f your phone shoots in a resolution that makes your hard drive weep and your photos look so clean they could double as medical records, Kenko Tokina has built the exact opposite of that sterile perfection. The Pieni III digital camera features a 1.38-megapixel sensor, according to CAPA Camera Web, though that specification comes with a notable catch. As CAPA Camera Web reports, that 1.38-megapixel resolution is actually upscaled in-camera from a microscopic 0.32 megapixels.
Weighing a meager 18 grams, the device is small enough to wear like a necklace at 53 by 35 by 18 millimeters.
The camera weighs a meager 18 grams (0.63 ounces, or 9/1000th of a Noct)
Forget computational photography, multi-lens arrays, and algorithms smoothing out every pore on your face. You are getting a fixed ISO of 100, an automatic shutter speed, and a 1.8mm f/2.8 lens equivalent to a 42mm prime in old-school 35mm terms. There is no screen to check your shots on, which means every single photo stays an absolute surprise until you pull the microSD card and offload it onto another device.
Hardware purists will find plenty of reasons to roll their eyes here, but the appeal is entirely about tactile rebellion. The Pieni III features a built-in battery and charges via a proper USB-C port, a welcome and long-overdue upgrade from older micro-USB gear. It even includes a magnetic back that allows users to slap it onto random metal objects, like street railings, for impromptu self-portraits. For video, it somehow manages to record 720p footage at up to 30 frames per second, completely defying its toy-like proportions.
A neat feature of the Pieni III is its magnetic back.
Style does most of the heavy lifting for this tiny device. Those character editions cost 8,470 yen, which translates to over $53. Buying the Sanrio version means paying a hard markup just to get a cartoon mascot printed on a sensor that captures less detail than a security camera from 2004, but that aesthetic absurdity is entirely the point.
Let us be entirely honest about what you are getting into: if you need a camera to capture sharp, reliable memories of a family vacation, your smartphone already does that infinitely better and entirely for free. The Pieni III will become a three-day novelty for anyone expecting a genuine photographic tool, as the fixed focus stretching from 0.3 meters to infinity and the total lack of a viewfinder will quickly frustrate anyone trying to frame a serious shot. Skip it if you actually want clean results; buy it if you are exhausted by carrying an overpowered supercomputer in your pocket just to take a blurry, moody picture of your morning coffee.
In our view, nobody needs an 18-gram plastic trinket that shoots worse than a decade-old flip phone. But as a pocket-sized antidote that forces you to stop caring about pixel-peeping and digital perfection, it is hard to stay genuinely mad at it.