Graphic by Tula Winton
By Tula Winton, Emmett Flynn, & Sofia Alvarez Pedraza
Zoe Cordell is a part of the 68% of teens aged 15-17 who are active on instagram. However, when it comes time to make a new post, she doesn’t reach for her iphone, instead she opts for a 2018-edition digital camera.
She’s not alone either, many teens will agree that the aesthetics of digital cameras plays a large role in their appeal to younger generations.
“That’s the thing with digital cameras, even if the photo quality isn’t that good, people don’t care because it feels vintage.”
Taking pictures with a phone is simple and fast, but can fail to capture what the moment really feels like. On outings, she noted that people often ask to use her camera to take pictures of them, preferring the grainy look of a photo captured on digital cameras rather than the hyper-clear quality from an iphone.
Cordell knows that her phone is more convenient, “But the camera…just captures things in a new eye.”
Popularized by the media of the late 90s and early 2000s, digital cameras appear to be making a comeback. Instantly recognizable for their grainy images and devil-red eyes, many people are ditching their iPhones and reaching for their parents’ camcorder.
Many teens just getting into digital photography are using the same cameras their parents used to record their first steps.
It’s that nostalgia, despite the vast availability and convenience of iphones, the old-school, Sony brand, heavy, silver blocks are returning to the spotlight.
GrandView Research proves this upward trend in the digital camera industry, with a 4.8% compound annual growth rate prediction from 2024 to 2030, growing the market from its current valuation at 7.72 billion to nearly 10 and a half billion. Compound annual growth rate measures the average yearly growth of an investment over a designated time period.
This increase in digital camera usage is not only proven by nationwide statistics, but also by changes that have been observed at a local level.
Chris Johnson, a manager at Southeastern Cameras, a camera company based in Carrboro, has noted the upward trend in purchases of older cameras.
Southeastern Cameras recently purchased extra film processing machinery. Johnson states that “reinvesting in film processing was a risk, but it came back thankfully,” and their company was able to make use of the growing popularity of digital cameras with younger customers. Johnson believes people love the older styles of digital cameras over new because the imperfections add character. Vintage compact digital cameras often have smaller sensors than current iPhone cameras, causing the photos to appear more grainy or pixelated. However, this does not discourage users, but rather serves as another appeal of the cameras.
This can largely be attributed to the rise in popularity amongst younger generations, primarily Gen Z, as they stray from the sharp crisp looks of phone cameras. Junior Evelyn Walters is just one of the Gen Z’s who appreciate this look.
“I like the lighting from digital cameras more, it’s more of a soft, yellow light rather than bright white,” said Walters.
In an interview with NPR in December 2024, professional photographer Casey Fatchett reiterates that this different look contributes to Gen Z’s use of digital cameras.
“There’s so much processing that goes on in your phone that you don’t have any control over,” Fatchett said. “So I think that there is a yearning among young people for photos that look real, especially of themselves. So there’s a feeling there that you can’t get from your cell phone camera.
Fatchett continues to tell NPR that thanks to Gen Z, digital cameras have taken off. He says that another factor of appeal is due to a desire for less edited photos. A digital photo may appear less “sharp,” than a photo taken from a cell phone and this haziness can be reminiscent of the past. The high-tech ultra-toned look can feel too intense. Digital cameras also don’t have the same storage options as phones and knowing each shot takes up immense storage space makes you feel more grounded knowing each shot has to count. There is more significance in both the action of taking the picture and the result, so the experience itself is more valuable and intentional. Fatchett explains the effect this has, claiming that “…your brain thinks about it differently…like I only have x number of photos that I can take, so I want to capture something that really matters to me.”
On the other hand, for the billions of cell phone owners, taking a picture is as simple as tapping a single button and boom, a high-quality photo is now stored in the phone’s camera roll, which has made the device a staple of our daily lives. Despite this convenience, Gen Z is evidently starting to favor digital cameras, as the different look is reminiscent of the past.
“Nostalgia is back,” says Tiffany Zhao, co-founder of Zebra IQ, a company that helps brands appeal to Gen Z consumers, in an interview with Fast Company. In another interview for the previous NPR article, freelance reporter Elizabeth Gulino believes “Those images make us feel nostalgic. And I think people are chasing that,”
However, this resurgence cannot be solely attributed to a generational movement of nostalgia. Gen Z is exceedingly active online, averaging 4.8 hours a day on social media, according to the American Psychological Association. Naturally, the amount of time spent consuming content from other people can have a prolific impact on teens, especially in the way they choose to present themselves online.
At an age when brains are especially impressionable, teenagers are likely to present themselves online in a way that mimics those they see on social media. So when influencers such as Bella Hadid and Emma Chamberlin post photos featuring digital cameras to their millions of followers, it makes sense that those Gen Z viewers would be inspired to do the same.
Both women have posted with a PowerShot ELPH 360 hs point-and-shoot, which Emma Chamberlain told Teen Vogue is her favorite. In response, the camera has flown off of shelves, selling out at Best Buy, Amazon, and the US Canon store. This example is just one of the many instances in which Gen Z is influenced by what they see online. 68% of children aged 15-17 are active on Instagram.
Cordell describes the increasing popularity she has seen of digital cameras online, “People do these digital camera dumps on TikTok or instagram, and there’s at least like twenty comments, depending how viral it is, maybe thousands of comments saying ‘what camera is this?’” said Cordell. “Some of us are very influenced by what we see online, if you see a TikTok Shop ad or whatever, you’re gonna want to buy it.”
It is their growing presence all over social media, and the aesthetic of nostalgia they bring, that has led Gen Z’s return to digital cameras.
