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DJI Osmo Pocket 3 vs YOUR Phone – Real World 7 Scenario Comparison
Join me as I compare filming with my smartphone versus the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 across different scenarios: photography, family moments, travel, vlogging, and even action sports. I share my real-world experiences with image quality, stabilization, battery life, and audio so you can see which camera makes the most sense for your needs.
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- DJI Pocket 3 Review - https://loicba.me/yt/9YS8oojc26M
- Google Pixel 6 Review - https://loicba.me/yt/pWyu6Dmzw_g
- DJI Pocket 3 for Astrophotography - https://loicba.me/yt/2KNR-b9O_QE
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► CHAPTERS
00:00 - Introduction
01:32 - Photography
03:38 - Scenario #1: Friends & Familly
07:51 - Scenario #2: Traveling
12:23 - Scenario #3: Vlogging
17:10 - Scenario #4: Action Sports
20:28 - Scenario #5: Social Media
23:25 - Scenario #6: Short Film
27:55 - Scenario #7: YouTube
28:47 - Which camera I use?
29:43 - Final Winner!
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Picture this. You're about to go on a trip or you simply want to film a cool video and you're wondering, should I use my phone to do this or should I purchase the DJ Osmo Pocket 3? Well, inside of this video, we're going to talk about when to use each of these cameras. But first, let's rewind in time and roll the intro. For those of you new to the channel, I'm Ven Malford, an infographic filmmaker on become better at this side. While I'm waiting for my train, I want to talk about the format of this video. Instead of talking about the technical specs of both of these cameras, I'm going to talk about different scenarios and when is it better to use your phone or when is it better to use the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 so you can make a decision of which camera is better for you. And both cameras are going to be recording at 4K 60 frames per second. But it doesn't matter if you have a Pixel phone or an iPhone, a Samsung, a Huawei or whatever phone. I'm going to keep it very general so it can apply to any phone that you're using currently. Heat. Heat. [music] While we have the beautiful Mobla in the background, I want to get one scenario out of Deli, and this one is photography. If you're intending to buy the Jet Osmo Pocket 3 to take some photos, just don't. I don't know why you would do it. The phones with their AI processing and really advanced photo capabilities are just overall [music] better than the GMO Pocket 3. Most cell phones have 12 megapixels, but also have bigger sensors that merge all kinds of information to get some better results. The JSO Pocket 3 only takes a single shot. Yes, it does have RAW. Yes, it does have manual control, but it doesn't have much else inside of it. And it's only 9 megapixels. [music] The phone can also have some manual control. Usually, you can download a bunch of different apps and really get full control as you want from the phone. So overall, I just think that's a better option. One nice feature for photography on the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 is actually the panorama mode where you can click one button, it's going to stitch together a panorama without having to do anything. It's also going to save four raw photos, so you can merge them together afterwards if you want to do it by your own. Let's talk about a first scenario and this One is filming some content with your family and friends. Apart from some memories or things like that, for this you want a camera that's easy to use, pretty discreet, and that just will work in most situations. I think that both your phone and the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 are going to work for those situation. First of all, people are used to seeing people film with their phone, so they might not even notice it. DJI Osmo Pocket 3 is also very discreet. It can basically hide inside of your hand, but you might get a little bit more questions about people wondering what is that camera and what is it doing. Another really great thing about both of these cameras is that they're small enough to go inside of your pocket. So you can easily slide them inside of your pocket and make sure you have them all the time because the most important thing is that when you're filming, especially for your family or things like that, is to have a camera that's always on you. Both of these can be carried away, but I will give a little bit of an advantage with your phone because you probably already have your phone always on you and always charged so it's always ready to go when you have to film something for your family and friends. Another very important thing is that you still want to have good video from both of these cameras and both are going to deliver. I would say that the video is slightly better on DJ Osmo Pocket 3 with its bigger sensor [music] than most of the phones and also most of the phones process a lot the image to get something that looks a little bit better. That means they might add more sharpening. They might add HDR by combining multiple shots together. So they're doing all kinds of tricks to get better image quality where the DJI Os can just get good image quality straight out of the camera. Another