An unusual pocket camera with a transparent screen

The photographic equipment market is undoubtedly experiencing a real renaissance of pocket cameras. The new Godox C100, whose exterior is deliberately designed to be extremely simple, also falls into this category. Instead of the classic digital screen that shows a live view through the lens, this device relies on a completely transparent window through which the user determines the composition of the frame. Although the idea itself is not entirely new, Godox has a significantly greater market reach, which is why this model is likely to reach a much wider circle of customers.

The manufacturer describes the exterior of the C100 as avant-garde. The housing is shaped like a rectangle, divided into two halves. The upper part contains the optical unit, which is located directly above the transparent window, while the lower part, which serves as a handle, houses the battery and memory component. The transparent window transmits approximately 50 % of light, which means that the view through this surface is noticeably darker than the surrounding area. The main goal of such a design, according to the company, is complete immersion in the photographic moment. After pressing the shutter button, the user is not distracted by immediately reviewing the photo just taken on the screen, but remains focused on what is happening in front of him.

Godox has not published any details on its official website about the built-in sensor, image resolution, or video quality. Initial preview information shows that the file size of individual photos is between 320 and 570 kilobytes, which means that high professional resolution should not be expected from this gadget.

However, the transparent window represents a significant upgrade over previous experiments of this kind on the market, which were simply plain transparent plastic with printing. The window on the Godox C100 is active and dynamically displays the current lighting, battery status and number of shots. This is extremely useful, as the device supports shooting in different aspect ratios, such as 16:9, 4:3, 3:2 and 1:1, and the guide lines on the transparent glass automatically adjust to these settings. On the back of the housing are two directional buttons and a selection button, which are used to change these settings.

The device can be connected directly to a smartphone or computer via USB-C for fast transfer and viewing of photos and videos. microSD cards with a capacity of up to 128 GB are used for data storage. The same USB-C connector is also used to charge the built-in battery, which, according to the manufacturer, provides up to 1.5 hours of continuous video recording, and with normal photography, the expected autonomy is significantly longer. According to Digital Camera World, the price of the device on the Chinese market is around 26 euros.