#HTE

Casio Designs Dastardly Line of “Perfect Selfie Cameras” That Are Selling Like Hotcakes

While the French government has decreed that retouched photos must be labeled, in hopes of reducing eating disorders, Casio is going in the opposite direction.

Now that every phone has a camera, compact cameras should be dead, right? Not to Casio they’re not. The company has cleverly capitalized on human vanity, specifically the kind that has created a worldwide scourge of selfies, and designed the perfect standalone selfie camera:

The Casio Elixim EX-TR80 has reportedly been selling like hotcakes in Asia for $900 each. (It’s not available in the ‘States; instead we’ve got the EX-TR70, which runs about $530.)

What makes the camera so desirable to its target market is a combination of physical and digital features. On the physical side, it’s got two flashes, one on either side of the lens, to make your face look more evenly-lit. There’s also a kickstand so you can, I dunno, set the thing down and have it take photos of you while you eat salad with no dressing. On the digital side, the camera features myriad lighting options the consumer can dial in to feed their narcissism and distort their self-view.

Some examples:

You probably don’t want people to see what your real skin looks like, but with the help of software you can make it look like nice, smooth polypropylene:

Want to appear darker or lighter than you actually are? No problem:

Got bags under your eyes, or do you feel your face is too fat? We all know that neither you nor society can accept that, so let’s take care of that:

Following up on the success of the EX-TR80, Casio has now designed the TR Mini, which has the form factor of a makeup compact:

It also features the adjustable settings, but the innovation here is providing eight LEDs arrayed in a circle around the lens, providing ring-flash-like lighting:

It even has a freaking Mole Remover setting. I’m not kidding:

Hell in a handbasket, folks.