Snap Pixy Flying Camera Review: Selfies for All

I am old enough to remember a time when we all had digital cameras and almost unlimited memory. There were 24 chances to capture a moment with a roll of film. What you got was what you had. When I was a kid, my mom took me to the mall to get our glamour shots done, and it was the only chance I had to perfect my pose.

When I showed my coworker my selfies, he remarked that it looked like I was putting out a garage rock album. Of course it did. Punk and grunge pics are ostentatiously unposed and unfiltered.

The new teensy camera drone is very easy to use. Even when you carry multiple batteries, you don't have a lot of chances to get the shot you want. Images can look a little flat with an onboard camera.

That is not a big complaint. The best drone on a budget is the DJI Mavic Mini S, which costs twice as much and requires you to actually learn how to fly it. The Pixy flies, launching from your palm and landing back on your hand. If you don't want to spend time and money on cheap drones on Amazon, and you want selfies that are more dynamic than what you would get with a selfie stick, the Pixy is a good buy. My kids love it.

The world is small.

The size of a small paperback book and weight of less than a deck of cards make the Pixy a good choice. My 7-year-old can operate it because it is so small. I forgot which pocket in my bag.

You can pair the drones with the app on your phone. The small silver dial on the top of the drone shows five icons for different flight modes, and you can personalize them with a star. The yellow button on the top of the drone is where you can pick a mode. The light on one side of the camera will turn green if you hold the drone in your palm and move it up near your face. You can watch Pixy take off. While it is hovering, wait for the light on the other side of the lens to turn white, which is an indicator that Pixy has started recording. It flies back down to your hand after about 15 seconds.

If you want to get your videos onto your phone, spin the silver dial on the drone. You can import videos and pictures from your phone to both Snapchat and your camera roll, and the drone can store around 20 videos. One day, that will last you. Since the drone doesn't capture audio, you can add any music you like in the app or elsewhere. Adding stickers or video effects is one of the things you can do on Snapchat.

I usually look at my 4K video on my phone, but the 2.7K footage that the camera captures is noticeably grainier. If I had remembered to clean the lens every time I flew it, it would have helped.

My three-year-old iPhone has three differentlenses and features like Deep Fusion that can be used to take much more gorgeous shots. The Pixy does not have that stuff. I had never seen my butt in jeans before, so this was more than repaid. I would like to thank my friends and family for never taking pictures of me from this angle.

Slow show.

The footage reminded me of a meme called the Dead Wife in a Movie TikTok. The women and men shot parody videos of themselves as the wife who is but a much-mourned memory at the beginning of a movie. They walk away from the camera in gauzy dresses and the footage consists mostly of snuggling under the covers.