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- Hacker News
- I tought: what an useless product. Than i searched for the price. Then i bought one.by neves
- it'd be fun to have a version where a ToF sensor or some distance measure can help make sure you are holding it the right distance away.
i also think people are really going a bit too wild over the "hold it the right distance". sure it's not perfect! but hold your arm out away from you & look through a "viewfinder" box you create with thumb and finger, and move your hand forward and back half a foot. if you start with your hand close to you, yeah, it's going to make a big difference. but if your hand is away from you a good bit, that back and forth does not make that much difference.
and as others have pointed out, there's plenty of street photography where people really do try to shoot from the hip. not all picture taking needs to be precise. heck, i often shoot blind from my phone! hold it up, point, and shoot.
this feels like such a great device to get up the hackles of highly-constrained people. :)
- Last discussionby yread
- Doesn't the picture I "see" depend on how close I get to the "frame"? Does the camera take this into account when making a photo?by KingOfCoders
- Nitpick I guess. I feel none of the pics in that page is clicked using this camera.by newtwentysix
- Waitasec...wouldn't you have to hold it at a very specific distance from your eye for the "viewfinder" to be accurate?by monitron
- It's probably not that different from rangefinder style cameras[1]. I don't think the problem with this one is with its transparent viewfinder, it's more that its output quality just aren't that great according to someone who tried it[2]. Seems like a neat toy at $45 though.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rangefinder_camera
[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/Godox/comments/1urlp8u/first_test_s...
by omoikane - Transparent viewfinder cameras aren't anything new. If you've ever used a disposable camera in the past--congratulations, that is it.by 1-6
- This seems to be a Shenzhen ahem "fair-use" of Escura's much better looking (imho) 2025 camera. That was more obviously a self-referential "joke" on these disposables that you refer to.
https://petapixel.com/2025/03/04/escuras-50-instantsnap-toy-...
It's skeuomorphism, too? Lol
Same Thai(-HK?) design shop has other hits, like
https://happeningandfriends.com/article-detail/136?lang=en
(Is that the same font as on Mastrena espresso machines at Starbucks? Which reminds of classic American cars of 1950s)
How it looks like in action https://youtube.com/shorts/kJ8xUSTcOaY
- Interesting choice to release a camera and show zero photos taken with it.by hebrides
- > The more an article would benefit from photos, the less likely it’ll have them.
-- Waterluvian's Law
by dvh - I literally cannot see the point to this thing. The transparent display is cool I guess. They don't state the camera specs on it though which seems odd for a camera.by King-Aaron
- Specs aren't important to what this is. Megapixels and burst speed matter less than actually having a camera that's with you. There's a big community intentionally stepping back from technology and focusing on the experience, the process of creation, and the community around it.
That might be an old film body. It might be a modern rangefinder with retro aesthetics and color profiles. It could be a Polaroid or Instax. Sometimes it's a toy that's simply fun and simple to shoot with. The C100 fits in great in this community and ethos. If the price is right I might grab one.
by Arainach - Given how cheap this is, I feel like this makes for a great camera to give to a kid. The camera gets out of the way (no built-in games like a lot of kiddy cameras have) and the focus is placed on framing and taking photos, then reviewing later.
I'll probably pick one up just for my kids to experiment with.
by Daneel_ - Optical viewfinder cameras see through a lens and force-align your eyes, so when you change the lens, what you see is different but highly aligned to what the sensor sees.
Here, depending on where you place the thing you see a different thing than the sensor does, the optical path is completely uncontrolled, unless they're doing eye tracking and post processing?
This seems somehow worse than a cell phone camera.
by juancn - Well, it's a toy camera.by 10729287
- You're right on the principle, and this camera is purposefully aimed at a subpar viewfinder experience.
As a comparison point, many people shoot street photography "from the hip", aiming the camera at the rough spot they want to get with a forgiving aperture setting (around 8 or more). This help either for speed, or engage with the scene without having to stick a camera on one's face.
I think this camera is basically aimed at the same crowd, those who will want some idea of what the camera is pointed at, but want to stay "in the moment" and no fully focus on the capturing process. This is pretty close to a phone camera perhaps, but I'd assume it's a lot more fun and carefree.
I'd totally love to play with one.
by makeitdouble