Thoughts on the tiny camera market (and Kodak Charmera specifically)

[Anaconda_]

11 hours ago, kye said:

Go is a 16mm FOV that you can't compose unless you use an app or "rig" it up with the case.

Looks like they’re reading this thread. 

[kye]

On 7/3/2026 at 7:55 PM, eatstoomuchjam said:

True - though an argument could be made that an ultrawide lens and higher resolution frees you from too much need of a screen.  Just sort of point it in the general direction of the photo you want and shoot.  Then lock down the frame in post.  Instead of Weegee's "f/8 and be there," we could be in "16mm FOV and be there."  😉

Indeed.

I have a bit of experience shooting like this actually.  Years ago I realised I never got any establishing shots or transitions when shooting travel stuff, and it was because my camera was in my bag and I'd only ever get it out once we'd gotten the family out of the car, walked to the entrance of the zoo/museum/park/whatever, bought tickets, and then was inside getting our bearings.
I had a GoPro Hero 3, which didn't have a screen, and wondered if that would work, so I shot some little outings with the wife as little tests, and the concept worked brilliantly.  I worked out the general framing and because there was no manual anything to adjust it was just a case of pointing it in the right direction (framing the shot in your head) and hitting record.
I named it a "shot getter" because it was so fast to get an incredible variety of shots.

After that phones got good enough to replace the GoPro so I ended up going in a different direction.

TBH though, despite the fact the Charmera is about as non-serious a camera as you can get, it actually fits a huge number of the artistic maturity elements..   get it right in-camera, slow down and take your time, be in the moment and bake in that artistic expression into the footage, etc.  

The illogical conclusion to the shoot wide and crop in post approach would be a 360 camera, which is a valid way of doing things, but in a sense with a camera this (terrible) the point isn't to capture quality images, it's to capture footage with as much personality and capturing content that is as interesting as possible (because the image quality won't save boring shots).

On 7/4/2026 at 12:08 AM, Anaconda_ said:

There’s a new kind of tiny camera that doesn’t have a screen and will easily fit in your pocket. You might even forget it’s there. 
 

in one of the comments -

The C100 features a 2MP sensor paired with crisp 1080p video recording. We deliberately chose this setup to embrace our 'Vibe Over Pixels' philosophy.

It gives you that effortless, nostalgic snapshot texture and lightweight file sizes without any tech-spec anxiety!

I saw that in a comparison video and the quality was just as bad as the Charmera, but the thing is like 5x or 10x the size!  Plus no actual screen!

Definitely creative though.

On 7/4/2026 at 1:42 AM, Anaconda_ said:

Looks like they’re reading this thread. 

All the manufacturers follow my threads, so that's a given at this point 😉

I wonder how good that viewfinder is...  like, I wonder how closely and reliably you can actually frame up shots.  In terms of embracing the blind shooting with tiny camera approach (or semi-blind in the case of the above) that camera is definitely the leader as far as I can see.

I did also run into the DJI Osmo Nano which is a similar concept, with detachable screen.

It does look like it might be a tad larger than the Insta360 though:

But, as soon as you want to compose, suddenly it's the size of an action camera again.

[kye]

But enough of that.  

In a worlds-first exclusive that nobody asked for, I proudly present....

The anamorphic Charmera!

It shoots open gate 1.55x anamorphic, has USB-C charging, and fits in your pocket!
What's not to love*?
(*note: don't answer this)

Obviously the rig isn't dialled in quite yet....

Surprisingly it's quite easy to position as you can just look down the barrel of the adapter and you can see where the lens is easily, so that's cool.  I think it loses its pocketability though!

[kye]

More Charmera shenanigans.

In comparing it to known camera/lens combinations, it turns out that it's about a 44mm equivalent lens, not 35mm as they state.

It's also not infinity focus, but more like about 30-50cm too, about the right distance for shooting people.  This makes anything further away than that a touch soft, although with the image quality I'll excuse every reviewer of it I've seen missing this rather significant detail.

Back to more fun things, my new Neewer 1.55x adapter has a 17mm rear element and a 67mm front element, and my Sirui 1.25x adapter has a 58mm rear element.  I'm sure you can see where this is going.....

The combination makes this about a 2x de-squeeze.

Normal:

Double anamorphic setup:

Cinemaaaaaaa!!!!

I'd actually shoot with this, only it's awful to use and once you've got these things on there you'd be far better off getting a similar image via different means, like putting a cheap ultra-wide onto a tiny ILC and cropping in post or whatever.

As it's actually meant to be a smartphone anamorphic adapter, I tried it on my iPhone 17 Pro as well, but it's tricky.

1x camera SOOC:

Obviously coverage is a thing!

2x SOOC is better though:

and de-squeezed and cropped:

Fun!  Definitely a vintage anamorphic character.

A pain to shoot with though, as not only is the lens far larger and heavier than the camera, but the iPhone really didn't like it.  I just shot stills with the default app, but it kept wanting to change to the macro camera (which is the ultra-wide lens) and was generally just terribly behaved.  If you were using a dedicated app and had a tripod mount on the adapter then maybe, but once again there are probably better ways to get similar results.

[maxJ4380]

Does that mean there's  a gh7 going cheap ? 😀

I have to confess, i'm suprized you have managed to wring further interest out of this thing... 

Not suprised about the iphone however i have another lens that i can use on the iphone and it does the same thing by jumping to different lenses. i figured it out in the end. I suspect another app rather than the default photo app will stop its shenanigans.

A tripod collar around the middle part of your set up and some magic arms and or cheese plate to hold it together  ?