(Credit: Canon/PCMag)
Canon made the news today not with its brand new EOS C50—a Hollywood-grade cinema camera debuting at $3,899—but with the Elph 360 HS A, a $379.99 reissue of a pocket digital camera originally released in 2016. It seems like a crazy thing to do on the surface, especially given how technically superior smartphone cameras are, but I don't think Canon is insane. The used camera market, on the other hand, is wearing banana pants at this point.
What's Old Is New Again
When Canon briefed me on the Elph 360 HS A, I was a little baffled. My first digital camera was an Elph S230, a 3.2MP pocket cam that I picked up when I was working a post-college summer job selling cameras (and service plans for them) at a Best Buy in Albany, NY. The camera was enough to get me into photography, but I didn't love it and upgraded to a DSLR as soon as I could afford it. I don't feel the nostalgia for pocketable models with tiny sensors and slow zoom lenses, simply because they were never my favorite type of camera to begin with.
It's not surprising that some critics have already panned Canon's new camera. PetaPixel's Jeremy Gray calls it a "worse version of the original," and on a technical level, I agree with him. The Elph 360 HS A is as retro as retro tech gets. Its 20MP CMOS image sensor is tiny, so picture quality drops off quickly in dim light. Its lens isn't bright either (F3.6-7), so you'll absolutely need to use its flash to light up photos in many instances. Forget about shallow focus, HDR, or Raw capture—all common features on phone cameras. The Elph snaps SDR JPGs, and you won't get bokeh from its lens.
(Credit: Canon/PCMag)Video is limited to 1080p, which is way behind smartphones that now record in 4K at a minimum. It has Wi-Fi, but no touch screen, and its data port is miniUSB. The EU now requires new devices to use USB-C ports for charging, but since the 360 HS A doesn't charge its battery in-camera, that's not a problem. Virtually nothing has been updated since the original, minus a changeover to microSD cards; the old 360 HS used full-size SDXC.
It's easy to sit here and point out the flaws, and I think that photo enthusiasts are going to lament that Canon isn't reissuing a more serious photographic tool, like the popular but impossible-to-get G7 X Mark III. After all, these are the types of cameras that photographers like me, who almost always carry a mirrorless (or two, or three) around, enjoy using when packing light. I highlighted some of my personal favorite enthusiast compacts in my roundup of vintage digicams worth buying today. Read it if pocketability is more your speed.
The Demand Is There
It's clear that I'm a little out of touch with today's youth market. I won't prejudge the Elph 360 HS A. I plan to review it soon, and will go in with an open mind. After all, Gen Z influencers and creators are very much into pocket cams with tiny (Type 1/2.3) image sensors, slow aperture lenses, and motion-stopping xenon flashes. This isn't just speculation; the market proves there is a demand for the Elph 360 HS in particular. I checked eBay and used ones have recently sold in the $300 to $400 range, with new old stock going for as much as $600.
So Canon's $379.99 asking price for the contemporary version seems entirely reasonable. It's a good way for younger creators to try out this type of camera without having to worry about getting a lemon or spending twice as much on a newer release, like the $700 Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS99 that I reviewed just last month.
The camera market has also changed drastically in the last decade. One of the reasons I didn't review the Elph 360 HS when it came out in 2016 was a simple lack of interest from consumers. Smartphones had already caught up to compact cameras—the contemporary iPhone 7 Plus had dual lenses for creating the bokeh effect and capturing two angles of view, plus a bright aperture for its main lens for good pictures in dim light. At the time, photo enthusiasts were more smitten with DSLRs, mirrorless cameras, and compacts with extra-large sensors, like those in Canon's PowerShot G and Sony's RX100 series.
But everything is cyclical. Heck, bell-bottoms were back in fashion as recently as this decade, so why shouldn't the same be true for digicams?
I've already pointed out the ways that the Elph lags behind smartphone cameras, but how about where it beats them? On a technical level, the xenon flash is a big selling point, as the bright deer-in-the-headlights direct flash look is actually in vogue right now. It's an effect you just won't get with an LED smartphone flash. And on a human level, using a camera to make images comes with a different mindset than using a phone. Incoming text messages and emails won't take you out of the moment, and there's no temptation to doomscroll. I'd argue digital cameras are better for your mental health than smartphones.
What Will the Next Trend Be?
Kudos to Canon for not only recognizing the demand in the market but also responding to it. I'm curious to see if the Elph 360 HS A ships in a quantity large enough to soften prices for vintage cameras, and hopeful that Canon will bring back one of its older G series compacts next. As for the next trend, my guess is that DSLRs with pop-up flashes will come back into fashion, but I won't know for sure until I see some celebs hanging Canon Rebels off their shoulders at the Met Gala.