Following the popularity of the Kodak Charmera, it was inevitable that other retro-inspired digital toy cameras would start popping up. While the Charmera’s design was inspired by the ’80s single-use Kodak Fling camera, the OPT100 Neo Film crams a basic digital camera into a 35mm film roll that comes inside a plastic canister and a small box with a matching aesthetic.
Priced at 5,940 yen, or just shy of $40, the OPT100 is currently only available in Japan. If you can’t resist cute digital cameras with terrible specs, you can find them on eBay for a significant markup, but Amazon Japan also appears to stock them. The OPT100’s 1-megapixel sensor is even smaller than the 1.6-megapixel sensor in the Charmera, and that drops to 0.3-megapixels when capturing videos. Even with a small selection of filters and a built-in flash, you shouldn’t expect anything more than grainy low-res shots with muted colors coming out of the camera.
You can expand the OPT100’s storage with a microSD card up to 32GB in size, and its rechargeable battery is good for about an hour of continuous use if you avoid the flash. There’s no viewfinder, but a small LCD screen on the back of the camera can be used for framing, reviewing shots, and accessing settings. Even the OPT100’s ergonomics are questionable, with the spindle on the side of the camera functioning as the shutter button. But most likely, none of those issues will keep the OPT100 from flying off shelves, the way the Charmera still is.
