A while ago I was in a Book-off (a Japanese second hand store which sells, obviously enough, books, but also a range of other things including video games, CDs, DVDs, anime-related things, and even electronics). I was idly browsing and saw what looked like a toy camera with the name "Chuzhao" on the front. Looking it up, I found that it is in fact a functional camera. The design is based on a twin lens reflex, and it has a small digital sensor, shoots in square format, JPEG only, with a filter for black and white. It was super cheap, and looked like it might be a different experience, so I picked it up                                        .

I've had one "toy camera" before: a digital Holga, which was also an impulse purchase, a few years ago. However, while it was a neat idea, I couldn't get anything usable from it. The Chuzhao, on the other hand, can produce perfectly acceptable shots if you shoot it bearing its limitations in mind. This mainly involves watching the dynamic range and framing the shot to avoid too great a difference between highlights and shadows. The depth of field is very large, so focusing is rarely an issue. And being in Japan, a country which has contributed so much to photography, I've already had people, mainly from the older generation, start conversations up based on it.

First set of pictures are from the local area, so nothing spectacular, but a good way to get familiar with the camera. Hope you like them!

More to come from this fun little camera.

Thanks for looking!