With the best cameras under $100, you can still capture memorable images of your adventures, at an unbelievable price. The cheap camera market has been booming lately, with manufacturers responding creatively to the challenge of appealing to users who are feeling the pinch of cost of living. This list contains digital compacts, action cameras, 35mm film cameras, instant cameras and more – and I can happily recommend them all.
At DCW, we take testing cheap cameras just as seriously as we do the high-end professional stuff. Every camera on this list has been taken out and tested by a member of our team, and we review and rate them on a sliding scale, taking price into account. We review plenty of cheap cameras that we don't think are worth even their meagre price tag, and as such, you won't find them on this list.
As mentioned, I've included both digital and analog cameras – naturally, if you opt for analog, you'll need to factor in the ongoing cost of film. Scroll to the bottom of the page for a primer on the types of camera I've picked – and if you've got a little more budget, check out our guides to the best cameras under $200 and the best cameras under $500.
Hannah specializes in portrait, fashion and lifestyle photography but has more recently branched out in the world of stylized product photography. She spent three years working at Wex Photo Video as a Senior Sales Assistant, using her experience and knowledge of cameras to help people buy the equipment that is right for them. This makes her ideally placed to hunt down the best bargains on cheap cameras.
The quick list
Instax cameras are tremendous knockabout fun, and the cheap Mini 12 will provide hours of instant-print pleasure, as long as you keep it supplied with film (which costs).
This pocketable digital compact covers the basics of photography for a near-unbeatable price, and even manages to throw in a little retro charm. Perfect for travel.
The upgraded version of the lo-fi screen-free camera improves on the shutter lag and adds a few stylish vintage-style filters for your shots, as well as a tripod mount and filter thread, while keeping to the same ultra-low price.
Want a GoPro-like experience without paying GoPro prices? The AKASO EK7000 Pro is a no-frills action camera that can capture 4K video and decent-looking stills — and it's waterproof.
The keyring-sized Kodak Charmera has proved a huge hit across social media, with stocks flying fast. It's only got 1.6MP resolution, but that's offset by buckets of retro charm.
Producing Polaroid-quality prints from a tiny body, the Polaroid Go Gen 2 is a charming instant camera that can be worn on a necklace if desired. Film is a little pricey, but it's a lot of fun.
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If you want to get started shooting film, the Reto Pano camera is the perfect way to do it. With a built-in flash and viewfinder, it covers the basics, though the 'panoramic' mode is a gimmick.
The Kodak Ektar H35N is a half-frame camera, meaning it doubles the count from your roll of film by exposing only half a frame at a time. This upgraded version, with a glass element added to the lens, produces images of solid quality.
A fun camera project that you assemble yourself, the Lomography Konstruktor F is an enjoyably hands-on way to introduce children to analog photography.
This digital compact is fully waterproofed, meaning it's perfect for beach and kayaking trips. The image quality isn't the most inspiring, but having a 4x optical zoom is certainly handy.
The best cameras under $100
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Best Instax
The Instax Mini 12 looks like every version before it, but now has an improved auto-exsposure system. You can view how many shots you have left on the back of the camera and film cartridges are easy to replace; all you need to do is match up the yellow dots. When you first load a new film cartridge, you'll need to fire off one shot to get rid of the plastic film cover and then you're good to go. The film prints almost instantaneously and develops in just 90 seconds. I love the aesthetic of Fujifilm Instax; it's hard to recreate in an app, and for weddings and festivals they're perfect for creating tangible keepsakes.
Read more: Instax Mini 12 review
Best digital camera
Compact cameras are very much back in vogue, and not only on the high-end expensive side. Cheap compact cameras are also enjoying a return to popularity, with people embracing their lo-fi digital look as a feature rather than a bug, and there are several solid options that come in under our $100 budget. My pick is currently the Kodak PixPro C1.
Kodak (well, to be accurate, Kodak brand licensee JK Imaging) has been pumping out cheap digital compacts under the 'Pixpro' badge. The C1 is the cheapest yet – with a fixed focal-length lens and retro stylings, it's leaning into its lo-fi bona-fides. If you want sharp, high-quality images, a standard smartphone will do a better job, but there is undeniable charm in the 2000s-like digital scuzziness of the shots. The flip-around screen is a nice touch, making it easy to capture lo-fi selfies.
It also even shoots video, and has been somewhat marketed as a vlogging camera, though as we found in our review the lack of Face AF severely limits it in this regard – and in any case, it's very difficult to imagine a vlogging scenario in which this would be a better choice than a phone.
