At Tom’s Guide, I test some of the best cheap cameras, so I know what to look for when recommending one. If you’ve seen those pink cameras that have gone viral on TikTok this year, you’ll be familiar with the AgfaPhoto Realishot DC5500, and when I think of it, I wonder, “Why?”
The Realishot DC5500 is a compact and portable camera that costs just $68 and it comes in cute colors. But that’s it. The camera has little else going on for it as it suffers from subpar image and video quality, and it looks and feels cheap which makes me question its durability. But my biggest issue with the Realishot DC5500 is that it might wipe your memory card without prior warning.
For the complete breakdown, read my full AgfaPhoto Realishot DC5500 review.
AgfaPhoto Realishot DC5500 review: Specs
AgfaPhoto Realishot DC5500 review: Cheat sheet
- What is it? A compact digital camera with a 24MP sensor
- Who is it for? For people looking for an easy way to burn $68
- How much does it cost? The AgfaPhoto Realishot DC5500 is available for $68 / £54
- What do we like? It’s cheap, portable and comes in fun colors
- What don’t we like? The image and video quality, the build quality, and the fact that it wipes memory cards
AgfaPhoto Realishot DC5500 review: Price & availability
The AgfaPhoto Realishot DC5500 has a retail price of $68 at Amazon U.S. / £54 at Amazon U.K. and it comes in four different colors: pink, blue, white and black.
Now, before you think, “This is so cheap, I’m going to get one,” might I suggest saving up for the Kodak PIXPRO FZ45 ($99) or the Kodak PIXPRO WPZ2 ($179) as both those cameras are better value for money? I love a good deal but the product has to have some redeeming qualities before I recommend spending hard earned money on it.
AgfaPhoto Realishot DC5500 review: Design & build quality
The AgfaPhoto Realishot DC5500 is a very compact and portable camera. It measures just 3.74 x 2.28 x 1.06 inches so it’s easy to slip into a pocket and hold with one hand. It’s a very thin camera and its lens doesn’t have any moving parts, so it doesn’t protrude out like lenses on other compact cameras. The Realishot DC5500 weighs just 3.10z, making it one of the lightest cameras I’ve tested yet.
But we have to talk about the camera’s build quality. It doesn’t look bad but its metallic design feels cheap. It doesn’t feel very durable so I would be very careful not to drop it. The poor build quality extends to its buttons too, which don’t feel nice to press, and I’ll discuss this soon.
The USB mini type-B charging port is located on the back, next to the LCD screen. On the camera’s underside, you’ll find the memory card and battery compartments. The camera doesn’t have any internal storage unlike the Kodak PIXPRO WPZ2 (8MB) and the Kodak PIXPRO FZ45 (63MB) so you’ll need to buy an SD card separately. Here’s where I encountered a massive issue. I put my SD card in (which I’d been using to test the PIXPRO FZ45 before the Realishot DC5500), and when I inserted the SD card into my MacBook Air M2 to copy the images, the Realishot DC5500 had wiped the ones I’d taken on the PIXPRO FZ45. This has never happened to me with any other camera I’ve used, which led to a lot of frustration. The camera doesn’t warn you that it’s going to format your memory card, so user beware. It’s a good idea to backup your photos before inserting an SD card into this camera.
AgfaPhoto Realishot DC5500 review: Lens & viewfinder
The AgfaPhoto Realishot DC5500’s product page, box and manual don’t specify the focus range, focal length, autofocus system, aperture or shutter speed, so it’s difficult to evaluate these specs. The only specs specified are the ISO range and the sensor. The camera utilizes a 24MP CMOS sensor and has an ISO range of 100-400 — which isn’t a lot and won’t get you the best results in any shooting condition.
Fitted with a 2.4-inch color LCD screen, the Realishot DC5500 has a poor user interface too. The only modes you can choose from are photo, video and gallery, so you don’t get as much control as the Kodak PIXPRO WPZ2 and PIXPOR FZ45. The screen is also quite small which makes it difficult to frame shots. Also, the screen doesn’t show a green reticle which indicates the subject in focus, so shooting is quite hit-or-miss.
AgfaPhoto Realishot DC5500 review: Controls
The AgfaPhoto Realishot DC5500’s controls are well placed and easy to get to grips with. On the top plate, you’ll find the power and shutter buttons. The shutter button is a little finicky and needs to be pressed a couple of times for the shutter to fire, which adds insult to injury.
All other controls sit next to the LCD screen, and these include the zoom in and out buttons, the mode button which lets you swap between stills, video and gallery, the scene button to choose between night and day settings, and the navigation wheel. The navigation wheel’s buttons double as flash, delete, and scene buttons too. Again, these buttons need to be pressed quite hard for your commands to register which can be frustrating when you’re out and about.
AgfaPhoto Realishot DC5500 review: Image quality
The AgfaPhoto Realishot DC5500 can shoot 24MP images but these are not good and tend to appear pixelated and out of focus, and you can see in the examples above. The images of both the cygnet and the plant have lost a lot of fine detail and you can’t make out the edges.
But credit where credit’s due, the Realishot DC5500 tries really hard to faithfully reproduce colors and somewhat succeeds. In the first image of the birds being fed, the colors on the swans’ beaks have turned out great, especially for such a busy image. In the second image, I like the shades of purple and teal on the pigeons’ necks too.
Zooming and taking a photo is where things get worse, as you can see in the examples above. The first photo was shot at 1x zoom and the second at the maximum 8x digital zoom. The first image isn’t the sharpest, but the second photo is unusable as lots of detail has been lost. The Kodak PIXPRO WPZ2 and the PIXPRO FZ45 both have a 4x optical zoom and a 6x digital zoom which delivers better results.
Overall, the Realishot DC5500’s image quality is underwhelming, and there are better alternatives available.
AgfaPhoto Realishot DC5500 review: Video quality
The AgfaPhoto Realishot DC5500’s video capabilities are limited to 720P which means it’s worse than most modern smartphones and even other compact cameras. For context, both the Kodak PIXPRO WPZ2 and PIXPRO FZ45 shoot 1080P video at 30fps. You can see some sample footage taken on the Realishot DC5500 above. The camera also beeps when you start zooming in and it’s recorded. In the video above, not only is the zoomed in footage heavily pixelated, but so is the footage taken at 1x zoom.
AgfaPhoto Realishot DC5500 review: Battery life
The AgfaPhoto Realishot DC5500 is equipped with a rechargeable Lithium-ion battery but doesn’t have a CIPA rating for battery life. In my testing, on a full charge, the camera lasted me 90 shots which isn’t great. The Kodak PIXPRO FZ45 is rated for 120 shots while the PIXPRO WPZ2 is rated for 200 shots which is far better.
AgfaPhoto Realishot DC5500 review: Verdict
I really wish the AgfaPhoto Realishot DC5500 wasn’t this disappointing. The camera looks good, is very portable and cheap, and comes in a few fun colorways that give it a charming look. But that’s where its pros end.
The Realishot DC5500 is heavily let down by its poor image and video quality, and it suffers from poor build quality too. Not just that but in my testing, the camera wiped my memory card without any prior warning. Spending $68 on a camera isn’t worth it if it gets rid of all the photos I worked hard to get.
Save yourself the hassle and consider other alternatives — if the Kodak PIXPRO WPZ2 reminded me why I love photography, the Realishot DC5500 has just shaken me awake and convinced me to stick to my smartphone.
