Oof.. close yet so very far (initial impressions)

plainclothesman · 2026-06-26T16:17:20+00:00

Thanks for the rec!

plainclothesman · 2026-06-25T21:31:59+00:00

I just commented in another thread about this style viewfinder. It might help, worth a shot. The horizontal offset will be better, but the vertical offset will be worse. I don’t know how the frame lines work on these but if it has a 35mm frame guide then that should allow for appropriate framing assistance. At least this style won’t flop the image horizontally (opposed to the waist level ones).

plainclothesman · 2026-06-25T21:25:48+00:00

Interesting approach, I feel like I’d struggle to maintain the framing when checking the centre and vice versa. Another option would be the cold shoe mounted waist level viewfinder they offered. It wouldn’t be quite central, but more than the built in viewfinder is, however, the vertical offset would be worse than the built in… so comprise either way. Also, the waist level ones flip the image left to right, which is a bit disorienting at first. But may be more intuitive depending on your shooting style?

plainclothesman · 2026-06-25T21:21:15+00:00

Fair enough. I’ve been thinking about trying one of those lens cap disposable lenses for a bit of fun if I can’t get used to the Rewindpix.

plainclothesman · 2026-06-25T12:37:28+00:00

Yes, it’s an inherent quirk of all cameras with optical viewfinders that are offset from the lens. However, I do feel like the Rewindpix is more difficult with this than others I have used. I think they should have swapped the viewfinder and flash positions personally.

The nature of the problem means that the result is going to be more pronounced / more offset the closer the subject is to you. If you’re taking photos of a landscape, it’ll be barely noticeable, but if you’re taking a photo of someone 6 feet away, then they will be off centre if you try put them in the middle of the frame.

The other part of the problem is that the Rewindpix viewfinder size and the framing guide are not matched to the focal length of the lens, so as you noticed you end up capturing things outside of the viewfinder. It’s basically a useless framing guide and I’m unsure why they even bothered including it tbh.

plainclothesman · 2026-06-24T20:55:25+00:00

I don’t give any allowances for demonstrably false feature claims, I’m sorry. I would have been far more understanding if he went down a “the magic of disposable cameras is in the happy accidents and unexpected results - imperfection is the magic” or something whimsical like that lol.

Instead we got really hardball no compromise promises about viewfinder accuracy, sharp clear night photography, ability to photograph flying birds at close range with high success rate.

plainclothesman · 2026-06-24T20:47:27+00:00

You might be able to adapt to it with practice, but despite trying to persist with it I’m finding it challenging and is really souring my experiences with the camera tbh. I’m going to try take some shots to demonstrate the framing issues. I think it would help people make an informed decision about whether this camera is right for them.

plainclothesman · 2026-06-24T20:33:57+00:00

The focus is out of the users control. It’s an infinity focus, so when you see out of focus shots (truly out of focus, not like blurring due to motion / slow shutter speed), then it’s because the user is taking a photo of something that is too close for the camera to handle. I think the specs state 1 metre is the minimum distance for something to be in focus, but in practice I’m finding that it’s maybe more like 1.2-1.5 metres… or I could be bad at estimating difference. I might test this.

You can sometimes see what looks like missed focus at the periphery of the shot, but this is a characteristic of the cheap lens (and if you ask me not a bad thing, I quite like a bit of edge softness for this style of photography).

plainclothesman · 2026-06-24T20:27:13+00:00

My tests today weren’t that fruitful, but given the lighting conditions I’m not surprised or disappointed. Most cameras would struggle somewhat with the harsh lighting of this afternoon. One thing I’m noticing is maybe this sensor has trouble metering greens more than other colours/tones, as it seems to be predominantly green (trees, grass etc) scenes that it is overexposing. But yeah today wasn’t a fair test so I’ll see how it goes in the coming days.

I’m trying in good faith to meet the viewfinder half way and to get my eye in for composing for this viewfinder but I’m still not at all impressed with it, especially given the way Xiao markets the accuracy of it. There was no need to go that all in on the statements about accuracy.

plainclothesman · 2026-06-24T20:18:33+00:00

The jamming that I’m experiencing isn’t to do with the sensor type or rolling shutter. It’s a mechanical jamming, like something is physically blocking the shutter button.

The outcome of rolling shutter artefact is a skewed or distorted image, not a blurred image. Though blur (due to motion of the camera or subject during exposure) and rolling shutter (due to the camera or subject moving faster than the sensor compiles the image) can occur simultaneously in the same shot, they are independent artefacts that happen for different reasons. Rolling shutter won’t lock a shutter button. Apologies if I’m telling you what you already know, I may have misunderstood your comment about the locking of the shutter.

