‘A $30 camera meant for fun, not serious photography’: Kodak Charmera review

I test some of the best cheap cameras here at Tom’s Guide, and it isn’t very often that I come across one that instantly charms me, but the Kodak Charmera did just that (it’s in the name, after all — a portmanteau of “Charm” and “Camera”). I’ve been testing this viral $30 keychain camera for a week now, and I’m convinced that everyone needs one.

The Charmera is extremely easy to use and highly portable as it clips on to keys and bags. The 1.6MP photos it captures have a lo-fi aesthetic, although they won’t win you any photography awards. It’s capable of recording video too, making it the perfect companion for your travels or a night out with friends.

Should you buy this camera? Oh yes! To find out why, read my full Kodak Charmera review.

Kodak Charmera review: Specs

Kodak Charmera review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? A teeny tiny keychain camera that clips on to your keys or bag
• Who is it for? Anyone looking for a point-and-shoot camera to capture family and friends
• How much does it cost? The Kodak Charmera is available for $29 / £30
• What do we like? The ease of use and portability, lo-fi aesthetic, low price, and 11 filters and frames
• What don’t we like? Underwhelming image and video quality, and the redundant viewfinder

Kodak Charmera review: Price & availability

I’ve tested many, many cameras here at Tom’s Guide. In fact, in 2025 alone, I tested just under 30! So when I say that the Kodak Charmera is the cheapest camera I’ve ever tested, I mean it. It retails for just $29 / £30 at Amazon, and that’s for one camera. You can get the whole set too, which includes six colors, and that costs $179 / £180. To put that into context, one Kodak PIXPRO WPZ2 alone costs $179. Yeah, it’s that cheap.

Because the Charmera costs pocket change, and its unique keychain design is unlike anything else I’ve seen yet, it doesn’t really have any ‘real’ competition. The Fujifilm Instax Pal comes close in terms of size and image quality, but it still costs $99, and the Camp Snap is a similar, lo-fi camera but costs $65, while its successor, the Camp Snap CS-Pro, costs $99. The Charmera, then, occupies a unique position in the market.

Sure, you can get knockoffs from brands you’ve probably never heard of, but this is Kodak — a legacy brand with a rich, 130+ year history, so I’d trust it more than Amazon specials.

Kodak Charmera review: Design & build quality

The Kodak Charmera is a unique camera, unlike anything else I’ve tested at Tom’s Guide. I’d describe it as a very compact camera, measuring just 2.28 x 0.96 x 0.78 inches and weighing a negligible 1.05oz. Its size is similar to the Fujifilm Instax Pal which measures 1.74 x 1.69 x 1.66 inches and weighs 1.44oz.

It’s fitted with a keychain loop which you can use to clip onto your keys or your bag. Though it’s small, it isn’t difficult to handle. All the buttons are easy to press and they register commands quickly.

Due to this, I can see why it’s called the Charmera. ‘Charm,’ as in a phone strap charm, and ‘Camera.’ And ‘Charm’ probably has a double meaning here, as the camera is meant to evoke a sense of nostalgia and fun — charming!

The camera comes in six different colors and you never know which variant you’re getting until you open the box once you’ve received it — and Kodak has called this a Blind Box. What’s even more exciting is that you could possibly end up with a see-through Secret edition — like the Chase version of Funko Pops — which shows the inner wiring and tech, making it even more tempting to buy the whole set.

Build quality is decent too, with the Charmera’s body made of ABS plastic which doesn’t feel hollow or cheap, and I wouldn’t expect more for $30.

Viewfinder

Located around the back and above the monitor, the Charmera is fitted with a (laughably small) viewfinder, which is essentially a hole through the body. It doesn’t display any information like an electronic viewfinder (EVF) would on a mirrorless camera, nor does it use optical glass or give you any framing guides like an optical viewfinder (OVF). It’s literally a hole.

It’s extremely small to look through, too, especially if you wear prescription glasses like I do. Holding the Charmera up to my eye felt very silly, and I felt like Phoebe from F.R.I.E.N.D.S. when she’s talking to Monica about her food. In theory, it would be useful to line up shots in bright sunlight when it’s difficult to see the screen, but in practice, it isn’t very helpful, and I found myself relying on the screen at all times.

Monitor

The Charmera is fitted with a 0.8-inch fixed LCD screen which is just bright enough that you can see what the camera is pointing at in nearly all lighting conditions. It’s fixed to the camera which means you can’t tilt it up, down or sideways. Kodak doesn’t specify the screen’s resolution but by the looks of it, it’s fairly low-res, adding to the lo-fi charm the brand is clearly going for.

Given that the screen is so small, it’s a good thing, then, that the Charmera doesn’t feature a cluttered UI. The menu system is fairly simple, straightforward to understand. There aren’t many settings you can adjust manually, which makes the camera easily usable by practically anyone. Simply point and shoot.

Ports

Ports on the Charmera are extremely limited given its size. All you get is a USB-C port on the bottom plate which is used for both charging and data transfer. It’s a simple point-and-shoot camera (and a tiny one, at that) so there’s no 3.5mm jack for headphones or micro HDMI.

Next to the USB-C port is a slot for a microSD card, and the camera supports 1GB-128GB MicroSD/TF memory cards. Bear in mind that the microSD slot isn’t covered by a rubber flap or any other protective covering, so be mindful not to place the camera on any wet surfaces.

