Is this 'e-waste'?

If we talk about which area of mobile phones is the most competitive nowadays.

If imaging is ranked second, no one dares to claim the first place.

Starting a few years ago, flagship phones' main cameras have been getting bigger and bigger. Huawei brought the 1/1.73-inch Sony IMX 600 to its P20 Pro, while Xiaomi's 12 series will use the 1/1.28-inch Sony IMX 707. What about 100-megapixel and 200-megapixel sensors are starting to be stuffed into mid-range phones. That configuration is called powerful.

Later on, it was the well-known battle of one-inch main cameras...

(Image source: Xiaomi)

In addition to the hardware constantly rising, software is also catching up, with full-focal-length photography, low-light telephoto, and portrait mode with a sense of quality.

All have been rolled up by mobile phone manufacturers onto their own tracks.

But sometimes, taking pictures is not always the clearer, the better.

At least on Xiaohongshu, compared to the precise detail, users are more pursuing a 'mood' in photography.

To be more precise, it should be a vintage or film-like feel, that hazy sensation.

A bit yellow and green, hazy, so what? That's the vibe we want.

Anyway, influenced by this trend, many vintage camera styles have appeared in social media recommendation feeds, with CCD cameras (using charge-coupled devices as image sensors) as the representative, triggering a wave of pursuit.

Domestic manufacturers naturally have no reason not to follow up on such a business opportunity.

So, at the beginning of July this year, the established consumer electronics manufacturer Aigo announced its entry into Xiaohongshu and posted a message on Xiaohongshu that it would soon launch a new compact camera.

(Image source: Aigo)

Aigo's product idea is straightforward, aiming to create a vintage-styled digital camera in the form of a compact camera. They hope to keep up with the fashion trend that emerged after 2020 by attaching an outdated digital product and even become a part of young people's communication codes.

Intrigued, we purchased this camera for 399 yuan.

Looks like a CCD

As the saying goes, the truth hurts.

But as an honest person, I must express my first impression of this product, or else it will be uncomfortable keeping it to myself.

In short, this Aigo E6 digital camera is much 'cheaper' than I expected.

The Aigo E6 digital camera uses white and orange as the base colors for its packaging. The front of the square box features a product image display, with Aigo's logo in the upper left corner and the brand's so-called 'National Good Product' label, which it has been striving to create.

(Image source: Leitech)

On the left side of the packaging, the slogan 'Creating Good Products for the Nation' is printed, while on the right side are some general selling points of the product, including 'Video Capture', 'Photo Capture', and 'HD Screen', which can basically be determined as a generic packaging for multiple products.

Turning to the back, the box lists product information. The product we have on hand is the Aigo Student Digital Camera E6 Dual Camera White (64GB), along with the address and contact information of the manufacturer, Shenzhen Bingjie Tianxia Technology Co., Ltd.

(Image source: Leitech)

Yes, it's not Aigo Digital Technology Co., Ltd., but Shenzhen Bingjie Tianxia Technology Co., Ltd.

As for any shenanigans involved, I can only say that Bingjie itself is a company that produces... I mean, vintage cameras. The rest, you can search on JD.com and find out for yourself.

Opening the box reveals the Aigo E6 itself.

(Image source: Leitech)

Removing the body, underneath the rudimentary foam plastic and cardboard are all the included accessories, including a Type-C charging cable*1, a ChuanYu TF card reader*1, a black lanyard*1, a Type-C OTG adapter*1, a gray storage bag*1, and a useless brief manual.

(Image source: Leitech)

Highly collectible, recommended to be directly—thrown into the trash can.

After reviewing the packaging and accessories, let's turn our attention to the product itself.

Just looking at the front, the Aigo E6 does look the part, with a similarity of about 70-80% to a proper CCD digital camera. The black and white color scheme is also reminiscent of Leica's Sofort 2 instant camera. If only it had a red dot, it would at least hold its own in terms of looking fancy.

(Image source: Leitech)

However, once you pick it up, the disparity becomes immediately apparent.

If the Leica Sofort 2 looks like it's made of particularly cheap and easily scratched plastic, then the Aigo E6 really is made of that kind of plastic. It feels like a child's toy in your hand, weighing in at less than 100 grams.

Oh, and that fake 'filter ring' is naturally unmovable.

Moving on to the sides of the body, there's a cutting-edge Type-C charging port on the left and a vintage-feeling lanyard hole on the right.