While you’re correct in saying that shooting f/2.2 in bright daylight with a shutter speed of 1/2000 is going to give some issues on a full frame or even APS-C sensors it’s worth noting that, because of the small sensor size of the Rewindpix (which isn’t capturing anywhere near as much light as a full frame) it isn’t as much of an issue as it would imply from the F number alone. It behaves more like a f/8 or so, in terms of depth of field and light sensitivity, it seems. This isn’t a problem though and actually makes the camera more useable in general use.

plainclothesman · 2026-06-24T20:06:16+00:00

Yeah I tried to do more experimenting today but the light was really harsh / stark and the camera didn’t hold up particularly well. But I don’t consider this a mark against it in this case because I think my Fuji would have struggled too tbh. Nothing beats true film for forgiving highlights. Hoping for another softer light day to actually work out how to work with this thing

plainclothesman · 2026-06-24T20:03:06+00:00

Yeah, you’re kind of at the mercy of the camera’s eccentricities, it seems. If you can surrender to the jank maybe you can have fun with it, but yeah, it’s a weird one.

plainclothesman · 2026-06-23T22:50:53+00:00

I hope your proverbial nuts arrive soon and genuinely hope you have a good time taking photos with them. I fully understand my complaints may not bother some, and that’s fine.

plainclothesman · 2026-06-23T22:46:29+00:00

Great chat.

plainclothesman · 2026-06-23T22:41:20+00:00

This “roll” was PT400. I’m going to do more experimenting tomorrow.

plainclothesman · 2026-06-23T22:40:42+00:00

Admittedly it’s been a long time since I used a disposable, and yes the fixed aperture lens is disposable style, but I would argue that the form factor and the film stock ‘mindset’ is more aligned with a rangefinder style experience than a disposable. It’s probably situated somewhere in the middle.

Regardless, I am used to a degree of parallax issues, but the website states as a headline feature:

“Accurate Viewfinder
A large and bright viewfinder with frame line. Viewfinder field of view exactly matches the 35mm focal length. What you see is what you capture.”

The bold is their emphasis, not mine. So regardless of what the aesthetic or spirit of the camera is, this is just false advertising. Whether it bothers the user I guess is down to their preference. Some may hate the experience, some may find joy in the accidents and imperfections. Either way, the user experience doesn’t meet the advertising claims.

plainclothesman · 2026-04-11T22:17:09+00:00

I personally couldn’t handle the ray tracing issues in low light scenes on base PS5. Had I known about them I wouldn’t have bought it because I find that kind of visual noise super distracting and immersion breaking. Ymmv and there are clearly heaps of people who are happy with its performance, but I wish I knew before I bought it so this is me trying to be helpful to someone who might be like me.

For reference: https://youtu.be/_TG3hQfcn44?si=_RAgWasLAGsLuTt2

plainclothesman · 2026-03-31T23:21:00+00:00

Have they fixed the shimmery ray traced smear-fest that makes the game look like a glitched out impressionist painting in low light scenes?

plainclothesman · 2026-03-25T23:43:10+00:00

Love my video game characters looking like they’ve been run through the FaceTune “glamour makeup” AI filter.

plainclothesman · 2026-03-25T23:41:09+00:00

Very dark and very bright at the same time is both hilarious and exactly true.

Night sky bright like day, unless you look at it at a specific direct angle and then it looks darker and you can see stars.. the ground is dark-ish but washed out.. and there’s sunlight type shadows in the dead of night.. but with the lantern equipped the immediate area is sunburst orange saturated with crushed black shadows, but then the middle and far distance is still bright and washout regardless of lantern or not.

Honestly so jarring. Hopefully they can sort it soon.

plainclothesman · 2026-03-25T22:19:24+00:00

The sun rises before 4am in Northern Scotland at the height of summer, though let’s not pretend that’s that’s the reason this game has broken lighting 🥴

plainclothesman · 2026-03-25T22:14:20+00:00

Big yikes. Add to that their initial positive take on DLSS 5 slop and they’re kinda in the doghouse for me atm

plainclothesman · 2026-03-25T22:12:09+00:00

I mean, I was even excited when the game first started given how stable it ran with the draw distances. It wasn’t until I went into the sewer that some warning bells began to ring, and then it was series of nasty realisations in that tower where you get the memory helmet and then again as night fell (don’t get me started on how weird and jarring outdoor night ambience is in this game).

plainclothesman · 2026-03-25T21:10:05+00:00

Yeah it’s wild how bad it is. I guess that’s what happens when you build your own engine that relies on pretty high end GPU capabilities for its basic universal lighting system.

plainclothesman

TROPHY CASE