Atane Ofiaja

DJI has unveiled the latest entry in the popular Osmo smartphone gimbal series, the Osmo Mobile 8, which is capable of 360° pan rotation, equipped with ten hours of battery life, and utilizes more advanced subject tracking than previous models.

While the internals of a smartphone continually become more filmmaking friendly, the externals and ergonomics still hew toward strict minimalism and compactness. Because of that, most creatives find there are at least a few additional accessories they need to add to their phone for it to be capable of robust video streaming or capture.

While it may be easy to prop your phone against a stack of books and hit record, the resulting video podcast might not be quite what you had in mind. So what exactly separates a smartphone camera from a standalone professional camera, and what are the most important factors to weigh if you’re considering an upgrade? Visual Aesthetics and Control The most important factor limiting your smartphone camera is its sensor size.