Opening the bottom latch reveals the battery compartment and TF card slot. It uses a standard Nokia BL-5B battery and comes with an unknown 64GB TF card.

(Image source: Leitech)

Flipping to the back, there's a 2.8-inch grayscale screen with rough display and slight color cast. There's a tiny so-called 'selfie camera' that adds a whopping 100 yuan to the price, along with a handful of camera buttons.

(Image source: Leitech)

At first glance, this Aigo E6...

It's all bluster, nothing more!

Not a real CCD

Although no one should be expecting much at this point.

But as usual, let me briefly introduce the specifications of the Aigo E6:

Capable of shooting 64MP photos;

2.8-inch IPS LCD screen;

Up to 18x digital zoom;

1/3-inch sensor size.

Among these specifications, the 64MP figure is the most misleading.

(Image source: JD.com)

But considering the 1/3-inch size, it's highly unlikely that the Aigo E6 uses a 64MP sensor, as no such sensor exists on the market. The closest is probably the 1/2-inch OV64B.

However, products like this are generally not sold exclusively in China, so I checked Amazon US.

And sure enough, I found something.

In fact, the Aigo E6 most likely uses a 13MP 1/3-inch OV13B sensor, supporting phase detection autofocus (PDAF), capable of shooting up to 13MP full-resolution images and recording 4K 30fps video.

(Image source: OmniVision)

Good news, it seems better than your average dashcam.

Bad news, only slightly.

First, let's talk about the system. As someone who has used Canon, Yi, and Sony cameras before, I have to say that the Aigo E6's menu is very concise—in other words, there's not much to adjust. Besides the most basic exposure and white balance adjustments, there's not much customization space left for users.

Well, that's good for someone like me who prefers automation.

In daylight shooting, this product tends to overexpose severely in almost any environment with sunlight, even when the exposure is manually set to the lowest possible level. You can simply 'enjoy' a set of sample photos to see if its imaging style is to your liking.

(Image source: Leitech)

As for the officially claimed 18x zoom (the manual states 16x zoom), the results look like this.

(Image source: Leitech)

If you can appreciate this, I'd say you're a genius.

If vintage CCD cameras on the market can indeed produce elegant photos in decent lighting conditions, the fun with this camera is pretty much limited to the moment you open the box. Its actual daytime imaging quality is inferior to even the Lumia 830, and the poor imaging is reminiscent of early Android phones.

Moving on to low-light shooting, the Aigo E6 is essentially blind, with almost the entire photo covered in noise and often exhibiting purple fringing and greenish hues. Add to that its inability to focus properly in low-light environments, and the resulting photos are almost completely unusable.

(Image source: Leitech)

I don't know, it's like the moment you take the photo, it gets double-compressed by Baidu Tieba and WeChat.

Gimmicks are fleeting

For this product, I think I can draw a conclusion here.

Some third-tier factory, upon seeing the CCD vintage trend on Xiaohongshu, slapped an Aigo brand on its product to ride the wave.

That's right, this is it, the Aigo E6.

(Image source: Leitech)

Even after a brief hands-on experience, this product hasn't left a good impression on me. Its image quality, focusing, and shooting experience hardly qualify it as a camera. Its 399 yuan price tag is even more outrageous than overpriced second-hand CCD digital cameras.

In my opinion, those CCD cameras that are being hyped up to three or four hundred yuan or more can at least serve as toys in the hands of model photographers or as fashion items on desks and display cases. But the Aigo E6, which can't even do its primary job well, is at best a playable electronic toy.

Yeah, that's it.

In my opinion, if you're on a tight budget but still want to record your life, you might want to scour second-hand platforms for older flagship camera phones, like the Xiaomi 10 Ultra Commemorative Edition or vivo X50 Pro+, which are currently priced at around 500 yuan used. Paired with vintage film filters provided by various apps, their actual photo output rate may even be higher than that of CCD cameras.

If you really want to learn photography, I recommend starting with a mainstream mirrorless camera if your budget allows. At least it can give you a completely different experience from mobile photography. If your budget is tight, you can also start with mobile photography, which also contains a wealth of knowledge waiting to be explored.

Remember, whether you are buying a camera or other electronic products, don't be greedy for cheap deals. When you think you're getting a good deal, the merchant is already counting their money until their hands cramp behind your back.

Source: Leitech