Tag Archives: cameras

Kenko’s 18-Gram Pieni III Camera Shoots Without a Screen

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Keychain cameras have a certain appeal for those who love to carry a bit of nostalgic charm with them. Well, technically, they’re still digital cameras, but there’s a retro feel to them that appeals to those who remember taking photos before smartphones. They’re cute and tiny enough to carry as accessories, but they still let you take photos and videos to add to your collection.

Kenko Tokina has released another tiny camera to add to the fun. The Kenko Pieni III is an ultra-small digital toy camera designed to be worn as a necklace or an accessory. It comes with a neck strap for that purpose. It’s not meant to replace your bigger camera, of course, but it offers another way to take photos and videos.

Manufacturer: Kenko Tokina

This version of the Pieni camera is just over two inches wide and weighs approximately 18 grams, excluding the memory card and accessories. It comes in a classic camera-style design, so it can also serve as a camera-shaped accessory or a decorative display. But when you want to use it as an actual camera, it can capture still images at 1440 × 960 pixels and videos with audio at 720 × 480 pixels and 30 frames per second.

There’s an important detail behind those photo dimensions, though. The sensor has only 320,000 effective pixels, or 0.32 megapixels, and the camera interpolates the images to create larger files. That doesn’t give you the detail of a higher-resolution sensor. It’s worth keeping your expectations in toy-camera territory rather than expecting crisp images suitable for large prints. But I think this lo-fi aesthetic is part of the appeal of using these toy cameras as a secondary way to capture moments.

It doesn’t have a screen or a viewfinder, so you can’t preview your framing or immediately review what you’ve taken. It can be a way to enjoy capturing a spontaneous moment without worrying about making it perfect, although aiming without a preview may be a challenge for some. There’s also a difference between accepting an imperfect photo and accidentally leaving someone out of the frame, so that uncertainty is part of the trade-off.

The controls are simple in number, with just two buttons. One handles power and the shutter or video recording, while the other switches between photo and video modes. LEDs indicate which mode you’re using. There aren’t many controls to navigate, although you’ll still need to learn the button presses and signals. The camera also has an integrated rear magnet, so you can attach it to compatible magnetic surfaces, such as a refrigerator or a suitable metal railing. This could be useful for recording yourself when you don’t want to hold the camera. You’ll still need to find a secure position and judge where it’s pointing, especially since there’s no screen to help you set up the shot.

Photos and videos are saved to a separately purchased microSDHC card, with supported capacities ranging from 4 GB to 32 GB. There’s no user-accessible internal storage, so the card is something you’ll need before you start shooting. That’s a small but important extra purchase if you’re planning to give the camera as a gift. To see the results, you can connect the camera to a computer or transfer files directly to a compatible USB-C smartphone using the included USB-C-to-USB-C cable. Kenko Tokina cautions that it doesn’t guarantee compatibility with every smartphone. The USB connection also handles charging, keeping the basic setup fairly compact.

The Pieni III is available in four colors: Soda, Strawberry, Milk, and Black. There are also five character versions in the separate Sanrio Character Toy Camera STREET line, which has the same basic performance as the Pieni III. The range includes Hello Kitty, My Melody, Kuromi, Cinnamoroll, and Hangyodon.

For moments you absolutely need to capture correctly, the lack of framing and immediate review may be frustrating. But if you’re happy to take a few chances, there’s something appealing about putting the camera away without checking every shot. You get to find out later which pictures worked—and which ones missed what you were aiming for.

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This 3D-printed film camera can manipulate perspective for perfect skyscraper shots

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Point your phone at a tall building and snap a photo, then look at it. The whole thing is leaning back like it’s trying to dodge a punch, and that effect has a name: converging verticals. Architecture photographers have spent about a century fighting it with view cameras and shift lenses, which tend to be heavy, pricey, or both. Lachlan Fysh, a Melbourne designer with a serious building habit, decided to fight it with a 3D printer, a CNC machine, and a wooden dowel. The result is the FTC-1, a 6×7 film camera that just took Gold for Cameras at the 2025 International Design Awards.

