If you switched on the Pocket 2 at single focus, you basically got an "infinity" focus.
This was a very good solution, since you could shoot fireworks in focus at night, for example.

This is not possible with the Pocket 3! After switching on the Pocket 3 (with a preset single focus), the focus is adjusted to the next object  and not to infinity.
I would like to know how to set the Pocket 3 permanently to "infinity" at night (for fireworks, lightning flash etc)???

there seems to be a tap to focus, you can move the yellow box and it should focus on that point or just use single focus.

YES YES YES!  Come on DJI.  You can do better.  A function that allows for INFINITY focus should have come with a firmware update on the Pocket 1 and 2, but to not have it at this price point with the Pocket 3 really makes no sense.  This should be so easy to provide and with it this product reaches the level of "one camera to rule them all."  

The number of shots I've lost due to auto-focus on the Pocket 1 and 2 is crazy.  Action Cams don't have this issue, but they all come with the downside of electronic stabilization.  I don't want that especially in low light where it flakes out.   

And silly workarounds where you have to move the yellow box are ridiculous.  By the time you've powered up and done all that you've lost the shot.  Again, at this price point it should already come with an option for fixed infinity focus.  Please give this serious consideration DJI.  I typically want to give you all my money, but I can't see buying this product until it has this functionality.   

JPW1 Posted at 10-26 12:11
YES YES YES!  Come on DJI.  You can do better.  A function that allows for INFINITY focus should have come with a firmware update on the Pocket 1 and 2, but to not have it at this price point with the Pocket 3 really makes no sense.  This should be so easy to provide and with it this product reaches the level of "one camera to rule them all."  

The number of shots I've lost due to auto-focus on the Pocket 1 and 2 is crazy.  Action Cams don't have this issue, but they all come with the downside of electronic stabilization.  I don't want that especially in low light where it flakes out.   

By the time you point your finger and touch a screen you’ve lost the shot! , sounds like you need a sports camera or wildlife is what are you shooting. Apart from that landscapes very rarely moves apart from clouds and I’m sure you can move your finger quicker than them ;+)

Hallmark007 Posted at 10-26 09:17
there seems to be a tap to focus, you can move the yellow box and it should focus on that point or just use single focus.

especially in pitch dark night !??
All good drones from DJI have the ability to permanently set the focus to infinity!
I would like to have that here too!

Hi there. Thank you for reaching out. I will forward this concern of yours to our relevant team for attention. After the evaluation of the engineers, significant suggestions or requests will be implemented via the firmware update, app update, etc.  Thank you for your understanding and support.

DJI Paladin Posted at 10-26 19:39
Hi there. Thank you for reaching out. I will forward this concern of yours to our relevant team for attention. After the evaluation of the engineers, significant suggestions or requests will be implemented via the firmware update, app update, etc.  Thank you for your understanding and support.

Hello Paladin,
i love too see here a manually fokus like in the Air3 that allows a infinity setting too.

Hallmark007 Posted at 10-26 12:27
By the time you point your finger and touch a screen you’ve lost the shot! , sounds like you need a sports camera or wildlife is what are you shooting. Apart from that landscapes very rarely moves apart from clouds and I’m sure you can move your finger quicker than them ;+)

lol...I've got to believe you don't have any kids.  Rest assured, if you did, and you tried to get any footage of them, Wildlife and Sports move slow in comparison.   

Also, the industry is moving in this direction.  Take note of manufacturers adding pre-recording and hindsight to their products.  This actually starts recording BEFORE you actually hit the record button.  If those functions are gaining popularity then I'm sure you can see how adding extra time by having to conduct a manual workaround is just silly.  I don't have the Pocket 3, but I think they've even added the option to start recording the instant you spin the screen (and the Pocket powers up as well).  That is all great and it looks like it does it pretty quickly, but if your subject is out of focus then that extra time you've gained starts to lessen its value.  

