The Dev Who Reverse Engineered DJI's Osmo Pocket 4P App

Erik Sutton built OpenPocketCine, the free open source field monitor app for the DJI Osmo Pocket 4P, Pocket 4 and Pocket 3, and DJI never gave him an SDK. In this full interview he explains how he reverse engineered the DJI Mimo app with Wireshark and AI coding tools, why he open sourced everything, and what is coming next. Erik is a game developer turned technical artist who started with OpenZCine for the Nikon ZR after Nikon released SDK 2.0, then rebuilt the whole thing for DJI Osmo cameras with no documentation at all. That meant packet sniffing every Mimo command (ISO, zoom, joystick, selfie flip, glamour mode) ten times in a row and letting AI find the patterns in the bytes. The result is a monitoring app with waveforms, traffic light exposure scopes, LUT overlays you can bake into the recording, a face tracking handoff from your phone to the Pocket, a one tap D-Log 2 zoom fix, and zero data collection. If DJI ever pulls out of the US, the app keeps working. We also get into his camera journey (Nikon Z6, Blackmagic Pocket 6K Pro, Canon R5 C and C70, Nikon Z8 and ZR), why he thinks the ZR and the Pocket 4P both shipped rushed, Konrad's Osmosis project, Frame.io and Blackmagic Cloud integration, the chances of an Insta360 version, and whether DJI will ever release a proper SDK. Note: I shoot on the Osmo Pocket 3 and the Pocket 4P is not sold in the US yet. Erik tested the app on the Pocket 4 and 4P in Europe, and it runs on my Pocket 3 as well. Find Erik and the apps: OpenPocketCine: https://openpocketcine.app OpenZCine: https://openzcine.app GitHub: https://github.com/erik-sutton95 Erik on YouTube:    / @erik_sutton   Erik on Instagram:   / eriksutton_   CHAPTERS 0:00 Meet Erik Sutton, the OpenPocketCine developer 0:26 Growing up on Nikon cameras and video games 1:14 Game dev to technical artist 2:48 How AI coding tools opened the door 3:38 The Nikon ZR problem: no pro monitoring tools 5:43 Fujifilm X-T20 to Nikon Z6 7:56 Blackmagic Pocket 6K Pro and falling for RAW 11:13 Canon R5 C, then the C70 14:01 Back to Nikon: Z8, then the ZR 17:07 Why the ZR feels rushed to market 18:17 Nikon SDK 2.0 sparks OpenZCine 20:28 Why open source instead of selling it 22:39 Game dev UX lessons inside a camera app 24:55 How Colden found OpenPocketCine 27:12 DJI gave no SDK: packet sniffing the Mimo app 30:10 Using AI to decode DJI's commands 31:23 The selfie flip bug that took days 34:34 Traffic light exposure scopes 36:09 Face tracking handoff DJI never built 38:23 The roadmap: the go-to app for Osmo 40:35 No data collection, still works if DJI leaves the US 42:22 Load any LUT, bake it in, delete Mimo 44:32 Frame.io, Blackmagic Cloud and NAS uploads 47:29 Will Insta360 get a version? 49:23 Will DJI ever release an SDK? 51:01 Pocket 4P firmware mess and the zoom fix 54:03 Where to find Erik and wrap-up Watch my hands-on review of OpenPocketCine on the Osmo Pocket 4P next:    • Free App Turns the DJI Osmo Pocket 4P Into...   If you want more long-form conversations with the people actually building creator tools, subscribe here:    / @coldenraisher   If you're building out a studio or podcast set up, this is my favorite gear to check out: My studio/everything camera - Sony a7sIII - https://amzn.to/45EpRoS My favorite studio mic - Sennheiser MKE 600 - https://amzn.to/45Cf5zE My favorite podcast/dynamic mic - AT 2040 - https://amzn.to/49Ru776 #OpenPocketCine #DJIOsmoPocket4P #OpenSource