The FTC-1 shoots 120 film on Mamiya RB67 backs and borrows lenses from the large format world, whose oversized image circles leave plenty of room to move. Turn a knob and the lens rises up to 30mm (1.2 inches), keeping the camera perfectly level while the frame slides up to catch the top of the tower. A second mechanism handles 15mm (0.6 inches) of sideways shift, and the back spins between portrait and landscape on magnetic detents. The whole package weighs 2.4 pounds (1.1 kg) and sells for $1,200 AUD, roughly $850. The Swiss cameras that pull off the same trick start in the thousands before you’ve even bought a lens.

Designer: Lachlan Fysh (Fysh Technical)

Metal Only Where It Counts

Fysh’s first prototype was printed entirely in plastic, and it worked surprisingly well until he put it on a tripod. The body would sway for a beat after every adjustment before settling down, which is a dealbreaker on a camera you focus by squinting at ground glass. Over coffee in Japan, Oscar Oweson of Panomicron, who builds his own indie cameras, nudged him toward aluminum. Fysh brought in CNC-machined aluminum plates for the core and tripod base, where stiffness actually matters. Everything that just needs to hold its shape stayed printed, keeping the body light enough for a guy who still shoots from a bicycle.

Machining the FTC-1’s big hollow lens cones from solid metal would leave a mountain of aluminum shavings on the floor, which Fysh disliked on environmental grounds. Printing them uses a fraction of the material and still delivers all the stiffness they need. Because he runs FDM printers at home, he can print a cone to order for whatever lens you own, and reprint one fast if you pick the wrong size. The ring-shaped brackets holding the handle would be a nightmare to mill, so those are 3D printed metal, now titanium for a little weight saving. Even the ground glass is acrylic, which stays flat, survives being dropped, and keeps the price down.

A 3D Printer Part in Disguise

The rise mechanism runs on a TR8 lead screw, the same 8mm threaded rod that drives the vertical axis on loads of desktop 3D printers. Fysh started with smaller TR4 and TR5 screws to save weight, but they forced a choice between slow adjustment and reliable locking. A lead screw only holds its position on its own when its lead stays under roughly 60% of its diameter, so a speedy 4mm lead needed the chunkier 8mm rod. Now the lens moves quickly and stays exactly where you leave it, with no separate locking knob. Earlier prototypes used rack and pinion gears, and Fysh admits he kept forgetting to tighten those.

The brass part with the spring is an anti-backlash nut, and it’s the reason the rise feels so immediate. It’s essentially a nut split in two, with a spring pushing the halves against opposite sides of the thread so there’s zero slop when you change direction. Because TR8 hardware is everywhere in the 3D printing world, these nuts come off the shelf instead of being custom machined, which keeps costs sane. One Reddit commenter called the whole setup overkill, and Fysh is pretty confident it isn’t. I’m with Fysh here, since a buttery, slop-free rise is exactly what you want when nudging a frame by a millimeter on a windy rooftop.

Tilt, Locked In

Most technical cameras offer tilt, which angles the plane of focus (the Scheimpflug principle) so a landscape can stay sharp from the rock at your feet to the mountains on the horizon. Fysh left it out of the body on purpose. He worried that with a tilt mechanism built in, he’d never be totally sure it was sitting at zero, which is where he wants it about 95% of the time. His fix is a set of lens cones with a fixed tilt angle baked in, calculated for each focal length using a Scheimpflug visualizer he built himself. Swapping cones takes about a minute in the field, and the angle can never drift.

The FTC-1 sells for $1,200 AUD (roughly $850) on the Fysh Technical site, with fixed tilt cones at $50 AUD each. Alpa’s 12 STC body alone costs CHF 4,300, north of $5,000, for similar rise and shift. Fysh builds each camera around a full-time job, so stock arrives in small batches, and a 6×17 panoramic sibling called the FTC-W is already in development on the same cone system. IDA’s global jury judges concepts and finished products alike, which makes this Gold sweeter, since you can actually buy the thing. Turns out the cure for converging verticals was a bike trip, a shed full of printers, and a guy stubborn enough to do the math.

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Fujifilm’s Instax SQUARE 2 Adds Color Filters Without an App

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With smartphone cameras getting more advanced every day, it’s becoming more convenient to take photos and videos just by opening the camera app. But when you scroll through your gallery, you realize you have a gazillion photos buried in there. Photo printers and instant cameras have become hard for me to resist over the past few years, and every time a new one comes out, I’m always like, “I want that!” or “I actually need that!” The appeal is having physical photos to add to my journal or tack onto my corkboard instead of leaving everything on a screen.

