This might be the most fun $30 I've ever spent on camera stuff.
Last month, Godox launched its first ever camera: the Godox C100 "transparent viewfinder camera". Over half of its tiny 104 x 71.7 x 19.1mm frame is taken up by an "intelligent transparent display" that's basically a see-through LCD screen with a UI that shows your image frame, battery and shooting mode.
Basically, it's like taking pictures with a credit card that has a hole in it. And it is ludicrously good fun – definitely one of the best screen-free digital cameras you can buy right now.
I took it for an outing recently to put together a quick video, so below is a whistelstop guided tour of the camera with some samples. (Yes, I know that my hands are shaky. I had mild dehydration and sunstroke from running around in the 90° heat so I could post this video as soon as possible.)
So, you aim through the giant optical finder and do your best to frame your composition – which isn't quite as hit-and-miss as you might expect.
We've seen cameras like this before – namely the Canon Ivy Rec and the Instax Pal, both of which have fairly clumsy optical finders that give a vague approximation of your image frame (given that they are so far away from the camera itself) and, crucially, no feedback as to where your fingertips are!
The G100 is much more accurate, given that the camera is positioned literally just above the finder. In addition, it can be set to shoot 16:9, 4:3, 3:2 or 1:1 images – essentially cropping down the base 1920 x 1080 image each time.
Changing the aspect ratio superimposes a different frame on the display, to help you compose your shots. I haven't experimented too much with this, yet, as it seemed better to shoot "full frame" 16:9 and just crop later on.
Image quality is surprisingly good, given that this is just a 2MP camera with a tiny sensor. It's certainly better than other $30 screen-free cameras like the Kodak Charmera, where images feel very lo-fi and crunchy.
You still wouldn't exactly shoot a wedding on this, but take a look below – with a touch of editing, the images are perfectly respectable:
The C100 also shoots 1080p video, which as you can see above registers all the jitters of sunstroked hands – so I'll do a couple more tests now that I'm not cooked by the heat. The audio is still pretty blown out and the image quality isn't remotely going to rival your camera or phone, though.
But I think the C100's coolest party trick is the fact that it also doubles as a light meter, which is a stroke of genius and might make this an essential pickup for film photographers. This week I'm going to test its accuracy against my trusty Sekonic meter to see how it performs. Either way, it's a cool little bonus feature to have.
Of course, as noted in my original story, the elephant in the room is that the Godox C100 takes "a great deal of inspiration" from the Escura InstantSnap – an almost identically functioning camera that debuted at CP+ 2025.
Escura's camera is only 1.3MP (with correspondingly inferior image quality), only shoots 480p video and doesn't have a light meter – but still, it's important to note that it likely served as the blueprint for Godox's device.
I'll have my full Godox C100 review up very soon, but in short I had low expectations for this camera – and yet it's been the most fun I've had taking pictures in forever. I also think that this is a brilliant camera for kids, as it's tiny, loads of fun and also cultivates patience, as you have to wait to get home to see what you shot. Not bad for 30 bucks!
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