Original subtitles

So, if you want to get the most out of

your Osmo Mobile 8, then watch this

video and I'm going to show you how to

get the most cinematic footage using

this device.

[music]

So, I always tell my students on Patreon

that smartphone gimbals, they come in

different categories. And the eighth

generation of the Osmo mobile gimbal is

basically in the lightweight category

and it folds up nice and small. So, for

that reason, it's really a great choice

for video creators on the move. You

don't want to get weighed down with

bulky gear. The OM8 has added a few new

features since the OM7 and the OM7P. So,

for starters, the OM8 has full 360°

unlimited pan, and it now also has pet

tracking. The pan axis can tilt forward,

and that makes it easier to track your

dog when you're going for a walk.

There's now Apple Docket for iOS users,

which means that you can track a person

in loads of different apps. They've also

beefed up the magnetic clamp, so your

phone's extra secure. They've added a

USBC port on the Rollaxis to charge your

phone while you shoot, and they brought

back the good old counterweight port so

you can balance out those extra lenses

and filters. So, I'm going to show you

how to get to grips with all that. How

to connect your DJI mics, how to use the

extendable handle and how to use active

track 7 and all the other stuff that you

can think of. Now, once you've activated

your gimbal using the DJI Mimo app and

charged it using the USBC port on the

side, the next thing to do is mount your

smartphone to the clamp. Attach the

clamp so that the camera symbol points

towards the cameras of your phone. You

can use your phone with or without a

case. And the Osmo Mobile 8 supports

smartphones, including case weighing 170

to 300 g with a width of 67 to 84 mm and

a thickness of 6.9 to 10 mm. While there

is the option to purchase a MagSafe

clamp, the multi-functional module needs

to use the regular clamp. You've got

these four prongs which connect the

module to the gimbal. And anyway, I

actually find that the regular clamp is

more secure than the MagSafe version

because actually if you knock the

MagSafe clamp out of alignment, the

strength of the magnet is much weaker.

Now, make sure the clamp is flat against

the back of your phone. And when you

attach the clamp to the gimbal, you can

see these four prongs and they need to

match the four contacts on the gimbal

motor. So again, just make sure there's

no gaps and that the smartphone is level

in the clamp. Now, to power on the

gimbal, all you need to do is open it

out and it auto powers on. If you fold

up the gimbal, it's going to power off.

But you can also power the gimbal on and

off by long pressing the M button. To

refold the gimbal, position the roll

motor so that when you fold the gimbal,

it sits against the trigger. And this

little pin here should sit in the

indentation to stop it moving around

while you're carrying it.

If you find that your phone isn't level,

you can use the DJI Mimo app autoc

calibration. And if it still isn't

right, just go into the app and then

adjust the level manually. So, if you're

out filming and it's like, "Oh, how does

it work? I can't remember." You just

can't remember what a particular button

does or how to activate a certain

feature. There's actually a quick way to

remind yourself. Open up the settings in

the Mimo app by tapping the three dots

in the bottom left corner. Go to the

gimbal settings and then go to the

gimbal quick start guide. And here

you're going to find a few screens which

tell you what each button does and the

meaning of all the lights and

indicators.

Make sure you have Bluetooth enabled on

your phone. And if the gimbal is

switched on when you open the DJI Mimo

app, it should find the gimbal and pair

automatically. Go ahead and update

firmware if you see this message at the

top of the screen. You can use your

gimbal with or without the Mimo app, but

certain features are only available via

the app. For example, active track. On

the front of the gimbal, we have the

record button. Press once to start and

stop recording and to take a photo.

[music]

And this is going to work with any

camera app, including your phone's

native app. So, here's a tip to get some

really smooth footage. Don't start

recording and then run around like it's

the gimbal Olympics. Move as slowly and

as carefully as you can. And here's

another trick. Go into the Mimo app and

switch the follow speed to medium or to

slow. And now the gimbal is going to

ease smoothly into and out of any

movement. So when you stop your motion,

you want the camera to come to rest on

your subject. So just wait a beat as the

gimbal catches up. See how it eases out

of the movement? And this is what your

gimbal can do. That's much harder to do

just holding your phone in your hands.