Fujifilm’s instax instant camera line has a new addition to the family. The instax SQUARE 2 is an updated version of the SQUARE SQ1, letting you enjoy on-the-spot photographs in a square format. This time, there are more features, like Landscape mode and the Mood Filter function, which give you more ways to have fun with your pictures. Fujifilm announced the camera on October 14, 2026, with release scheduled to begin October 28.

Designer: Fujifilm

The previous model, the SQUARE SQ1, already included Automatic Exposure and a Selfie Mirror, and both return here. This time around, you get Landscape mode, which Fujifilm says helps you take clearer shots of distant scenery and groups. It’s designed for subjects approximately 9.8 feet away or farther. Standard and Close-up modes cover nearer subjects, and you select them by turning the lens ring. You still get the 1:1 aspect ratio that makes the square format appealing, but you’ll need to choose the appropriate focus mode yourself.

The Mood Filter function lets you change the, well, mood of a photo you’re taking with just one switch. You can choose between “Warm” and “Cool” to fit the atmosphere and aesthetic of your subject, or leave it off for the standard instax look. The interesting part is that these aren’t digital effects. Moving the switch places a physical filter in front of the lens, adding golden or blue tones before you take the picture. It’s a creative choice you make while shooting rather than during an editing session afterward.

They’re also introducing the new SOFT HAZE SQUARE-format film, sold separately. According to Fujifilm, its newly developed film emulsion produces softer light effects and warmer tones, giving your photos a dreamy quality. That effect comes from the film itself, rather than the camera’s filter switch. The two features offer different ways to influence the finished photograph, even though both lean into changing its atmosphere.

The camera itself comes in three colors: Misty White, Slate Blue, and Brick Red. The palette has a muted feel, and design-wise, the SQUARE 2 has soft, rounded body styling and tactile detailing. Striped accents on the grip and lens give the areas you hold and turn a different texture from the smoother body, while debossed branding keeps the logo subtle. The controls also stay physical: a lens ring for shooting modes and a switch for filters, rather than a menu to scroll through.

The US MSRP is $119.95, excluding film, so the camera’s purchase price is only part of the cost. Every photograph uses a sheet of film, something worth remembering before experimenting with every filter and subject combination.

Keep in mind that this is an analog instant camera that captures new pictures directly onto instax SQUARE film, sold separately, rather than a printer for the photos already buried in your gallery. The photographs take approximately 90 seconds to develop, depending on the temperature, so “instant” still involves a little waiting.

For me, the appeal is having a photo you can hand someone right there or save for a journal page. I’d still want a smartphone printer for those gazillion existing pictures, but this offers a reason to make a few new ones with a particular place on the corkboard in mind.

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The $146 Await camera brings back the disposable with 24 photos per roll, so every shot counts

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Your camera roll holds 14 near identical photos of the same pasta dish, and you will never open a single one. We call it documenting our lives, but it looks a lot more like feeding a landfill. Every tap of the shutter adds another bag, and nobody has ever gone digging through the pile for a good memory. We take more pictures than any generation in history and look at almost none of them, which is a funny way to treat the things we claim to care about. Await, from Swiss company Rolling Square, is the intervention.

Await is a pocket digital camera that treats a roll of film as a rule instead of a nostalgia trip. It gives you 24 shots per roll, no preview screen, and a tiny OLED that counts down your remaining frames like a nervous accountant. Sync it with the free app and the whole roll gets “developed” through a vintage film filter, then you decide whether to order 6×4 prints. It first showed up at CES 2026, and we covered that debut back in January when details were still thin. Now the full picture is here, from the translucent shell to the xenon flash, and it’s more thought out than the disposable-camera look suggests.

Designer: Rolling Square

Click Here to Buy Now: $100 $145 (31% off). Hurry, only 37/625 left! Raised over $85,000.

A frosted shell, visible circuitry, and a magnetic face you can swap

The body is frosted translucent plastic with the circuit board visible through it, a look that goes straight back to the clear Game Boy Color and the original iMac. It measures 3.86 x 2.68 x 0.59 inches (98 x 68 x 15 mm) and weighs 3.27 ounces (92.7 g), which puts the footprint about 44% larger than a credit card. That is small enough for a jeans pocket and light enough that you will forget it’s there until you want it. The front plate is magnetic, so the color is a snap-on decision, with blue, pink, teal, green, and yellow on offer. Orange buttons pop against the frosted plastic, and I’m a sucker for that contrast.

