Toy Camera mode enables you to take pictures that look as if they were shot with a toy camera. So what effects do you get when using this mode? I performed some experiments to find out.

With Toy Camera mode, I found that I really could take loosely defined pictures like those shot with a toy camera. As shown using Photo 1, with Toy Camera mode it is possible to set vignetting (adjustment of brightness at the corners) as strong, weak, or off and to switch toy color on and off. When vignetting was set at weak or strong, the result was an image in which the center portion appears brighter and the viewer's attention is pulled strongly to the center. Turning toy color on raised the contrast to give flashy colors, and turning it off reduced sharpness, giving a soft hazy image. As can be seen in Photo 2, with all Toy Camera mode settings, the focus at the four corners is blurred and color shifts (chromatic aberrations) are emphasized.

Changing the image size to square format further strengthened the toy camera impression. Photo 5 was shot with the focus fixed as it is with a toy camera (here I set it to snap*). Since the child was closer than the focus distance, the out-of-focus quality increases the toy camera feel.
*With the snap setting, the focus is fixed at a short distance of approximately 2.5 m.

For Photo 6, reducing sharpness by turning off toy color and also using positive exposure compensation resulted in a soft image. Since hand motion blur and focusing errors actually increase the toy camera quality of an image, with this mode you can really relax and have fun in going after your "one scene" for the day. For detailed operation instructions, see below.