Ultimately, as the only Pixpro camera that consistently stays below $100, this is your best bet for a decent digital compact at this price point. There are alternatives around, such as the Yashica DigiPix 100, which is $10 cheaper but lacks the handy flip-around screen and has a much lower native resolution of 5MP, compared to the PixPro's 13MP.
Read more: Kodak Pixpro C1 review
Best point-and-shoot
Camp Snap's screen-free compact cameras have been a huge hit over the past few years, with amateur and casual photographers embracing an analog-style shooting experience for a very affordable price. Since you can't view your shots until you download them via the USB-C connection, it creates that sense of anticipation that hearkens back to waiting for your disposable shots to come back from the lab.
The original Camp Snap was a likeable camera but quite limited, with fixed settings and just 8MP of resolution, and also suffered from unfortunate shutter lag. The Camp Snap 2 has mostly fixed the latter issue, though it does still rear its head from time to time. And while it doesn't stray from the fixed-settings, fixed-focus, point-and-shoot vibe of the original, it adds creative flair with a new 'Filters' button that allows you to toggle between a selection of looks for your images.
In our review, we found that the operability of the camera was improved, but it still had the charm of the original. Once again it's a great camera for kids and families, and at its still very friendly price, it's another winner from the viral hitmakers. If you want a bit more resolution, you could also look at the Camp Snap Pro, which still just about squeezes into our sub-$100 budget, and offers a 16MP sensor.
Read our full Camp Snap 2 review
Best action camera
Planning an action and adventure holiday but don't have a big budget for an action camera? The AKASO EK7000 Pro would be a great choice, it offers plenty of fun features and is one of our favorite budget action cameras. You might be surprised to find out it's capable of shooting 4K video, it can take 16-megapixel photos and it has a two-inch touch screen.
It has a fixed wide-angle lens which is perfect for getting a lot of background in, electronic image stabilization will help your video to look smooth and with its waterproof housing, it can go down to depths of 131 feet. If that hasn't you, it even as a time-lapse special effect so this is well worth considering.
See our full AKASO EK7000 Pro review
Best mini camera
The Kodak Charmera is a keychain camera that is barely the size of your thumb, takes pictures at just 1.6MP resolution, has no exposure control to speak of – and it's been a massive surprise hit, blowing up on Instagram and TikTok, and selling out so fast that you might have trouble getting hold of one (here's our guide to where to buy the Kodak Charmera if you need a hand locating stock). Go figure!
Once you look closer, it's not that surprising. The Kodak Charmera is, well, charming. With a body design based on the Kodak Fling disposable film camera from the 1980s, though much smaller, this box-like camera comes in six distinct branding styles – and an interesting wrinkle is that you don't know which look you're getting until you open it up, with the camera being sold in a 'blind box'.
As we found in our review, the camera itself is unsurprisingly very easy to use. The vintage frames and filters you can add to your images add plenty of fun to proceedings, having the option of both stills and video adds versatility, and the tiny form factor mean this truly is a camera you can take absolutely everywhere. The image quality is obviously nothing special, but we did find it more pleasing than we expected for a 1.6MP camera. And then there's that price – can you really go wrong for $30?
Read our full Kodak Charmera review for more detail.
Best Polaroid
Polaroid's smallest camera yet is hard not to love. It's designed so that you can even wear it around your neck, should you want to add a funky accessory to your outfit. The square Polaroid prints are smaller than those you would get out of the full-size Polaroid Now, but that only adds to its cuteness factor. In bright sunlight it does have the tendency to overexpose – and considering how expensive a pack of film is, you don't want to be wasting shots.
One of the features we loved was its ability to create double exposure images – something that the most Instax cameras can't do. It's a fun, quirky little camera that is fun to use for both young and old making it one of the best cameras for kids too.
Polaroid has since released a minor update in the form of the Polaroid Go Gen 3, with a new lens and improved flash, which is currently making its way through our testing procedure. I'll stick with the Gen 2 as my recommendation for now, particularly because the release of the Gen 3 has caused its prices to drop quite temptingly.
Read our full Polaroid Go Gen 2 review for more
Best 35mm film camera
A slice of analog fun for an ultra-cheap price, the Reto Pano is a reloadable camera with a lightweight shell, simple controls, and the obligatory retro design that's deeply in vogue at the moment. It has a wider-than-average 22mm lens, enabling you to cram more of the scene into the frame than you'd be able to with a standard point and shoot – though as we found in our review, care does need to be taken to avoid your fingers creeping into shot.
