- Yashica Journey is a budget 4K camcorder
- The so-called ‘zombie brand’ licenses the legendary name Yashica
- A crowdfunding page is active
If you’re familiar with the name Yashica, you’ll do well to put aside any notions of legendary film cameras when you see the name on a number of recent compact cameras.
The original company is long gone; its name is licensed, in this case to JNC Datum Tech, a Hong Kong-based company that makes cheap cameras, the latest of which is the Journey.
There’s an active crowdfunding page for the Yashica Journey (following other campaigns like the one for night vision binoculars and the recent $100 point-and-shoot ‘Tank’), which is a low-cost camcorder equipped with 4K video, 8MP stills, and a 3x optical zoom (extended by a 4x digital zoom). These appear to be legitimate specs, as opposed to the inflated specs you can see with many super-cheap, off-brand cameras, although that’s no guarantee of quality.
Article continues below.
If you’re surprised by the introduction of a new camcorder in 2026, you should know that retro camera gear is enjoying a resurgence, with shipments of compact cameras up 30% year over year, as is the adoption of lo-fi photography to combat a wave of AI imaging.
Camcorders are another part of the market that is seeing an unlikely surge in popularity, so the Yashica Journey could land at an opportune time.
Image 1 of 4
Yashica by name, budget by nature
Yashica sent me candid videos and photos taken with the Journey, and while they’re unsurprisingly average in quality, they’re not that bad. Sure, the 3x optical zoom range of the 16-50mm f/2-3.6 lens and 4K images from the small 1/1.28-inch sensor are disappointing for a camcorder. However, this is a low-cost product available for $268 (around £200 / AU$374), with early bird offers for backers on the crowdfunding page starting at $188 (around £140 / AU$262).
I think the problem for camera historians is one of association and the Hong Kong team’s marketing around honoring the prestige of the brand, when in fact it apparently has no ties to the history of the original Japanese film camera maker. The Journey bears the Yashica name, but not its legendary quality: today’s ‘Yashica’ is all about low-cost products.
And for those who have never heard of Yashica before, no problem, as long as you know the lo-fi quality of their products.
The Journey is on the affordable end of camcorders, but features 4K video up to 60fps, a 3.5mm microphone port, autofocus, a 270-degree flip-out touchscreen, a compact and lightweight 5.9oz/167g frame, manual exposure control, and a micro SD card slot. Not a bad feature for a product at this price.
I haven’t used recent Yashica products, although our sister title, Digital Camera World, rates the City 100 Zoom highly (less so than other products, such as the aforementioned night binoculars).
My advice is to go beyond the name and base your expectations on ‘Yashica’ as it is today – a budget camera maker, although I’d still be inclined to wait for the reviews before buying. And if you decide to back the project through a price cut on the crowdfunding page, remember that there is no guarantee of product delivery, even if Yashica has delivered it before.
Image 1 of 2
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to receive news, reviews and opinions from our experts in your feeds. Be sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form and receive regular updates from us on WhatsApp also.
