Photo Creator Video Projector Camera review: this cheap camcorder is fun for kids and the whole family

I was obsessed with my parents' Sony Handycam growing up, and for those too young to know what I mean, that's a small camcorder that recorded onto MiniDVD disks. As an only child, I'd mainly use it to record clips of our dog in the garden, or when friends came round to play, dance routines we'd make up and then turn into music videos.

Dance routines nowadays are catnip for platforms like TikTok, and I know lots of kids are obsessed with using their parents' smartphones for the same moviemaking I was into. The Photo Creator Camera Projector Camera I'm reviewing here feels like a brilliant Goldilocks option for children with a creative inclination, who are a bit too young to use an expensive iPhone or the best video cameras responsibly or safely.

This 3-in-1 camcorder, projector and stills camera is manufactured by European toy company Canal Toys, which sells a whole host of creative crafts and electronic toys to "inspire imaginative play". Its Photo Creator brand includes instant cameras and mini cams, and Canal even has products for aspiring young content creators.

I reviewed this product in a very different way from the dozens of best camcorders I've tried and tested. Costing under $100/£100, my expectations around video quality were kept low. And secondly, I needed to view it through the eyes of its target audience: parents and likely grandparents buying an affordable gift for arty children aged eight and up.

As well as revisiting my childhood to make some home videos, I also enlisted the help of various nieces and nephews to try it out too (although they don't feature in the article). Is this a good buy for kids to make memories and movies with, or another toy destined to sit in the cupboard after a few uses? Find out what I made of this cool new camcorder below…

Photo Creator Video Projector Camera: Specifications

Photo Creator Video Projector Camera: Price

The Photo Creator Video Projector Camera is priced at $70/£70. You can find it more easily in the UK than in the USA though (Canal Toys is headquartered in France but has global distribution) – look in major toy shops as well as on Amazon.

It's hard to put the price into context, because there's nothing else quite like it on the market. A "budget" camcorder like the Panasonic HC-V900 will set you back at least $550/£500, far too expensive for a birthday party companion and too complex for most young children.

You could go for something retro like the fun Camp Snap CS-8 retro video camera ($150/£150), which is more adult and won't transform into a projector. We haven't tested it, but I've spied the Kiimento Unicorn camcorder (again, no projection) for £60 (around $79).

The main reason this product is such good value is that it combines three devices into one package. Buying an HD camera and a separate portable Wi-Fi projector would cost much more than the price of this 3-in-1 combo. It doesn't represent the lofty investment of a toy that needs to last for years, and I can easily see family members and parents buying it as a gift.

Photo Creator Video Projector Camera: Design & Handling

The Photo Creator Video Projector Camera comes in a colorful cardboard box and sits in a plastic insert so it stays still in transit. Apart from the camcorder unit, inside is a white USB-C charging cable and a pouch containing the instruction manual and stickers to customize the cam.

Call me childish, but I was pretty keen to start decorating the camcorder as soon as I got it out of the box. What can I say, it's nice to test a camcorder that isn't just black or dark matte gray?

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Made from white and turquoise plastic, the camera's blocky, rounded design reminds me of Fisher-Price toys from childhood. It feels capable of being knocked around a bit by excited users and living to tell the tale, and the rounded edges help with that.

Mimicking traditional camcorders, a strap on the right-hand side made from bendy silicone can move in and out to accommodate different-sized hands. It's too long to hold kids' hands in snugly – and was even too big for my partner's giant ones. Why does this matter? The camcorder flops over and sometimes needs support from the left hand to keep it level.

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The button placement and handling prioritises simple, intuitive controls to prevent younger users from being overwhelmed. And the features have been intentionally simplified compared to adult cameras.

There are three buttons on top of the camera for power, enabling the projector, or pressing the shutter or recording. Holding this third button down switches between photo and video modes.

I found it easy to reach these buttons with my right hand and index finger, but noticed my much younger testers had to use their left fingers to press them down because they were further away from the hand strap.

Accessing the menu and changing settings is done through the four directional buttons, the back button, and the 2.4-inch LCD color screen. Temper your expectations of the screen here; it's not particularly vibrant or sharp, but about what I'd expect for a sub $70/£70 offering.

Operating the device is lovely and simple, as you'd hope for the target audience. Both generations of testers had worked out how to record, add filters, and playback footage within the first fifteen minutes – without resorting to the instructions in the box.

There's no tripod mount on the product, which again makes sense for the amateur nature of the user. But I think it does limit how you set up the projector. On the bottom of the camera, there's an odd pull-out plastic knob, designed to level the product so that it sits up straight on a surface. Of all the camera's parts, this feels the most likely to be snapped or pulled off by eager filmers, but mine is still intact.

At the front, a rubber flap covers the microSD slot and USB-C charging input for the rechargeable battery. They're easy to access at speed, but also well-protected when not needed.

Photo Creator Video Projector Camera: Performance

Since a 16GB microSD card is included inside the unit (though it's a shame there's no microSD adapter), you can start snapping and filming straight away. I know kids (and adults) can lose interest when toys are complicated to set up, but one long press of the power button, and you're away.

I'd usually review a camcorder by going through the video specs, features, and claims by the manufacturer, examining each one against its real-life results. There's less ground to cover with the Photo Creator camera, because the specs and features are (rightly so) so minimal.

