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Would the New DJI OSMO Pocket Work for Real Estate Walk-Through Video?

In: 
Published: 26/12/2018

DJI Osmo Pocket Review - I Wanted to Hate It, BUT...

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

??Ray in North Carolina asks:

Has anyone purchased and begun using the DJI OSMO Pocket to provide walk thru video tours for clients?

If you look at the reviews of the DJI OSMO Pocket, it is getting great reviews. Gerald Undone's review to the right is just one example. There are many other positive reviews!

But, there's a fundamental problem when you consider using any device to shoot interior walk-through video. Is the lens wide enough? My research indicates that the lens on the DJI OSMO Pocket is around 28mm effective focal length. In my opinion, that is a  serious problem. That is a narrower field of view than my iPhone video and to me, the video my iPhone shoots is unacceptably narrow for an interior video walk-through! Such is the case for Inside Maps using iPhones for their services.

I haven't been able to find any examples of an interior walk-through shot with a DJI OSMO Pocket to verify this opinion yet. Does anyone have an example?

Larry Lohrman

8 comments on “Would the New DJI OSMO Pocket Work for Real Estate Walk-Through Video?”

  1. Yeah I don't think I won't be using this - at 28mm it's not something I would find useful. I like using my mirrorless camera with interchangeable lenses. I'm with you though - if someone has done a walk through, would love to see it. Perhaps my thinking is flawed.

  2. As far as upper end real estate videos go, I wont comment on that.

    I think there is a lot to say about the lower end videos though. The productions are way too involved. As evidence, turn on an episode of HGTV. There are completely horrid pans and other run n gun shots, all produced with very little care. You have to ask yourself, do you really think you need to be shooting better video than an internationally renowned tv show?! I think homes can be shot with a drone and a well stabilized camera body, perhaps with one of these compact gimbals. That is it.

    Serious question as an example to prove my point... do people really think a slider ahot is going too woo clients more than "fake slider" shot from a stationary tripod made in post? Nobody is even going to know the difference, so right there you just got rid of a huge amount of unnecessary gear, and lost nothing.

  3. It's not wide enough for starters, and more importantly, like cell phone video and GoPro Video cameras, etc., it will fail in low light. If you're doing high end properties, they are usually well lit, but your low end, bread and butter homes are oftentimes NOT lit well at all. In fact, many feel and look like caves. I have seen - REGULARLY - rooms that are literally lit with a CFL bulb in a small desk lamp. Period. Many homes have burned out bulbs that haven't been replaced. In low light these tiny cameras fail big time.

    Bottom line: If you want to LOOK professional and you want to CHARGE PRICES based on being a professional, you need to have the right gear... which is not a tiny $300 camera. But like most of these little cams, outdoors it will be fine.

  4. @Andrew, The one thing you don't get with a fake slider shot is the parallax (?) shift which is something that sells the clip. On the HGTV shows, which are not all produced by the same production companies, some behind-the-scenes clips show a room full of sliders, jibs, and all sorts of other gear. If fact, way too much gear as far as I can see. I do agree that the production value is often rather poor. I watch several YouTube channels with much better quality done by just a couple of people who have often traveled thousands of miles on a shoe string budget.

    @Fred, The encouraging thing about seeing the cheap little stabilized cameras is that it shouldn't be too long to see somebody release a professional version if there isn't one out already and in that case, it's hoped that the prices will come down. I am also a firm believer that if you want to be considered a professional, you aren't doing yourself any favors by showing up with cheap gear. The final results matter, but if one is good enough to get acceptable results from cheap gear, one should do better with better gear.

    I always get positive comments about my gear from agents and homeowners when I load into a job. It's not current generation and was never the top of the line, but it is all nicely packed in good looking cases as well as being maintained. It's all part of the show. What most non-photographers never consider is the time it's taken to learn how to craft good photos. I can't count how many agents in my area went to the big box store and bought a Nikon or Canon DSLR kit to do their own photos. How hard could it be if it only takes the expensive pro an hour to make 25 really nice images? A couple of offices figured they could save even more money by getting their own office camera and having one of the filing clerks read the manual and then shoot all of the listings for the agents for free. It's hard to compete with free when over 95% of agents aren't very good business people to start with.

  5. Well since Bruce Peter asked to see a walk through video with one of these and everyone seemed to trash them and since my old arms are getting tired of running a full frame camera and lens on a Crane 3... I thought "why not!" Oh and since I'm just a tech guy who likes to platy with things some money eas burning a hole in my pocket I might add.

    So here goes. I bought one of these things played with it a few hours in my home. Then I set myself a goal.
    1) Shoot a WT video of whatever I encountered on my next low end shoot (property under $250k and the agent did not want video) I offered it to a good client for free as it was a training experiment (only time I ever offered anything free in the past 8 years. I'm allergic to free)
    2) Shoot it in under 15 minutes tops with as few on the fly adjustments as possible.
    3) Edit it in 15 minutes or under.
    4) While capable of 4k 60fps I wanted to shoot in 1080p in order to limit the file size. (Yes I know bigger is better)
    5) It's run and gun guys.

    Now mind you I'm old, shaky, can no longer walk like a Ninja and blind as a bat. So I know my technique sucks with this. I know it could use more than 15 minutes editing. I know all of you could do better and so on...

    What I wanted to see was if the auto WB held fairly true and normal editing would easily fix varied lighting that we all hit. I wanted to see how fast it auto focused. I wanted to see how it handled rapidly changing high contrast clips. I wanted to see how it handled noise. I wanted to see if I could overcome the effective 28mm lens limitations and so on.

    I have to say I was surprised. The stability of the gimbal was great in holding all 3 axis. The response was good. The lens was sharp. The high contrast scenes were captured acceptably. The Auto WB held well and switched fast. The auto focus was fast enough. Of course 28mm sucked and there are no acceptable WA attachments currently available.

    Now for what I did not do with it, but I know it is possible... You can put this on the end of a selfie stick and get many great shots and effects that are impossible with the normal pro gear we lug around. For example nice cranes shots. Really elevated shots in high rooms. Peeking or passing through openings architectural openings. Extending the camera far out over building and balcony overhangs.. I know for a fact you can intermix clips from this with ease into high end pro videos without it being noticed.

    Conclusion. Yes you can use this on some low end low priced videos. Yes you can use this for trick shots that could make your videos stand out from the crowd. No it doesn't look professional but it can get the job done. If you know what you are doing (a little better than I and that's easy) you can use this as part of your kit and it's so small!

    https://videos.files.wordpress.com/CMzneFwl/387-haugh-dr-pittsburgh-pa-15237_ad_hd.mp4

    What do you think?

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