# What is this cheap camera really worth? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 30, 2013, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-cheap-camera-really-worth/662241 "2013-06-30T03:04:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-cheap-camera-really-worth/662241/1 "2013-06-30T03:04:16Z")
I recently sat through a sales pitch and got a free gift- a digital camera, at least in the sense that you can take .JPEGs with it. Some Googling tells me that it is an Ouyama DG111. It has 300k (not Meg; k) pixels.I highly suspect that the “retail value” was highly inflated; my searches turned up a site called “Cheap Digital Camera for Promotion , Gifts or Toys (DG111)” which says that the FOB cost is “negotiable”. Are these retailed and if so for what typical price? ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-cheap-camera-really-worth/662241/2 "2013-06-30T03:52:18Z")
Are you really looking for an answer that is not “their value is $0 as they are only ever given away as promotional items”? The site that lists the Ouyama also lists [cameras](http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/595739533/5xOptical_Zoom_Face_Detection_Internal_32M.html) as low as $2. I suspect that these are items that are only valued as impulse items or giveaways. There are cameras available from the more mainstream direct-from-China shippers for only a little more. DealExtreme sells a [3MP camera](http://dx.com/p/ultra-mini-screen-free-3-0-mega-pixels-cmos-motion-detection-video-camera-micro-sd-tf-slot-37478) for $14. Meritline sells a [primitive digital camera](http://www.meritline.com/3-in-1-mini-digital-video-camera---p-55285.aspx) for $8. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-cheap-camera-really-worth/662241/3 "2013-06-30T04:08:47Z")
A new camera that his 300,000 pixel resolution? Cameras 10 years ago were doing better than that. It’s about a close to digital trash as you can get. It’s literally garbage. ---
**Author:** ![tavalla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tavalla/32/89_2.png) [@tavalla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavalla)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-cheap-camera-really-worth/662241/4 "2013-06-30T07:55:33Z")
It has negative value. You would quite literally have to pay me to take it. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-cheap-camera-really-worth/662241/5 "2013-06-30T14:16:57Z")
Moved Cafe Society --\> IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-cheap-camera-really-worth/662241/6 "2013-06-30T14:33:10Z")
> [@tavalla](#): > > It has negative value. You would quite literally have to pay me to take it. so just free shipping wouldn’t do it? ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-cheap-camera-really-worth/662241/7 "2013-06-30T14:44:22Z")
Believe it or not, this is still a _better_ camera than what I was having to use before. The DG111 at least has a maximum resolution of 640x480. I was using a toy keychain camera with a resolution of 352x288. What with cell phone cameras and web cams, digital photo is approaching the level that digital clocks reached years ago: so cheap that they’re giveaways like keychains and refrigerator magnets. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-cheap-camera-really-worth/662241/8 "2013-06-30T15:01:07Z")
I’ve seen really cheap digital cameras that are marketed to children **as toys** that are better quality than that. I would almost infinitely rather dig out my film camera and use that exclusively, rather than use what you have. So yes, I’d say that your camera has negative value. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-cheap-camera-really-worth/662241/9 "2013-06-30T15:05:41Z")
Slightly better ones seem to go for ~USD10. [http://www.aliexpress.com/item/50-shipping-fee-World-s-smallest-High-Definition-Digital-Video-Camera-mini-dv-dvr-Webcam-8532/908443337.html](http://www.aliexpress.com/item/50-shipping-fee-World-s-smallest-High-Definition-Digital-Video-Camera-mini-dv-dvr-Webcam-8532/908443337.html) (AliExpress is something like eBay, but also sells wholesale and industrial stuff.) ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-cheap-camera-really-worth/662241/10 "2013-06-30T15:23:42Z")
I got a key chain camera at Staples for $4.95. About the size of the label on a small bottle of Tabasco. Low res files, but comparable to an older flip phone camera function. Broke after after two weeks of somewhat careless use. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-cheap-camera-really-worth/662241/11 "2013-06-30T15:27:22Z")
As for the value of the camera in the OP, he had to sit thru a sales pitch to get it. If nothing else came out positive for the OP from that sales pitch, then, in my way of looking at it, the camera cost him whatever his time is worth. Sounds like a net loss to me. YMMV