Need a camera that you wouldn’t particularly hesitate to put in danger, perhaps as you’re snapping photos on a boat? Or one that you could tuck easily into a pocket for a mountain biking trip? Or one that your forgetful self could bring to a birthday party or a bar without all that serious worry over leaving your priceless Fujifilm or Nikon?
Cheap point-and-shoot (or point-and-click) cameras have managed to maintain their allure long after most smartphone cameras surpassed them in photo quality. The Kodak PIXPRO FZ55 may have only been released in 2022, but it’s one of a dying breed.
a real cheapie
Entry-level digital cameras like the Kodak PIXPRO FZ55 once dominated the consumer market. When smartphones (especially premium ones, like the iPhone, Pixel, and Galaxy series) eclipsed their capabilities in the 2010s, they killed ’em off like a bunch of dinosaurs.
That’s left a newly appreciated batch of 2000s-built digital cameras as the main way for younger Millennials, Gen Zers, and rising Gen Alphas to satisfy their nostalgic cravings. Not so with the PIXPRO FZ55, though, which is a relatively new camera made in the old-fashioned, Y2K style.
The Kodak’s 1/2.3-inch image sensor does an adequate job at replicating decent color, and its 16 megapixels mean images are fine, if not the sharpest in the toolshed.
But the PIXPRO FZ55 is one of your few options for buying a spanking-new point-and-shoot pocket digital camera for under $200, if you’re not restricting yourself to far simpler cameras like the Camp Snap. And it’s so small you can fit it into a skinny jean pocket.
There’s a 5x optical zoom, which gives you a bit of flexibility in framing your shots that not all point-and-shoot cameras offer. Virtually everything is automated, too.
While that’s a minus for experienced photographers looking to control-freak all the minutiae of taking photos, it’s a plus for those who simply want to shut up and snap photos.
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