A wrist strap ships in the box, and a longer neck or crossbody strap comes as an add-on. Both are orange and Await-branded, and each clips on through a small cord buckle threaded into the side loops. A threaded tripod mount sits on the base, which pairs nicely with the 10-second self-timer for group shots. Torx screws on the back mean the shell can be opened, and Rolling Square describes the design as expandable for future add-ons. I love seeing screws on a device like this, since it signals a camera meant to be kept rather than tossed.

Eight megapixels, a real xenon flash, and two buttons

An 8MP Sony IMX179 sensor sits behind a fixed f/2.0 lens at 2.8 mm, roughly a 26 mm equivalent in full frame terms, with a field of view around 65 to 72 degrees. That is a classic point-and-shoot wide angle, wide enough to fit a dinner table into the frame. Eight megapixels sounds modest, but it is plenty for a 6×4 print. Framing happens through an optical viewfinder, a plain window that draws no power. The xenon flash is a real gas-discharge tube, the same technology found in classic film cameras and studio strobes, and it gives the hard, frozen look an LED cannot fake.

Only two buttons run the whole camera. The shutter button fires the shot, and holding it for three seconds powers the camera on or off. The function button on the back toggles the flash with a tap and the 10-second self-timer with a 1.5-second hold. Everything else lives on the OLED, which shows battery level in four bars, flash and timer status, rolls remaining (3/3 means three fresh rolls), and shots left on the current roll. A small buzzer gives shutter, timer, and system sounds. Power comes from a 1000 mAh battery charged over USB-C, with Bluetooth 5.2 and Wi-Fi handling the sync.

From sync to print, and what it all costs

Fill a roll and the camera hands everything to the Await app, which is free on iOS and Android with no subscription. Rolling Square says the filter comes from a study of vintage photographs and was tested across thousands of pictures and dozens of lighting conditions. The sample shots carry an orange date stamp, which tells you exactly which decade it’s cosplaying. The camera holds up to three rolls, or 72 pictures, and a sync empties it for the next outing. To skip the filter, connect the camera to a PC or phone over USB-C and grab the original files, uncompressed and untouched. Files pulled through the app are converted, and the originals no longer exist there.

Automatic mode queues each finished roll for 24 hours, giving you a window to skip it, then prints at $8.99 per roll plus shipping from $4.99. Manual mode prints on demand at $9.99 per roll plus shipping, and either way you only pay when a roll goes out. Each roll delivers 24 prints at 6×4 inches. The camera costs €129 (about $146), with early pricing from €89 (about $101), and a full kit with both straps and two extra faceplates lists at €157. Orders are open now on Kickstarter, shipping is expected from December 2026, and the page lists a 2-year warranty with 30-day returns. Fewer photos, better odds that one ends up on your fridge.

Click Here to Buy Now: $100 $145 (31% off). Hurry, only 37/625 left! Raised over $85,000.

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A $55 Camera Secretly Disguised as a Roll of 35mm Film

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Because I grew up in the ’80s and ’90s, watching Gen Z and Gen Alpha kids lose their minds over stuff from those decades is honestly hilarious to me. It’s also making my back ache a little, if I’m being honest. But kidding aside, it’s genuinely fun to watch things like cassette tapes, typewriters, and old game consoles get a second life with a whole new generation. Analog cameras and their accompanying gear have been especially popular over the past few years. Now we’ve got something that flips the trend on its head: a fully digital device dressed up in analog clothing.

If you’ve ever handled an actual roll of 35mm film, the Analog Capsule Camera will look instantly familiar. But pick it up and take a closer look, and you’ll realize it’s not what it appears to be. As the name suggests, it’s actually a digital camera shaped like a roll of film, analog on the outside but fully digital on the inside. It’s a nostalgic way to document your life in a very digital age.

Click Here to Buy Now: $55

Even though it’s a digital camera, don’t expect image quality you can compare to what your phone produces. But that’s kind of the whole point. The 1-megapixel CMOS sensor is deliberately low-resolution, so you end up with grainy, soft photos with blown-out highlights, probably pretty close to what a lot of us remember from actual analog days. It’s a design choice, not a shortcoming. Like other keychain-style cameras on the market, this one is impressively light. At just 25 grams, it can weigh less than your average set of keys. That means you can clip it to your keychain, bag, belt loop, or wherever else you want a camera within arm’s reach. An included strap makes it that much easier to carry around, so it’s ready the moment something catches your eye.

