With a smartphone in their pocket, everyone is a photographer. But clicking a good picture is still a creativity reserved for the trained. Unless you are from the Instagram generation and you know how to use filters. Clicking and then post-editing with filters and everything is so time-consuming. To give your Instagram frenzy an instant photography impetus, Godox in China has created the C100 camera with a unique transparent viewfinder screen that lets you capture the real thing by looking at it in the real-life environment, no filters required.
Godox is globally recognized for its lighting products for photography; therefore, a distinctive camera from the company can be considered more than a gimmick. The camera tabs on the interesting resurgence of point and shoot-style cameras, whether in the form of this action camera that pops-off to become a wearable or a Polaroid camera with a burst mode, we have seen in the recent past. The C100, however, makes a special case. The camera eliminates the color preview screen and replaces it with a transparent LCD that functions as an optical viewfinder.
Designer: Godox
Designed to be your simplistic filming companion on the go, the device is created to be lightweight. Weighing only 65g, the camera lets you “look directly at the real scene when composing your shot, press the shutter, and capture the beautiful moment,” Godox explains. Unlike a digital camera, you don’t see the view through a display. There is no display, so you create the composition through its transparent screen. “No complicated operations are required. Take photos or record videos anytime, anywhere,” the company claims.
The device is basically a two-part unit, akin to handheld games we had growing up in the nineties. The top half features a transparent screen inside a thickish bezel comprising a camera in the center (like the selfie camera on a smartphone). Below it, in the other half, are the battery, SD card, and charging slot, toggle buttons for left and right adjustment, and the click-to-capture shutter. The lower half is also where you grip the camera to take pictures.
Godox points out on its product page that the C100 camera features metering capabilities. It can read the brightness of the central area (you’re trying to capture) and can automatically calculate the optimal exposure settings. This information can also be used to click with a separate camera, if you may. According to the company, the transparent screen on the C100 has about 50% light transmittance. The display shows information like active exposure, current frame, and battery life while clicking.
For stress-free shooting in all types of environments, the C100 camera is said to feature four creative aspect ratios. You can shoot in either 6:9, 4:3, 3:2, or 1:1. The camera doesn’t have built-in storage but is compatible with up to a 128GB microSD card. You can transfer your media from the C100 to your phone or laptop via USB-C, which can also be used to recharge its built-in battery that lasts 1.5 hours.
Godox hasn’t shared information regarding the camera sensor used or the image formats and video quality it supports, but has specified the retail price of the C100 at $44.90 in the official release video of the camera.