And this is what a lot of people don't

understand about using a gimbal. So,

they're not really getting the most out

of it. Let the gimbal do the work for

you. That's why you bought it. Now, to

get an even smoother shot, use the

native app and switch to 60 or 120

frames pers. And then, when you edit the

video, slow this to 30 frames pers. So,

this is good for B-roll. [music]

And if you add extra stabilization,

you're going to get beautiful, buttery

smooth cinematic video. And these are

all the kinds of tips that you can

actually find in my book, Smartphone

Video Beginner to Advanced, which is

available via Amazon. And obviously, I'm

going to put all the links to everything

in this video in the description. So,

this is the switch button. And if you're

using the Mimo app, press this once and

it's going to switch between front and

rear cameras.

>> [music]

>> Pressing it twice switches between

horizontal and vertical. Press three

times to switch between video and photos

mode in the Mimo app. Now, here we have

the mode button, which is also the power

button. Long press the button to power

the gimbal on or off. Press once to

switch the modes of your gimbal. And

essentially what this does is tell the

gimbal which motors to use to follow

your movements. When you change modes,

the current mode is going to be

indicated by these white symbols. So,

there's four of them and obviously one

for each mode. [music] PTF or pan and

tilt follow follows horizontal and tilt

movement, but it locks the roll movement

and this is a good mode for general use

and it also allows you to move and then

[music] tilt up and down when you're

moving. We've got pan follow and this

locks the tilt and the roll and it just

follows your pan movement. So, this is

going to be good for tracking shots and

as well you can extend the handle and

create a really cool cinematic looking

crane shot if you hold it sideways.

Firsterson view follows all movements

and this is good for more kind of

creative shots where you, you know, you

want complete freedom just to move the

camera and it's a little bit like taking

your audience on a roller coaster ride.

And then a similar kind of shot which is

the spin shot. And this is for creative

barrel roll effects. And in this mode,

you got to push the joystick left or

right to turn your smartphone in a

circle. But if you do actually find that

your phone is angling up slightly, you

can actually straighten it just by

pulling up the pan motor a little bit

and then just adjust the hinge that's

level. The joystick is actually touch

sensitive. And this means that you can

adjust the speed of movement by how much

you push the joystick. If you want to

create a slow barrel roll, for example,

you can just push the joystick a small

way, left or right. But if you push it

all the way, you can see that it goes

much faster. Press and hold the trigger

to enter locked mode. And now none of

the motors are going to respond to your

movements. And this is useful for smooth

kind of push or pull movements where you

want a kind of maximum stability and you

don't want accidental shifts in your

framing. Double press the trigger to

recenter the camera and you know you're

going to find that you use that a lot.

If you double press the trigger and then

hold, you're now in sport mode and this

makes the gimbal react quicker to your

movement. Personally, I would just take

the phone from the gimbal for fast

reaction shots. And that's another

important tip. Don't [music] use the

gimbal for every shot because some shots

are just going to look better handheld

or maybe using a tripod. So, you've got

this magnetic clamp. Why not make use of

it? Just take the phone off the gimbal

and get some shots handheld. Tap the

trigger three times and the gimbal is

going to turn 180°. So, if you want to

film yourself with the rear camera

instead, this is basically the quickest

way to achieve that. The only issue, of

course, is that you can't see yourself

for framing. Personally, when I'm

filming myself and I want to check the

framing, I use my Apple Watch. So, this

is just the basic Apple Watch SE. The

DJI Mimo app now supports Apple Watches,

so you can monitor yourself as well as

use it for basic remote control. Once

your Apple Watch is connected to DJI

Mimo, you're going to get this screen

with a record button, and you can just

tap that to start and stop recording.

