The Osmo Pocket 3 was a hard act to follow. For a stretch it was reportedly the best-selling camera in the world, which is remarkable for something you can palm. So the Osmo Pocket 4P arrives with real expectations, and DJI has answered them with the two specs everyone is already repeating: a dual-lens system and 17 stops of dynamic range.
After a day with the camera at a DJI event in Toronto, here’s the honest surprise. The 17 stops are impressive, but they’re not what won me over. The feature I’d actually reach for is the one barely making the headlines.
The telephoto lens is the story
The 4P’s second lens is a medium telephoto, roughly 60mm equivalent at about f/1.8, with 3x optical zoom. On paper it’s the supporting act to the 1-inch wide-angle sensor that carries the 17 stops. In practice, it’s the reason to own this camera.
That extra reach gives you genuine depth of field and a cinematic look the wide lens can’t touch, and it gets you into tighter compositions where a bigger camera simply won’t fit. Paired with subject tracking, it punches far above its size. I recreated a dramatic, Michael Bay-style tracking move that would normally demand an expensive rig or a very skilled operator, and it came together in one or two takes on a device that fits in a jacket pocket. That’s the kind of shot that changes what you’ll actually carry on a shoot.
