Pros & Cons
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- Simple one-button operation
- No rear display for distraction-free photography
- Motion-freezing xenon flash with two power settings
- Four configurable picture profiles
- Great battery life and USB-C charging
- Included 4GB memory card holds nearly 1,000 photos
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- Imprecise viewfinder
- Image quality doesn't compete with smartphones
Camp Snap Pro Specs
| 35mm Equivalent (Wide) | 22.5 |
| Battery Type | Internal |
| Connectivity | USB-C |
| Dimensions | 3.0 by 5.0 by 1.5 inches |
| Memory Card Format | microSDXC |
| Memory Card Slots | 1 |
| Sensor Resolution | 16 |
| Sensor Size | Type 1/3 |
| Sensor Type | CMOS |
| Type | Compact |
| Video Resolution | None |
| Viewfinder Type | Optical |
| Weight | 5.1 |
Everything is getting more expensive, and it's impossible to find some camera gear in stock, but no one told Camp Snap. Its sophomore effort, the Camp Snap Pro ($99), is more fun than any $100 camera should be. Like the standard Camp Snap Screen-Free Digital ($69), it has an optical viewfinder and supports easy one-button operation. The Pro gets an upgraded 16MP sensor and, more importantly, a proper xenon flash that provides more power and fires in an instant to freeze motion, a trick that LED flashes in smartphones can't match. Its price is a feature too; compared with advanced compact cameras like the Lumix ZS99 ($699), the Pro qualifies as an impulse buy. You won't regret following your urges either. If you're tired of smartphone photography and want to get back to basics with a proper point-and-shoot, the Camp Snap Pro is your answer, and our Editors' Choice.
Design: No Screen, No Problem
The Camp Snap Pro doesn't have a rear LCD, a feature that's a bit of addition by subtraction, and in line with the company's brand identity. Camp Snap started making cameras for kids going to summer camps that don't allow devices with screens. Even though it was made for kids, I found a lot to like about the original Camp Snap when I reviewed it last year. I've spent so much time reviewing high-end photo gear that I found it creatively freeing to use a back-to-basics camera, and I'm impressed at how good its pictures look on social media and screens, especially for the price.
(Credit: Jim Fisher)The Pro sticks close to the same core concepts as the standard edition (still available for $69). It has a real xenon gas flash, which fires in the blink of an eye and is bright enough to freeze motion, light up a subject in a dark room, and fill in shadows on a sunny day, things that the LED flash on the original Camp Snap just can't do. I also like that the Pro has four different picture profiles, any of which you can customize via a web page, instead of just one for the original.
The Camp Snap Pro measures 3.0 by 5.0 by 1.5 inches (HWD), just about the same size as two typical smartphones stacked together. It fits into the side pocket of my jeans easily, and is light for its size at 5.1 ounces. The Pro is a little larger than the standard Camp Snap (2.5 by 4.5 by 1.0 inches, 3.4 ounces) and the Flashback One35 V2 (4.2 by 2.1 by 1.2 inches, 5.2 ounces), but not too big to fit into the side pocket of my jeans.
I'm a fan of the Camp Snap Pro's industrial design. It steps away from the original's colorful exterior for a two-tone silver-and-black finish, matching the look of a classic film camera. Yes, it's all plastic, but it looks very good. If you prefer a more colorful digicam, both the standard Camp Snap and the Flashback One35 V2 are available in a variety of colorways.
(Credit: Jim Fisher)I'm less enamored with the decision to use a built-in, non-replaceable battery. It's long-lasting, allowing for around 500 photos on a full charge, but like all rechargeable batteries, there's a chance that it will eventually stop taking a charge, turning the camera into another piece of e-waste. Granted, this is a very common criticism of inexpensive digital cameras—the standard Camp Snap, Flashback One35 V2, and Kodak Charmera don't let you change the battery either.
(Credit: Jim Fisher)A 4GB microSD card is included, offering enough capacity to hold between 800 and 1,000 photos. The card is protected by a latching door. The camera ships with a Philips head screw securing the door, so parents don't have to worry about a young child opening it up and swallowing a teensy tiny microSD card, but it's easy to remove the screw if you prefer easy access, and the latch keeps the door from flapping about in any instance. If you don't want to fiddle with the card, you can use the USB-C port to transfer photos to a computer, phone, or tablet, and to recharge the battery. The port is covered by a rubber flap. It's also worth noting that the Pro has a standard tripod socket on its baseplate, something that's not included with the standard Camp Snap or the Flashback One35 V2.