So, DJI could really gain a greater following here by keeping all the current functionality and also adding an INFINITY MODE in their options to force infinity focus all the time / at startup.  This would allow for that quick start-up / record AND have everything in focus all at once.  This would take a lot of people like about action cams and bring them to the Pocket as well.  

JPW1 Posted at 10-27 11:34
lol...I've got to believe you don't have any kids.  Rest assured, if you did, and you tried to get any footage of them, Wildlife and Sports move slow in comparison.   

Also, the industry is moving in this direction.  Take note of manufacturers adding pre-recording and hindsight to their products.  This actually starts recording BEFORE you actually hit the record button.  If those functions are gaining popularity then I'm sure you can see how adding extra time by having to conduct a manual workaround is just silly.  I don't have the Pocket 3, but I think they've even added the option to start recording the instant you spin the screen (and the Pocket powers up as well).  That is all great and it looks like it does it pretty quickly, but if your subject is out of focus then that extra time you've gained starts to lessen its value.  

I do have kids all grown up now and I did some pro photography with kids for a few years. But your understanding of the camera is wrong. When you turn on the camera you can have it set to single focus shoot a photo or shoot video. If you’re shooting a photo it will focus 20 cm to infinity and everything will be in focus it doesn’t drift it wont cause anything to be out of focus, you can tap on a subject and this will be in focus and you will get a shallow dept of field. It all works the same in video or photo photo below was full auto and focused to infinity but if your infinity is 5 miles away focus/sharpness will fall off. This camera is ideal and a great camera for filming children.
So you’re not right it does have focus to infinity in full auto or manual and also works as soon as you fire it up , for some reason people have got the wrong end of the stick here, I don’t know why.

Hallmark007 Posted at 10-27 11:55
I do have kids all grown up now and I did some pro photography with kids for a few years. But your understanding of the camera is wrong. When you turn on the camera you can have it set to single focus shoot a photo or shoot video. If you’re shooting a photo it will focus 20 cm to infinity and everything will be in focus it doesn’t drift it wont cause anything to be out of focus, you can tap on a subject and this will be in focus and you will get a shallow dept of field. It all works the same in video or photo photo below was full auto and focused to infinity but if your infinity is 5 miles away focus/sharpness will fall off. This camera is ideal and a great camera for filming children.
So you’re not right it does have focus to infinity in full auto or manual and also works as soon as you fire it up , for some reason people have got the wrong end of the stick here, I don’t know why.

Thanks for that explanation.  I do see your point.  Honestly, I'm not sure how much I ever used SINGLE focus because I may have assumed you always wanted CONTINUOUS focus.  I just did some tests and could see what you were pointing to albeit the focus was pretty poor close-up (or at least for me) and it didn't feel as though I was in the 20 cm range yet.  If SINGLE focus is setting the focus to infinity it really feels like DJI should call that out somewhere or maybe SINGLE focus is just a poor way of describing it because it certainly never sunk in for me and doesn't seem to be for others as well.  
I do need to do more testing though to be fully convinced this focuses in the same way an action cam does.  Basically, here is an example of what I would normally think the Osmo Pocket is incapable of (start around 2:15):



Note that Tamera as well as all the buildings and background around her are in razor sharp focus.  As you know, this is an action cam and it does not have any kind of focus.  It just has a focus to infinity, and like you said, it will keep everything in focus until you get just too close-up.  I'll try a similar test soon with SINGLE focus on my Pocket 2 and see how the results are.  Hopefully, they are in focus as well.  If so, I might have you to thank for impacting my checkbook because the Pocket 3 might start to become considerably more attractive for me.   We'll see.   

MavGuido Posted at 10-27 10:34
Hello Paladin,
i love too see here a manually fokus like in the Air3 that allows a infinity setting too.

Hello, MavGuido. Rest assured that this will be forwarded to our relevant team. Feel free to contact us if you have other inquiries. Thank you for your understanding and support.