really important thing is you want to have stable images and both of these again are pretty good. The Pocket 3 uses its gimbal to stabilize the shot. So always moving around and compensating for your movements using the gimbal or your phone is going to use digital stabilization to do that instead. Another really important thing is that you need to be really quick to capture some content. Especially if you have a family or something like that with children, pets or things like that, you want to be able to capture the moment. So you want to make sure that you can capture it fast. On a phone you can usually double click on the power button and access the camera right away. We're on DJI Osmo Pocket 3. You simply flick it open, start recording. You can actually have an option here where start recording the moment extra powers [music] up. So for this, I'm again going to give a slight advantage to the DJI Osmo Pocket 3. My final point here that is very important is you want to make sure that anybody can use them. So if you're in a situation where now want to give it to your friend or you want to give it to a family member to film some content, you want to make sure that they're able to use it by themselves. And in this case, both are very easy to use. Our phone is just self-explanatory. Most people will use the phone in past so they know how it works. and the JX1 Pocket 3 has basically no buttons. So, it's really simple for people to understand how to use it. So, in the end for this category, I don't really think there's a clear winner. They're both really good options when you want to film some content for your family and friends. So, one of the issue I just noticed while filming with my camera on my Pixel and View and I think that's very important when traveling is actually having a reliable camera. So ninjas free now has one point on the trip I had no issues where my Pixel actually had a bunch of issues where it would either overheat or sometimes would have issues like right now where the focus time just went hard because it was too broken. So that's another downside of the phone. Sometimes it would always be reliable when you need to get it shut is super reliable. Had no issues up to now. It just works all the time. [music] It's really The second scenario is what I've been doing for the last weeks and this is traveling. For this, you want a versatile camera that's going [music] to offer some sound footage, offer some more advanced features like slow motion, and also it's going to have really good battery life. Both of these cameras are pretty versatile. They offer plenty of different shooting modes. They have a bunch of features [music] that can adapt to your different needs during the trip. But I would give a slight advantage to the phone because it also has a wideangle lens and also a four times telephoto zoom. On the J O Pocket, you can zoom digitally two times and also use [music] an external adapter to get a wider lens, but it's not as convenient as just having everything inside of one device. Both of these cameras can also get some pretty cinematic footage, but the DJI Awesome Pocket 3 definitely has an advantage here because it has DLOG 10 bit. This means you're going to be able to color correct your footage afterwards without many issues at all. The phones can also do that using thirdparty apps, but it's actually not a great solution because the files are huge, huge, and they're going [music] to fill up your phone really fast. You don't want to be saving up the files all the time, having to transfer them to a hard drive all the time during the trip. So, I [music] would say for that, the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 is definitely better for getting some cinematic footage while you're on a trip. Another thing is slow motions. Most phones offer slow motion options, but most of them are not really good. They're either going to crop in, they're gonna have features like my phone that only takes it in 1080p or things like that that just doesn't really produce the best results. On the Osmo Pocket 3, there's not really any limitations when filming 4K 120 frames per second, which is [music] very impressive. The reason you don't have slow motion is that it allows you to get a cinematic results while you're on a trip and just create some really cool shots that are not possible to get in most of the other scenarios. [music] Another really important thing here is that when filming these things in slow motion, it's going to drain the battery really fast. It's not that bad on J Pocket Free, but it is on a phone where the battery is basically just going to disappear right away. And this brings me to another point, which is battery life. [music] And battery life is very important because you don't want to be charging your stuff all the time. My phone just dies basically right away when I'm filming 4K. It doesn't last that long. And I usually have to charge it three or four times a day if I'm shooting a lot of footage using it. On the other side, Jes Pocket [music] 3 can film for about an hour or something like that before having to be charged. And then you can easily have another 60% battery [music] by simply plugging in its external accessory. And then you can even have more battery by charging [music] 15 minutes and getting 80% of battery back. So definitely a