Zoomers go digital!

[madNbad]

There is an article in the New York Times about GenZ embracing digital point and shoots from the early 2000s. PowerShots, EZ Share and the like are being brought out from drawers and put to use.

 

[Pieter12]

There goes the film boom.

 

[madNbad]

There goes the film boom.

They should have an article called “Grumpy Group Refuses to Relinquish Film!”.

 

[warden]

It’s interesting how these digital cameras are described as something between phones and film.

[paywall]

The Hottest Gen Z Gadget Is a 20-Year-Old Digital Camera

Young people are opting for point-and-shoots and blurry photos.

www.nytimes.com

 

[xkaes]

The Hottest Gen Z Gadget Is a 20-Year-Old Digital Camera

Young people are opting for point-and-shoots and blurry photos.

By Kalley Huang

Kalley Huang reports on youth and technology from San Francisco. In elementary school, her family used a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H70.

Jan. 7, 2023


https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/07/...r8A6lOPOzIseO374XV366oobhqd5Vg&smid=share-url

 

[Sirius Glass]

Thank you a New York Times article I could read in a private window. Normally I cannot see the NYT articles. CSU Northridge is close to where I live, sort of ...

 

[Eric Rose]

I've been having fun with a 2006 Fuji Finepix.

Here is one image

 

[faberryman]

And not a mention in the article about how the new trend intersects, or may supplant, the film movement among the young.

On a related note, the least expensive roll of color film on the Lomography website is $12.90.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I've been having fun with a 2006 Fuji Finepix.

Here is one image

​

 

[MattKing]

threads combined

 

[Cholentpot]

And not a mention in the article about how the new trend intersects, or may supplant, the film movement among the young.

On a related note, the least expensive roll of color film on the Lomography website is $12.90.

Hint.

It wont. One of these things is not like the other.

 

[Paul Howell]

I see folks using these early zooms more like an instant camera, party cameras, younger folks are shooting film for different reason, one of which it that film is not digital.

 

[armadsen]

And not a mention in the article about how the new trend intersects, or may supplant, the film movement among the young.

On a related note, the least expensive roll of color film on the Lomography website is $12.90.

There is a very small mention of one person choosing a digital point and shoot as "a happy medium between film cameras and smartphones". There's no real exploration of that, but I take from it that it has some of the perceived advantages of film (authenticity, unique look, retro), without some of the disadvantages (price, inconvenience), and better than smartphones for all the reasons talked about throughout the article.

Completely anecdotal, but my Gen Z (23 year old) brother bought an EOS A2 recently and has had a lot of fun with it. He's now wanting to get another less-modern film camera. He is a serious amateur photographer, though, and has used a DSLR for several years.

 

[Willy T]

NYTimes catching up with a low-fi "trend" already underway here-and-there for a while now - 2017 article on DPReview:

Interview: Sofi Lee is a pro shooting with vintage digital compacts

While film nostalgia reaches an all-time high, Seattle-based pro photographer Sofi Lee is turning back to 'digicams' made between 2008 and 2011.

www.dpreview.com

For those who like the "look", a lot to be had from older low-spec gear. Aside from party-cam use, the young woman cited above has had some success in commercial applications.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

There is an article in the New York Times about GenZ embracing digital point and shoots from the early 2000s. PowerShots, EZ Share and the like are being brought out from drawers and put to use.

I still have a couple of my old Canon Elphs. They're great even at 4mb and 8mb.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I just checked. My Canon SD750 Powershot Digital ELph 7.1 MB is going for $ 135 or so and the Canon S95 Powershot 10MB goes for around $150. No bad.

 

[MattKing]

There goes the film boom.

Actually .....
It is a good thing that some people are coming back to appreciating the value of using something optimized for picture taking to take pictures.
Some will just go back to their quite capable smart phones, some will start looking for more capable digital cameras, and some will try a film camera.

 

[madNbad]

Actually .....
It is a good thing that some people are coming back to appreciating the value of using something optimized for picture taking to take pictures.
Some will just go back to their quite capable smart phones, some will start looking for more capable digital cameras, and some will try a film camera.

Here's a generation that has always had a camera with them but are looking for something different than the HDR and other enhancements from the phone camera. Some will move on to film but the spike in the price of film and limited processing choices is a barrier to many. Digging these early digicams out of the drawers and putting them to use is certainly better than just ending up in the landfill.

 

[Pieter12]

Here's a generation that has always had a camera with them but are looking for something different than the HDR and other enhancements from the phone camera. Some will move on to film but the spike in the price of film and limited processing choices is a barrier to many. Digging these early digicams out of the drawers and putting them to use is certainly better than just ending up in the landfill.

Phones have HDR?

The downside to some of the older digital gear is their dedicated batteries are hard to find or just not available. Some do use off-the-shelf batteries, but not that many.

What is kind of cool is that some are really tiny, too, smaller than a phone and fit in a shirt pocket.

 

[aw614]

I can't seem to find my sister's old SD1000 (its in my room somewhere), but I did buy an SD600 from a local estate sale last year for 5 bucks and a friend of mine gave me his old Panasonic LX1, which is pretty nice to use with the 16:9 sensor and raw output.

There are some Canons that use AA batteries, but of course you have to be careful with leaking batteries, my mom's old SX120is had completely corroded the battery and it doesn't turn on anymore.

 

[faberryman]

It there an app to make your iPhone camera images look like they came from an old digital camera? Or is it not about the image but the experience using an old digital camera. Or both? What is the limit on MP before your old digital camera starts looking just like your iPhone on Instagram? I have an iPhone 4 which has a 5MP camera so I figure I already have a old digital camera.

 

[Disappointed_Horse]

Phones have HDR?

The downside to some of the older digital gear is their dedicated batteries are hard to find or just not available. Some do use off-the-shelf batteries, but not that many.

What is kind of cool is that some are really tiny, too, smaller than a phone and fit in a shirt pocket.

Most phones (well, the recent iPhones anyway) have Smart HDR that you can't turn off. At least not with the stock camera app. Coupled with the iPhone's tendency to oversharpen everything, many photos will look overprocessed straight out of the phone. There are tons of other apps out there that will let you make or take photos however you want, including shooting in RAW (not ProRAW in the stock camera app, which also applies the Smart HDR). I like Hipstamatic for times when I'm after a grungy, low-fi look, and I have a couple of apps I really like for shooting black-and-white (Provoke Camera and Argentum).

9to5Mac article on this issue: https://9to5mac.com/2023/01/06/mkbhd-post-processing-ruining-iphone-photos/

 

[jtk]

Android wins again.

 

[dutchsteammachine]

There goes the film boom.

God forbid people having fun and enjoying alternatives means of photography compared to a cellphone.

I have entertained the thought of trying out some early digicams (90's/00's) but the quality just isnt there compared to 35mm or MF. Obviously that is the charm.

People like the CCD look methinks.

Photography is now even happening in a completely VR(Virtual Reality)

 

[Patrick Robert James]

A couple years ago I repurchased a Minolta G400, a camera I originally bought in 2004 but was lost. I did it specifically because in low light it is terrible! I actually shot a project on it back in the day but put it on mothballs. The little digi cameras are great for what they are. I wouldn't mind picking up one of the more recent good ones like the Sony RX100, but that wouldn't have the charm of the old Minolta.

The one good thing about this latest trend is there were so many of those little point and shoots sold back in the day there is almost no way they will become scarce.