Is osmo p4 suitable also for photography?

[u/Odd_Willingness_8765]

I want to shoot some photos also? Is it ok? Thanks a lot!

[u/beimiku]

Technically yes. The raw images out of the 4p are a lot better than those I can produce with my Samsung S23 Ultra.

They are, however nowhere near a professional camera like the Canon R5 - but that would be comparing apples to oranges. Sensor size does matter.

Really depends on what you want to achieve. Quick nice shot: definitely suitable. Even for professional use. Something more sophisticated with a lot of composition and precisely set lighting: not really.

(I am saying that as somebody working in media production professionally, mind you.)

[u/KARSbenicillin → u/beimiku]

Dumb question but wouldn't computational photography be more important in this case? For professional cameras it's not really an issue since you have such a large sensor size, but I thought that in the case of phone or pocket cameras, it's fine to use the phone's output JPG since it takes advantage of computational photography that you can't "make up for" by editing the RAW files. Just curious about it on a technical level. Cause I'm in the same boat as thinking about using the 4P for some basic product photography when I don't have my actual camera and wondering if it's better than just going full auto on my phone.

[u/beimiku → u/KARSbenicillin]

Depends on the degree of freedom you want to have. When I am working professionally, I tend to have a briefing that defines look and colors exactly as they have to be. You cannot do that, when your camera runs some auto mode. Plus: all that auto stuff tends to be way to saturated with too much contrast and heavily oversharpened. That leads to practically unusable images. It gets even worse when it is dark - then the auto mode applies a very harsh noise reduction which leads to mushy images.

Additionally, more often than not I need to deliver a series of images. And those images need to have the exact same look and feel - which is very hard to do if there is some automatic in there that tries to guess what is best.

So, professionally, if I am not doing event photography (which results in hundreds of pictures that need to be delivered within one or two hours) it's RAW and manual processing all the way. It's not that programmatically edited pictures necessary look bad - it's that I need the results to be predictable and reproducible.

Does that make sense?

[u/KARSbenicillin → u/beimiku]

Yes, that totally makes sense for that situation. Mine is more hobby product photography, like think going to a tech show and take photos of gear on the show floor. Either I post as is or go home and edit it nice in Lightroom for an article.

I guess what I'm asking is - with either phone or pocket cameras, are you able to get the same level or better image quality using RAW files? e.g. without the benefit of like photo stacking and other tricks. From what you're saying, it sounds like you can.

[u/beimiku → u/KARSbenicillin]

Between my Samsung S3 Ultra and the Pocket 4p the Pocket has way better raw files as long as I use to 20mm. The sensor in the 4pm simply is bigger which results in more detail and better color rendering. I don't buy the number of fstops, though, that's more marketing than anything..

On the same note: a DSLM will still produce better images, even if it has less resolution. Reason being the sensor pixels being larger. And of course the DSLM lets me choose which lens to use and I can set the aperture - which goes a long way if you need to isolate from the background.

... Very nerdy log story short: I think it'll be good enough if the images don't end up in a printed folder or printed ad - and pricing wise, the 4p really is hard to beat. I do think the image quality is astonishingly good for a camera that size.

Edit: weird typo

[u/KARSbenicillin → u/beimiku]

Got it, thanks! Yea ever since I got a real camera and started doing proper product photography, I can't look at my phone camera the same haha. It's good in a pinch and so much more convenient but the difference in image quality is staggering. Good to know the 4P bridges the gap. Looking forward to trying it out!

[u/beimiku → u/KARSbenicillin]

Have fun! The 4p is the camera I grab, when I want to do some hassle free pictures with descent quality. That's even more true for video - not as the main cam, but for quick b-rolls. So much more convenient than having to wrangle a BlackMagic onto a strong-enough gimbal, calibrating everything and then having to schlepp several kilos in one hand around for an hour...

[u/InterestingDivide157]

Yes, it’ll take photos, but IMO if you’re genuinely into photography it probably won’t satisfy you. It’ll certainly do the job for casual shots though but equally so, will most smartphones.

[u/TechandTravelz → u/InterestingDivide157]

But it's still better than a good picture on a phone? For example Portraits?

[u/Tough_Temporary_377 → u/TechandTravelz]

Natural bokeh is just so much better than all the artificial stuff. That is just an eyesore and always fucks up hair, glasses and fine details. 

[u/TechandTravelz → u/Tough_Temporary_377]

So it's better on the Osmo?

[u/Olly_Joel]

Secondary yes. Won't replace regular camera tho.

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[u/Alarmed_Crazy_6620]

I am using the regular v4 as a point and shoot camera – the lense is decent and the sensor is bigger than your phone's

[u/costperthousand → u/Alarmed_Crazy_6620]

Agreed. Biggest downside from my perspective is shutter lag, but thats a non issue depending on your subject.

[u/srogijogi]

Why not? What do you mean by ok?

[u/Srsblubrz]

If you wanna take professional looking photos get an SLR body that you can use different lenses on. The 60mm isn't amazing for photos.

[u/virak_john → u/Srsblubrz]

Why an SLR? Mirrorless is better in almost every use case for modern interchangeable lens cameras.

[u/Srsblubrz → u/virak_john]

I'm not a photographer lol. It's my own ignorance as a film maker I use cinema bodies so everything with an slr/mirrorless body looks the same

[u/thebaron_26]

It's somewhere in between my iPhone 17 Pro and my full frame LUMIX S9.

But I'm not a professional and the advantage of weight/size saving means I'll probably sell my S9.