Weather-sealing

This is a $30 camera but I’ll still spell it out: the Charmera is not weather-sealed, so I wouldn’t recommend using it when it’s chucking it down with rain. I wouldn’t recommend using it in extremely dusty conditions either, like in the middle of a desert. The Charmera worked fine in a little drizzle when I was testing it, though.

Kodak Charmera review: Controls

Given that the Kodak Charmera is very small, there isn’t much room on its body for a plethora of controls. It’s easy to use with a stripped back control scheme. On the top plate is the power button which doubles as the menu selection and OK button too. Located next to is the round shutter button.

Around the back and next to the LCD screen, you’ll find up and down navigation buttons, and the down button lets you swap between 11 color profiles. There’s also a media playback button, and that’s about it in terms of controls. They’re easy and quick to get a hang of.

Kodak Charmera review: Lens

The Kodak Charmera’s lens gives an effective focal length of 35mm (full frame equivalent), which is wide enough for group photos, pet portraits, landscapes, and casual travel photography. There’s no zoom or stabilization at play, so it’s a pretty barebones camera.

The lens has an f/2.4 aperture, which is fairly bright and can aid in dimly lit environments but low-light performance is generally poor given the small sensor size. But does any of it matter? This is a $30 camera meant for fun photography, and it would be shortsighted of us to get bogged down by the specs — or lack thereof.

Kodak Charmera review: Image quality

The Kodak Charmera is fitted with a 1.6MP, 1/4-inch CMOS sensor. There’s no sugarcoating it: this isn’t a good camera for photography. The sensor is small, resulting in noisy images, and the 1.6MP images, when displayed on bigger screens such as laptops and smartphones, are very low-res. Everything is done automatically as you can’t adjust the shutter speed (fixed at 1/30s) or the ISO.

Image 1 of 5

You can see examples of the Charmera’s lo-fi image quality in the gallery above. As you can see, the images aren’t sharp and the subjects, such as the gulls and the ducks, are pixelated. The camera’s shutter speed isn’t fast enough to capture birds in flight in the first image either, but I like that it has an artsy look to it.

Image 1 of 5

I think the best photos the Charmera captures are those of humans, as you can see in the gallery above. The second photo of my colleague, Erin, goes to show just how easy the camera is to use. The third photo of yours truly was taken by my partner, and neither Erin nor my partner had any issues getting to grips with it. It’s decent for selfies too.

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As I mentioned before, the Charmera’s low-light performance is poor as the camera struggles to focus on anything when lighting isn’t ideal. You can see samples in the gallery above where the images are very pixelated. The last photo of the neon sign is all over the place as the bright lights overwhelmed the camera quite easily, and because the Charmera has a very narrow dynamic range (unsurprisingly).

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The Charmera features 11 filters too, toggled via the down arrow: seven color profiles and four frames. You can get creative with these if you’re bored of the standard color profile. I personally love the frames, especially the ones featuring the film-like borders and vintage elements.

There’s a charm in the Charmera’s imperfection. I had the Charmera clipped onto my jacket’s zip at the pub, and at least four acquaintances/friends asked me many questions about it — everyone was fascinated by it, and that’s the point. It’s a camera meant for fun and capturing silly-goofy moments, not serious photography. Kodak has very much aimed the Charmera at Zillennials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha; and for people who want a camera that can easily attach to their keys, which they don’t have to worry about getting ruined by the elements (it’s only $30, after all).

Kodak Charmera review: Video quality

Kodak Charmera — Video quality - YouTube

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Alongside shooting stills, the Kodak Charmera is also capable of recording 1080p video at 30fps, but given the small sensor size, it isn’t like the 1080p quality you get from pricier compact cameras, like the Kodak PIXPRO C1 ($99) or the Pentax WG-1000 ($196). The Charmera is fitted with built-in mics too, though the audio quality isn’t anything to write home about, as you can hear in the clip above.

Kodak Charmera review: Battery life

The Kodak Charmera is fitted with a rechargeable 200mAh battery and the camera can be charged via the USB-C socket on the bottom plate. Kodak doesn’t specify just how long the camera can last between charges, so I put it to the test. Indoors, I sat at my couch and kept taking photos until the Charmera died, which was after nearly 120 photos. It’s worth noting that just how long the Charmera lasts between charges will vary based on the usage and environment conditions.

For a camera of its size, that’s quite impressive — although it’s not great when compared to other cameras. The Fujifilm Instax Pal, for instance, needs to be charged after 240 shots, the Camp Snap yields just over 450 pictures, and the Camp Snap CS-Pro can last nearly 500 photos too. But again, all three cameras are double or triple the price (and size so they house bigger batteries) of the Charmera, so it feels like an unfair comparison.

Kodak Charmera review: Verdict

The Kodak Charmera isn’t the camera for you if you want best-in-class image quality. The Charmera is the camera for you if you want an easy-to-use, portable camera that oozes charm and doubles as a statement piece. Its 1.6MP sensor captures lo-fi images with a vintage aesthetic, and the tiny camera is capable of recording video too. There are also 11 filters and frames to play around with.

I’ve loved testing the Charmera. Everyone I’ve shown it to has been equally charmed by its compact and clippable design. Regardless of how familiar you are with the semantics of photography, I think you need the Charmera in your life. It’s cute, it’s very cheap, and you won’t want to leave the house with it.