As a longtime user and collector of toy cameras, I’ve frequently come to the point where I question the expenses that this hobby racks up. The cameras themselves are typically pretty cheap, ranging from $20 for a Holga to a few hundred for something more interesting like a Horizon panoramic. It’s the film, processing, and scanning that are time and resource hungry, but I’ve always found the results to be worth it.
Japan, known for its forward-thinking in expensive cameras, has also been doing well in the design department for cheaper (but not cheap!) toy cameras. The Blackbird, Fly comes to mind. However, now there’s an ongoing mix between the effects and other fun you can have with an analogue camera and new digital cameras that can do all of that and more. Interestingly, most of these are actually coming from Takara-Tomy.
The new “PokeDigi” Pocket Digital Camera (the only non Takara-Tomy cam on the list) is a square format camera in a tiny digital box, and lets you simulate all of the analogue Holga goodness you want, plus video, for around $50. Not bad!
Purikura, in case you hadn’t heard, has been a part of most Japanese girls growing up for the past decade and a half. The Love Digi makes many of the features of a purikura booth portable, minus the printing, and allows young girls to make animated photos, add effects, and more.
Though it’s not out yet, the Kururin Shot is all about effects, mostly of the digital photoshop-style variety, but also imitations of analogue effects.
Finally, though it needs no introduction for toy-camera fanatics, the Xiao prints your photos right inside the camera itself, and makes for a great platform for decoration.
A lot of this makes me wonder why these features aren’t already included in a lot of consumer digital cameras. Do they seem too “cheap” even to be in a standard snapshot digital camera? Seems too fun not to include them.
Post a Comment