New Camera Bliss!

I got a new camera, and I’m excited about it!

For those who don’t know—which is probably everyone reading this—I collect cameras. I’ve always been into photography, and at one point, I even had a fully operational in-home darkroom for black-and-white photography.

In recent years, since film has become expensive and I no longer have space for a darkroom, I’ve taken to collecting inexpensive “toy” cameras. These are essentially low-quality digital cameras, often marketed as a child’s first camera. I love their lo-fi aesthetic—it’s unique compared to the crisp perfection of current smartphone photographs. Ironically, most of these digital toy cameras use old cell phone technology, but that just adds to their charm.

My latest addition is the Chuzhao camera—or possibly a knockoff? I’m not entirely sure. It kept popping up in my Instagram feed, and when I found it on Amazon for half the price listed on their website, I figured, why not? Knockoff or not, I’m pretty happy with the images I’m getting.

Before this, I was using the Paper Shoot Camera, which I loved, except for one major flaw: the viewfinder. It was awful. Framing shots correctly was a constant struggle, and as someone who finds bad framing one of the most frustrating things in photography, this drove me nuts. It doesn’t take much effort to check your viewfinder and make sure you’re not cutting someone off at the knees—unless, of course, the viewfinder itself is unreliable. Paper Shoot, I’m talking to you: Please fix that.

The Chuzhao, however, doesn’t have that problem. It has a digital top-side viewfinder, so I can see exactly what I’m capturing. This makes it perfect for waist-level photography, something I’ve always wanted to try. I finally get to experiment with it—without having to spend a fortune on my dream camera.

From what I can tell, the Chuzhao is just under 12MP. It’s close enough to round up. It has two 1080p video modes, one of which is silent, giving it that old-school home video feel. Plus, there’s a built-in black-and-white mode. All the photos are in a square format, mimicking the look of medium-format film shots.

I seriously love it. Should I have spent the money? Probably not, considering I’m a bit strapped for cash right now. But honestly? It’s the best $50-ish bucks I’ve spent in a while. I can’t wait to document the progress in my backyard with it!