better option here for the battery life on the J Osmo Pocket Free. Finally, there's my favorite feature on the J Osmo Pocket 3 and this is the time-lapses and motion lapses I can take. Yes, all phones can also take some hyperlapses, time-lapses, and things like that, but they're usually not that good compared to what you [music] get on the JSON Pocket 3. And this is because the Jaspoka Pocket 3 can use its gimbal to turn around and get some super dynamic [music] time-lapses and hyperlapses and things like that where it's a lot harder to do it using your phone. Not impossible. You might need an external gimbal, but here it's not just builtin. The results are also better on the Pocket 3 because you can get some raw pictures [music] while taking the time-lapses and can really edit the photos to get the exact result we want where it's usually not possible using the default apps inside of the cameras. Yes, again you can download some apps and get the same results, but you might lose some AI features or things like that when creating those photos for the [music] time-lapses. The winner here is a bit harder because both of these cameras are actually very good to shoot some footage during the trips. I will give the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 because it's better at slow motions, has better battery life, and has more cinematic images. So, overall, it's maybe a better option for some traveling. But again, most phone can do a really good job when you're traveling. The next scenario I want to talk about is vlogging. My god, the wind was terrible. Wow, this wind gust was horrible. The first thing I want to talk about when vlogging is the image quality. The DJI Osmo Pocket 3 has a clear advantage here because it uses the same camera for the background and foreground because you can simply turn around the gimbal on the phones. Usually different cameras are not as good. First of all, they're a fixed lens which means they have a fixed focus point. So, they're not going to do autofocus. So, that's why my face might look a little bit soft right now. It doesn't look as good and sharp as on the DJI Osmo Pocket 3. But also usually because it's really small sensing in the front of the cameras, it's a really bad image quality. So like the highlights might be overblown, the shadows are not going to look as good. There's a lot of issues coming from the front-facing camera of a phone. Sure, I could take my phone and flip it around and use the rear camera, but I hate doing that because I have no idea what I'm filming in the end if I'm using the rear camera from the phone. Another really important thing when vlogging is having good audio. You can get away having bad video. You can't really get away of having bad audio. In a situation like right now with all the wind and everything, it can get really hard to get some good audio. The Pixel phones use some software tricks. We're going to try and isolate your voice using some software, but it's limited by electronics microphone of the phone. On the J Pocket 3, it has more microphones all around, but it's still gonna have some issues with the wind like that. But the DJ Pocket 3 actually has a little solution for this. And they have this wireless microphone. So now if I turn on the wireless microphone, we should get really good audio even though there's a ton of noise all around it or it should sound worse off this. You could use this wireless microphone with your phone, but it's just a lot more seamless when using the J Osmo Creator Combo Kit and the camera. It just works seamlessly and you can get really good audio even if you're far away from it. Another really important thing when you're vlogging is being able to get Woo! When I talk about the fact that my phone dies all the time, I was filming this video and in the middle it just cut and died. Uh, so yeah, I'm going to plug it in, try and restart charge it. But that's why I really like DJI Awesome Pocket 3. It lasts for a lot longer, especially in situations like right now it's a little bit cold out. The next and really important thing when you're vlogging is being able to get the shots by yourself. You might not always have somebody around to be able to get the shots that you need for your video. In this case, the J O Pocket Free is much better because it has an app where you can set down the camera on a tripod, then use the app to compose your shots, start and stop recording, check the audio level, review your footage, and everything. On the Pixel, it's possible to do that. You actually have to go to your phone, change the settings, turn around, play back the footage. It's just a lot harder to film a good vlog using your phone. And this applies to any phone, not just the Pixel. There's also a very, very neat feature on the J O Pocket 3. And see if I come here and double tap on the screen. Okay, it just worked. It's gonna start tracking my face. It could be your face. It could be something else. It can be whatever. You can adjust your framing a little bit as you wish. And now [snorts] if I walk away, it's actually going to follow me. So, it's going to be my own personal person filming this. Where on the Pixel, you're limited to one shot. Once it's on a tripod, it cannot move around. [snorts] This is unique because the gimbal capabilities of the DJI Osmo Pocket 3. So, if you're filming a