Godox C100 review: A novelty camera that works better as a light meter

I’m a big fan of cameras that are focused on fun, and I’m always interested when companies take a distinct approach to that idea. After all, there are countless highly capable cameras on the market today that are more serious, and you’re sure to find one that fits your needs, no matter what type of photography you enjoy. There are even options for small travel cameras after a bit of a lull in that segment.

What is the Godox C100

The photo and video modes let you switch between 16:9, 4:3, 3:2 and 1:1 aspect ratios and display framing guides on the transparent screen.Abby Ferguson

When I saw that Godox had released the C100, its first camera, I was intrigued. The palm-sized camera uses a vastly different design from most. It features a transparent viewfinder (though calling it that is a bit generous) that doubles as a minimalist display. You can’t review your photos there, as it’s more like a heads-up display, but it shows which mode you have selected and frame lines. When in light meter mode, it displays ISO, aperture and shutter speed settings.

The white body is a slim rectangle with a central button to trigger the shutter or light meter, arrows to cycle through aspect ratio or exposure settings, and a side switch to select photo, video, light meter, or turn the camera off. It’s remarkably easy to operate from a settings standpoint, as there really aren’t any. It takes just a few seconds of pushing buttons to figure out how to use it.

Using the Godox C100

I thought I had my cat more in the frame, but I significantly missed. Abby Ferguson

While the buttons are easy to navigate, using the camera as, well, a camera, is not so pleasant. The large, transparent viewfinder is certainly novel and a playful idea. But using it as a viewfinder is far from ideal. For starters, judging what’s in the frame depends entirely on how close you hold the viewfinder to your face and at what angle. It isn’t a consistent or reliable way to compose images, though I did better than I thought when I actually reviewed them, aside from a few major misses.

The bigger issue I had was that my eyes struggled to decide what to focus on when using it. My eyes would jump back and forth between focusing on whatever was beyond the viewfinder and on the camera itself, which was rather headache-inducing for me. So you see: not so pleasant.

Of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t touch on image quality. Godox hasn’t published any details about the camera in terms of sensor size, aperture, shutter speed, and so on, and none of those details are captured in metadata. So I can only comment on what I’m seeing in the roughly 2MP images.

High contrast scenes are a challenge for this camera. Abby Ferguson

It should come as no surprise that the image quality is what you’d expect from a toy camera. It admittedly isn’t as bad as I expected (I had very low expectations), and this isn’t a camera meant for pristine image quality anyway. But there are some notable issues.

The dynamic range is very small, and it tends to massively overexpose highlights in favor of exposing for the shadows. In fact, it’s so intense that my colleague Mitchell described it as a “highlight brick wall” as opposed to a highlight roll-off. The fixed focus also isn’t very close, so subjects need to be relatively far away to be sharp (or at least as sharp as this setup can produce).

I was surprised the exposure on this one turned out alright. Abby Ferguson

In bright light, it handles moving subjects reasonably well; my dog wasn’t just a blur, suggesting a reasonable shutter speed. Low-light images are, naturally, quite rough-looking, though that isn’t a surprise given how small the sensor likely is.

Overall, the camera produces images that very much fit into the low-fi aesthetic that seems to be popular right now. The experience of using it isn’t all that pleasant for me, but I could see that being less of an issue for others.

Light meter use

Abby Ferguson

Given the image quality and framing annoyances, I think the Godox C100 actually makes the most sense as a light meter, since it offers a specific mode for that. As a film photographer, I can see the advantage there, as it is significantly smaller than my Sekonic light meter, meaning I can easily keep it in my pocket when I’m out shooting.

There are plenty of excellent smartphone light meter apps (even free ones), but that means I need to have my phone on hand. It also requires I unlock my phone every time I want to take a meter reading, and potentially navigate to the app if I’ve done something else in the meantime, which I’ve found a bit annoying when on a photo walk or something similar.

In my testing, I found the meter mode to be very accurate. I compared it to the measurements from various mirrorless cameras, and it was exactly the same every single time. I would feel confident using it for film.

You can select two parameters to control, with the meter measuring for the third. Abby Ferguson

It’s also nice because you can select which two parameters you want control of versus which the camera should give you a reading for. With what I photograph, I’m most often interested in adjusting my own aperture, and I have a set ISO since I’m shooting film. So I set my ISO and aperture, push the center button, and it gives me a reading for what my shutter speed should be.

The one small issue with light meter mode is the range of each setting. Aperture ranges from F1.0 to F64, and shutter speed from 1 sec to 1/8000 sec, which are both plenty broad (much more than any of my film cameras can use, in fact). ISO, however, only covers from 100-800.

Most of the film I shoot falls in that range, but there are popular film stocks well above 800, or below 100. I’m currently working on a roll of CineStill 800T that I’m shooting at 1600. So that narrow ISO range is potentially a bit limiting. But, for those who know how to calculate equivalent exposures, it could at least help dial in an appropriate setting.

Final thoughts

When looking at a camera like this, it’s important to keep in mind what it actually is and who it’s meant for. This is supposed to be a novel, fun camera, and in most ways it is. For those who aren’t precious about framing or image quality, I could see it being a fun toy to take out and about.

The visually challenging process of trying to actually use the viewfinder will keep me from using it as a camera. But, I think it will make a home next to my film cameras that don’t have built-in meters on photo walks, as it is easier to carry around than my dedicated light meter and more convenient than using a smartphone app.

Godox