Hi, manual focus should be added. "infinity focus" depends of the sensor size, the lens size, the aperture and the distance lens-object. It is not a issue, it is physics. Just learn about depth of field ;-)

JPW1 Posted at 10-29 19:39
Thanks for that explanation.  I do see your point.  Honestly, I'm not sure how much I ever used SINGLE focus because I may have assumed you always wanted CONTINUOUS focus.  I just did some tests and could see what you were pointing to albeit the focus was pretty poor close-up (or at least for me) and it didn't feel as though I was in the 20 cm range yet.  If SINGLE focus is setting the focus to infinity it really feels like DJI should call that out somewhere or maybe SINGLE focus is just a poor way of describing it because it certainly never sunk in for me and doesn't seem to be for others as well.  
I do need to do more testing though to be fully convinced this focuses in the same way an action cam does.  Basically, here is an example of what I would normally think the Osmo Pocket is incapable of (start around 2:15):

After some more testing, I still see the need for an INFINITY mode (if it is even possible to provide a quality option on the Osmo Pocket).  You can do this test yourself and see the problem on any Osmo Pocket.  Just walk around and flip the camera toward you as so many YouTube content creators do.  Now, as you walk around set the focus mode to SINGLE then get some footage.  Then get similar footage, but change the focus mode to CONTINUOUS.

Now, go back to the computer and compare each.  Here is what I see.  SINGLE focus looks awful for the individual, but the background looks good.  With my arm outstretched I'm easily beyond the 20cm range, but it still looks out of focus in the foreground.  Now, look at the footage with CONTINUOUS focus.  The opposite is seen.  The individual looks razor sharp, but the background looks blurry and out of focus as you would expect.

You can't get everything in focus as you would hope and as action cams do so well.  Again, you can check Tamera's footage above as she walk around with the Action 4.  Both her face and the background are razor sharp.  It isn't possible with the Osmo Pocket and it should be.  

This might beg the question, "Well, why not just get an action cam then?"  This is because action cams do a poor job with stabilization in low light.  The mechanical stabilization is really the way to go, but I can't see myself buying another one when you can't have both the individual and the background in focus at the same time.  I hope they do add something that might make it possible.  

Please add an ability to focus on infinite. When you film in the city focus jumping from face to face to objects and the picture is not consistent because of it.  Single focus appears to focus in some areas, but blurry in others when I try using it. It is sad. Please fix in the future updates!

Xavier1984 Posted at 10-30 06:49
Hi, manual focus should be added. "infinity focus" depends of the sensor size, the lens size, the aperture and the distance lens-object. It is not a issue, it is physics. Just learn about depth of field ;-)

The Pocket 3 has a sensor and lens configuration that makes what you are requesting physically impossible.  If it is focussed on the horizon then anything closer than about 2m from the camera will be out of focus.  That's what depth of field is all about.

fansfe82067d Posted at 11-22 16:30
The Pocket 3 has a sensor and lens configuration that makes what you are requesting physically impossible.  If it is focussed on the horizon then anything closer than about 2m from the camera will be out of focus.  That's what depth of field is all about.

The answer is completely wrong!!!

That would mean that no camera with a fixed focal length and fixed aperture could not be preset to "infinity" with a 1 inch sensor and larger???

Of course, this also works perfectly with my Sony A7 cameras and my DJI drones!

Sorry, I'm just repeating info from DJI's posts here.

fansfe82067d Posted at 11-23 00:09
Sorry, I'm just repeating info from DJI's posts here.

no problem

JPW1 Posted at 10-29 19:39
Thanks for that explanation.  I do see your point.  Honestly, I'm not sure how much I ever used SINGLE focus because I may have assumed you always wanted CONTINUOUS focus.  I just did some tests and could see what you were pointing to albeit the focus was pretty poor close-up (or at least for me) and it didn't feel as though I was in the 20 cm range yet.  If SINGLE focus is setting the focus to infinity it really feels like DJI should call that out somewhere or maybe SINGLE focus is just a poor way of describing it because it certainly never sunk in for me and doesn't seem to be for others as well.  
I do need to do more testing though to be fully convinced this focuses in the same way an action cam does.  Basically, here is an example of what I would normally think the Osmo Pocket is incapable of (start around 2:15):

