Last week, DJI announced the new Osmo Pocket 4P, featuring a 1-inch sensor with LOFIC technology. LOFIC—short for Lateral Overflow Integration Capacitor—uses additional capacitors to store excess charge that would otherwise clip, preserving significantly more highlight information.

According to real-world testing by CineD , the camera achieves an impressive 16 stops of dynamic range at a signal-to-noise ratio of 2, and 17.2 stops at SNR = 1.

Some Sony sensors use dual-gain technologies to increase dynamic range, but these implementations can involve compromises in readout speed, processing or available recording modes. LOFIC expands highlight capacity within a single exposure, avoiding the temporal differences associated with multi-exposure HDR. In CineD’s test, the Osmo Pocket 4P’s wide camera achieved an 11 ms sensor readout—helping keep rolling shutter reasonably well controlled.

From the reviews I’ve seen, this genuinely looks like the next step in sensor evolution. DJI’s sensor is rumored to be manufactured by OmniVision, a company headquartered in the United States but owned by China’s Will Semiconductor. So, what does this mean for Sony?

The good news is that Sony announced its own LOFIC-equipped sensor in June: the 50-megapixel LYTIA L910, which combines LOFIC with Triple Conversion Gain HDR and is rated for 100 dB of dynamic range. You can read more in this SonyAlphaRumors article .

The question is whether—and when—Sony can scale this technology up for a new generation of APS-C, full-frame and medium-format sensors. We do not yet know whether LOFIC can be implemented as effectively in larger sensors, or whether its benefits become less significant with larger pixels and therefore harder to justify financially.

But imagine a future Sony A1 III with a 50-megapixel LOFIC sensor offering two additional stops of dynamic range across a broad ISO range while retaining extremely fast readout speeds. Damn, that would be an impressive camera, wouldn’t it?

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DJI pocket 4P at BHphoto , Amazon , Adorama , Fotokoch , FotoErhardt , Calumet , Clifton , WexUK