We’re on our way to the one-month anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake, and – in Tokyo, anyway – life is slowly returning to normal as vending machines and convenience stores have bottled water in stock again, trains are returning to their normal down-to-the-minute schedules, and there’s talk of discontinuing the inconvenient Kanto-wide scheduled rolling blackouts because apparently we’ve been really good at conserving energy. Then there was that big aftershock last night, but we’re trying to keep it from dampening our slowly-rising spirits in the warmth of the coming spring and planned hanami parties over the weekends.

We got a tester sample of Thanko’s Mame Cam DX HD this week, and took it out for a spin. It’s tiny! Fits just fine in most pants pockets, always ready to be whipped out to snap a photo. It does cater to a specific niche class of photographer, though – for example, the marked lack of a rear-facing LCD (or a functional viewfinder) makes framing photographs a near-impossible task, although that does add to the excitement of getting home and sticking the microSD card into your computer to see what gems you’ve taken. It’s like opening a present on Christmas day! Well, except for the present, Christmas, and opening parts.

Image quality leaves something to be desired, with rather muddy pixels that lose a lot of detail. Colors are rather truthful and not washed out. Don’t even think about trying macro shots; since this camera doesn’t have an interchangeable lens like its DSLR replica sibling, the Mame Cam, the DX HD is stuck with a fixed focus, unable to see farther (or rather, closer) in its small, small world.

These gripes, though, are the talk of a madman a man that primarily uses a (real) DSLR for work and as a hobby. If you couldn’t bear to freehand your photos, or set your white balance, or tweak your exposure, you wouldn’t get this (or any other) toycamera anyway – the same way you wouldn’t get an iPhone if you want a high-resolution camera.

This camera is available right now on GeekStuff4U.com.

camera, cherry blossoms, earthquake, mame cam, review, sakura, spring, test, toy Reviews