The 3 Best Cheap Digital Cameras of 2023

Digital cameras offer advanced features like bigger image sensors and long-range optical zoom lenses. Even if you have a tight budget, a diverse variety of cameras are available in the market.

What to Look for When Buying a Digital Camera

Best Budget

Kodak PixPro FZ53 Digital Camera

4.2

Amazon

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What We Like

• Affordable price

• Smile and Blink detection

What We Don’t Like

• Autofocus isn’t exactly the best

If you’re on a shoestring budget but still want a capable digital camera, look no further than Kodak’s PixPro FZ53. Having a 16MP sensor and a 28mm wide-angle lens, this inexpensive shooter lets you capture more detail in every frame. There’s also 5x optical zoom for taking pictures of faraway subjects. The camera’s “auto-detection” feature – recognizing faces, smiles, and blinks – makes getting the perfect shot even more accessible.

You get numerous shooting modes (e.g., Auto, Image Stabilization, and Panorama) and a plethora of scene presets such as Landscape, Fireworks, Glass, Indoor, and Night Portrait. The PixPro FZ53 uses digital image stabilization technology to reduce blur, and its 2.7-inch LCD monitor allows for effortless composition/viewing of pictures. You can also capture 720p HD videos at 30fps with the simple touch of a button and shoot up to 200 images with the camera’s battery fully charged. Some other features worth noting are SD card support (up to 32GB), an ISO range of 80-1600, and macro shooting.

Best Action Camera

AKASO Brave 4 Wi-Fi Action Camera

Amazon

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What We Like

• Good video and photo quality (for the price)

• Lots of bundled accessories

What We Don’t Like

• Some reliability issues

Arguably one of the best action cameras available, Akaso’s Brave 4 offers many features for less than $100. Its 20MP Sony sensor lets you record crisp 4K footage at 24fps and Full-HD videos at 60fps. Not only that, you can shoot 20MP still images with up to 5x zoom as well. The camera includes adjustable viewing angles (e.g., 70 degrees, 140 degrees), and its built-in smart gyroscope results in super-smooth videos with enhanced stabilization.

A 2-inch IPS LCD screen makes it easy to preview/compose photos and videos, and a smaller display on the front can show important information such as battery level and recording time. Akaso Brave 4 comes with a transparent case that makes it waterproof up to 30m (100ft), and there’s even a dedicated “diving mode” for filming all your underwater adventures. For connectivity and I/O, there’s Wi-Fi and HDMI included in the mix. In addition to other accessories, the camera’s bundled with two batteries (each having a capacity of 1050mAh) that provide a total recording time of up to 180 minutes.

“With high-end features like 4K video recording, gyroscope-based stabilization, and wireless connectivity included, it’s a surprise that Akaso Brave 4 costs under $100.”—Rajat Sharma

Best Design

Lomography Konstruktor F

Amazon

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What We Like

• Truly unique and fun DIY construction

• No batteries needed

What We Don’t Like

• Average picture quality

Lomography’s cameras are renowned for having some of the most fantastic designs, and the Konstruktor F is no exception. However, there’s a lot more to it than just good looks. This is an old-school 35mm film camera you must first “build” to use. Yep, you read that right! It comes in a DIY (Do It Yourself) kit with all the essential components and detailed assembly instructions. And even though the 50mm fixed aperture lens can’t match up to the advanced optics of today’s digital cameras, the resulting photos have a timeless retro charm that’s simply incomparable.

Interestingly, the camera also includes a PC socket that lets you connect a flash accessory (available for purchase separately), resulting in better low-light pictures. Lomography Konstruktor F uses a twin-lens reflex viewfinder and basic manual controls for adjusting exposure and focus. Oh, and it doesn’t need a battery to work. How awesome is that!