An Osmo Pocket 4P owner in Japan reports that a DJI update has taken the camera’s digital zoom from 12x to 18x, and posted a photo of the on-screen readout at 18.0x on Tuesday. The same update smooths the handoff between the wide and telephoto cameras, adds two scene modes and lets a PC see the camera while it is switched off.

DJI’s spec sheet for the Pocket 4P said 12x as recently as October 20. The only place DroneXL has seen DJI print 18x is the fine print of the Pearl White launch video DroneXL read on October 20, which tied the figure to firmware 01.02.12.01 and ActiveTrack 9.0 while DJI’s press release from the same hour said 12x and ActiveTrack 8.0.

The Update Delivers The 18x Zoom DJI’s Launch Video Promised Two Weeks Ago

Yamamon posted a Pocket 4P at 18.0x in 4K30 video on November 3 with five changes, translated here: lens switching is harder to notice, digital zoom resolves more detail, the ceiling moved from 12x to 18x, stage and sunset modes are new, and a PC sees the camera while off.

Every one of those is an owner’s account, and DroneXL has not been able to read DJI’s version of it. DJI’s Pocket 4P downloads page redirects to a “Sorry, the page was not found” screen from the United States, the same 404 the product page has served since October 15, and the newest Pocket 4P release notes in Newsshooter’s firmware roundup are still 01.01.71.31 from September. The launch video’s disclaimer said 18x “requires updating the device to firmware 01.02.12.01 or later,” and Yamamon’s post does not name a version number, so whether this is that build is DJI’s to confirm. ActiveTrack 9.0, the other feature the same fine print promised, appears nowhere in the list.

DJI has shipped Pocket 4P changes without saying so before. In September, owners in Japan found that the September firmware let the FrameTap remote and a DJI Mic connect at once, a fix absent from every DJI changelog.

The Owner’s First Request Is A Zoom Limiter For The Long-Press Button

Twelve minutes later, Yamamon asked DJI for a zoom limiter. The Pocket 4P zooms continuously while the zoom button is held, and the post calls that very convenient but wants a way to avoid zooming too far by accident, because quality drops. Translated: “Please add a zoom limiter function.”

The Pocket 4P reaches 18x by cropping. DJI added the hold-to-zoom behavior in the June 29 firmware, and the zoom chain has not changed since the June 15 China launch: 3x optical on the 60mm telephoto, 6x through a lossless sensor crop, and digital upscaling past that. Yamamon’s point is that a camera which keeps zooming for as long as the button is held needs a setting that stops it where the owner wants.

DroneXL’s Take

DJI quietly delivered the zoom its press release wouldn’t commit to, and once again owners in Japan found it before any DJI changelog mentioned it, the same way the FrameTap fix surfaced in September. I don’t mind a firmware that over-delivers. I do mind that DJI’s downloads page is a 404 for every American who bought a 4P through an importer, because those owners are now installing an update they cannot read about on a camera the Covered List keeps out of US stores, and with no US warranty if the install goes wrong. My advice for anyone with a 4P is the same as Yamamon’s: take the update and then watch the readout, because everything past 6x on this camera is upscaled pixels and the long press will carry you to 18x if you hold it a beat too long. A limiter setting is a small ask, and I’d expect DJI to add it in a later build the same quiet way it added the 18x.

Sources: Yamamon on X, Yamamon’s follow-up post, DJI Pearl White launch video, DJI Osmo Pocket 4P release notes, June 29, Newsshooter firmware roundup

DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo. Read our editorial standards.