radiojohn

I've been spending some time "toying" with digital cameras sold for children. These fixed focus cameras have cartoon-like menus, offer silly frames built in, but often have -almost unintended- more advanced features buried in menus. One camera offers settings for "Banquets" and time-lapse.

The folks in China wildly overstate the resolution, often claiming 12-30 (!) megapixels for a $15 camera.

I think 2-5 mp is closer, the rest is absurd interpolation.

Any way to check the real resolution with an app? Kind of like checking fake SD cards?

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Not that I know of short of breaking one open, check the sensor manufacturer part number and then get the info from them.

SteveFranz Loc: Durham, NC

Wouldn't the resolution be in the file info? when you open the picture in whatever post processing program you use, check the resolution. 1600 x 800 = 1.28 MP.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Exactly. Either the image file has the pixel resolution advertised / stated in the manual, or it doesn't.

Agreed too, $15 sounds a little under priced for a 12 to 30MP camera, but who knows if it's true not until you read the specs and / or review an image file.

And, it seems even less likely their adding a processor into their $15 camera to pump up the 5MP image to 30MP.

twowindsbear

How about a link to these 'toys?'

radiojohn

The resolution is faked...interpolated.

radiojohn

All over Amazon, eBay. Search for kid's camera.

Pablo8 Loc: Nottingham UK.

Ask the grandchildren to explain it to you.

radiojohn

Thanks for the help.

I am the author of several well-received books on using digital cameras an taught same for several years. I am (pardon the expression) toying with the idea of a short book on using these cameras the same way the old Diana 120 camera was used years ago.

I need to find some tech specs on these cameras and, trust me, there are layers of middle-men between what you see on Amazon and where these are fabbed.

Perhaps the best suggestion is to crack one open. I do have a relative who does top secret programming for Cruise missiles, but asking her is a last resort.

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

It seems that if it is that important, $15 isn't much to find out. Just buy one. If it is for research on your book, it is tax deductable!

Just take a photo, check the "properties" or EXIF data for the pixel count.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

There certainly are a lot of them. Check out Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/kids-toy-camera/s?k=kids+toy+camera

I clicked on a $10 one and there were a lot of positive reviews! Some indicating sound was poor. And yes, it took 1080P movies too. 1080P is 1920 x 1080 which is about 2M pixel. Be interesting to see if one the JPG images reports a size similar to that.

Looking at a chart of standard sensor sizes, they go down to pretty tiny. Refer to chart. Would be interesting to tear one apart and see if it matches one of the smallest in the upper left corner.

If the file size is reported as 1920 x 1080 from a JPG, I would tend to believe it. I don't think they would go to the trouble of adding circuitry to resize the image. Especially since many do movies too.

A 2M sensor has been around for more than 20 years. I suppose buying them in large numbers would produce a very low per piece cost. And there are likely low cost chips to read the sensor and convert it to JPG and movies.

Lenses would be something else to look at. My guess is that they are plastic. We didn't have digital cameras when I was a kid. But we did have toy binoculars and toy telescopes with not so good lenses. I played with them as a kid, but my expectations weren't very high at that time.

But I did read the reviews on a $10 toy camera and there were comments about the image quality actually surprising them that it was as good as it was.

Found it interesting that one review said that the instructions for the camera said to format the SD card as FAT32 in a computer. And this person had no idea how to do that and had to email customer support. And this person did say that the email was promptly answered and the instructions worked.

Bottom line is that if you are going to make something by the billions, you ought to be able to make it pretty cheaply. If Sony could just make that many A1's and drive its price down to toy camera levels!

profbowman Loc: Harrisonburg, VA, USA

Radiojohn, do you mean something other than the number of pixels in the image? That is always given at the bottom of IrfanView, so I figure you are meaning how good is that resolution.

And if we are talking about how good the native resolution is, then I will admit that now of my cameras, including my best one, Sony A6000, have ever given me a photo straight from the camera that I can post on my stock account at Shutterstock. I know for many UHH readers these are inexpensive cameras (under $700) but they work for me when I reduce the resolution of the outputted photos. --Richard

radiojohn

I have several, all with absurd interpolated resolutions. What I am trying to find is the actual, real resolution of the sensor. Most sellers have no idea, as they are sold with a fine disregard for specifics. Plus they are just another item among many.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

This may have been true 20 years ago, but nowadays even toy cameras generally have glass lenses, not plastic. With the rise of the cell phone, there's an entire industry dedicated to producing small precision optics for electronic gadgets in enormous quantities at low cost. A toy camera manufacturer no longer needs to make lenses out of plastic to cut costs; cheap glass lenses are readily available.

radiojohn

I looks like some of these have a sort-of auxiliary wide angle lens in front of the tiny lens assembly. On some these are done well, on others, not so good.