The 'Pano' in the name is due to the camera's party trick – an ability to create panoramic images, though in reality these aren't actual panoramic images at all. Instead, it does this simply by cropping the frame down to 24x14.9mm, something that could easily be accomplished yourself in post-processing, and feels a little wasteful.
Still, even if you ignore this function entirely, the Reto Pano is charming analog point-and-shoot in its own right. It's got a built-in flash, powered by a cheap and common AAA battery. It's simple enough for anyone to use, and is a great way to dip your toe into analog photography to see if it's for you, without spending a fortune.
Read our full Reto Pano review for an in-depth look at how this camera performs.
Best half-frame film camera
Another point and shoot compatc with fixed settings, the Kodak Ektar H35N differentiates itself in one key respect – it's a half-frame camera. Rather than exposing one frame of a roll of 35mm film at a time, it only exposes half of the frame at a time, effectively doubling your shot count by making your images smaller. Load a 36-shot roll of film into the Ektar H35N and you should get about 72 images – or 48 from a roll of 24.
This is a great way to make your film shooting more cost-effective – excellent news if you're already on a budget. Still, it only works if the resulting shots are of sufficient quality. I didn't feel they were with the original Kodak Ektar H35, but the H35N adds a glass element to the lens (which was previously all plastic) and it really does make an appreciable difference. With a decent flash on board too, this is a great cheap film camera for festivals, parties and vacations.
See our full Kodak Ektar H35N review
Best for kids
A left-field choice for those wanting a camera for under $100 is to go 35mm, as there are a number of film cameras available at budget prices, and in fact, many of the best Lomography cameras can be bought for under $100. But they don't get much more left-field than the Konstructor... which you build yourself out of the plastic bits contained in this kit. It is a great project for those who want to live the analog life – and a great present for a patient teenager, or someone who used to like making Airfix kits. Remember though, the film costs extra.
See our full Lomography Konstruktor review
Best waterproof
While the Polaroid Wave might not be able to capture the coral reef in all its glory it is perfect for using among friends whether you're at the beach or on a kayaking trip. It has an 18MP sensor, 4x optical zoom and a LCD screen so you can preview the photos you've taken. It required a micro SD card and it can be charged via USB. It would also be a great camera for kids as it floats in water and isn't too expensive. One thing to bear in mind however that while this camera is readily available in the US, it can be a little harder to find in the UK and other territories.
See our full Polaroid Wave review
How to choose the best camera under $100
Whether you're looking for a digital, instant film or even an underwater camera, major manufacturers have done a good job of making sure there are powerful cameras available for two-figure prices.
It's important to be realistic with your expectations. A camera for less than $100 isn't going to have cutting-edge features or massive megapixel counts. However, all of the cameras on our list are reliable, capable, and will do the basics that you need of them.
The main thing to figure out is which type of camera is right for you. Here is a quick rundown of the broad categories of camera we've included on this list:
Digital compacts: Cheap and simple, digital compact cameras have a fixed lens and will capture decent-quality photographs. It was thought until recently that this type of camera had been effectively destroyed by the smartphone; however, Kodak (or at least its licensee) has seen startling success with its new range of ultra-cheap PixPro cameras, one of which features in our guide. Bear in mind that you'll need a memory card to store your photos, and most cheap compacts will not come with one.
Film cameras: Dominated by Polaroid and Fujifilm Instax, the instant film camera market is booming, and many of these cameras can be picked up very cheap. There are also plenty of 35mm film point-and-shoots available for sub-$100 prices. However, in either case, there's a catch — refilling the camera with film will represent an ongoing cost.
Waterproof and action cameras: If you're looking for a vacation camera, or one suitable for kids, a waterproof compact or an action camera is the perfect choice as it will be able to stand up to a bit of rough treatment. While GoPro is the market leader in action cameras, many smaller manufacturers like Akaso (featured above) have stepped in to offer cheaper alternatives.
How we test cameras
We test cameras both in real-world shooting scenarios and in carefully controlled lab conditions. Our lab tests measure resolution, dynamic range and signal to noise ratio. Resolution is measured using ISO resolution charts, dynamic range is measured using DxO Analyzer test equipment and DxO Analyzer is also used for noise analysis across the camera's ISO range. We use both real-world testing and lab results to inform our comments in buying guides.
Read more:
The best cameras under $200
The best camera under $500
The best camera for kids
The best beginner cameras
The best point-and-shoot cameras
Best budget action cameras under $100
