A “classic” point-and-shoot digital camera is all the rage among Gen Z these days, and while you can surf eBay for something to scratch an itch, what can you get for the same amount of new money?
To answer that question, I went to Amazon.com and typed “Digital Camera” into the search box. Surprisingly most of the listings given are not from any major brands or any identifiable brands. In fact, it took me 10 lists to discover one NikonD3200. But the D3200 is $479.
My criteria is that it cannot be a camera designed for children. There are some anonymous cameras that cost $100 or less, but I set my sights on the bottom of the barrel, $21.64 Yosoo Health Gear Digital Camera, Compact Vlog Camcorder. At least that’s what I think it’s called. It could also be Acuvar 16MP Megapixel Compact Digital Photo and Video Camcorder or maybe it’s EMVANV HD Digital Camera or maybe even 01 Digital Camera Recorder, Vlog Camcorder. Who knows? All appear to be the same camera sold under different names with no changes to the body. For the purposes of this review, I’ll call it the Camera brand camera because that’s what’s prominently written on the front of what could be loosely described as a camera.
Build Quality (If you can call it that)
Most people to whom I show a yellow Camera brand camera immediately recall the old Canon PowerShots: the boxy, deck-sized cameras that were popular in the mid to late 2000s. are cameras that capture many childhood vacations, weddings or family gatherings. And it’s clear who the maker of this camera is aiming for that nostalgia. I say “anyone” because the manual gives no clue as to the origin of the camera, nor the minimalist packaging the camera comes with:
The first hint that it’s not a PowerShot is when you pick it up. Say what you want about the level of a commodity camera those Canons at least feel solid about and perform their basic intended function. The second I picked up the Camera brand, I found my purpose. It’s extremely lightweight, but in a cheap way, not a good way. The three AAA batteries that the camera uses are heavier than the camera. The battery door feels like it’s about to fall out when I put the battery in. And those batteries are enough for about 155 shots. Oh.
The rest of the camera exterior isn’t much better. The “lens” doesn’t move when powered on, and it looks like there’s a webcam or some other similar inexpensive imaging device glued to an enclosure that’s supposed to mimic the look of a lens. I decided to open the camera (held by all 6 screws) to see and you can see for yourself:
It looks like a webcam with an extremely small image sensor underneath. All silver and fancy border work is for show only. Your mobile phone has no reason to worry about the image quality of this camera.
There is a flash, but it’s not really a flash but a small LED that lights up continuously and isn’t strong enough to actually light anything. Light leaks from the top of the body when turned on.
At the back there are black buttons with accents molded into them. One set is the letters “T” and “W.” On the screen, it looks like these buttons zoom in and out, but they don’t work and the image is always recorded at the widest angle no matter where you’re looking at. And that widest angle isn’t too wide. I estimate around 40-45mm or so. There’s the usual four-way controller and an OK button in the middle, a play button, and a menu button.
Underneath, there’s a tripod that’s eccentric and appears to be made of plastic. There is a small slot next to it for an SD card. The copied paper that serves as the manual inside the box says it can’t use SD cards larger than 32GB and so I used a 16GB card.
The control
Camera handling, at best, poor. The shutter button only seems to work 75% of the time, and it’s not always clear what the other buttons do. There’s a menu and most of the standard items are there, followed by some weird entries like “frequency” and “screensaver” whose functionality isn’t immediately obvious. There’s also the ability to add quartz dating to your photos, but that seems to randomly turn itself on and off.
The screen does not support touch, not even positioned correctly in the body. When you take it out of the box, you can see that the left edge has been cut off and so are some icons and text. Quality control at Camera brand camera must be excellent.
The four-way controller, depending on the direction you push, will cycle through movie, stills, and audio recording modes; EV compensation adjustment (like zoom, doesn’t really work); and adjust the quality (which sucks, no matter what settings you use). One of the resolution controls, unlike the others, actually works, although the camera seems to max out at 10.2 MP, well below the 16 MP resolution that the camera proudly claims. on the front panel. Also, the photos show some weird stretching around 250 pixels at the wide end and also show some weird artifacts, even in perfect lighting conditions. This is how the Camera brand camera took product photos with my EOS M6 Mark II:
There is a delay of about half a second between pressing the shutter button and taking the photo. I’m not sure if there’s even any focus going on, the screen’s resolution is way too low. Playback is what you’d expect, although to scroll through photos you use the up and down arrows instead of the traditional left and right arrows. There are no speakers on the camera, so video and audio files will play without sound. You read that right: Audio files play without sound.
There are cameras that bring joy to the shooting process. This does the opposite.
Image quality
OK, so using the camera is a bad experience. How is the image quality? In a word, terrible. If you need more words, horrible, not so good and terrible are also suitable.
It’s been a cloudy day, not really any challenge for most cameras. But as you can see, there is a stark difference between what my EOS M6 Mark II captures and what the Camera brand captures. You can always make “real camera” images look this bad, but you’ll never be able to zoom in with a Camera brand camera. This comparison is after I fixed the stretch on the Camera brand Camera and cropped the image accordingly.
The lens has an aperture listed on the front as f/1.1, but with no metadata recorded, it’s hard to tell if that information is accurate. It is also impossible to know how fast the shutter speed is by sound, and since disassembly shows no mechanical shutter and the sound is a pre-recorded electronic shutter sound. Often, shutter speeds can be on the slower end of the spectrum more often than not. Little squirrel is difficult:
Even buildings that aren’t too complicated are a challenge for this camera. The detail you’d expect in a photo isn’t there. I think Fisher Price kids camera I reviewed a few years ago did a better job. This is reminiscent of the cell phone camera days before the iPhone, and it’s generous: While the photos may not be as 16 MP as claimed, the video is actually better than the claimed specs. on Amazon, at 1080p instead of 720p. Sadly, the video uses the raw Motion JPEG codec, and the audio is recorded at 16 kHz, so your subject will sound as if they’re talking from a tin can. Couple that with poor video quality like still image quality and you have this:
The video appears to turn all the trees into some greenish brown spots, and the extension from the still image is also present in the video. Nothing else to say. To turn this into a camera in 2023 is a cruel joke.
All that said, when I showed some Gen Z people the photos, they commented on how “cool” the photos looked.
I have no idea.
What I like:
- The camera splits the memory card into audio, photo, and video folders, which is clearer than even professional cameras that still use DCIM folders.
- That’s it. That is its literal meaning.
What I don’t like:
- Image quality is terrible.
- Using the camera is an exercise in frustration.
- Most camera functions do not work.
- Basically, everything about Camera brand cameras.
Buy
There are at least four versions of this camera on Amazon.com. If you really want to endure the same torture, you can buy the one I made This. But don’t. Actually.