vlog by yourself, the DJ Osmo Pocket 3 is much better. While we're going back down, I forgot about other vlogging feature on J Pocket 3, and it has face tracking. So, if I turn around here, it's going to follow my face perfectly, making sure it's always inside of the shot. And I think just in general, the DJI Awesome Pocket 3 was designed for vlogging in mind. So, here it's a clear winner compared to using your phone for vlogging. I really think this is where DJ Awesome Pocket 3 really exceeds. So, if you want a vlogging camera, I would go with the JSON Pocket 3. Uh-oh. [music] [music] [music] The next scenario. I want to talk about is something I've been doing today and it's filming action [music] sports. For action sports, you want to have something that has a pretty wide angle lens, really good stabilization, and something that's rugged that can work in [music] all kinds of conditions. I don't think either of these are actually really good for action sports. First of all, neither of them have a wide angle lens that are wide enough. So, the DJ Pocket has an adapter [music] for 16 mm equivalent wideangle lens. And my phone can actually film also at about 16 mm with its wideangle lens. But both of these are not wide enough when it comes to action sport. The skin points that the stabilization on both of these cameras just [music] isn't as good as what you are going to have on real action cameras. On the good Pixel phone, it's actually very choppy. It moves around a lot in a weird way, which is not very natural. On the pocket, it does a better job of moving around and [music] following the movement, but it's not always fast enough to really capture the movement in a good way. Another issue [music] with both of these cameras is that they're not really rugged. Both of them would have issues inside of cold or extreme weathers. [music] then they're also going to have an issue if you drop them. They're not rugged. They wouldn't resist that. I think both of them would also have issues inside of water. So, [music] this is just not great cameras where when you want to be doing action sports. You want to make sure that whatever happens to the camera, it can survive it. So, in the end, I don't really think there's a clear winner between these two. I [music] might give it to the J Osmo Pocket 3 just because stabilization works slightly better inside [music] of action sports and also has a wearable mode now that kind of works a little bit better. But overall, I wouldn't get any any of them for some action sports. If you want a good action support camera, get a [music] GoPro, get a DJI Action 4 or get my favorite action sport camera, which is the Insta 360, which allows to capture everything, has really good stabilization, and can do all the work afterwards. So, definitely not the best camera here for action sports. Heat. Heat. [music] [music] [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] [music] The next scenario I want to talk about is social media content. These days, social media means Tik Toks, Instagram res, YouTube shorts, and all kinds of content like that. I think that for this what is important is not necessarily the image quality but the process of creating a video. It has to be an easy process where you can shoot something, edit it, post it really fast whenever you have an idea that pops in your head. Also has to be very versatile because the trends keep changing. So you want to have a tool that's going to be able to adapt to whatever you're doing. DJ Pocket 3 can definitely film this content. It actually has a mode where it can film vertical video, but I don't think it's the best video because it's actually just cropping inside of your sensor. On the other side, your phone is perfect for this because you're always holding it vertically. So, it's super easy to capture some vertical content for these types of social media posts. There's another huge advantage of your phone. It's not necessarily related to the camera, but to the process, and it's that you can easily edit the video afterwards directly on your phone. So, you can shoot the video, edit it inside of a ton of different apps and get the process out really fast. Sure, you can download the videos from your DJI Osmo Pocket, but it's a bit of a pain of a process and also the huge file size can be hard for a phone to edit. So, in the end, if you want to be able to produce a video very fast using only your phone, I definitely think your phone is a better option. So, for here, I would say the winner is clearly the phone just because the process is a lot simpler when using a phone than using the DJI Osmo Pocket for social media content. Heat. Heat. [music] This is probably one of the most fun Puma tours to do. Love the view in the background here. It's just amazing all around. My sister just told me that the slope we usually do is closed right now. Uh so we're going to have to do a harder one. So hopefully my knees may be fine in it. I'm just take it really really slow in that case. [music] The next scenario I want to talk about is actually one of the more advanced ones and it's creating a short film using these cameras. For this one, you're going to make sure that you want to have really good image quality. Also, the ability to color grade it afterwards to get the best results possible. Some good low light cap capabilities to