Contrary to what you might think, the best-selling cameras of the past couple of years haven’t been made by Canon, or Nikon, or Sony, or Fujifilm. They haven’t been professional mirrorless models costing thousands of dollars. They have, in fact, been a pair of ultra-cheap point-and-shoot compacts from the oldest name in photography – Kodak.
Yes, the Kodak PixPro FZ55 and PixPro FZ45 have been selling like absolutely gangbusters throughout 2025 and 2026. Simple, streamlined and in my opinion quite cutely designed, these little point-and-shoots give you genuine optical zoom lenses – 4x in the case of the FZ45, and 5x for the FZ55 (pictured above) – and 16MP stills for ridiculously low prices. And this Labor Day weekend, one of those prices is more ridiculous than ever, as you can grab the Kodak PixPro FZ45 at Amazon for $89.99 — that’s 31% off the original asking price of $129.99.
There’s a number of reasons why these little compacts have proven so popular — and it’s not just that they’re so cheap. Kodak is one of the most recognizable names in photography, with its roots dating back to the early years of the medium. So, while cheap compacts have been a thing forever, the trust in the Kodak name has definitely been a factor for casual buyers, as our Cameras Editor Tim Coleman has discussed in his piece looking more closely at the PixPro success story.
Today’s best Kodak PixPro FZ45 deal
PixPro FZ45: was $129.99 now $89.99
A two-figure price for a camera with a genuine 4x optical zoom lens is really quite something. With point-and-shoot compacts back in vogue, this is the perfect chance to embrace
Price check: $89.99 at AmazonView Deal
Younger generations have also been embracing the look of lo-fi digital compacts, enjoying them both for their Y2K nostalgia factor and the fact that they offer a tangibly different imaging experience to using a smartphone. The cute, attractive design of the PixPro FZ45 certainly doesn’t hurt either — it’s available in a range of colorways, from austere black to hot pink.
As far as I’m concerned, anything that gets more people into photography is a good thing — and a price cut on the already very cheap Kodak PixPro FZ45 is very welcome indeed in this regard.
Granted, the PixPro FZ45 is not going to produce brilliant imagery — your average smartphone will produce better-looking images thanks to smart processing. But for digital compact enthusiasts, brilliant imagery isn’t the point — people are embracing the look produced by these cameras, warts and all. So, if you’ve been itching to jump in and embrace the cheap compact camera craze, this Labor Day weekend is the ideal time to start.
Not in the US? You can find the best Kodak PixPro camera deals