Tap the left icon, and you have three

more buttons. On the left is the

orientation switch for horizontal or

vertical. In the middle is the joystick

and on the right we have the recenter

button. Tap the X to go back to the

previous screen. If you tap the button

on the right, you're going to start

tracking. The Mimo app then looks for a

face and then locks onto it. And now if

I move the gimbal, it's going to follow

me. Tap again to stop tracking. When you

capture media using the Apple Watch,

you're going to see the last image

appears bottom left. You can tap that to

view it, but it seems that at the moment

anyway, you can only view a still image.

So, you can't actually watch back any

video this way. You can also use your

Apple Watch with the native camera app

of your phone, but you're not going to

get any of the remote controls other

than the record button and the preview

monitor for framing. Tap the three dots

and you can actually switch between the

front and rear cameras as well as switch

on the flashlight. So, one of the main

selling points of a smartphone gimbal is

its tracking capabilities. And you know,

tracking in a gimbal is really a

significant advantage and obviously a

strong reason to buy one. So, the Osmo

Mobile 8 now offers three main tracking

methods. So, when you're using the DJI

Mimo app, you can use Active Track 7 to

select a subject or an object on your

phone screen and the gimbal will

automatically track it. So, the app also

supports multi-ubject tracking and that

lets you switch targets by tapping these

different detection boxes. [music]

With the OM8, we now have Apple Docket

Tracking, which is obviously an iPhone

only feature. Make sure Bluetooth is

enabled on your iPhone. uh which it

probably is because you need it to be

enabled to connect to your gimbal

anyway. Now, NFC with iOS 26 actually

runs in the background, so you don't

have to enable it on iPhones because

basically it's always enabled. Now,

Apple Docket does not work with the

multi-functional module attached. So,

you have to remove that first and then

hold your iPhone close to the NFC area

of the gimbal, which is marked with this

sticker. And this actually uses the same

tech as when you're using your phone to

pay for something, you know, like using

Apple Pay or Google Pay. Now, you should

get a pop-up window. So, tap to connect.

And now your OM8 is connected to your

iPhone using the NFC connection. And you

can use any app that supports Apple

Docket, like your native camera app,

FaceTime, Blackmagic Camera, and so on.

On the downside, it only tracks people's

faces. And actually, it doesn't perform

as well as other forms of tracking. It's

a little bit sort of laggy. It's sort of

slow to react. Now, the idea is that

once you've gone through this procedure,

uh, setting up the docket, it should

automatically connect next time your

iPhone is near the powered up gimbal.

