As a long-time digital camera nerd, I’m all the time obsessing over tech specs – which is why I used to be shocked after I really fell in love with the low-tech Camp Snap, a screen-free digital compact digital camera for unplugging.
However now Camp Snap is transferring past compacts. The Camp Snap CS-8 is a digital camcorder impressed by the retro Tremendous 8 movie cameras – and I don’t suppose I’ve ever been this excited a couple of camcorder launch.
The Camp Snap CS-8 has digital guts, however the design and even the way in which it shoots are impressed by Tremendous 8 – the pre-VHS camcorder of the Sixties and Seventies.

Like a retro Tremendous 8, the CS-8 has a big physique with retro styling and a deal with. Tremendous 8 cameras recorded at any time when the set off was depressed, and the CS-8 is similar method.
Like the unique Camp Snap compact digital camera, the CS-8 is screen-free, however that doesn‘t imply customers are capturing completely blind. There’s a viewfinder in-built. A retro gauge on the facet signifies the battery degree, and there’s a dial to alter the side ratio, together with 1:1 for Instagram, 16:9 for a extra cinematic look and 9:16 for Reels and TikTok.
Camp Snap says that the CS-8 can even provide completely different classic digital filters, together with sepia, grainy analog, washed-out retro tones, black and white, and a typical movie look.
The Camp Snap CS-8 feels decidedly low-tech – however that’s precisely why I’m excited. I’m extra of a photographer than a videographer, however I’m all the time taking movies with my iPhone. The difficulty is, I don’t have the time to actually make them look good, so I’m actually hoping the CS-8 delivers dreamy retro vibes straight out of the digital camera.
I used a compact digital camera on my final trip greater than my mirrorless digital camera or iPhone – and the sensation of unplugging was liberating. That’s the opposite motive that I’m hoping the CS-8 is as fantastically retro because it appears – I wish to take brief movies of my children rising up, with out the distraction of a display.
Camp Snap has beforehand teased the CS-8, however now the digital camera is popping out in a matter of days. The corporate launched a restricted 30-unit pre-release on social media that rapidly offered out, however the firm says pre-orders will start on July 31, with a listing value of $199 (which is roughly £147 / AU$302).
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