get some more moody shots. get being able to do some cinematic moves and also making sure they have some more advanced control on the camera. I feel that in general the J O just has better image quality because its sensor is bigger where on the phone the image quality kind of suffers most of the times because it looks a bit more processed even when using a third party app. You're also going to want to be be able to push it in color [music] grading. And with DLOG 10 bit on the DJ Pocket, you can really push the colors and get exactly the look you want instead of a short frame. is super important to get the mood you want instead of the story. You could try doing this with phone and a third party app, but the results might not be as good and you might not be able to extract as much information from the sensors right here. Another really, really important thing is that both of these cameras need to be good in low [music] light because when shooting a short film, you're probably want to have some moody shots where you [music] use a lot more shadows and if there's a ton of grain or it's using a lot of processing to try and get a cleaner image, it just won't look as [music] professional. And this is a problem with a phone where I don't really think this is as much a problem on the J Osmo Pocket [music] that has really good low light capabilities even when using the lock 10 bit to film the video. Another very important thing when you're filming a short film is actually the movement of the camera. You want to have these nice cinematic moves to really tell the story in a better way and get a more engaging story. I think that the gimbal on J O Pocket 3 is much better at creating those shots because the gimbal just moves in a more natural way with a better flow. The phone can still do this, but it's kind of hard when you're using the digital stabilization to get as good shots from there. Another advantage of the J Pocket 3 is it can go in really tight space, so you can get some really cool shots that wouldn't even be possible when using your phone. There's even another advantage with the JI a pocket 3 here is you can put on a tripod and then use the joystick here or use the mobile app to get some really precise control movements with the [music] gimbal. So overall, for all the possible moves you can do using the Jasmine Pocket 3, I do think it's a better thing here if you want to be able to add some movements inside of your short film. There is one advantage on the phone as you can use the different lenses. So getting some tighter shots, some [music] wider shots all from one device could be a really great advantage and get more compression when using the telephoto lens and things like that. That could be great for a short film if you're using a phone. There's one last very very important thing with these [music] two cameras and is that you want to be able to have more advanced settings and also be able to have some custom [music] profiles. This is one thing that was added to DJI Pocket 3 where you can create your own profiles and then use them afterwards. So you basically say save a bunch of settings and you can quickly access them one after the other. I'm really annoyed on my phone where on the default app it always will goes back to default settings and I always have to go back and [music] tweak some things to get access different settings. It's just a slower process. it's more annoying to use and if you're filming a short film, you want to make sure you're always using the same settings along when you're doing it. So, you don't want a phone that's changing all the time. Sure, again, you can download those third party app and probably fix that issue, but it's not going to open by default for your photo camera. So, it's kind of annoying here that you cannot do it as easily on a phone because it's definitely capable of doing it. It's just not as great as a process as it is on DJ Osmo Pocket 3. So, I think for this one, there's a clear winner and it's a DJI Osmo Pocket Free. If I had to film a short film, I would use this camera and not my phone to do it. My cell phone battery died again, so I'm charging it right now inside of my pocket. That's really annoying that in the cold weather and just general when I'm filming with my phone, it really doesn't last long. That's an issue with a lot of phones that have really hard time filming 4K video where DJ Osmo Pocket just lasts forever, it seems like, compared to a phone. So, that's really a plus for the J Osmo Pocket. [music] around. Hey My next scenario is a much trickier one and this is what about if you want to start a YouTube channel or you want to grow an existing one. What is important is really going to depend on what you're doing inside a YouTube channel. For example, for me, I love being outside filming the videos in the real world. So, for me, the DJ Awesome Pocket makes a lot of sense. But if I was somebody that was just inside in front of a screen or doing some interviews or things like that, maybe in this case, just using my phone could also work. So, here depending on the scenario, it's really going to change which one is the best. I would say in general, using the Gio Pocket 3 is going to be better results for YouTube. But in so many cases, just using your phone is going to be perfectly fine. So, in this case, I think both of these are