The body
[ ] 「 」 ⊂ ⊃
Square brackets are the camera; CJK corner brackets are the viewfinder framing a subject instead.
Shutters, lenses and say cheese
Camera Kaomoji
Unicode has no camera character, so kaomoji build one: a bracket pair for the body and a circle or square inside it for the lens. Once you can see that, every camera face is the same two pieces attached to an ordinary kaomoji.
( ´ ω ` )⊃[⊙]
Quick answer
Which one should you use?
There is no camera character in plain text, so a camera is drawn as [⊙] — square brackets as the body, a circled dot as the lens. Put it after a face and the face is holding it; put it before one and the lens is pointing at you. Put ✧ either side and the flash has just gone off.
Copy and paste
20 camera kaomoji
Every face is plain text. Tap one to copy it, then paste it wherever you are typing — it travels as ordinary characters, not as an image.
( ´ ω ` )⊃[⊙]
Taking a photo
The ⊃ is an arm reaching for the camera body.
[⊙]( ˘ ᵕ ˘ )
Camera raised
Lens first, so the camera is between you and the face.
(ﾉ´ヮ`)ﾉ[▣]
Snapping quickly
Both hands up; ▣ is a boxier, more compact body.
[◎]( ･ω･)
Lens facing you
The double ring gives you a wide aperture, pointed straight at you.
(￣▽￣)ノ[⊙]
Say cheese
A grin and a raised hand — the one to send before a group photo.
[▣]‿[▣]
Camera eyes
Both eyes replaced by lenses. Watching, not shooting.
(⊙ᴗ⊙)✧[⊙]
Flash going off
The ✧ sits between the face and the camera as the burst.
「(◕‿◕)」
Framed shot
CJK corner brackets read as a viewfinder around the subject.
[⊡]( ˆ ᴗ ˆ )
Compact camera
⊡ is a smaller squared lens: a point-and-shoot, not an SLR.
(ᐢ ᵕ ᐢ)[◉]
Animal photographer
Canadian syllabics ears above a heavy filled lens.
( ˘ ε ˘ )[⊙]
Posing with a kiss
A pursed mouth turned towards the lens.
⊂( ･◡･ )⊃[◎]
Both hands on it
Bracket arms either side, steadying the shot.
[⊙]〜( ˘ ω ˘ )
Camera on a strap
The 〜 is the strap running from body to shoulder.
(๑˃ ᴗ ˂)[▣]
Excited photographer
Rounded cheeks beside a boxy camera.
「 ✧ ◕ ‿ ◕ ✧ 」
Bright framed shot
Corner brackets with glints inside — a lit subject.
✧[⊙]✧
Flash
The camera alone, mid-exposure. No face at all.
[⊙]
Plain camera
The minimal form: brackets as body, circled dot as lens.
[▣]
Boxy camera
A squared lens. Older, and more mechanical.
[◉]
Wide lens
Heavier and darker — the most SLR-like of the three.
[❐]
Shutter box
❐ is a shadowed square, which gives the body some depth.
How they are built
The parts these faces are made of
Kaomoji are assembled rather than drawn. Once you can see the components, you can adjust any face on this page instead of hunting for a different one.
The lens
⊙ ◎ ◉ ⊡ ▣ ❐
Circles read as glass and squares as a mechanical body. The heavier the character, the bigger the camera looks.
The flash
✧ ✦ ⋆ ｡ﾟ
Placed between the face and the camera, or either side of the camera alone. It is the difference between a shot being taken and one being lined up.
Arms and straps
⊃ ⊂ ﾉ 〜
⊃ reaches for the camera, ﾉ holds it up, and 〜 hangs it from a shoulder.
Before you paste
Getting them to arrive intact
Paste as plain text
Markdown and rich-text editors treat backslashes, underscores and asterisks as formatting. Square brackets are the extra hazard here: followed by a bracket pair they become a link.
Brackets can become links
In Markdown, [⊙] immediately followed by ( turns into link syntax and the camera disappears. Put a space between the camera and any bracket that follows it, or use the 「 」 forms instead.
Lens before or after
Placing the camera after a face means that face is holding it. Placing it first means the lens is pointed at the reader, which is the version to use when you are the one being photographed.
Read more
Faces with a full write-up
Some of these have their own page covering where the face came from and how its meaning has shifted.
Questions
Camera Kaomoji FAQ
What is the camera kaomoji?
[⊙] is the camera itself, and (￣▽￣)ノ[⊙] is the most useful complete face — a grin with a raised hand, ready to take a photo. There is no dedicated camera character in Unicode, so every version is a bracket pair with a lens character inside it.
How do you make a camera in text?
Put a lens character inside square brackets: [⊙], [◎], [▣] or [◉]. Circles read as glass and squares as a mechanical body, so [⊙] looks like a modern camera and [▣] like an older one. Add ✧ either side for the flash.
Why does my camera kaomoji turn into a link?
Markdown reads square brackets followed by a round bracket as link syntax, so [⊙]( ･ω･) is parsed as a link with [⊙] as the text. Put a space between the camera and the face, or use the corner-bracket version 「(◕‿◕)」, which has no such conflict.
Is there a camera emoji instead?
Yes, 📷 and 📸, and each is a single character instead of an assembly. The reason to use [⊙] instead is that it is plain text: it takes the colour of the surrounding words and sits at the same weight as the face beside it, where an emoji always looks like a separate object.
Keep exploring