Despite the featherweight build, the Analog Capsule still packs practical features. Photos save to a microSD card, so you’re not stuck fumbling with film rolls or waiting on a lab. A USB-C port handles both charging and photo transfers, and built-in digital playback lets you review a shot the second after you take it, something an actual film camera could never offer. In an era when most cameras brag about megapixel counts, sharpness, and endless feature lists, a lo-fi device like this feels like a breath of fresh air. The grain and blown highlights aren’t flaws to apologize for. They’re exactly what you’re paying for.

So how does it stack up against the competition? The closest rival is probably Kodak’s own Charmera, a similarly priced keychain camera that also leans into lo-fi digital photos rather than real film. Both cameras are chasing the same feeling: nostalgia without the hassle. Where the Analog Capsule pulls ahead is presentation. Its film-canister disguise and matching packaging make it a genuine conversation piece before you’ve even taken a photo, while the Charmera plays it more straightforward. If you’d rather skip digital altogether, Kodak also sells the EC35, a real 35mm point-and-shoot for about the same price, though you’ll be paying for film and developing on top of that. And if physical prints are what you’re after, Fujifilm’s Instax line remains the reigning champ, though you’ll spend more upfront and keep spending on film packs afterward. Compared to all of them, the Analog Capsule’s appeal is that it never asks you to buy another consumable again. Just point, shoot, and plug in.

At $55, the Analog Capsule Camera isn’t trying to replace your phone or your real vintage camera collection. It’s something else entirely: a tiny, playful object that turns picture-taking into a small ritual again, minus the cost and waiting that used to come with it. Whether you’re gifting it to the nostalgic Gen Xer in your life or handing it to a Gen Z kid who’s never actually shot on film but loves the aesthetic anyway, it manages to bridge two very different relationships with photography. And honestly, in a world of increasingly complicated cameras, there’s something refreshing about a device that just wants you to enjoy the grain.

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Polaroid Mod point-and-shoot camera brings unpredictability back into play with four creatives modes

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Polaroid has created the Mod point-and-shoot camera to replicate some of the most popular visual effects onto the analog film shooting capability. This is far more natural than applying any AI effects or software overlays during post-editing an image. The brand has preserved its unique style of capturing moments over all these decades, and their new Mod instant camera carries the legacy without giving up on modern requirements of the social butterflies.

According to Stine Bauer Dahlberg, Chief Product Officer at Polaroid, “With Mod, we wanted the creative experience to be built into the physical design of the camera. That’s why the four shooting modes sit directly on the dial rather than behind menus or settings.”

Designer: Polaroid

The instant camera adapts a flexible approach to shooting and the unpredictability of the final photograph with four creative modes. The point-and-shoot camera preserves the love of tangible input with the dedicated dial that toggles these modes for taking photographs. There’s the Split Shot mode, which divides the final image into two halves with separate exposures using an accessory that has to be rotated 180 degrees while taking two shots. This fuses two shots into one single Polaroid. The second mode is the Motion Freeze, which delays the flash for some time to let the lens capture motion at the end of a long exposure shot. The mode is best suited for dark environments to create a chaotic effect.

Rotate the dial more, and you get the Double Exposure mode, which layers two separate exposures onto a single photo. This lets you test your creative skills to blend two different subjects into one scene for a surreal effect that someone unassuming would definitely credit to some software trickery or app wizardry. The mode is excellent for experimentation and getting absolutely unpredictable results. The last notch on the dial lands on the Light Painting mode, which lets you take long exposure shots to capture light in motion for a final shot that looks like a trail of light painted onto the photograph. This one is for photographers who love abstract art or those who have experience with light painting characters.

Stine believes the instant camera lets you explore your creativity in random settings and environments. Each of the modes is very intuitive while giving users plenty of room for playing around with the variables. Stine adds that “Mod encourages photographers to slow down, experiment and embrace the curiosity, play and unpredictability that make analogue photography unique.”  So, every time you pick up the camera, there is an unknown adventure awaiting you. Each of the modes has been taken directly from photographers who are pros at each one of them. Polaroid has just made them easier to curate, but the users will still have to go through a fair share of shots before perfecting them.