But this isn't exactly how it works in

reality because this is what actually

happens. So, first you make the

connection, place your phone on the

gimbal, open a compatible app. So, here

I'm using the native iPhone app. When

you see that gray square, that means

it's found your face, but it hasn't

locked on yet. Once it goes yellow, now

it's tracking you. And the green light

on top of the pan motor is going to

pulse when it's tracking as well. Okay,

so fine. Press record and record

something or, you know, do a FaceTime or

whatever. But now, when we close the

camera app, we get this little docket

symbol in the dynamic island, which

tells you that Docket is running in the

background. And in fact, it's still

tracking me as I move around even

without the camera. But now when we open

the DJI Mimo app, it connects to that

instead. And the docket connection is

disabled. And it also switches off

docket in the background. So now when I

switch back to the native camera, we'd

expect that it's just going to connect

back to the docket again, you know,

wouldn't we? That sort of makes sense,

doesn't it? But actually, it doesn't do

that. And if we want to start docket

tracking again, we're going to need to

take the phone off and then go through

the same procedure as we did when we

first set it up, you know, and it even

says here in this little box,

configuring for the first time, even

though it's already configured from

before, you would have thought, but

apparently not. So once it's sort of

disconnected from docket, you have to do

this again. And then you have to go

through that and you have to wait for it

to finish configuring for the first

time. And uh so really it's uh not a

very convenient feature. [music] And

anyway, the tracking isn't as good as

when using the AI tracker. So if you've

got the AI tracker, I don't see why you

would ever use this. Maybe if you just

don't want to carry the AI tracker or

you prefer the tracking when you just

open up the camera and it starts

immediately tracking you and you don't

have to, you know, press the trigger or

whatever. And my opinion, the AI tracker

works 100% of the time and it's better

at tracking. So, the Osmo Mobile8

includes a multi-functional module with

an optical sensor, and this enables

tracking even when you're using your

phone's native camera app or third-p

party apps like Instagram or Tik Tok or

Blackmagic. So, the multifunctional

module clips easily onto the magnetic

clamp. At the back of the module is a

button which opens and closes the clips

that hold the module onto the clamp

along with the magnet. And at the front,

we've got the camera and we got the

light. Now, if you want to use the

module as a light, like a fill light,

then on the right side, we have two

buttons. First, we have the power and

brightness button. Short press to power

on the light, [music] and keep pressing

to cycle through the brightness levels.

And if you keep going, it eventually

just switches off. The second button

cycles through the temperature settings.

So, you can have a cold light or a warm

light or something in between. And you

can long press the wheel at the side to

power on or off the light. turn the

wheel and that's going to adjust

brightness or temperature. And to switch

between those two settings, just short

press the wheel. Now, if you want to use

the module for tracking, you've got to

switch out of the Mimo app and use

another app. Because if you use the Mimo

app, the gimbal is going to disable the

module tracking and it's going to

[music] use the MIMO tracking instead.

You know, the active track 7. And

actually, even if the phone screen is

off, the module [music] is still going

to function as a subject tracker. So, if

I switch to the iPhone native camera, I

can now use the module for tracking. The

light here needs to be red before you

start tracking. So, there's two ways to

get tracking. The first way is to press

the trigger once. And the module uses

faces to track. So, if it sees a face,

it's going to start tracking. And if it

sees more than one face, it's going to

start tracking the most prominent. So,

when it's tracking a subject, the module

light goes green. And the second way is

to use a hand gesture. Hold up the palm

of your hand and the light goes green

again. So if you want to adjust the

subject position, make this U sign with

both hands and the light now goes

yellow. The subject can move position

within the frame and then make the sign

again. The yellow light goes green again

and the gimbal is going to try to keep

the subject in this new position. To get

it to start recording or to take a

photo, make the V gesture with your

hand. So, you then get a countdown and

then it starts recording or it takes a

photo depending on which mode you're in.

[music] To stop recording, make the V

sign again and then you're going to get

another countdown before it stops. So,

in the app, if you have the

multi-functional module active, you now

get a menu of settings for the module.

Tap the three dots bottom left to open

settings as normal, and you're going to

see four icons instead of three. The

second one down is the module settings

button, which is shaped like the module.

If you tap that at the top, we have

follow speed. And if you want the

tracking to be slow and smooth and the

subject isn't going to be moving too

fast, then set this in the middle or

move towards the slow end. If you're

tracking faster subjects, then move this

towards the faster end of the slider.

Next is gesture [music] settings. Using

gesture control is really convenient.

But sometimes people in the frame make

the gestures by accident and end up, you

know, accidentally stopping the tracking

and recording. So if you've got an issue

with this, you can then just switch the

gestures off here. And if you don't have

the DJI mic connected, then the wireless

mic settings will be grayed out. But

when you do connect the mic, you can get

some pretty extensive audio controls

here. But I'll talk about those in the

next section, which is all about using

the module as a wireless mic receiver.

So, when you're tracking with the

module, you can only track faces or

pets. Uh, if you want to track other

objects, then you need to use the Mimo

app. The multifunctional module can

connect to up to two DJI wireless mics

and works with the DJI Mic 2, the DJI

Mic 3, and the mic minis. To use the

multifunctional module as a receiver for

the DJI mics, first you're going to need

to connect the module to your smartphone

via the USBC charging port. If you have

an iPhone with a lightning port, you're

going to need a USBC to lightning cable.

Now, we need to enable the Bluetooth

pairing on the module by long pressing

the button with the link symbol next to

it. The green lights on the opposite

side flash green. Next, you're going to

need to power on your DJI mic and enable

Bluetooth pairing on that as well. And

they should now automatically pair. And

when they're paired, [music] lights on

the module and on the mic will go green.

And now you're ready to start recording.