Starting with still photos, the exact sensor size isn't provided by the manufacturer (Canal Toys), but 48MP is the max resolution quoted, and you can step down in the menu for smaller pictures – though I wouldn't recommend it.

My sample images look, frankly, as if they were shot on a potato. While skin tones were captured accurately, the colors are drab, and the camera didn't handle wide dynamic range – areas of bright light and shadow – well, either. Despite having a high megapixel count, the images are pixelated and lack any detail.

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For a children's toy in this price range to claim 48MP, it almost certainly uses a small, inexpensive sensor with a technique called interpolation. I.e., taking a photo with a much lower native resolution and then digitally upscaling it to create a 48MP image file. This feels a little pointless (you certainly couldn't print these images out big), other than to market the high-sounding resolution to parents.

Using the directional arrows allows you to roll through 27 picture effects, including digital frames like a beach scene and love hearts, plus filters like sepia and monochrome. These filters look equally pixelated, but my young testers seemed to love stamping them on pictures. Perhaps the novelty lasts longer on growing minds than jaded ones.

Above: Sample clips from the camcorder

Video clips from the Photo Creator are no more impressive than the stills. In the same way, we're promised "stunning 1080P HD video," but the reality is more "Functional HD". I'm sure that technically it meets the resolution standard, but you don't get any of the clarity, color, and performance we've come to expect from modern smartphones.

As kids who have grown up with phones, I was worried that our nieces and nephews would spot this quality and get turned off by the camera. But it didn't really seem to stop their creative juices flowing, and if anything, I think it was the act of recording without the distraction of a phone, rather than pixel-peeping at the result.

Due to the likely small sensor, I found videos indoors or during the evening were dark and grainy (unsurprising), but came to appreciate this almost painterly quality. There's no stabilization in this camcorder, but actually, it held up well to the running around of small children. There's no zoom and no manual focus either, which rules out close-ups but works well for everything else.

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This camera's projector functionality might be overlooked at first, but I think it's the Photo Creator's real gem. You can project videos shot on the camera itself, or link it to your phone (Android or iOS) via WiFi to mirror what you're playing there, for example, a YouTube video or Netflix movie.

The camera projects the steps for setup, making it absolutely seamless. Adults will need to help kids with this bit, but even technophobes will have no trouble. It took just two minutes to get a Taylor Swift video playing from my iPhone 15 Pro, and then a bit of fine-tuning, turning the plastic focus wheel on the front of the lens to bring the picture into sharper focus. There are no calibration options, so it's best to position the projector as straight on to a straight wall as possible (harder without a tripod mount).

Photo Creator says you can get a projected image up to 200 x 112cm, and while I just about managed this, I found the light drop-off made it hard to pick out details. The projection is best viewed in a very dark room (think lights off), but it worked well on walls and even a white bed sheet draped to create a makeshift screen.

The biggest disappointment with the Photo Creator Video Projector was the audio, both for recording clips and watching video content. I wasn't expecting hi-fi quality, but the microphone level and speaker were so quiet to be almost unusable. When you've got a room full of rowdy kids and parents, you need the sound to cut through that rather than outputting as a whisper, and the quietness really damps down the entertainment value of the product.

In terms of usability, I found the battery lasts several hours and gets topped up in the same amount of time. The camera doesn't automatically power off in photo mode, but you're able to set a sleep timer in projection mode, which I think is a really nice touch.

Photo Creator Video Projector Camera: Verdict

The Photo Creator Video Projector Camera isn’t meant to hold up against the best video cameras for quality. Its main value is in fun and creation, and creating a way for kids to easily film, shoot, and instantly project their masterpieces. It's about entertaining kids for a few hours together at family gatherings, with the adults keeping their smartphones safe and sound.

As a three-in-one device costing under $70/£70, I was genuinely impressed with its value. The design is chunky and hardy, and my young testers found it easy to use with occasional adult intervention. I particularly loved how seamless the Wi-Fi casting was, letting me project Netflix and YouTube videos for the family onto a wall within minutes. This casting feature would be great for making your own home cinema on a budget, if only the sound were loud enough to hear.

Being honest about the camera, the quality isn't there. The 48MP stills were pixelated, and I think there's some heavy interpolation going on to reach that impressive-sounding resolution. The 1080p video is functional, but washed out in bright sunshine and grainy indoors. Again, the mic level was so quiet it was almost unusable in a room with a few excited kids, and although I was able to bump up the audio on the computer (via the USB-C connection), this isn't a step most amateurs are going to take.

Overall, though, this creative, fun gift is perfect for family gatherings and sleepovers, and I'd have loved making my own video "projects" on something like this as a kid. If the goal is to play, film, and project, I think it's a great choice. In an ever-online world, it might really suit parents who think kids should be creative without the distraction of a phone.

Alternatives

Camp Snap CS-8
This budget-priced video camera isn't designed for kids, but I reckon the design is simple enough for tweens to use. It's more than the Photo Creator without the projector, but it delivers joyous retro footage.

Fujifilm Instax Mini 12
For kids who want to print photos rather than project them, the Instax Mini 12 is a winner. This easy-to-use instant camera is priced similarly to the Photo Creator (although film is sold separately).