{"id":170871,"date":"2022-07-28T10:00:30","date_gmt":"2022-07-28T09:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/?p=170871"},"modified":"2022-07-28T11:53:29","modified_gmt":"2022-07-28T10:53:29","slug":"the-worst-digital-cameras-ever-released","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/buying-advice\/the-worst-digital-cameras-ever-released\/","title":{"rendered":"The Worst Digital Cameras Ever Released"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you buy a camera today, you\u2019re faced with a choice of several main brands, and almost every brand will sell you a fully functioning, well designed, and high-performing digital camera, but as you\u2019ll find out with this list, it\u2019s not always been that way, as we highlight the worst digital cameras<\/strong> ever released.<\/p>\n

There have been a number of cameras released over the years, designed to challenge the status quo, or add new innovations. As you\u2019ll see, very few of them, in fact, almost all of these have failed in one way or another.<\/p>\n

So without further ado, lets see what some of the worst digital cameras of all time look like:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Lytro “Light Field” Camera<\/h2>\n\t\t
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Lytro Light Field Camera, PR image<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n

It\u2019s the kind of thing you used to see in Sci-Fi movies, notably Blade Runner, the ability to change the focal point of an image after it\u2019s been taken. And whilst this is definitely an interesting and innovative technology, it\u2019s implementation, and success certainly didn\u2019t pan out the way Lytro hoped.<\/p>\n

Released in 2012 this Lytro Light Field Camera<\/strong> was a neat idea in principle, letting you adjust the focus point after you\u2019d taken the photo, and it was certainly a unique camera with one of the oddest designs of all time. But with an output that resulted in roughly 1MP images, and one of the only ways of viewing the images through a now-defunct website, this is one to avoid.<\/p>\n

As a demonstration of the technology, it worked, but the image quality and low-resolution made it more of a toy, than a serious digital camera. Roll on version 2…<\/p>\n\n

2. Lytro Illum 2<\/h2>\n\t\t
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Lytro Illum – with large lens, AP<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n

This was the \u201cprofessional\u201d version of a Lytro light field camera, the Lytro Illum<\/a>, with more megapixels or \u201cmegarays\u201d and higher image quality. Yet it also forced you to share your images through the Lytro website, which now no longer exists, and gone too are your photos, or any way of sharing them, without first exporting them as a YouTube video.<\/p>\n

This camera featured a more serious design, although it was still quite odd, with a sloped rear, and slightly tilting screen.<\/p>\n

Light Field Photography – what\u2019s next for Light field photography?<\/strong> Well, there have been other attempts, such as the K-Lens, but this unfortunately hasn\u2019t come to fruition, with the Kickstarter being cancelled due to financial costs in February 2022.<\/p>\n

If you want something similar, then have a look at Panasonic\u2019s Lumix cameras with 4K\/6K photo as these offer post-focus adjustment<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

3. Pentax K-01<\/h2>\n\t\t
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Pentax K-01 with 40mm XS pancake lens<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n

With the Pentax K-01<\/a>, Pentax attempted to release a mirrorless camera, using the same SLR lens mount as their DSLR cameras, the K-Mount, so the lens mount and body thickness of the camera was the same size, but the camera was missing the optical viewfinder, relying on just the screen for composing your image.<\/p>\n

Whilst this sounds fairly reasonable today, back in 2012, contrast detection focus was much slower on this camera. Oh, and the camera looked so bad that many referred to it as toy-camera. The designer, Marc Newson, also took the opportunity at the launch event to say that a digital camera had never been designed by a designer before. Which as you can guess, went down like a tonne of bricks.<\/p>\n

Also worth a mention:<\/strong> Pentax\u2019 other failed mirrorless camera system, the Pentax Q system, featuring the same size sensor as a compact camera, there was little benefit to be found in using this instead of a compact camera.<\/p>\n

Needless to say, Pentax are committed to Digital SLRs and aren\u2019t interested in pursuing the mirrorless camera market.<\/p>\n\n

