which often left me questioning whether it was even worth the hassle of lugging it around all day the pocket 3 was always on me ready to capture whatever I found interesting throughout my trip I even spoke about it with a lot of content creators which have similar A7 S3 or other Sony setups big mirrorless dslrs with big lenses and you know what they all complain about how heavy and big it was to carry around and there were Parts later on in our trip where they just decided it wasn't worth bringing the Sony with them but on the flip side there were times where I had wished I had my Sony with me just because there are some limitations here right way something that I don't find very convenient is its cover you see that it's meant to protect the gimbal in the front screen and even hold a few lens attachments but in my opinion this is not welld designed first it doesn't always snap on that quickly especially with that joystick but more importantly the idea is it's supposed to keep again the lens protected but you see how easy it is to just have that spin around even with it off that can be a problem and towards the end of my trip I actually found myself ditching this a lot in favor of just sticking in my pocket so I can just set it up or or tear it down more quickly that said I was delicate with it when I put it in my pocket but I think DJI can definitely engineer something a little bit better like a lot of smaller point and shoots and action cameras you can quickly start a recording just by hitting the record button there but this has no power button to turn it on just flip open its screen and in a second it's on the 2-in screen boots up quickly and not only does this help with framing but it's also great for reviewing past Clips you've taken or changing your shooting modes or settings you can film up to 4K 120 or 1080p 240 frames per second but if you want to include audio in those clips you're Capp to 4K 60 frames per second but one of the coolest things about this is I can quickly click the joystick three times and I'll switch to selfie mode so I can get my shots my reactions whatever I'm seeing and then three more times and then back to whatever I'm looking at and so it's been a great way to get both perspectives with just a few clicks one of the other tricks with the osmo pocket 3 is that you can flip the screen hit continue and now it's shooting in vertical mode I'm putting vertical in quotation marks because it's not a true vertical I mean the sensor didn't actually rotate is it's doing a digital crop on its sides it's great for quick social media content and I did a lot of it for Tik Tok and Instagram reels the thing is though you're not getting any additional framing at the top or bottom of your video this is really just for convenience so you don't have to do it in the edit but for everything else you're pretty much better off shooting with the full sensor that way you're just not artificially locking yourself down and while you'd probably think of this as more of a video recording tool it's also really great for recording audio when paired with the DJI mic 2os but something that's really cool is you can pair up to two of these directly to the osmo pocket 3 via Bluetooth without the need of its transmitter when paired and turned on they'll automatically sync with the osmo pocket 3 saving you a bunch of Hassle and setup and to put this to the test I did a few interviews one with Mod bikes and one with Marshall I was able to quickly put a microphone on myself and one on the person I was interviewing and with my framing and audio levels all set I was ready to go I was able to easily monitor my audio levels directly from the main screen on the osmo pocket 3 and make adjustments on the fly if I needed and the thing I also really appreciate is even just using the internal mics no need for a lapel it's actually really high quality you can take this even further by setting it to record internally with 32-bit float using its onboard memory and that way if there's any disconnects or interference you still have that as a backup recording which as someone who's run into one too many issues this is a must have feature because it just gives you a sigh of relief knowing that you always have that backup recording lastly though the one area that I found that this really stood out to me in the one week I was using it is well its ability to not stand out unlike bigger and bulkier cameras the osmo pocket 3 doesn't really scream hey look at me I'm filming something and sure I did have a couple people come up to me asking hey is that the new osmo pocket 3 and they wanted to get my thoughts on it which was fun but for the most part I was able to film what I needed fly under the radar and someone who doesn't really like to draw a lot of attention to themselves while they're filming in public that's something I really appreciated tied in with this though this is also great for getting around restrictions on Pro cameras and certain venues and the thing is with the osmo pocket 3 no one really thinks twice or really cares about you using this thing but that also goes for taking a traditional camera in places where it just wouldn't be smart like a mosh pit because while I wouldn't dare take any of my other cameras there with this I can kind of just turn my back or hug it and I felt like it was pretty well protected [Music] but in my time using this for a week straight without having my real camera with me the biggest limitation I found was the lack of a real Zoom range while the osmo pockets 3 wide field of view was fantastic for capturing everything I saw it had me struggling a lot when I wanted to film something that was either really far away or up close and even though it does have a two times digital crop option it's nowhere near as useful as having three dedicated lenses like I do on my iPhone and so for a lot of shots I actually prefer using my iPhone as I could quickly switch between the different focal lengths for example I could get a quick wide shot of the whole crowd a medium of the full band and then closeup of the singers but tied in with that as well even though this sees a big upgrade with its depth of field it has a minimum Focus distance of about 1T which I found out when combined with its really wide field of view meant I couldn't really get flattering up close shots again this is really best for getting those nice landscapes or a bunch of your friends in frame at once but when you're focusing on just one single subject whether that's yourself or a product it leaves a lot to be desired so what's my takeaway using this as my one main camera for a week straight at Southwest this was definitely an awesome camera to have for capturing all my experiences and being able to take it everywhere I went it was the perfect tool in the future I can see myself using this as my main travel video camera though I probably won't be leaving my A7 S3 and at least some kind of zoom lens behind because I know there's a good chance that I'm going to want to have that extra range either I want to get get closer to my subject or get something that's a little bit more flattering up close and so if DJI ever manages to fit a zoom lens on that that alone is going to be worth an upgrade but let me know what you think about the osmo pocket 3 are you using one of these are you considering it does this have everything you need to make it your one main camera setup let me know in the comments down below as always you can see the latest tech that we're testing and reviewing everywhere on socials at Tom's guide you can also follow me for a more behind the scenes look into the next videos that I'm working on and until the next one I'll catch you later

Channel: Tom’s Guide

Views: 72,139

Keywords: Toms Guide, Tech, News, DJI Osmo pocket 3, Osmo pocket 3, DJI Osmo Pocket 3 review, Osmo pocket 3 vs Sony a7siii, Osmo Pocket 3 vs gimbal, Osmo pocket 3 vs DJI Ronin, DJI Mic 2 Review, Best wireless mic, Osmo Pocket 3 with DJI Mic 2, Best travel camera, Best small camera, Osmo Pocket 3 video test, Osmo Pocket 3 concert, Osmo Pocket 3 low light video, Paul Antill, Osmo pocket 3 cons

Id: ThIJc1AVSw4

Length: 9min 30sec (570 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 26 2024