Are there any options for a very cheap, small, and reasonably fast camera?

Question

I'm a happy DSLR owner, but I'm looking in the opposite direction here: I want a really small (smaller than the regular P&S) and cheap (ideally below $50) digital camera.

Given those two requirements, I obviously don't expect anything regarding image quality, zoom, manual control... I'd be happy with a plastic lens and two buttons (on/off & shutter). My only other concern is about the responsiveness of the camera.

I already tried the Vistaquest VQ-2005 (also known as Mr. Digital Clover), which corresponds to most of what I'm asking for, but is waaay too slow (turn on camera, wait 5 secs, hit the shutter, wait 2 secs, picture is taken, wait 5 secs, camera is ready for the next round).

Any idea or recommendation?

Answer

DealExtreme is a direct-from-china retailer with lots of oddments, including dozens of Chinese digital camera knockoffs.

They easily have a dozen under $50, with some as low as $20. They're also a bit nicer then the "Mr. Digital Clover", as the cameras above ~$40 actually have LCD viewscreens. Or claim a resolution of 12MP, or are waterproof.

And then they just have bizarre crap.

Furthermore, I have actually purchased stuff from DealExtreme a number of times, so they are at least somewhat reliable (stuff takes a long time to ship, and they suck at proper packaging for delicate things), but it's not a scam, at least as far as I can tell.

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