I've already done this test with the pocket 2 and it has a better focus system then the pocket 3.  I've made a side by side comparison on youtube with the 2 vs 3 and you are correct the 3 has a focusing problem where it can't get the background in focus consistently.  I believe this is a software problem.  I'm a commercial photographer in NYC and it's not a DOF problem.  Even their own Mavic 3, which I have, doesn't do this and that has a MFT size sensor which is much bigger than a still relatively small 1" sensor that isn't even really 1".

Casn you post the link?  Is this a problem in all focus modes?  Very interesting.... in one video I saw online, I did wonder whether there was a focus issue.  I've not seen such an issue with mine but I've not got shooting for it.

JPW1 Posted at 10-27 11:34
lol...I've got to believe you don't have any kids.  Rest assured, if you did, and you tried to get any footage of them, Wildlife and Sports move slow in comparison.   

Also, the industry is moving in this direction.  Take note of manufacturers adding pre-recording and hindsight to their products.  This actually starts recording BEFORE you actually hit the record button.  If those functions are gaining popularity then I'm sure you can see how adding extra time by having to conduct a manual workaround is just silly.  I don't have the Pocket 3, but I think they've even added the option to start recording the instant you spin the screen (and the Pocket powers up as well).  That is all great and it looks like it does it pretty quickly, but if your subject is out of focus then that extra time you've gained starts to lessen its value.  

What about a scenario where the object of the video or photo in in the foreground? Having it start at infinity will not be ideal

Psoon Posted at 11-24 08:00
What about a scenario where the object of the video or photo in in the foreground? Having it start at infinity will not be ideal

I would like to give just 1 example out of hundreds that sometimes require a permanent "infinity" focus:

I'm sitting in the car when it's raining and want to film the landscape. This is not possible with the automatic focus because it focuses on the raindrops on the window. With manual focus, I would have to open the windows for every clip and focus on more distant objects. The same in an airplane -  but here it's difficult to open a window.

This is total nonsense!

That's why it's absolutely essential that the Pocket 3 gets this function!

DJI has made the Pocket 3 worse compared to the 2.

For example, it has eliminated the quick access buttons that the Pocket 2 had.

Another example, you cannot leave the gimbal locked unless you hold down the direction button.

And so more and more examples such as the low quality in the current autofocus of the Pocket 3.

Yes, it has improved it in many other things, but in others it has made it worse.

DJI has brought to market, 3 years after 2, a product that is not well optimized.

It has many, many errors that they have not yet solved nor do they know how to do it.

I will never trust DJI at the Pocket 4 level or later again.

I can't return the Pocket 3, if I could, I would return it.

Mr. DJI, go back.

In drones, it seems that competitors are getting out of the fight, but in cameras you will lose the fight when other brands begin to destroy the segment.

You are throwing sand on yourselves (you are burying yourself alive).

EnTuMente Posted at 11-28 01:40
DJI has made the Pocket 3 worse compared to the 2.

For example, it has eliminated the quick access buttons that the Pocket 2 had.

Good points. I also don't understand why Gimbal locks its positions for few seconds when panning using hand and then facing up or down using joystick. It locks where camera is facing when touching to the joystick for few seconds and wont return to the center anymore. Pocket 1 and pocket 2 does not do that. They keep panning and moving even if you use joystick to look upper or lower. It makes it unusable to use joystick for example while walking. I have seen two Pocket 3s acting like this so it is not just my device.

I also love the Pocket 2 control wheel. Can make super small adjustments while filming especially up and down. And you cant even notice if it is used slowly.

After 5 years I don't understand why this got worse because they already had working code how gimbal moves and works.

Also the body is more paperplastic. Pocket 1 and 2 has better plastic quality.