4. Yashica digiFilm Camera Y35<\/h2>\n\t\t
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Yashica DigiFilm Camera Y35, with digifilm(s) – Photo: Joshua Waller<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n

This is supposed to be a digital version of the Yashica Y35 film camera<\/strong>, and for some reason everyone expected (oddly) that the digital version would be amazing, but it turned out that a $130 (US dollar) digital camera is not going to give you a premium camera.<\/p>\n

As expected, when this Kickstart backed camera arrived, it was indeed a \u201ccheap\u201d toy camera – I\u2019m not sure why anyone expected anything else, when the camera had a price of around $130.<\/p>\n

The Yashica Y35 digital camera used different \u201cdigital films\u201d and each one gave you a different look. For example, if you wanted to shoot in black and white, you had to load the \u201cBlack and white\u201d digifilm into the camera, then all your photos were in black and white, until you switched to a different \u201cfilm\u201d.<\/p>\n

Image quality was decidedly average, with 14MP images looking like they\u2019d been resized from a 5MP sensor, but what can you expect from what\u2019s obviously a toy camera?<\/p>\n\t\t

\n\t\t\t\"Yashica<\/a>\t\t\t

Yashica digiFilm 1600 – Sample photos, resized to 1000px, click to enlarge, Copyright: Joshua Waller<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n

These aren\u2019t very rare, but are often vastly overpriced on ebay, and not particularly worth the money unless you can grab a cheap one. If you want to be entertained, have a look at some of the YouTube videos on the Yashica digiFilm Camera Y35<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

5. Ricoh GXR<\/h2>\n\t\t
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Ricoh GXR Mount A12 back<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n

The Ricoh GXR modular camera system<\/a> was an interesting take on the idea of being able to change your lens, except with the GXR system \u2013 you use the same body section with battery and screen, and can swap out the camera lens and sensor unit.<\/p>\n

This meant that the lens and sensor unit could feature different sensor sizes, along with different matching lenses, so there was a small sensor 10x optical zoom unit, as well as APS-C sensor units with a number of different lens options<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One of the most interesting units had a Leica M-Mount and APS-C sensor, like a strange frankenstein mirrorless camera that gave you access to Leica glass, at much more affordable prices when compared to a genuine Leica rangefinder.<\/p>\n

There are lots of these available on ebay if you wanted to give it a try, but overall it made for a fairly clunky, and bulky system, unless you stuck to the small sensor units.<\/p>\n\n

6. Samsung Galaxy NX<\/h2>\n\t\t
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The Samsung Galaxy NX<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n

Whilst the Samsung Galaxy NX<\/a> is not the first camera with Android built-in, and not the last (link to Zeiss ZX1), it was one of the first mirrorless cameras with Android built-in. And with a huge (at the time) 4.8 inch screen, it seemed like a good idea, but early cameras suffered from bugs that made it slower and more difficult to use than a standard camera.<\/p>\n

Samsung has completely abandoned the Samsung NX mount, so there are no longer any new cameras or lenses, and I wouldn\u2019t like to guess when the last Android update was made available for the Samsung Galaxy NX camera. This is a camera that only hardcore camera historians would want to own.<\/p>\n\n

7. Polaroid Socialmatic<\/h2>\n\t\t
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Could this be the worst digital camera of them all? Polaroid Socialmatic digital camera, Image: JW\/AP<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n

The Polaroid Socialmatic<\/strong> was what you might get if you asked someone to design a camera based on the Instagram logo.<\/p>\n

It was another camera with Android (v4.4) built-in, but this model also features a built-in Zink printer. The camera was large, awkward to use, and build quality issues meant that the battery in the camera failed after some time, rendering it almost entirely useless.<\/p>\n

As you might have seen so far, putting Android into a digital camera may seem like a good idea \u2013 with the possibility of using all the great Android apps, and photo editors, however, the reality quickly changes, when you come to use these cameras. Not only is the Android version normally out-of-date by the time you buy it, but it often ends up neglected going forwards, meaning it has built-in obsolescence right from the moment it is on sale.<\/p>\n

Also worth a mention:<\/strong><\/p>\n