The original Camp Snap camera was released a while back and became an unexpected hit. This digital camera was extremely limited and lacked an LCD screen in an attempt to bring the fun back to photography. Now Camp Snap is bringing this philosophy into the world of video with the Camp Snap 8 (CS-8), a video camera with no LCD, no playback, and only an EVF for framing.
Styled like an old 8mm film camera, what does this camera bring to the table, and more importantly, what does it lack? Let’s take a look.
Camp Snap 8 Review: How It Feels
The Camp Snap 8 looks fantastic. The design is reminiscent of Canon’s old Super 8 cameras, and analog dials control most of the camera’s important functions. Notably, there is a substantial grip at the bottom of the camera with a trigger. Like many older motion picture film cameras, this trigger needs to be held down to roll video; there is no toggle to start and stop recording. This design choice can make it difficult to film yourself, but a tripod and a hair scrunchy solved that problem for me.
The three dials include the On/Off switch, an aspect ratio selector (offering native 4:3, 16:9, 1:1 and vertical 9:16) and a filter effects dial (Standard, Vintage 1, Vintage 2, Analog and B&W are offered). These dials look great, but are very plasticky in use, lacking clear click stops to indicate when a setting has been changed.
Equally aesthetically pleasing are the battery and media meters, which have analog needles that jump between 100% to 0%. I love these little meters, and they were a regular conversation starter whenever I had the camera around town.
As mentioned earlier, there is no LCD for framing and playback, only an EVF at the rear of the camera. This EVF has frustratingly poor eye relief, meaning it’s difficult to see your entire frame. This will be a serious concern for glasses-wearers, but even with my eye jammed directly into the EVF, I found it annoying. There appears to be a button beside the EVF, which I hoped would allow me to change the display viewing size, but alas, it is just a plastic bump placed there for appearances, not actually a functioning button.
At the bottom of the camera is a USB-C port that can be used to charge the internal battery, as well as transfer files from the included 4GB SD card. A 4GB card may not sound like much, but it will allow you to record around half an hour of heavily compressed footage. Frustratingly, the SD is hidden beneath a couple of small screws, meaning card changes in the field will be impossible unless you always carry a tiny screwdriver.
Camp Snap 8 Review: How It Shoots
But enough about the design, this is a video camera, so what are the specs? The Camp Snap 8 is based around a Type 1/2.7 2.9K sensor, which is actually fairly close to the size of Super 8 film. This is paired to a 3.19mm f/2 lens, which offers the field of view and depth of field roughly comparable to a 21mm f/13 in full-frame terms. The ultra-wide field of view may seem like an odd choice for a casual family camera, but I strongly suspect these components were originally intended for a dash-cam.
The inability to shoot any frame rate other than 30p would seem to confirm this. It’s also worth pointing out that despite the words “8x Powerful Zoom” emblazoned on the lens, this is a fixed lens that only offers digital zoom. Digitally zooming with such a low-resolution sensor is a recipe for disaster, and “disastrous” is exactly the word I would use to describe any recordings with the full 8x zoom enabled.
The native and highest resolution aspect ratio is 4:3, which captures video at 2,880 x 2,144. The other aspect ratios are various crops of this mode. In good light, there is reasonable detail, though in low light, the quality drops swiftly. My attempt to film my kids tobogganing at night resulted in footage that could be used at the top of Wikipedia’s article explaining video noise. Any modern smartphone will produce much more pleasing footage… but you won’t look nearly as cool shooting it.
It’s worth pointing out that there is no exposure control on this camera; everything is fully automatic, and the camera generally tries to use very fast shutter speeds, which can result in choppy movement (though it would allow you to clearly make out the license plate of the person who cut you off at rush hour). Initially, I thought camera settings could be adjusted with the three control buttons on the side of the camera, but these are only for setting the date and time.
In terms of audio, there is an internal mono microphone, but no way to monitor sound levels or adjust recording volume. The early model I received for review did not have a cold shoe on top, just a facsimile, but the latest production models will include both a usable cold shoe and a mic jack. Audio quality from the internal mics was quite poor, but some may find that adds to the footage’s charm.
Let’s talk about that footage, because it may not be what you’d expect. Despite the camera’s stylings, the footage does not give an 8mm look, even with some of the vintage-inspired filters. The fixed 30p frame rate and very fast shutter speed give it more of a “video” feel. The closest approximation I could come up with was a VHS camcorder, due to the 4:3 aspect ratio and video frame rate. However, the ultra-wide field of view still keeps this footage from achieving 80s home video chic.
The Camp Snap 8 Is Fleeting Fun
OK, so technically this thing is a confusing mishmash, but the most important question remains: is it fun to shoot video with a Camp Snap 8? I have to admit that having only an EVF and being forced to hold the trigger down made me smile the first few times I used this. Also, my 10 and 5-year-old kids had fun running around and filming each other. Those moments may be worth dropping a couple of hundred bucks for you. My concern is that once the footage is downloaded, the disappointment at the overall quality could discourage a family from bringing this big plastic novelty on the next vacation, and just rely on a smartphone instead.
I can see potential for a future model that would be much more compelling. With an actual zoom lens, 24p recording, and a more usable EVF, there’s a chance for Camp Snap to take the good ideas here and make a much more competent product in the future.
Are There Alternatives?
If you love the look but want to shoot actual Super8 film, the Kodak Super8 Camera is currently selling for a cool $5,495. More practically, there are plenty of kids’ cameras out there that offer similar image quality for less than $100, but they will lack the vintage charm of the Camp Snap 8.
Should You Buy It?
Probably not. It’s a great conversation starter, but the limitations of the Camp Snap 8 make it a short term novelty which will likely be E-Waste before the next holiday season rolls around.
