(Credit: Jim Fisher)
Unconventional cameras have been around almost as long as photography itself—but right now, they're unmistakably in the spotlight. In my 15 years covering the digital camera industry, I can't recall another period with so many offbeat options on the market at once, most of them coming from small, upstart brands.
The realization hit me during a recent morning photo walk. Slung over my shoulder was a bag crammed with what I can only call delightfully odd gear: the Camp Snap Pro ($99) and Flashback One35 V2 ($119), both minimalist point-and-shoots; the video-focused Camp Snap SC-8 ($199); and the Fujifilm Instax Mini Evo Cinema ($409.95), a playful hybrid with instant-film flair.
These cameras—along with others like the original Camp Snap and the viral Kodak Charmera—share a few defining traits. Most notably, they ditch playback entirely, removing the temptation to review every shot and encouraging you to stay present in the act of photographing. They're also relatively affordable and, aside from Fujifilm's entry, largely produced by new or little-known brands.
So why are these quirky, back-to-basics cameras suddenly everywhere? To answer that, we need to start at the beginning.
The Resurgence of Compacts: What Goes Around Comes Around
Things were different 15 years ago, when most family, casual, and snapshot photography was done with a compact camera. As the years went on, smartphone cameras got better and better, and since nearly everyone has one in their pocket, they replaced compacts as the de facto standard for everyday photography. Rather than compete, the photo industry focused its development and marketing efforts on interchangeable-lens cameras, first DSLRs and later mirrorless models with electronic viewfinders. The move to mirrorless solved the issues SLRs struggled with—focus accuracy and video capture—and since the target audience narrowed to shutterbugs and pro photogs, selling lenses became a huge part of the business.
Today, you can still get a compact camera from a major brand, but there aren't nearly as many choices as before the smartphone revolution. Cheap options are usually junky entries with famous photo names attached, but without the know-how—Kodak, Minolta, and Vivitar license out their logos, and don't make their own stuff anymore. Canon, Fujifilm, Panasonic Lumix, and Sony offer polished point-and-shoots, but they cost about twice as much as they did in their heyday. Just look at the Canon PowerShot Elph 360 HS A ($379.99), Lumix ZS99 ($699.99), Sony ZV-1 ($899.99), and Fujifilm X100VI ($1,799.95). I can't even blame them for charging this much; the cameras go in and out of backorder status so often, they're not shelf warmers.
The old-school brands are mostly conservative and hesitant to try new things. That leaves an opening for upstarts to experiment with cameras that cater to Gen Z and Gen Alpha photogs, who want to use something other than a smartphone to capture images, are put off by the high price of buying and developing film, and want to stay in the moment in a way that mirrorless cameras don't allow. There's something about a compact camera that puts people at ease, whereas they're often less comfortable in front of one with a big lens attached.
Screen-Free Point-and-Shoots: The Joy of Not Knowing
So what's out there? Camp Snap is the most notable brand in the space and has a few cameras in its catalog. It's all about ease of use and screen-free devices. Its first-generation camera was made for kids to take to summer camps that don't permit phones or tablets. The Pro I'm testing now offers improved picture quality and a xenon flash, but still costs only $99. The brand's other camera, the CS-8, leans directly into nostalgia with its Super 8-inspired industrial design, including analog gauges to show the battery level and remaining space on the memory card.
Flashback puts its own spin on the screen-free concept. Its One35 V2 is basically a reusable disposable film camera, but with the convenience of digital. It has a mode that makes you finish a 27-shot roll using one of four film-inspired looks. Once you're done, you have to wait 24 hours to see your photos, which appear in a companion app on your smartphone. It sounds gimmicky, yes, but I'm writing this on the day I finished my first roll with the camera and am looking forward to seeing if I got any good pics tomorrow. You can use it like a normal digital camera if you'd prefer—just change a setting in the app to switch between film looks on the fly and get your photos without finishing a roll or waiting 24 hours.
And there's Await, which takes the Flashback concept one step further. Announced at CES, it's a screen-free digital camera that takes 24 shots per virtual roll and delivers them to you (by mail) as 4-by-6-inch prints. Photogs can choose which images to print, but won't get any discount on the per-roll print cost. Pricing isn't final, but Petapixel reports that Await expects to charge about $10 per roll for prints and between $70 to $100 for the camera. I'll admit, I'm a little skeptical of this one. I like the idea of making it easy to get prints, but was disappointed to read that Await won't let photographers build up a roll of keepers over time, nor will it give a discount if you only want a few images printed from a 24-shot group. It's still very early, as Await expects to start crowdfunding this year, so we'll see if anything changes before shipping.
As for big-name players, Canon occasionally throws something to the wall to see if it sticks—the PowerShot Zoom monocular and Flip-style PowerShot V10 are recent examples—but it doesn't often stray from its wheelhouse. Fujifilm, on the other hand, often tries out new concepts. I'm put off by the price of the X Half ($849.95), but appreciate its take on the Flashback One35's film roll concept. Kudos to Fujifilm for continually trying new things. I've started testing its Evo Cinema camera and am having a great time so far. It has a Super 8-inspired design and reminds me a little bit of Vine, the TikTok predecessor that restricted video clips to 15 seconds. Plus, it has filters that evoke the look of different decades, and it's also an Instax Mini still camera and printer. It's a little pricey versus the other weird cameras in this story at around $410, but there's nothing else out there that matches its ambitious array of features and filters. Look for my review on PCMag soon.
Learning to Love the Miss
I'm used to full-frame mirrorless cameras that deliver instant feedback and don't often miss focus or blow exposure, but I had a blast during my day out with a bag full of weird cameras. I find it rewarding to go out, discover some interesting scenes, and not know whether I got the shot until I get home and go through the photos.
I'd still reach for a big camera or break out my iPhone to capture candid moments that I don't want to miss, but trying out screen-free and off-kilter cameras takes me back to my early days of photography, a time when I didn't quite know what I was doing and was more likely to get a good photo by way of a happy accident than from a couple of decades of time behind the lens. And while I don't want to speak for Gen Z or Gen Alpha—I've got too many gray hairs to even try—I think that up-and-coming photographers will have a blast using these cameras, and will learn more from shots that didn't turn out right than the perfect ones.