The camera comes with a 750mAh battery to last through 15 packs of shooting, and is easier to carry around since it weighs just 1.15 pounds, which is lighter than earlier models. Polaroid Mod instant camera is going to be available at select retailers in the US from October 6 for $169.99. Availability in other regions is going to commence in early 2027. You’ll have to keep in mind, though, that the single i-Type cartridge capable of taking eight shots costs $19.

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4 Keychain Cameras Nobody Will Leave the House Without

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If we see something worth remembering, or something we want to celebrate, our first instinct is to reach for our smartphones and snap a picture or video. But what happens when your phone battery dies, your storage is full, or it simply isn’t on you when the moment strikes? That’s exactly when having a tiny, always-with-you camera comes in handy. All you have to do is reach into your pocket, and you’re ready to shoot.

Yashica has become one of the brands leading the charge in blending modern convenience with old-school charm, and its FUNtastic Keychain Camera line is proof of that. The lineup offers plenty of designs to choose from, and with every new release, Yashica adds even more characters and collaborations to pick from. The brand has now built an entire creative universe around this idea called FUNtastic World, designed to celebrate the many different personalities and styles its fans bring to the table.

Designer: Yashica

To celebrate this new universe, Yashica is rolling out four new camera designs, and each one comes with its own specific “personality.” Every camera in the collection is, of course, ultra-compact and built with a wearable form factor, so you can clip it onto your bag, belt loop, keychain, or anywhere else that keeps it close by at all times. Each one also features a 180-degree flip screen, making it perfect for selfies, group shots, and any moment you want to be part of instead of just capturing from behind the lens. As an added bonus, every FUNtastic camera also comes with a built-in LED light, since some of the most memorable moments don’t happen in perfect lighting. Think indoor concerts, parties, festivals, and spontaneous evenings with friends. It’s a small detail that makes a big difference when the fun doesn’t stop once the sun goes down.

The four new camera designs are:

Yashica Sailor Boy (Wanderers)
This design channels Yashica’s original character and captures a true sense of adventure with clean, maritime-inspired colors. It’s made for the free spirit in you, the one who’s always ready to explore what’s around the next corner.

Basketball Snoopy (Sparks)
This sports-inspired design channels our favorite beagle’s endlessly positive energy. It celebrates teamwork, friendship, and staying active, making it the perfect companion for your next pickup game or afternoon at the park with friends.

Cherries Hello Kitty (Blush)
This cherry-inspired design gives our favorite cat (or human dressed as one) a sweet, vibrant aesthetic. It’s made for the days when you’re feeling cheerful and want to add a little brightness to your look, and your life.

Polka Dot Edition (Blush)
This is the more stylish version of Hello Kitty, combining a timeless polka-dot pattern with the character’s signature charm for a look that feels both classic and contemporary. It’s made for the days when you’re feeling cute and ready to add a little extra pizzazz to your outfit.

All four YASHICA FUNtastic Keychain Cameras are now available for pre-order at yashica.com, with shipments expected to begin the week of September 28, 2026. And if you’re already thinking about who else might love one, you’re onto something. With its collectible designs, character collaborations, and everyday usability, FUNtastic makes a fantastic gift for friends, family, and fans of the characters and pop culture alike.

At the end of the day, FUNtastic isn’t just about snapping quick photos. It’s about making room for spontaneity in a world that often feels too scheduled and too filtered. It’s a reminder that not every memory needs a perfectly lit, perfectly staged shot. Sometimes the best photos are the blurry, laughing, in-between ones you almost didn’t catch. Whether you’re the Sailor Boy dreaming about your next trip, the Basketball Snoopy chasing adventure with friends, or the Hello Kitty fan looking to add a little extra sweetness to your everyday carry, there’s a FUNtastic personality out there with your name on it. And since your mood can change from one day to the next, why not have a camera that changes right along with you?

The post 4 Keychain Cameras Nobody Will Leave the House Without first appeared on Yanko Design.

4 Keychain Cameras Nobody Will Leave the House Without

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If we see something worth remembering, or something we want to celebrate, our first instinct is to reach for our smartphones and snap a picture or video. But what happens when your phone battery dies, your storage is full, or it simply isn’t on you when the moment strikes? That’s exactly when having a tiny, always-with-you camera comes in handy. All you have to do is reach into your pocket, and you’re ready to shoot.

