The Pocket 4 has been out for a little while, and now we have the Pocket 4P — which I think we can safely assume means the Pocket 4 Pro. The real question is: which one of these two cameras should you buy in 2026? Let’s break down the differences between them and see which one is right for you.
And just so we’re clear, DJI did provide me with both of these cameras and also brought me to Toronto to test them, which has been an incredible experience — thank you, DJI. But they’re not paying me, and they’re not sponsoring this video in any other way.
Size Comparison: Almost Identical, Except for the Gimbal
First off, there’s very little difference size-wise between these two, except when it comes to the gimbal. Obviously, having a second camera makes the gimbal a little bit larger, and I did notice slightly faster battery drain. But I think the biggest differences come down to image quality. The most obvious difference between the Pocket 4 and the Pocket 4P is that the Pocket 4P has two cameras. And you would think the main camera on both of these would be the same — but they’re not.
The Main Camera and Sensor
The sensors are different, and they definitely look a little different. Because you have access to D-Log 2 on the Pocket 4P, it also gives you more dynamic range — 14 stops on the Pocket 4, up to 17 stops on the Pocket 4P. You can shoot in D-Log on both of them, but D-Log 2 gives you the most dynamic range on the Pocket 4P when you compare it to the Pocket 4.
D-Log vs. D-Log 2: The Dynamic Range Difference Is Real
It might not look like there’s much difference depending on how YouTube compresses the footage, but there actually is a fairly substantial difference. DJI rates the Pocket 4 for up to about 14 stops of dynamic range, while the Pocket 4P is rated up to 17 stops — which is matching cinema cameras. That’s insane. And you can definitely see it in the imagery.
Now, I don’t have any way of testing the actual dynamic range, but you can see on the histogram that D-Log 2 is definitely a little flatter and a little less colored than D-Log. And when you expand it out, apply a LUT, or start to color grade, D-Log 2 has significantly more range — especially in the highlights — to recover information.
Where the sun is shining straight at the camera, the Pocket 4’s D-Log blows out quite a bit sooner, and the area around the sun is blown out. D-Log 2 retains almost all of that information. So whatever DJI is doing with this new sensor and D-Log 2, there is a very significant difference between the two, especially if you want to color grade and pull information out of the highlights.
One thing to note — at least on the camera and firmware I’m testing — is that you’re not able to film in D-Log 2 on that second camera, the 3x camera. You can film in full 10-bit D-Log on it, so you can still get great dynamic range and fantastic color rendition, but no D-Log 2 out of that camera. Which brings us to the telephoto camera.
The 3x Medium Telephoto Camera
The second camera on the Pocket 4P is a 60mm-equivalent medium telephoto lens, and it gives you some incredible results. This is what I’ve been missing from the Pocket 3. I loved the Pocket 3 for a long time, and the Pocket 4 is a solid upgrade, but the Pocket 4P with that secondary camera and the 60mm just gives you so many options for how you want to compose a shot.
You get this 3x camera, which means you also get up to a 6x lossless zoom, where the Pocket 4 is limited to a 2x lossless zoom. Beyond that, you can go all the way up to a 12x crop on that 3x camera — and the zoom range between 1x and 12x is kind of insane. Yes, you do lose a little image quality at 12x, but if you really have to punch in and get something that’s way out there, you can with the Pocket 4P. You definitely cannot with the Pocket 4.
Having that second 3x camera gives you so many options for how you want to compose a shot. It produces some incredibly nice depth of field and out-of-focus backgrounds when you’re close to something. And when you are close, the minimum focus distance for this camera is about 0.3 meters, or just a little under 12 inches, so you can get some really cool, very detailed imagery.
4K 240fps Slow Motion
Just like the Pocket 4, you have access to 4K at up to 240 frames per second on the main camera, which is spectacular if you like slow-motion content. Although I will say, at 240 frames per second you have to find something that’s moving really fast in order to slow it down enough for your mind to actually comprehend how slow it is.
On the medium telephoto camera, you can now film at up to 4K 200 frames per second. For those of us in North America, that comes out as a 25-frames-per-second file, so you have to speed it up by about 118% to match a 30fps timeline, or slow it down a little to match a 24fps timeline. It still gives you some incredible slow motion, and because you’ve got that medium tele, it’s really fun to play with.
Low Light Performance
Both of these cameras do really well in low light, especially in their low-light modes. The main sensor on the Pocket 4P has an f/2.0 aperture, and because it’s a 1-inch sensor, it does really well in low light — especially with the new low-light mode that DJI includes in the Pocket 4 and the Pocket 4P.
But the upper camera — the medium telephoto on the Pocket 4P — has an f/1.8 aperture, which means you get some shallow depth of field, but also some pretty dang good low light for a little camera this size. It’s kind of ridiculous how good this thing can be.