Once your DJI mic is connected, you can

now use the Bluetooth connection button

as a remote control to start and stop

recording. Okay, now I have the mic

connected. I can go back into the app

and open wireless mic settings. At the

top we have the battery level of the mic

and below is a live audio level meter

and below that is all the settings for

the mic mini transmitter. [music]

So you can choose between strong or

basic noise cancellation and you can

choose to have a mono or stereo audio

track. If you choose mono you can then

use the second channel as a safety

channel. And what this does is record

the same audio on both channels, but one

channel is going to be recorded at a

lower level. So if you get a sudden peak

in the audio level and it clips and you

get that kind of distortion, then you

have this lower level audio as a backup.

And below that is a gain level control.

And then we have a low cut filter which

you can use to remove lower frequencies.

So that's good for voice recording if

you want to reduce say wind rumbles and

anything [music] that's in the lower

frequency and it can help to improve the

quality of the audio. If you have

clipping control toggled on, then it's

going to automatically adjust volume and

it's to avoid any clipping. So if you

have this set, it's going to compress

the audio and therefore you don't need

to use the safety track. If you want

your audio recorded without compression,

switch this off. Below that, we have

some more settings for how the Mic Mini

operates. And one last thing, you don't

need to use the DJ Mimo app when you're

recording to use the mic. Uh you can use

any other app. So, [music] you can use

the native app and it's still going to

record audio using the mic. So, the OM8

has in-built tripod legs like the OM7

and 7P. And that means you don't have to

carry around the mini tripod as you did

with the OM6 and earlier versions. And

this is going to be useful for taking

group photos or videos where you want to

put yourself in the frame as well. Set

the gimbal on a flat surface and then

use the gesture control to take a photo

or start recording. As well, if you're

live streaming, you can set the gimbal

on a table or some other surface. And

now you can live stream hands-free. And

if you use the tracking module, the

gimbal is going to keep you in the frame

and your viewers won't miss any of the

action. And you can also use this for

hands-free video calls. So if you want

to move around, you can. And the gimbal

is going to follow your movement. So the

OM8 has the good old handle extension

like the previous versions since the

OM5. And the most obvious use for this

is selfies and group selfies. And it's

also useful for vlogging and solo

filming. Just hold the handle and pull

the pan motor upwards. At the end,

there's also this hinge which you can

bend up to 90 degrees. And with the OM8,

this can now bend both ways. And this

gives you a lot of flexibility for

angling the camera of your phone. To

make your videos more cinematic and more

engaging, it's always good to have lots

of different types of shots. High angle

looking down, a low angle looking up,

for example. You can do crane shots. You

can do drone style shots and so on. And

here's another tip. The Osmo Mobile does

have quite limited tilt movement, and

this can make it hard to angle your

phone towards yourself or your subject.

So, to fix this problem, you can just

adjust the angle of the head of the

stick. As well, you can extend the

handle to capture various low and high

angles. With a sideways shooting style,

you can create epic Hollywood style

crane shots. and you can get one of

those little fake drone shots just

raising it above your head. You are a

little bit limited with this uh

extending handle. So, if you want to go

really high and get something that

really does look like a drone shot, you

can just add something like a monopod

like the one I've got here. Now, then

you can really extend it and get those

shots where you're flying over the scene

and that can look really cool. The DJI

Mimo app active track has been updated

from versions 6 to 7. When capturing

images with the Mimo app, the app looks

for human faces within the frame. And if

it finds any, it places a box around the

face with this little green arrow here.

So, you just tap on the box to choose

which face to track, and it's going

[music] to start tracking that face.

Alternatively, you can tap the trigger

once, and the app is going to start

tracking whichever face has this green

arrow. If you want to switch to a

different face, you can just tap on the

box around their face. So, you can do

that before recording or even during

recording. With this update, Active

Track will now stick to whoever you tell

it to track, and it's not going to

switch to different faces. Like with the

previous version, when you switch to the

front camera, the app automatically

starts tracking the most prominent face.

