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When I received this camera – in return for an honest review – I did NOT expect much.
I mean, really… it looks like a toy, and it’s called the KOKODI Kids Camera.
As usual with many imports, the instruction manual was pretty difficult to understand. That’s partly because this camera takes photos, and makes thermal prints, and can film videos, and includes games and music, and… you get the idea. Lots of instructions in really tiny print.
(It’s advertised as being for kids 3+, but I have NO idea how a toddler could figure all of this out.)
To test the camera, I took it with me when my husband and I went to Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. (We’re in Orlando right now, and weekends usually include WDW.)
I’d planned to take a photo or two and then put the camera away.
At left is the first photo I took, standing at the entrance to the Magic Kingdom. (That’s the top of the train station at the front of the park.)
I didn’t do anything to this photo. It looks exactly as it does on paper.
Yes, it’s grainy and a little streaked, but it reminds me of 19th-century daguerreotypes.
At that point, it was almost love at first sight.
(I say “almost” because I wasn’t sure if that photo was just a really cool fluke, and the rest would be “meh.”)
Well, here’s the second photo I took. (Obviously, I hadn’t yet figured out how to change the date on the camera. lol )
That’s the Cinderella Castle at Disney World.
I love this! You can even see the statue of Walt Disney!
And then, for the next five hours (really), I just kept taking photos.
Oh, we still visited a lot of attractions. The morning crowd was ridiculously small.
We walked right onto several rides that – on a normal day – would have at least a 15-minute wait line. And some – like the Haunted Mansion – that typically have 40+ minute waits.
And I kept taking photos—about 40 of them—as I learned how to use this camera. (Admittedly, I’m still early in the learning curve.)
Here’s another one, taken from the monorail station at the Magic Kingdom. That’s a hotel shuttle boat on the left. On the far right, in the distance, you’ll see the Grand Floridian Hotel and, to its left, the Polynesian Resort.
I kind of love the clouds in that one.
My first thought is to enlarge these, print them on watercolor paper, and paint them (with watercolors) for a fun vintage look.
I’ll have to see what else might work. And, of course, I need to figure out the three different photo settings. I’m not sure if these photos are as crisp as they get or if this is the lowest (grainiest) setting.
Either way, if you love to explore quirky art techniques (as I do), I think you’ll love this camera. Click here to see it at Amazon.com, or click here for a similar camera at Amazon.co.uk.
Here’s one more photo – “as is” from the camera – showing WDW’s Spaceship Earth attraction, on the other side of the PeopleMover track.
It’s one of my favorite photos from yesterday.
NOTE: BIG thanks to artist Eliza Metz for her Facebook post, which inspired me to try this camera myself.
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It’s a very cute camera too. But question: are these prints or what the digital picture looks like? I’m assuming it saves photos digitaly because you said it also can be used to make video? 🙂
Thanks for asking! I’m still learning about this camera (between working on a bazillion other projects), so I can’t answer all of them. What I scanned and posted here are the actual prints that the camera spits out, three seconds after taking the photo. I haven’t checked the SD card in it, to see what it’s saved, and – yes – I need to do that, soon. It’s been a whirlwind here, changing a LOT of what I’m doing, but I’ll try to make more time to use and understand that camera.