We all want and need a manual focus option, it will make osmo pocket 3 a perfect camera, will boost your sellings by times and will take all the frustrations out of using it. Please DJI address the request to the R&D team, we all need a manual focus option as a first / top priority

djiuser_wYPs74921bD4 Posted at 11-29 04:00
We all want and need a manual focus option, it will make osmo pocket 3 a perfect camera, will boost your sellings by times and will take all the frustrations out of using it. Please DJI address the request to the R&D team, we all need a manual focus option as a first / top priority

We understand the importance of this request. We will continue submitting your feedback to the related team for awareness. We appreciate your patience.

EnTuMente Posted at 11-28 01:40
DJI has made the Pocket 3 worse compared to the 2.

For example, it has eliminated the quick access buttons that the Pocket 2 had.

You are forgetting that it took many months for some of the features you mention to be made available for the Pocket 2.  And there is a lot of evidence that the Pocket 3 is a great commercial success.  Lastly, there are a thousand purposes for this camera to be used and a thousand features that different people might be glad to see.  Manual focus is not something that I have even thought of and it does not particuiarly interest me with this kind of camera.  For manual focus I would choose a DSLR with a proper viewfinder and a large knob on the lens for accurate focussing.  The Pocket 3 could never emulate that.

fansfe82067d Posted at 12-8 02:43
You are forgetting that it took many months for some of the features you mention to be made available for the Pocket 2.  And there is a lot of evidence that the Pocket 3 is a great commercial success.  Lastly, there are a thousand purposes for this camera to be used and a thousand features that different people might be glad to see.  Manual focus is not something that I have even thought of and it does not particuiarly interest me with this kind of camera.  For manual focus I would choose a DSLR with a proper viewfinder and a large knob on the lens for accurate focussing.  The Pocket 3 could never emulate that.

I can repeat it again and again:

For this Pocket3 there are hundreds of situations where we need a manual focus and a fixed infinity focus.
If this is not available, then this wonderful camera cannot be used in some cases.

Any cheap camera can do that!

fansfe82067d Posted at 12-8 02:43
You are forgetting that it took many months for some of the features you mention to be made available for the Pocket 2.  And there is a lot of evidence that the Pocket 3 is a great commercial success.  Lastly, there are a thousand purposes for this camera to be used and a thousand features that different people might be glad to see.  Manual focus is not something that I have even thought of and it does not particuiarly interest me with this kind of camera.  For manual focus I would choose a DSLR with a proper viewfinder and a large knob on the lens for accurate focussing.  The Pocket 3 could never emulate that.

D-LOG-M in 10 bit is also not a must have if you take it for a basic usage, and slow mo and other nice features that are already implemented. But if you are a user that doesnt use a camera that costs 700$ only for filming your kids at home or filming your face(which is totally fine) you will notice a lot of cases where a manual focus is needed. If you are a content creator and want to film in D-Log and create some decent content for social media(which this camera was advertised for) and you used the app Filmic Pro on an iPhone or Android device you know that manual focus gives you unlimited oppurtunities. I suggest you to try Filmic Pro on your phone and try the manual focus wheel there, you will be impressed of how fine its working and how useful it could be. And for this type of device as Pocket 3 where you can use your phone as an external display this feature is straitghly fitting into the design of this camera.

Unfortunately, we have still not received an answer from DJI as to when this very important function (infinity focus) will finally be included in a firmware update.

KARL PIET Posted at 2023-11-22 23:42
The answer is completely wrong!!!

That would mean that no camera with a fixed focal length and fixed aperture could not be preset to "infinity" with a 1 inch sensor and larger???

Pics or it didn't happen :-)

For sure you can do this, you need only small enough aperture setting.

Large aperture => thin depth of field.
Small aperture => wide depth of field.

The larger the sensor, the greater the effect of this dependency.

Drones in your profile have pretty small sensors. On your sony a7 you should be always able to set small aperture and if youf have good lenses, then also large aperture.
  

djiuser_wYPs74921bD4 Posted at 2023-11-29 04:00
We all want and need a manual focus option, it will make osmo pocket 3 a perfect camera, will boost your sellings by times and will take all the frustrations out of using it. Please DJI address the request to the R&D team, we all need a manual focus option as a first / top priority

There is already manual focus available.

