I tested Kodak's cheap and cheerful PixPro C1 compact camera – it was like going back in time, and not in a good way

Kodak PixPro C1: Two-minute review

Compact cameras are suddenly trending, including simple pocket-sized point and shoot cameras, and Kodak is riding the wave with the PixPro C1. It’s pretty, it’s cheap and it looks like the perfect antidote to complex mirrorless cameras or expensive smartphones. But can a camera this cheap be any good?

Sadly, it doesn’t take long to answer that question. The PixPro C1 is pretty plasticky, as you would expect at this price, but it looks the part and it has a flip-up selfie screen and a basic but effective set of controls that makes it easy to use. It’s what’s inside that’s the problem.

The C1 uses a very small 13MP 1/1.3-inch sensor of unknown vintage that exhibits all the characteristics of old point and shoot cameras that we’ve conveniently forgotten, with image quality that’s OK in good light but rapidly disintegrates if you need to use a higher ISO in low light or if you use the digital zoom.

Yes, it’s a digital zoom not an optical one. The tiny sensor’s image quality is already stretched to the limit in perfect conditions, so the digital zoom just magnifies its limitations. At the maximum 4x zoom setting you get photos that might look OK on a phone screen, but not so much on a tablet and definitely not in a print. You really are better off sticking to the native focal length, and at 26mm equivalent, this is pretty wide, much like the main camera on a phone.

This camera’s other major issue is its slow response. The single (center) point autofocus can take half a second or a second to lock on, and when you press the shutter release there’s a further delay of a second while the screen goes black… and then you get the shutter sound. It’s very difficult to time your exposures with moving subjects, and the Kodak’s slim, slippery shape makes it difficult to keep it steady – there’s no image stabilization.

So from the outside the Kodak PixPro C1 is quite smart, but inside it uses tech that could have come straight from an old phone or a very cheap point and shoot compact from ten years ago. It’s very disappointing.

Kodak PixPro C1: price

• Priced at $99 / £79 / AU$154
• USB cable and wrist strap included
• Available now

The Kodak PixPro C1 sells for around $99 / £79 (about AU$154). That doesn’t sound much for a fully-functioning pocket-sized digital camera, but it’s quite a lot to spend on something that you end up not using because your smartphone is so much better. That price doesn’t include a memory card, though our sample included a microSD card and card reader, so bundles may vary.

Kodak PixPro C1: specs

Kodak PixPro C1: design

• Slim, light, smart styling
• Plasticky feel but solid enough at the price
• Memory card slot exposed in the base – no door
• Phone-style LED ‘flash’

We forget how small point and shoot cameras used to be! The Kodak PixPro C1 will easily slip into a shirt pocket or a trouser pocket, and because it weighs just 115g, you’ll hardly know it’s there. It’s available in a black or tan or brown finish – mine came in brown, and it does look pretty classy.

It does feel plasticky when you pick it up, however, especially round the back where the screen and the controls are. The top edge of the screen has a hinge so that you can flip it up to face forward for selfies, and to the right you’ve got a four-way controller, menu, playback, mode and record buttons, plus a rocker for the zoom.

You can shoot in full auto mode, switch to program mode for a little more control, or use a small selection of ‘scene’ modes. The menu button displays options for picture styles, metering pattern, resolution (just in case you want less than 13 megapixels!), white balance and continuous versus single shot mode. The menus are basic but clear.

There is a built in flash – well, sort of, as it’s actually a phone-style LED, but that’s fine. Underneath, in the base of the camera, you’ll find the memory card slot, which takes microSD cards. There’s no door or cover of any sort – the card just pushes into the slot, where it’s flush with the base so you can still stand the camera on a flat surface.

It’s all very basic but effective, and exactly what you would expect from a cheap camera. It’s not too daunting for beginners, either.

Kodak PixPro C1: performance

• Sluggish shutter action
• Poor image quality at higher ISOs
• Digital zoom not worth using
• Autofocus struggles/fails in low light

Physically, the PixPro C1 is pretty decent at this price. It’s the performance that’s disappointing. You could argue that you shouldn’t expect much for this money, but there comes a point where a product just isn’t good enough to use, regardless of how cheap it is, and the PixPro C1 sails pretty close to the wind here.

Before you even get to look at its images, its operation feels very vague and sluggish. The AF is not particularly quick, but the worst part is the shutter action, which takes about a second to complete and only makes a shutter sound at the end. This is not a camera for fast action or grabbed shots. Not only that, the rear screen gets quite hard to see in bright light.

As for the pictures… well, it depends on what you are expecting. The resolution, dynamic range and noise are just what you would expect from a small sensor of the old days, and not a patch on what a modern smartphone camera array would produce. In good outdoor light where you don’t need a higher ISO and there’s little risk of camera shake, the images are OK. But in poor light at higher ISOs the detail smudges and object edges become hyper-processed and things aren’t good at all.

If you do use the zoom, you quickly realize that the 13MP sensor really can’t stand a lot of cropping. Or any cropping, to be honest.

I did try the ‘flash’ indoors. There’s nothing wrong with the illumination it provides, but it only comes on when the camera has focused, and in my tests the autofocus struggled if it was too dark, and without sharp focus the flash wasn’t much help.

Should you buy the Kodak PixPro C1?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

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How I tested the Kodak PixPro C1

• I tested it over a period of two weeks
• I tried it with a variety of subjects and lighting conditions
• I also assessed its responsiveness and ease of use

I’ve had the Kodak PixPro C1 for a couple of weeks, which has given me the chance to try it out in all kinds of situations where a camera like this might be used, including outdoor shots, close-ups, indoor scenes and pet pictures. I wanted to give it every chance to show what it could do and how it would react to typical point and shoot situations.

Obviously I wasn’t expecting top image quality, just pictures that were good enough for the purpose. I did feel the Kodak needed to prove it was better than a smartphone or at least as good. Most poeple already have a smartphone with a decent camera, so the Kodak did need to bring something else to the table.

It’s not just the image quality that’s important, but overall handling, usability and responsiveness, and that’s how I approached the PixPro C1.

• First reviewed November 2025