This vintage digital camera doesn’t even have a screen and it’s exactly what you need
Many of us spend hours looking at screens every day, and that includes our camera screens, which provide instant feedback via high-resolution LCDs. We can get sucked into these displays and taken away from the world and people around us. The Camp Snap instead aims to take us back to a simpler time, and I’m all for it.
It’s a cheap, vintage-style, screenless digital compact camera that’s a breeze to use, but not just for kids. It looks like a disposable, single-use film camera – albeit with a very cool vintage vibe – but this isn’t a camera to throw away.
Camp Snap camera price and availability
Now available in the US and Europe, the Camp Snap costs $55/£45, plus shipping, and is available with leather-effect upholstery in brown, aqua, black, forest green, white or pink. I asked the makers of Camp Snap if the camera will be available in other regions outside of Europe and the US, and there are plans to add even more regions, including Australia.
You get a pre-installed TF memory card with capacity for more than 2,000 8 MP JPEG photos (TF cards are interchangeable with microSD memory cards), plus a rechargeable battery that lasts hundreds of shots, and a USB-C connection for transfer those photos and charge the battery.
There’s an LED flash that can be turned on or off, a shutter button for taking photos, a speaker that provides audible feedback to those around you that a photo has been taken, a viewfinder window on the back, and a simple photo counter.
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The makers say the plastic Camp Snap is drop-resistant because it has no internal moving parts, so you can rest assured that everyone in the family is using it. And that’s about all you need to know: Think of the Camp Snap as a vintage-style digital camera that offers an analog experience.
The first time you see the photos you take through the bright f/1.8 moderate wide-angle fixed focus lens is when you connect the camera via the USB-C connection to upload them to your computer – and it’s that experience of delayed gratification that really makes the Camp Snap feel like a disposable analog camera, but without the cost of film.
We’re so used to instant feedback these days, and most of us – myself included – are impatient to see the results of our photo shoots. In an effort to combat this urge, I sometimes fold away the tilting screen of my ‘serious’ mirrorless camera so that there’s no screen on the back to look at. It encourages me to use the viewfinder instead, hone my photography skills, and practice patience in waiting to see my creations later.
The Camp Snap is unlikely to take high-quality photos, but it’s what it represents in terms of the experience of the photo-taking process that is important, and could make it one of the best cameras for kids.
Any camera that encourages you to create without focusing too much on the device itself – thereby taking you away from the moment – is a good thing in my opinion. Sign me up.