Kenko Tokina introduced the Pieni III earlier this week, as a toy digital camera small enough to wear on a neck strap during ordinary days. Measuring about 53 by 35 by 18 millimeters and weighing roughly 18 grams without a card, the body sits lightly against clothing or sits on a shelf as decoration when not in use. Four standard finishes cover Soda light blue, Strawberry pink, Milk white, and Black, while separate Sanrio editions featuring Hello Kitty and related characters cost more and arrive with matching straps.
A 1/10 inch CMOS sensor is sufficient, however it only captures 0.32 megapixels before the camera ‘enhances’ the image to 1.38 megapixels. Frames are saved in 1440×960 JPEG format, while video is captured at 720 by 480 resolution with sound at 30 frames per second in the MJPEG AVI format. The 1.8mm f2.8 lens provides a nice 42mm equivalent view, but it only starts focusing at approximately 30cm out, and you shouldn’t try to shoot closer than that without using manual focus. To keep things interesting, the ISO is set to 100, so the camera has to figure out the rest on its own, which sometimes results in a rather nice ‘soft focus’ effect, similar to a watercolor painting or an old oil painting, but not as sharp as a modern smartphone camera.
- Support photo taking and video recording
- 4 frames and 7 filters available in photo mode
- 1440 x 1080 image output; 1.6M megapixels
People still use this thing as if it were an old film camera, snapping away without ever viewing their photographs on the back, because the results aren’t visible until the images are uploaded to a different device. It’s rather a throwback experience, as you have to wait for the pictures to appear before you can see what you’ve received. Just like in the film days, the camera features a magnet on the rear that allows you to stick it to a metal surface, providing a sturdy frame for video shooting, which is useful for filming on the go.
One change is that the new model now has a USB Type-C port instead of the previous version’s mini USB port, which is convenient because it can also be used to charge the battery or transfer photos and videos to a compatible smartphone via the included cable. Prices in Japan for this device start around 6600 yen, or roughly 38 to 42 USD, depending on currency rates, and overseas buyers can use proxy services to get this little camera sent to their door.
The camera is operated by only two buttons: one for power and one for shutter, as well as a basic mode selector to flip between stills and video. This small camera stores all of your files on an external microSDHC card that runs from 4 to 32 gigabytes, as it has no internal storage whatsoever. That makes it ideal for capturing those life’s events that arise unexpectedly and necessitate the use of a camera for the remainder of the day.
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