As you probably know, mini camera keychains – especially Kodak keychain cameras – have been as popular as Pokémon cards lately. The craze first kicked off last year with the original Kodak Charmera, and since then everyone from Yashica to Insta360 has got in on the craze.
If you've somehow missed the trend, these keychain cameras are teeny-tiny compact cameras that are small enough to – you guessed it – fit on a keychain.
Their appeal is multifaceted. First and foremost, they're ridiculously cheap. Selling for about $35 in the US, they're affordable enough to be impulse buys and are perfect for gifting. Secondly, they're ridiculously cute and collectible. Coming in multiple colors and styles, there's a real "gotta catch 'em all" vibe.
But the Kodak keychain cameras added a third stroke of genius: blind boxes. Like a Labubu (or, indeed, a pack of Pokémon cards), Charmeras come in an unmarked box and you didn't know which of the six designs you were going to get (hence you're buying a box "blind").
I dunno about you but, as a child who grew up collecting things like stickers and trading cards, I'm a sucker for a blind box. And Kodak knew what it was doing by adding a "secret" seventh design – a super-rare version that you had a 1-in-48 chance of getting.
For a while, those secret Charmeras (with a transparent design) were being sold for $500 on eBay! The Millennium Edition Kodak keychain cameras also have a secret variant (in a very sexy chrome body) and Escura does the same with a "mystery" SnapRoll design.
However, while these keychain cameras are undoubtedly cute and collectible, it's fair to say that the image quality is far more about fun than fidelity.
If we take Kodak's keychain camera as an example, it packs a minuscule 1/4-inch sensor with just 1.4MP resolution. And there are some cheap knock-offs on Amazon with even worse quality.
So you're not exactly going to shoot a wedding on one of these, but it's a fun thing to have on your car keys or dangling from your bag – and they make perfect cameras for kids, too. I've tried out a bunch of them and, after some unscientific testing, these are the best keychain cameras I've used so far.
Best Kodak keychain camera
The one that started it all, the Charmera is the OG Kodak keychain camera – and thus, the one that set the bar. It's not a very high bar technically, though, with a tiny 1/4-inch sensor that maxes out at 1.6MP resolution for stills and FullHD 30p for video.
What is that good for? More than you might think, surprisingly! Obviously the images are never going to win you a photo competition, but they're about early era smartphone quality – an aesthetic which has a following among Gen Zers, for whom this is the "retro look" the same way that Polaroid and 35mm was retro for my generation.
Images are muddy but not devoid of charm, like shooting with a digicam from the late Nineties. They make for fun social media snaps, and the tinny video in particular has that vintage digital camcorder quality that some folks spend a lot of time layering LUTs and filters to replicate.
The rear screen is very small, making it tricky to compose images, though credit to Reto (the company that actually makes the Charmera) for including an optical viewfinder – which is even smaller and less useful, but is a nice nod to the old cameras like the Kodak Fling.
Something that my colleague Mike remarked on, which never occurred to me, is that the Charmera offers authentic retro charm – whereas the SnapRoll can only offer an imitation of retro brands.
Best film-style keychain camera
If you want a keychain camera that looks like a roll of film, the Escura Snaproll is by far your best bet – but there's more on offer than just looks!
The signature appeal of this camera is its design. Kodak's keychain cameras are cool just because they're small, but the SnapRoll is cool because it looks just like a canister of 35mm film.
Indeed, Escura has gone to great lengths to style the different SnapRoll variants after famous film stocks such as Kodak Gold 400 or Ilford Pan 400. Personally, I think that's even neater than a cute little rectangular box – and as someone who grew up shooting film, I much prefer the design of this to the Charmera.
It also boasts a bigger LCD screen, which makes it easier to frame and review your shots, and shoots both in a higher resolution and a square format – which is something that's always fun to challenge your compositions. Image quality is about on par with the Kodak, though I prefer the filters here – particularly the GameBoy-esque green filter, for which I have a soft spot.
However, video can only be captured in SD (720p) – though honestly, none of these keychain cameras take video that's very good by any conventional measure!
Best Kodak keychain camera for filters
The Charmera Millennium Editions are the second wave of Kodak keychain cameras, and possess the exact same technical specs as the original series.
What's different is twofold. First, where the OG Charmeras featured Eighties-inspired styling, the Millennium Editions features a Nineties aesthetic – with nods to things like pixel art as well as cult tech like Sony's MiniDisc, as you can see in the green one above.
(The "secret" chase variant even tips its hat to the iconic T-1000 from Terminator 2, with a liquid metal finish that's sure to have scalpers' eyes wide with anticipation.)
The other difference is also an aesthetic one, but for your photos: the Millennium Edition adds a new selection of frames and filters (including a neat Video Player frame, which looks like your photos are being viewed on something like RealPlayer or Media Player Classic).
While the original Charmera filters were pretty horrible (particularly the single-color options), here they're almost sophisticated. The new Pixel Filters offer a sort of duotone line art style – and the Coral in particular creates some very interesting results. If you enjoy creative filters, this is the one to go for.
Best keychain camera for creators
My hat is off to Insta360. Not only does it sell grips that turn the Ace Pro 2 action camera into a bona fide compact camera and even an instant camera, it also offers a housing that turns the Go 3S into a pro-level keychain camera!
That's what we've got here. The thumb-sized Go 3S slots into the Retro Viewfinder – a plastic sheath with a top-down optical viewfinder. And just like that, you've got a brilliant 4K keychain action camera.
Obviously this isn't the same sub-$50 proposition as the other cameras on this list, so some might see it as a cheat. However, if you want something keychain-sized that packs the power of a "proper" camera, this is the hands-down winner.
The Insta360 can shoot 12MP photos and 4K 30p video on a much larger 1/2.3-inch sensor, which delivers monumentally superior image quality. Seriously, it's in a completely different stratosphere – and also offers features like image stabilization, timelapse, slow-motion, open gate video and even pre-recording. It's even waterproof to 33ft!
Because there is no screen (although you can buy the Action Pod separately for about a hundred bucks, with a flipping 2.2-inch touchscreen) you'll need to pair the Go 3S with your phone – where there is an enormous amount of additional control available.
Best cheap keychain camera
If you just want something cute, cheap and photo-related to hang on your car keys or dangle from your camera bag, the Photo Creator Mini Cam is the one for you.
This keychain camera is essentially a glorified charm that takes pictures, but it's also ridiculously cheap. Right now you can find it for as little as $15 in the US and £6.50(!!!) in the UK, making it a perfect novelty purchase where images are a Brucie bonus rather than the point of the product.
And that's really the best way to think about the Mini Cam. Despite technically having more than double the resolution of the Charmera, the image quality is considerably worse for both stills and video.
However, there are a couple of unique upsides. For starters, this camera comes with a 1GB microSD card – so you can start playing with it right out of the packet. It also possesses a "flash" – although this is really just an LED that lights up, rather than anything that's going to illuminate a shot.
Again, that's really the case here: everything is for show. This is a cute little keychain camera that looks like a mini DSLR or mirrorless body, and it just so happens to be able to take photos and video. Ask nothing more of it and, for the super-low price, this is a fun little novelty item.
You might also like…
Want something that's still small, but boasts better image quality? Check out the best compact cameras and the best point and shoot cameras for more powerful portable picture taking!