To stop tracking, either tap the X in

the corner of the tracking box or tap

the trigger once more. With Active Track

7, you can now keep tracking the

selected subject as you zoom in and out.

So, you can even switch between

different cameras on your phone, and

it's [music] going to keep tracking. The

tracking should remain smooth all the

way up to maximum zoom. So, in this

case, I'm using an iPhone 16 Pro, which

goes up to eight times zoom in the Mimo

app. And as well, Active Track 7 also

allows you to effectively track pets and

other animals. One of the signs of an

amateur video is [snorts] the overuse of

the side to side shot. You know, what we

might call a pan shot. So, it is very

tempting when you're filming just to

sweep from left to right or right to

left to capture the whole scene. You

know, I've seen videos that are made up

just of like side to side shots, one

after the other, and it really doesn't

look very good. So, one way to avoid

this bad habit is to start thinking

about motivating your camera [music]

movement. So, I've actually made a whole

lesson for members on Patreon all about

this subject. But here, I'm just going

to give you a quick explainer.

Motivating your camera movement is going

to make a huge difference [music] to

your videos. It's often the difference

between a kind of prolooking video and a

not so prolooking video. One simple way

to motivate your camera movement is just

to follow a subject. So rather than this

side to side shot, which is a little bit

aimless, instead [music]

you could follow a car, you could follow

any kind of vehicle. You could follow a

pet or you can follow a human subject. I

mean really anything that's moving. And

this basically, like I say, this

motivates the camera movement. [music]

So it just gives it a purpose. And then

your audience is going to be much more

engaged because essentially you're

telling them what to look at. And this

is exactly the kind of thing that we go

into in depth in my lessons and courses

on Patreon. Now, if you press the wheel,

you can switch between zoom and focus.

And in the Mimo app top right, you're

going to see that there's a lens symbol

with ZM or MF. And this tells you

whether you are in zoom or manual focus

mode. So, you can only use this feature

in the Mimo app, but it allows you to

make nice smooth focus pulls while

you're recording. And again, this is

just motivating and it's kind of telling

your audience what to look at and it can

really add a professional production

value to your videos. Now, quick start

is a feature which automatically starts

the Mimo app as soon as you mount an

iPhone to the gimbal. So, as far as I

know, this feature only works with

iPhones. If you set your iPhone

correctly, the Mimo app sends you a

little notification and then you can

just tap that to open the app. And it

does make it a little bit easier,

especially if you have a lot of apps to

scroll through and you sort of hunting

to find the Mimo app. First of all, in

Mimo app settings, select the general

tab and then scroll down and toggle on

quick launch. Next, make sure your phone

isn't in do not disturb mode because

this is going to prevent notifications

from any [music] apps, including Mimo.

Open settings for your iPhone. Go to the

DJI Mimo app and then tap that. Tap

notifications and then allow

notifications. Make sure that location

and precise location are enabled for the

app. Don't know why you need to do that,

but apparently you do. So, after doing

all that, when you place the iPhone onto

the Osmo Mobile 7, you should get this

little notification. So, [music] then

you can just tap that and off you go.

Your Osmo Mobile8 can actually serve as

a power bank to charge your phone

through one of the USB ports on the

gimbal body. So, if you're using the

multi-functional module, you can connect

it to your phone while also connecting a

power bank to the gimbal's USBC port,

enabling even longer battery life.

Connect a USBC cable to your phone from

the new USBC port, and the gimbal now

supplies power to your phone. If you

want to use that counterweight port,

you're going to need to buy some

counterwes that are sold separately. But

if you have old ones like I do, I'm

afraid they don't work because the

problem is that they knock against the

arm of the gimbal. And so what you need

is these kind of tapered ones.

Apparently the only place you can get

them is by contacting DJI customer

support and they will send them to you.

But the general idea is that they

counterbalance anything that you put on

the other side of the phone. So if you

put a lens there or a a filter or both,

then you can use these weights to to

balance out the weight. So if you want

to boost your skills a bit, you can come

over on to Patreon. Otherwise, there's

the book. Apart from that, see you in

the next video.