Photos Finally Get Serious
Then we come to photo quality, and this is probably one of the most exciting things to me about the Pocket 4 series. On the main camera, you now have 37-megapixel stills, which are fantastic. They look so good. But you can also use the 3x camera and get some incredibly beautiful imagery as well.
Up to this point, I would say the Pocket series hasn’t really been a strong photo camera — earlier models were limited to around 9 megapixels or so, and you just didn’t have a lot of options there. Now you definitely get some incredibly beautiful images in all kinds of different lighting environments. And just like the Pocket 3, you can also do 180° panoramas or 3x3 panoramas if you want an even larger image — but in much more detailed imagery because of the higher megapixels.
ActiveTrack 8 and Subject Priority Tracking
Aside from the two cameras, one of the biggest things that separates the Pocket 4P from the Pocket 4 is the new ActiveTrack 8 in the Pocket 4P. It enables you to track in the medium telephoto — the 60mm or 3x camera — and it’s especially useful when you’re using the 3x camera, because you can get these nice parallax shots with cool stuff in the background. Very useful.
It also enables multi-person tracking and lets you register a subject for tracking, so if you’re in a crowd of people, it won’t lose you. It does a good job even without registering a subject — it kept me in the frame and in focus even though Kelly and I were dressed very similarly, with hats and black shirts, while we crossed in front of and behind each other.
They’ve also added a subject priority mode for tracking and focus. You can register a subject in the camera, and it will find that subject and try to keep that subject, even in a crowd of people. Very useful if you’re in crowded areas where there are a lot of people.
Accessories and Internal Storage
One of the other differences between these two cameras is the difference in accessories. Both of them have the option for the little light DJI has created that magnets onto the back, uses the Pogo pins, and powers off the Pocket’s battery so you don’t have to charge it separately, which is really convenient. They both have the option to pair with a DJI Mic 2, DJI Mic Mini, or DJI Mic 3 — you’ve been hearing that throughout this video — and they both offer four-channel audio: two channels of wireless mics plus two channels recorded internally on the camera, if you want that.
Both of these cameras have built-in internal storage, but the Pocket 4 has 107GB of internal storage, where the Pocket 4P has 103GB. They both have USB 3.1, so up to 800MB/s offload speeds. I’ve been using the internal storage exclusively with these two cameras because it’s just so easy and so fast to offload. It’s fantastic.
The Osmo FrameTap Remote
But the biggest difference on the accessory front is that the Pocket 4P allows you to use the Osmo FrameTap remote, which is incredibly cool and super useful if you like to film yourself from a distance at all, or want to be able to control the camera remotely without having to get your phone out.
The FrameTap has a little screen on it, and you can use the joystick and the button to control the camera. I was curious to see how far this thing would go — and it’s pretty ridiculous. I was 300, maybe 400 feet away. I guess I should be saying that in meters since I’m in Canada: I was at least 150 meters away.
And if you’re wondering whether or not the FrameTap remote works with the Pocket 4 — thanks to a recent firmware update, the FrameTap remote is now compatible with the Pocket 4 as well as the 4P.
Battery Life
Oddly enough, I didn’t notice a massive difference between these two cameras in battery usage. The Pocket 4P definitely uses battery a tiny bit faster — the gimbal is a little bigger and a little heavier, I would assume. But honestly, it was like 1 to 2% after basically a full day of shooting, which is really impressive.
Who Is the Pocket 4 or Pocket 4P Best For?
So, who is the Pocket 4 best suited for, and who is the Pocket 4P best suited for? Well, if you’re just starting out and you want a nice, high-quality handheld camera for walking and talking, for vlogging, anything like that, then the Pocket 4 is going to be a fantastic place for you to start. It has great image quality and great responsiveness in every way — it’s just a very solid handheld camera.
But if you want that next level of image quality, then the Pocket 4P is where it’s at. I have not seen image quality like this coming out of a camera this size anywhere. D-Log 2 is absolutely incredible with that new 1-inch sensor they put in the Pocket 4P.
Beyond that, having that extra camera — the 3x, the 60mm focal length, and the lossless zooms — gives you an opportunity to compose your shots differently, to get a different feeling from the way the imagery looks, and to capture those detail shots that are really difficult to get in any other way. So if you want to step up your game, or maybe you have the Pocket 3 and you want to upgrade, you should definitely consider looking at the Pocket 4P.
Now, the biggest downside of the Pocket 4 and the Pocket 4P is that they’re not officially available in the United States. You could probably get them from places like eBay, but that’s up to you, and there’s no official warranty support or anything like that here. I’d love to hear from you — let me know what you think in the comments below.
This article is based on my latest video. For more drone and camera content, subscribe to the Jake Sloan YouTube channel, and check out my other articles on my DroneXL author page.
