Latest news with #CampSnap
WIRED
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- WIRED
This $150 'Digital Super 8' Gives the Lo-Fi Camera Craze a Moving Picture Upgrade
The Camp Snap CS-8 doesn't care about frame rates, bit rates, or whether your footage is stabilized to unerring levels of steadiness. It doesn't want to replace your iPhone or compete with your mirrorless camera setup. What it offers instead is something far simpler and more deliberate: the feeling of shooting video for the sake of it. Much like Camp Snap's point-and-shoot still camera from 2023 (the company's only other major product), it's a throwback to when cameras didn't think for you and when you didn't expect to review the images you just captured until later—sometimes much later. Inspired by the Super 8 camcorders introduced in the 1960s, the CS-8 is unapologetically retro in both appearance and function. The body is mostly plastic, with faux-metal detailing and leatherette texture meant to evoke the mechanical era rather than mimic it convincingly. It's chunky and solid in the hand, albeit in a distinctly toylike way. If you're looking for authenticity, you're not going to find it here: There's a fake cold shoe up top and imitation screws at the base of the pistol grip. But that's not the point—this isn't Kodak's $5,000 Super 8 revival but rather a $199 camera meant to live in the real world and get passed around at parties, slung into backpacks for day trips, and used without a second thought. Lights, Camera, Action Photograph: Sam Kieldsen There's no screen, no playback, and no Delete button. Here, what you shoot is what you get. The settings and options are stripped back, with one dial for selecting aspect ratio (4:3, 16:9, 1:1, or 9:16) and another for the video effect. These include standard color, monochrome, and three lo-fi filters, including one that simulates the grainy, jerky look of 8-mm film. I found that last one, labeled Analogue, was the star of the show. It drops the frame rate to 20 fps (it's 30 fps with the other modes) and sprinkles in digital scratches, resulting in footage that's imperfect in the most deliberate way. The rest of the filters feel a little flat by comparison, though the monochrome setting can conjure up its own punchy charm in the right lighting. Using the CS-8 is refreshingly physical: Power it on by flicking a dial, press your eye to the rubber-cupped viewfinder, and squeeze down the trigger to record. There's no focusing to worry about here. The 8X zoom is handled with buttons labelled 'W' and 'T' for wide and telephoto, though it's digital-only, and resolution drops off quickly when you push in too far.
Tom's Guide
3 days ago
- Tom's Guide
I've been taking this screen-free digital camera everywhere with me — here's why I prefer it to my phone
I love taking pictures. Any of my friends will tell you I'm that one in the group who tells everyone to gather around for a photo wherever, whenever. This has proved to be an incredibly valuable trait as I can look back at any occasion and have a bunch of pictures to remember it by. And it's only natural to take a look at the pictures immediately to see what you're working with. But I've noticed when I do this that I always find something wrong. Someone's eyes are closed, or my hair isn't sitting right. So then we sit there taking a few more pictures and keep trying to get the perfect one. But in doing that, we lose the moment. But since discovering the Camp Snap Screen-Free Digital Camera, this problem has been eliminated, and I get cool, retro photos to look at. The camera is modelled after a traditional disposable film camera with an optical viewfinder and a counter letting you know how many pictures you've taken. The only difference is that the Camp Snap is digital. But you still can't look at the pictures until they have been 'developed' by plugging the camera into your computer. The camera only costs $69, making it one of the cheapest cameras out there, and is reusable. If you use disposable film cameras, you'll know how frustrating it is to have to fork out around $20 every time you need a new one, and the Camp Snap takes away that cost. As I was saying, while checking what I look like in photos straight after taking them makes sense, it quickly becomes obsessive. Passing the phone back to whoever took the picture and saying 'just try one more' gets very boring very fast. The Camp Snap Screen-Free camera is a no-fuss photography option for anyone looking to ditch their phone. Designed like a disposable film camera, it gives a retro feel to your pictures. It works well in bright conditions but also has a flash that can be turned on and off for good pictures in darker conditions. But since the Camp Snap is screen-free and I can't look at the pictures until I get home and transfer them to my computer, this vain self-obsession has disappeared. It also takes away the distraction of having your phone out all the time. Now, when I head out to the park or for drinks with friends, the only thing left out of my bag is the Camp Snap camera. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Of course, there are times when I still take pictures with my phone because the quality is so much better on the latter. The Camp Snap's 8MP is more of a 2000s disposable effect, but Y2K is so back. But I've realized it's not about the quality of the photo; having the memory without any fuss or distraction is all I want out of the camera. That's a big reason why people buy one of the best instant cameras, after all. It doesn't get simpler than this. The Camp Snap is a point-and-shoot camera that quite literally cannot go wrong. You line up the shot through the viewfinder, just like with a disposable film camera, and click the shutter button on top. You can also toggle the flash button between on, off, or auto. The classic Camp Snap effect is pre-loaded to the camera's built-in SD card, but you can also create your own on their website. This adds a personal touch to the photos, and I love that I don't have to go in and edit them later on. Anyone can use the camera with ease, and I pass it around my friends when we meet up so everyone can take pictures of each other. And when everyone is doing this, it feels much less posy than using our phones. I charge the Camp Snap once a week, just before the weekend when I tend to use it the most. This is more than enough to get me through the week as you can get 500 shots with a single charge. So while you don't have to worry about running out of film, you do need to consider how much charge you have before heading out with the camera. To find out more about the camera and how it works, you can read our full Camp Snap Screen-Free Digital Camera review. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
NBC News
26-02-2025
- Entertainment
- NBC News
Camp Snap Review: Is this $65 camera worth it?