(Credit: Jim Fisher)There's not a lot in the way of controls. The top includes the shutter release and a dial to switch between Standard, Vintage 1, Vintage 2, or Black-and-White capture, while the front has a switch to adjust the flash power. The flash switch isn't marked, so you'll have to remember that its lowest position turns the flash off, the middle is for low power, and the top is for full power.
(Credit: Jim Fisher)As mentioned, the Camp Snap Pro doesn't include a color LCD on its rear panel, but it does have a four-digit monochrome display that shows how many photos you've taken. The rear display also shows the date, time, and speaker volume. You'll have to open the memory card door to access the buttons for setting the clock and adjusting the speaker volume. By default, the camera plays a shutter noise through its speaker whenever you take a photo. I usually turn off in-camera sounds, but the shutter noise is helpful with the Camp Snap Pro—the camera is so quiet when taking a photo that I wasn't sure if I had snapped a shot with the sound turned off.
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(Credit: Jim Fisher)Since there's no rear display, you'll use the optical viewfinder to frame your shots. The Camp Snap Pro's viewfinder is decently large for a compact and shows a clear, bright image, but unfortunately does not cover the entire field of view of the extra-wide 22.5mm equivalent lens. You'll see a lot more around the edges of your photos than you do around the viewfinder, which takes some getting used to.
Image Quality: Configurable Filters Make Up for Basic Imaging Tech
The 22.5mm lens is distinctly wide, capturing roughly 10% more than the main lens on most smartphones. Personally, I find it a little too broad for day-to-day photography, but it's nothing that can't be overcome with a little bit of cropping. I understand why Camp Snap went this direction. The wide coverage makes it far easier to take group selfies than its original camera's 35mm prime, which is better for selfies with one or two people in frame.
(Credit: Jim Fisher)The Camp Snap Pro has double the resolution of its predecessor, 16MP instead of 8MP, so you'll have more leeway to crop photos and still get pictures that look good on phone screens and social media feeds, so the extra wide view isn't that big of a drawback. The Pro also focuses twice as close; its photos are sharp from 18 inches to infinity, versus 36 inches for the original, so you can lean in to get a tighter view when you want to.
(Credit: Jim Fisher)Even though the focus is fixed, which means there's no autofocus or manual focus available, the Pro has about the same shutter lag as the original, between a quarter and a third of a second. That's long enough that you may miss capturing a fleeting candid moment.
(Credit: Jim Fisher)Aside from the change in resolution, the Pro's picture quality is about the same as the original. Both use a Type 1/3 CMOS sensor, and for cameras, the physical sensor size corresponds with image quality. Colors are good, and there's not too much noise when taking photos in sunlight or a brightly lit interior, but you'll definitely want to use the flash for low-light scenes.
(Credit: Jim Fisher)Flagship smartphones, even those that are four or five years old, are better cameras on a technical level—they support multi-shot sampling for clean images in almost no light, they're able to blur the backgrounds for portraits, and many support HEIF or Raw image formats, while the Camp Snap Pro does JPG only and doesn't record video. I don't count this as a drawback, though—nearly everyone has a smartphone in their pocket these days, the reason to get a dedicated camera is for the experience.
The camera has one feature that smartphones can't match: a xenon flash. This type of flash fires in a split second and is powerful enough to light a subject across the room, while smartphone LEDs usually stay on for a second or two and fall off quickly at a distance. The motion-stopping, extra-bright look is in vogue right now. The Pro flash supports two power levels, with a low setting that's good for subjects a couple of feet away from the lens and a high option for times when you want to light up a room or fill in shadows when photographing outdoors on a bright, sunny day. Just be careful not to get too close to your subject for flash photos. If you're taking photos within a couple of feet, you'll wash out the image, even at low power. It's better to back up a little and crop the image later.
The Camp Snap Pro includes four built-in picture profiles (Standard, Vintage 1, Vintage 2, and Black and White), all of which are configurable. You can make your own filters using the CS Filter Builder web page, download your creation, and load it onto the camera by dragging a file over to its root folder. It's pretty easy to do, and you can replace each filter setting independently. It's fun to try out different looks, and a good way for creative photographers to tune the camera to match their photographic style.