Digital cameras back in fashion after online revival; Digital cameras since the early 2000s are becoming. A necessity for many young people due to the growing internet trend.
Search traffic for vintage inventory on online marketplaces such as eBay and Etsy is increasing.
And in the last 12 months, more than 220 million people have viewed videos with the hashtag #digitalcamera on TikTok.
Experts describe the trend as linked to a similar revival of turn-of-the-century fashion.
Scott Ewart, 32, who lives on the Isle of Arran, has racked up more than five million likes on his TikTok account using the now retro set.
He said: “A lot of people find them very comforting. It reminds them of their childhood, simpler times.
I find it so refreshing to go back to something so simple. Older cameras need a little more work with them to get a good picture or get the most out of them.
“Because it’s almost impossible to go wrong with any smartphone you buy.”
Scott started by digging up his parents’ old cameras, but quickly grew the collection to over 30. He added: “A lot of people ask me where do you edit these photos, do they edit them?”. And I always say it’s never edited and I want to show exactly how they came out on every camera.”
EBay UK told the AZ24 News that the last three months of 2022 saw an increase in the number of people looking for appliances. This included a 13% increase in search traffic for “old digital camera” and a 52% increase in “refurbished cameras”.
Etsy, which focuses on handmade and vintage items, has also seen increased customer interest over the past six months. It now has over 19,000 digital camera related items on the web. Katie Glasgow, 25, lives in Brooklyn, New York and describes herself as “the oldest Gen Z possible.” He also used his parents’ old costumes to create photos and videos.
“It looks like memories because it’s vague and incomplete. It looks more like how we remember things,” he said.
Digital cameras back in fashion after online revival; For younger people, who will remember almost nothing about these cameras in their 2000s heyday, it opens up a kind of “nostalgic world,” he said.
“These are the cameras my sister took to prom, or my brother took to college, or my childhood memories.
“You can take videos and photos of literally anything with your phone. So you have a huge library, but you have to decide, ‘this is the moment I really want to preserve.’
Paul Greenwood, head of research and insights at creative agency We Are Social, says it’s a “natural cycle” as people hit their twenties and become “nostalgic for the cultural touchstones of their youth”.
He added: “They want to find comfort when they’re uncomfortable in the real world. And there are a number of reasons why people feel uncomfortable – like the existential panic you see with Ukraine, the pandemic, the inequality of wealth.”
“It’s perceived as more real and authentic. And that’s why we’re seeing this trend really take off, because the grainy content that you’re seeing is basically shorthand for authenticity and reality. That’s what Gen Z is looking for .”