I test a lot of tech gadgets at NBC Select. None of them caught the interest of my co-workers as fervently as the Camp Snap camera. This little colorful camera caused such a buzz in our office that 10 staffers wanted to test it for this review. Two weeks of testing later, I think I understand why. It turns out that a lot of us like the experience of snapping photos with friends and family with a camera, not our phones. What is the Camp Snap camera? Camp Snap Camera The Camp Snap camera is a pocketable digital camera that costs $65, a much lower-price than most competitors on the market. Despite being a digital camera, it is designed like a disposable film one — there is no screen on the back and no settings to change, you just point and shoot. The only controls are a flash switch (on, off, auto) and the shutter button. The camera can hold up to 2000 photos on its included micro-SD card. To transfer photos, simply plug the camera into a computer using the included USB-C cable. You can also download color filters on the Camp Snap website. Focal length: 35mm | Screen: None | Viewfinder: Yes | Built-in flash: Yes | Weight: 0.31 lbs. (140g) | Aperture: f/1.8 | Shutter speed: 1/30-1-250 sec. | ISO: 100-3,200 | Photo resolution: Up to 3264x2448 | Battery life: Up to 500 shots Our experience with the Camp Snap camera Ten staffers on team Select tried the Camp Snap camera for about two weeks after the brand sent us samples for review. The camera won our hearts, not with its stunning image quality (it's so-so) or high-tech features (it doesn't have any), but just by being a joy to carry around and take photos with. What we like Everyone loves using it Everywhere we took this camera, people wanted to use it. An outing with friends or family suddenly became an excuse for everyone to pass around the Camp Snap camera to take photos, says NBC Select reporter Zoe Malin. 'Everyone wanted to do cute poses and asked me where to buy one — I can't say the same about taking pictures with my phone.' It's so compact, easy to pocket and simple to use that anyone can pick it up and snap some photos, similar to the approachability of a disposable camera (but without the cost of film development). It keeps you in the moment The lack of any screen or controls means that all our testers found themselves staying in the moment instead of trying to get the perfect photo, similar to shooting with a film camera. We felt less self-conscious about the photos we took, and didn't worry about whether we got 'the shot'. It's easy to view your photos when you are done We loved how simple it was to review photos — just plug the Camp Snap directly into a computer and two clicks later, you can see your photo library, says NBC Select SEO editor Nikki Brown. Many of our testers' laptops don't have SD card slots, and transferring photos over an app often leads to headaches, in my experience. At $65, it feels like a fun accessory, not an investment Many of the best point-and-shoot cameras are an investment, costing upwards of $1000. Most of our testers are not photographers, and would never pay that much for something they aren't sure they would use regularly. But at $65, the Camp Snap camera is a fun splurge and a great gift. Potential drawbacks to keep in mind Image quality isn't great (but that's sort of missing the point) None of us think the Camp Snap camera takes stunning images. That's not really the point — it's more about capturing a specific vibe. 'The images are reminiscent of Facebook era party photos — the focus tends to miss things and, without flash, the shots tend to be really grainy,' says NBC Select commerce editor Jordan Bowman. All our testers agreed that if you are looking for high quality photos with sharp details and vivid color, you are better off using your phone (or a more expensive point-and-shoot camera). But if you are looking for photos with an imperfect, vintage aesthetic, you may like the look of this camera's photos. Too many blurry shots While most of our team didn't mind the so-so image quality, what we did find annoying was how many shots came out blurry. When NBC Select social video producer Josh Rios looked at his shots, so many were blurry, dark or overly-green that he wanted to put them into Adobe Lightroom to fix them. He started to, then stopped, realizing that adjusting white balance in post-production is almost the opposite of what the Camp Snap camera is intended for. 'I was making this camera into something it wasn't,' says Rios. Who is the Camp Snap camera for? The Camp Snap camera is the epitome of a vibes camera. It's something to give to a friend to take pictures with and laugh about later, says Rios. It's an alternative to smartphone photos, something that lets you stay immersed in the real world while still being able to capture the moment, says NBC Select associate reporter Ashley Morris. And it's a camera you can gift to anyone, of any age, regardless of their photography skills. Just know that the Camp Snap camera is more about the joy of taking the photos rather than printing 'high-quality' pictures to frame and display in your home. Why trust NBC Select? I am a reporter at NBC Select who covers technology and fitness including recent stories on point-and-shoot cameras, smartwatches, running shoes and more. For this story, ten NBC Select staffers tried out the Camp Snap camera for about two weeks after the brand sent us samples for review.
