SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Every generation rediscovers old things. And today, that's happening with the old-school digital camera. Is it a whiplash from the smartphone age? NPR's Alina Selyukh reports.
ALINA SELYUKH, BYLINE: A couple of years ago, summer camps began to ban children from bringing devices. No smartphones, no iPads, no screens. And a company called Camp Snap decided to make a special camera.
TREVOR GEORGE: It was originally for kids.
SELYUKH: Trevor George is the president at Camp Snap. Its cameras are screen-free. It's a point-and-shoot that looks like an old Kodak from the '90s - just a viewfinder, a flash and no way to see the photos until you hook it up to a computer later.
GEORGE: And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, a lot of Gen Z, millennial demographics started buying them for music festivals and going out.
SELYUKH: And now adults are almost as big a customer as kids. Last year, Camp Snap launched a camcorder that's even more retro, and it showed up in the hands of celebrities like Selena Gomez and Joe Jonas. One was even spotted at Taylor Swift's wedding. It's a nostalgia trend that's been building on social media for years.
JADEN WILLIAMS: I used to see a bunch of TikToks with people having digital cameras.
SELYUKH: Jaden Williams is 16 from North Carolina. He asked for a digicam for his birthday last month. He tried one in his yearbook class and really liked the photos.
JADEN: It felt more, like, genuine. Like, felt like, still in the moment of the picture, like, it felt warm.
SELYUKH: Warm and a bit grainy, a bit hazy, somehow both dim and overexposed. The date stamp is on the bottom. It's the trendy '90s, 2000s vibe. Probably it was only a matter of time once the cool people put on the low-rise jeans - like peak Britney Spears - that the photo trends would also cycle around.
KATIE COYNE: I think for a majority of people on social media, it's just an aesthetic.
GWEN COYNE: Yeah, like a retro aesthetic.
SELYUKH: Sisters Katie and Gwen Coyne, are 24 and 22. They live in New York and Philadelphia. They like the vintage blur - flattering and refreshing in the sea of hypersharp smartphone photos.
G COYNE: I feel like iPhone cameras look just so - sometimes it looks a little too real.
SELYUKH: The older sister, Katie, bought the camera, but the younger sister, Gwen, is now borrowing it, and she took it on a recent trip.
G COYNE: I took some photos by, like, the pool, and you could just see, like, all the trees and the ocean in the background. I don't really know how to put it into words, but it gave such, like, a vacation vibe.
SELYUKH: Almost like an instant memory. Demand for digital cameras has skyrocketed. Canon, which makes the popular point-and-shoot called the PowerShot, told NPR sales of it jumped nearly sevenfold from 2022 to 2025. Camp Snap says sales more than doubled in the past year. And for many people, it is a rebellion against their smartphones. Here's Christina Berkett from New Jersey.
CHRISTINA BERKETT: I think you get caught up in that - like, the digital world where, OK, I'm pulling out my phone to take a photo, and then I see a notification. You know, I'm checking my email.
SELYUKH: And with a digital camera...
BERKETT: You put it in your bag. You don't think about it. And then at the end of the night, you go through all the photos and you kind of, like, relive that moment.
SELYUKH: This makes the camera trend a small part of a growing digital movement where people are unphoning or dephoning their lives, disconnecting from the algorithm. EBay says it's seeing a surge in searches for iPods, CDs and Walkmans. Berkett is a wedding photographer, and she's seeing couples printing physical photo albums. And they pay extra for her to film ceremonies and speeches, not with a fancy camera, but with an old-school camcorder like she's just a guest, like someone's aunt.
BERKETT: Like, when you see a home video, I think that's what they're targeting. I don't think they want something that's grainy. I think they want something to feel real.
SELYUKH: Maybe searching for the comfort of a childhood memory or maybe just jumping on a trend. Berkett says she does hold the camcorder differently now - flipped to its side so the video she films is vertical rather than horizontal - because most people will still watch it on their smartphone.
Alina Selyukh, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHARLI XCX SONG, "360") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
