My Friends Call Me Aretha Franklin With My Camp Snap Cameras
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I like to document the people I love and the places I’ve been — a habit I inherited from my aunties, who often pushed us kids together for a photo at every family event. It was annoying when I was a kid but as an adult, I’ve picked up the mantle. Now, one of my favorite activities is sitting at the table with my grandmother and sifting through decades of family photos, asking about the people or the moments that prompted them.
One thing I love about those pictures is how they look — vintage, filmic. This effect isn’t replicable with my phone’s camera, filtered or otherwise. At some point, I started buying and traveling with disposable cameras, but I’m very lazy about getting film developed, so now I have 10 or so cameras in a box on my bookshelf, some with photos as far back as 2022. I’ve also considered investing in a cheap film point-and-shoot camera, but I know it would be a waste of money, because I haven’t developed the film photos I already have.
Then I learned about Camp Snap, a company that makes screenless digital cameras that capture film-like photos and easily connect to your phone with a USB-C cord: an analog look for the digital age. “The pictures you make are a combination of intention and serendipity,” wrote Strategist senior editor Winnie Yang when she tested the company’s first camera last year. “You have to think a little to frame your shot, but because there are no settings to fiddle with (unlike with all my manual cameras), you don’t have to worry about aperture or shutter speed.” And “because you don’t get to see the result until later,” she added, “you don’t bother taking a zillion versions of the same shot to get just the right one.”
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In February, when I went on a vacation to Jamaica with my wife, I brought two Camp Snap cameras — the original camera and the CS-8 video camera, which resembles an old-school Super8. We photographed and filmed everything: the wide mouth of the sea, the food, each other. The results from the still camera were thrilling, superbright and saturated, not unlike the postcards you might buy in a gift shop. The video camera also got us lots of attention — our fellow resort-goers were endlessly curious about the hardware we were toting around.
After we got back, I started taking the still camera everywhere — to dinners, birthday parties, backyard cookouts, weddings. I started fielding comparisons to Aretha Franklin, who often carried a camera with her wherever she went. Without fail people would ask me about it, curious about how it performed and wanting to see the pictures it produced. When I brought it to a wedding, the bride asked for the photos after because a friend told her the pictures were “really good.” I sent lots of links and before long people were asking me to take their photos with it. Then the brand sent me the updated Camp Snap 2, which came out in June, and it became something I don’t leave the house without. While I still use my phone camera, for the moments I want to memorialize, I’m pulling out my Camp Snap.
The video camera is equally exciting. It has the lo-fi look of a home video and performs well in both bright and low light. I recently took it to my friend’s birthday party and then compiled the videos into a recap as a gift. The result looked how the night felt — warm and vibey. Everyone looked soft and beautiful, closer to how I experienced it in real life.
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More screenless cameras we like
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A truly filmlike camera that our tech writer says closely mimics the real thing.
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Instant photos in a wide format, ideal for landscapes and groups.
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