winners. They're both really good devices if you want to start your YouTube channel. But again, think about all the other scenarios we talked about and then you can decide using that example what is the best for your YouTube channel. Okay, now let's talk about which camera I use and when. I use my DJ Awesome Pocket 3 a little bit like my Sony A74 and I view it more as a better tool [music] that I use in certain situations. My phone is always in my pocket. So, if I'm just trying to take some pictures quickly of my family and friends, I'll definitely reach out to this one. It's also an amazing tool to document my [music] life. So whenever I just want to take pictures to remember something, it's always my phone that I'm using. Even when traveling, sometimes it's just easier to take a picture of my phone. So I don't take out my [music] bigger cameras. But when I want to be creating a YouTube video or I'm trying to create a vlog or anything like that or [music] I want to get better video quality and I want a tool that I can rely on, then I go for the DJI Osmo Pocket 3. Another really important thing with the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 is it's a really fun camera to use. This is important because for the last few trips I did, I was always reaching out to this camera and having so much fun using it. So remember, all of these are tools. [music] So try and use a tool that is best for you in your situation. So is there a clear winner for me? The answer honestly is no. I both use them as tools and they both do the job really well. We're super lucky that our cell phones take such great videos and we have tiny cameras like these that can produce professional results. Another thing that's really important to remember is that if you have a phone that takes good enough video for you, maybe you're better to invest some on other equipment like a microphone or some lights or something like that can elevate the quality of video or even paying for a trip to go film some stuff or do some activities that you like, that might be a better investment than buying a separate camera just to take videos. But if you really want a reliable tool, then in this case, the J Osmo Pocket 3 is a really good choice. If you enjoyed this video, please let me know by hitting like button below and definitely subscribe for more content on photography and film making. See you in the next one.
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What is this video about?
I've been thinking about this question for a while now: should you buy a dedicated camera like the DJI Osmo Pocket 3, or just stick with your phone? Instead of comparing specs and technical details, I decided to test both cameras in real-world situations where they actually matter.
In this video, I break down seven different scenarios—photography, family moments, travel, vlogging, action sports, social media, and filmmaking—and share honest thoughts on which tool works better for each one.
For photography: Your phone wins. The computational photography and larger sensors in modern smartphones are just better than what the Pocket 3 offers. The Pocket 3 does have a nice panorama mode, but that's about it.
For family and friends: Both work great, but the phone has a slight edge because you already have it with you, and it requires no explanation to anyone you hand it to.
For travel: This is where the Pocket 3 starts to shine. It handles slow motion beautifully at 4K 120fps with no crop, the DLOG 10-bit color gives you professional flexibility in post, and the battery life is genuinely impressive compared to my phone, which dies constantly when filming 4K. Plus, those gimbal-powered time-lapses are something your phone simply cannot match.
For vlogging: The Pocket 3 is the clear winner. The gimbal stabilization is superior for walking shots, the built-in wireless microphone handles wind noise better than any phone mic, the front-facing image quality is sharper, and the ability to set it on a tripod and control everything remotely via the app changes the game when you're filming solo.
For action sports: Honestly, neither is ideal. You'd be better off with a dedicated action camera like a GoPro or Insta360. Both the phone and Pocket 3 lack the wide-angle coverage and ruggedness that action sports demand.
For social media: Your phone wins by a mile. Vertical video is effortless, editing is seamless, and you can post in minutes. The Pocket 3 can technically do vertical, but it's just cropping the sensor, and dealing with large files and slow editing defeats the purpose.
For filmmaking: The Pocket 3 takes it. Better image quality, superior low-light performance with DLOG, cinematic gimbal movements, custom profiles, and precision control make it the tool I'd choose for a short film every time.
My honest take: I use both, and I'm grateful I have both. The phone is always with me for quick documentation and daily life. The Pocket 3 is the tool I reach for when I'm creating something I care about—when I need reliability, image quality, and the ability to do things that phones just can't. Neither is a "winner." They're different tools for different jobs. And if your phone takes video that's good enough for what you're doing, it might make more sense to spend money on other things—a good microphone, lighting, or even a trip somewhere inspiring to film.