For no good reason, I bought a very cheap ($20) mini digital camera at the airport. Its limitations make it quite fun to use:
- has the astonishingly high resolution of 352 x 288
- fixed-focus lens chock-full of chromatic and spherical aberration
- no display, except for a cryptic 2-digit LCD
- takes 20 images, then it has to be downloaded
- grossly inaccurate viewfinder, which shifts when you press the shutter button
- images have pronounced scan lines
- refuses to take images in low light
- weird non-standard USB connector
It is very small, and can also work as a webcam. It also works as well as it could under OS X (use macam to download the pictures, or enable the webcam). Using the webcam does seem to delete the pictures, so make sure you download ’em first.
I’ve made a minicam gallery, which I’ll add to until the novelty wears off.
Oh, and don’t forget to take the battery out, as it eats it while it sleeps.