I admit I’m not entirely sure how the TikTok store works, but it seems like it, like Amazon, now sells some of the world’s most terrible digital cameras.
UK-based photographer and videographer Tom Calton took it upon himself to try out the “48MP Super HAD CCD Digital Camera,” available on the TikTok Shop for $14.79, and, surprise, surprise, it’s quite a, er, experience.
He takes a closer look at the menus and the body, noting that most of it is made of molded plastic, rather than buttons or dials as it seems at first glance. Also of note is the fact that the camera is advertised as a 48MP camera, but the body says 64, while the actual files are 44.2 upon closer inspection. This is a bit crazy, because when you look at the store listing, the discrepancy is plain for anyone to see:
A bold statement on the front of the camera that is patently false. The warning page is downright hilarious for its mangling of the English language, and I guarantee that none of the photos or videos pictured in the listing were taken with this camera. This is pretty obvious when Calton takes the camera apart and, in his estimation, it is a cheap webcam posing as a real camera, with images simply upscaled from a lower resolution. That’s not even taking into account the second camera on the back, which looks like a viewfinder but is actually a selfie camera for some strange reason.
There is a lot more to say about this camera, but in short, you should not expect high quality photos from this camera. It is almost exactly the same experience I had when I tested Amazon’s cheapest camera. This low-quality junk floods so many retail channels online that it boggles your mind. Selling it as a means of documenting family memories is just criminal.
How do companies get away with this and what uninformed consumers buy it?
If nothing else, it can at least play Pac-Man.
