In the illustration collection Digital Camera Girl Famous Views, the Hasselblad H3DII-50 camera is listed at ￥4,200,000. By today's economy, that would be $49,099.84. I just felt the need to share that little fact. And while that is by no means the average camera showcased in this art book, it just kind of puts the other prices into perspective ^^;

Like other pictorial books before it, Digital Camera Girl Famous Views includes both extensive information about each of the cameras pictured as well as lovely girls to show them off ^^ The works of 40 artists are captured in this 88-page B5-sized book, making it approximately one illustration on every other page.

The cover art is by Takamichi (たかみち), and the same picture is repeated inside along with camera info.

One thing I found interesting was that the illustrations and camera information are ordered via class; entry models, middle class models, and professional models. Since prices are included in the information, I was surprised to see that there was a camera considered "entry level" priced in the thousands (of dollars). It's the one pictured above in the illustration by Kamo (加茂). All of the pictures above are from the "entry level" section, which includes a total of 20 illustrations, or in other words half of the book ^^; I've included the artists' names in the descriptions for the photos, so just click on a picture to learn more!

The "middle class models" make up the next thirteen entires, which get kicked off with an illustration by ms picturing two sweaty school girls on a class trip. Some of the other artists in the section that aren't pictured above are Harikamo (はりかも), Kuma Jet (クマジェット), Ebira (えびら), and Sakura Kotetsu (桜小鉄). If you're doing a little head-scratching with some of those names, well, you're not the only one. But that's a plus with these kinds of collection art books, it really does help you discover new artists even if you purchased it for the artists you've heard of before!

Slightly better known, and still in the "middle class models" section are illustrations by TOKIAME, Maruku, and Shiwasu Takashi. Maruku is one artist whose work I haven't seen much in print, but certainly has a strong online presence, especially with the not so safe for work genre ^^;

The last seven illustrations are the "professional models." The petite blonde girl above illustrated by Kiki (幾喜) is holding the most expensive camera in the book, the Hasselblad H3DII-50. Nanakusa, artist for Shinigami no Ballad also has an illustration in this section.

I found the majority of illustrations pretty impressive, and for the most part, they're quite nicely staged with the girls being natural and topical in the use of their cameras. Since it's meant to be a pictorial book, I can't fault it on length (it's not like they could review every camera out there). And since I can't read Japanese, I can't fault it on camera facts, so I'm pretty happy with it overall ^^

• Title: Digital Camera Girl Famous Views
• タイトル: デジカメ少女百景
• Pages: 88
• Release dates: 07/27/2010
• Buy: Amazon Japan