7-Eleven and New Balance Team for a Limited-Edition Camera Crossover
Another day, another Kodak Charmera knockoff. Although, at least this time, it looks fun.
We’ve seen plenty of Kodak Charmera ripoffs, including some marketed with hideous generative AI. Now there’s another Kodak Charmera knockoff, but at least this one has a cool factor.
The unlikely duo of 7-Eleven and New Balance have teamed up in Hong Kong to celebrate the convenience store chain’s 45th anniversary in the region, and are doing so with a variety of branded knickknacks. The crossover drop includes blind-box retro cassette players preloaded with a 7-Eleven theme song, sports bags, and even New Balance-branded cameras.
These little cameras look a lot like the Kodak Charmera, which really means that they look a lot like the cameras that look like the Charmera that have popped up everywhere online since the Charmera’s smashing success.
New Balance is plenty popular in North America, working with world-famous athletes like up-and-coming NBA star Cooper Flagg, track star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, tennis champ Coco Gauff, and arguably the most famous baseball player in the world, Shohei Ohtani. But in Hong Kong, the brand is super trendy. It is as much a lifestyle and fashion brand as it is a sportswear one.
Given New Balance’s appeal to a younger generation, it is little surprise that 7-Eleven wanted to team up on its new collectible retro-styled products.
The four “Mini Cameras” specifically come in four different designs. As with the actual Kodak Charmera, these arrive in blind boxes, so collectors don’t know which one they have until they open it. There’s a classic grey-and-orange one, a pink one, a purple camera with a New Balance sneaker on it, and finally an olive green version.
“The Mini Camera shoots photos, records video and captures audio — three functions in one compact device,” 7-Eleven says. “Additional features include adjustable pixel settings, 25 built-in filters usable across both photo and video modes, and motion detection in video mode: the camera starts recording automatically when movement is detected and stops after 10 seconds of stillness to save storage.”
It’s a 1.6-megapixel camera that works with microSD cards up to 128GB. It has a built-in battery that recharges via USB-C. It weighs just 24 grams and has a keychain attachment.
7-Eleven customers in Hong Kong can receive a “FunStamp” online or a physical stamp in store after spending at least HK$20 in a single transaction from now until June 30. That’s about $2.55 at current exchange rates. Each additional HK$10 is worth a stamp, so spending HK$30 in a transaction nets the buyer two stamps, HK$40 three stamps, and so on. The Mini Camera costs four FunStamps plus HK$168 ($21.44). Complete details are available on 7-Eleven’s Hong Kong website.
It’s certainly an unusual limited-edition camera crossover, but one that will undoubtedly prove popular.
Image credits: 7-Eleven, New Balance