Yashica has become one of the brands leading the charge in blending modern convenience with old-school charm, and its FUNtastic Keychain Camera line is proof of that. The lineup offers plenty of designs to choose from, and with every new release, Yashica adds even more characters and collaborations to pick from. The brand has now built an entire creative universe around this idea called FUNtastic World, designed to celebrate the many different personalities and styles its fans bring to the table.

Designer: Yashica

To celebrate this new universe, Yashica is rolling out four new camera designs, and each one comes with its own specific “personality.” Every camera in the collection is, of course, ultra-compact and built with a wearable form factor, so you can clip it onto your bag, belt loop, keychain, or anywhere else that keeps it close by at all times. Each one also features a 180-degree flip screen, making it perfect for selfies, group shots, and any moment you want to be part of instead of just capturing from behind the lens. As an added bonus, every FUNtastic camera also comes with a built-in LED light, since some of the most memorable moments don’t happen in perfect lighting. Think indoor concerts, parties, festivals, and spontaneous evenings with friends. It’s a small detail that makes a big difference when the fun doesn’t stop once the sun goes down.

The four new camera designs are:

Yashica Sailor Boy (Wanderers)
This design channels Yashica’s original character and captures a true sense of adventure with clean, maritime-inspired colors. It’s made for the free spirit in you, the one who’s always ready to explore what’s around the next corner.

Basketball Snoopy (Sparks)
This sports-inspired design channels our favorite beagle’s endlessly positive energy. It celebrates teamwork, friendship, and staying active, making it the perfect companion for your next pickup game or afternoon at the park with friends.

Cherries Hello Kitty (Blush)
This cherry-inspired design gives our favorite cat (or human dressed as one) a sweet, vibrant aesthetic. It’s made for the days when you’re feeling cheerful and want to add a little brightness to your look, and your life.

Polka Dot Edition (Blush)
This is the more stylish version of Hello Kitty, combining a timeless polka-dot pattern with the character’s signature charm for a look that feels both classic and contemporary. It’s made for the days when you’re feeling cute and ready to add a little extra pizzazz to your outfit.

All four YASHICA FUNtastic Keychain Cameras are now available for pre-order at yashica.com, with shipments expected to begin the week of September 28, 2026. And if you’re already thinking about who else might love one, you’re onto something. With its collectible designs, character collaborations, and everyday usability, FUNtastic makes a fantastic gift for friends, family, and fans of the characters and pop culture alike.

At the end of the day, FUNtastic isn’t just about snapping quick photos. It’s about making room for spontaneity in a world that often feels too scheduled and too filtered. It’s a reminder that not every memory needs a perfectly lit, perfectly staged shot. Sometimes the best photos are the blurry, laughing, in-between ones you almost didn’t catch. Whether you’re the Sailor Boy dreaming about your next trip, the Basketball Snoopy chasing adventure with friends, or the Hello Kitty fan looking to add a little extra sweetness to your everyday carry, there’s a FUNtastic personality out there with your name on it. And since your mood can change from one day to the next, why not have a camera that changes right along with you?

The post 4 Keychain Cameras Nobody Will Leave the House Without first appeared on Yanko Design.

Camp Snap’s 110D Looks Like 1973 and Still Skips the Screen on Purpose

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Camera design spent the last two decades chasing thinner phones and bigger screens, so a company deciding to revive a boxy, finger-length shape from the 1970s sounds like a step backward. The Camp Snap 110D proves otherwise. It borrows its elongated, pocketable body from the old 110 film format, then strips out the one feature every digital camera has trained us to expect: a screen for checking the shot you just took.

That missing screen isn’t a cost-cutting shortcut. It’s the entire point. Smartphone photography turns every outing into a loop of shooting, reviewing, deleting, and reshooting until a moment gets buried under a dozen nearly identical takes. The 110D breaks that loop by design, letting a photo exist the instant it’s taken and staying invisible until you plug the camera in later and actually look at what you captured.

Designer: Camp Snap

Living without a review screen also solves a problem the original 110 format never had to think about: battery life. Screens are usually the single biggest power drain in a compact camera, so removing one frees up room for improvements elsewhere. The 110D pairs that saved power with QuickDraw sleep and wake functionality, letting the camera snap awake fast enough to catch a moment instead of fumbling through a slow startup.

Inside that slim shell sits an 8-megapixel sensor, modest by phone camera standards on purpose, since chasing sharper resolution would work against the whole idea of embracing a lower-fidelity, more film-like result. Five built-in filters let a shooter pick a mood before pressing the shutter rather than fixing it afterward in an app, pushing the entire editing decision to before the photo exists instead of after.