Pro settings => swipe down => focus settings => single focus => tap on the screen to focus the object which should be focused.  

Karl53 Posted at 2023-12-8 08:17
I can repeat it again and again:

For this Pocket3 there are hundreds of situations where we need a manual focus and a fixed infinity focus.

For sure, any cheap cam can do this.
But no one (or only a few)  cheap cams can do a thin depth of field like the Pocket 3 ;-)

My understanding is that you can select Single Point focus and simply tap somewhere in the distance. Then everything is in focus further then 2 meters. If you need to focus closer than two meters, tap on the subject and live with the de-focussed background. Or go to Continuous focus mode. I don’t see the problem.

Even in single point focus, the pocket 2 still has better detail in far away objects.  I have tested this extensively.  I'm not sure why and it's not the larger sensor because my FF Sony cameras are crisp even at f2.

JerryLaurence Posted at 2-6 23:34
My understanding is that you can select Single Point focus and simply tap somewhere in the distance. Then everything is in focus further then 2 meters. If you need to focus closer than two meters, tap on the subject and live with the de-focussed background. Or go to Continuous focus mode. I don’t see the problem.

to your information, here is my text from post 26 ...

I would like to give just 1 example out of hundreds that sometimes require a permanent "infinity" focus:

I'm sitting in the car when it's raining and want to film the landscape. This is not possible with the automatic focus because it focuses on the raindrops on the window. With manual focus, I would have to open the windows for every clip and focus on more distant objects. The same in an airplane -  but here it's difficult to open a window.

This is total nonsense!

That's why it's absolutely essential that the Pocket 3 gets this function

In all DJI drones Mini 3, Air 3, Mavic 3 and so on, we have the possibility to lock the infinity focus! Why not with the pocket3 ???

Karl53 Posted at 2-7 07:48
to your information, here is my text from post 26 ...

I would like to give just 1 example out of hundreds that sometimes require a permanent "infinity" focus:

Two fundamental aspects are being confused here.

1) Fixed focus on distant objects.

You can set this by switching to single focus and focusing once on something in the distance.  And now you don't need to open the window in the airplane for this.

2) Focus with a wide depth of field. You will only achieve this to a limited extent with the Pocket 3.

With the Mini 3 and Air 3 you will ONLY achieve focus with a fairly wide depth of field.

With the Mavic 3, you will be able to achieve both wide and shallow depth of field focus with the main camera, because the aperture can be adjusted AND a large sensor has been installed AND a fairly good lens has been installed.

In a small aeroplane, it's difficult for me to focus on a distant object first using manual focus.
The object must be at least 4-5 metres away!

Besides, how do I want to focus manually beforehand when I'm waiting for fireworks in the pitch dark?

I could give many more examples here
It should also be possible with the Pocket 3, which is also possible with my Sony A7 IV with different lenses, even with different aperture settings

Karl53 Posted at 2-7 08:13
In a small aeroplane, it's difficult for me to focus on a distant object first using manual focus.
The object must be at least 4-5 metres away!

It is useless to focus on distant object in small airplane if you film inside the airplane ;-)

Again, your Sony with wide open aperture will also be able to focus either in the distance or close up. And if you focus in the distance, you will have everything blurred in the foreground (not in focus) and vice versa. Not both at the same time.


Sorry, but as someone who is buying a Sony A7 IV you should actually know such basics.

JustName Posted at 2-7 09:05
It is useless to focus on distant object in small airplane if you film inside the airplane ;-)

Again, your Sony with wide open aperture will also be able to focus either in the distance or close up. And if you focus in the distance, you will have everything blurred in the foreground (not in focus) and vice versa. Not both at the same time.

After over 37 years of experience in photography and filming, I really don't lack any basics!

I rather think, that you haven't understood the problem!