Storage runs on a microSD card, and images transfer out through a USB-C port, a small detail that keeps the retro shape from turning into an actual hassle to use. Charging works the same way, so nobody’s hunting for a proprietary cable or a dead battery with no replacement in sight. The vintage silhouette stays purely visual, while the internals stay entirely current.

Two colorways round out the release: a black variant and a cream-and-orange combination that leans harder into the ’70s reference than the shape alone already does. Both ship with a wrist lanyard and a small carrying pouch, treating the camera less like a serious tool tucked into a bag and more like something meant to hang off a wrist at a party or a weekend trip without a second thought.

At $74.99, the 110D undercuts most instant cameras and plenty of higher-end toy cameras while offering something neither fully provides: a shape borrowed from actual photographic history rather than a generic plastic body built to look vaguely retro. That’s a specific kind of nostalgia, aimed at people who remember what a 110 camera looked like even if they never touched the film it used.

The post Camp Snap’s 110D Looks Like 1973 and Still Skips the Screen on Purpose first appeared on Yanko Design.

Instax Built 2 Products for Photos Nobody Actually Prints

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My camera roll currently sits at just under 44,000 photos. I know this because my phone reminds me constantly, usually right as I’m trying to take one more picture and it tells me storage is full. Somewhere in that pile are sports events, concerts, selfies when I felt cute, and lots of coffee and journaling things. None of them exist anywhere except as pixels I’ll scroll past twice and then never open again. That’s not a personal failing. That’s just what happens to photos now. We take more of them than any generation in history and do less with them than ever before.

Fujifilm seems to have noticed the same thing, because the two products it just announced, the Instax Pal 2 camera and the Instax Link WIDE 2 printer, are built almost entirely around getting photos out of your phone and into your hands again. Not instead of your phone. Alongside it. That distinction matters, and it’s the smartest thing about this whole release.

Designer: Fujifilm

The Pal 2 is the more surprising of the two. It’s a digital camera, not a film camera, which sounds like a strange thing for an instant photo company to make. But that’s kind of the point. It bumps the resolution up to 10 megapixels, adds an actual optical viewfinder the original never had, and gives you a top-mounted screen so you can check a shot the way you’d check a photo on a real camera, not a phone screen. There’s a dial, a lever, a shutter button that clicks with intention. None of this is necessary in a purely practical sense. Your phone already does all of it. But intention is exactly what’s missing from most of our photography lately, and Fujifilm seems to understand that a slightly inconvenient, slightly deliberate process is what makes people actually care about the picture they just took.

The Link WIDE 2 printer is where the idea gets finished. It prints Instax Wide film, the biggest format in the lineup, and it comes with a feature called Photo Mixer that lets you pull images straight from your phone’s camera roll and turn them into collage-style layouts before printing. You can remix a combination five times before committing. There’s also a QR Print Mode, which lets you tuck a hidden link into the print itself, a voice memo, a location, a note, whatever you want someone to find when they scan it later. It’s a small trick, but it’s a clever one. It turns a static print into something with a little more depth than what’s visible on the surface.

I don’t think either of these products is trying to replace phone photography, and I actually respect that they don’t pretend otherwise. What they’re doing instead is giving people a reason to slow down for the ten seconds it takes to pick one photo out of four hundred and make it real. That’s a small ritual, but rituals are basically what we’re missing. Nobody frames a JPEG. Nobody puts a camera roll on their fridge.

There’s a version of this story where Fujifilm is just capitalizing on nostalgia, riding the same wave that’s brought back film cameras and digital point-and-shoots among people too young to have used them the first time. That’s probably part of it. But nostalgia alone doesn’t explain why the company kept the analog controls, the viewfinder, the tactile dials, on a camera that has no film in it at all. That’s a design choice aimed at the feeling of taking a photo, not just the result.

Both products land in late September, priced at $169.95 for the Pal 2 and $179.95 for the Link WIDE 2. Neither is going to fix the fact that I have 14,000 photos I’ll never look at again. But it might convince me to take one on purpose, print it, and put it somewhere I’ll actually see it. For a photo, that’s the whole job.

The post Instax Built 2 Products for Photos Nobody Actually Prints first appeared on Yanko Design.