Camp Snap, a brand known for its budget-friendly screen-free digital cameras, has announced its first video camera. The new Camp Snap CS-8’s design was inspired by the Super 8mm film cameras released by companies like Kodak and Canon in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Its functionality is similarly limited and streamlined to make the CS-8 user-friendly, and while it trades film stock for an SD card, like the compact film cameras from decades ago, it lacks a screen so there’s no immediate way to review the footage you’ve shot.
A trigger on the CS-8’s handle is used to start and stop recording, while a pair of buttons near the camera’s viewfinder zooms in and out. There’s a dial for selecting different aspect ratios including 16:9 widescreen, 4:3 which more closely resembles vintage home movies, plus 1:1 and 9:16 for capturing videos destined for social media. A second dial can be used to activate several “vintage-inspired filters” such as faded sepia, grainy analog, and even a black and white effect.
There are no details on what the rechargeable CS-8’s battery life is like, but according to The Hollywood Reporter, which tested the camera at Disneyland, the camera is capable of recording video at up to 4K resolutions, depending on the aspect ratio selected. Analog meters located on either side of the camera display its remaining battery life and recording capacity, and videos are captured to an included 4GB SD card which can hold about five hours of footage.
That’s more than enough capacity for reshoots if you’re worried the moments you captured weren’t as magical as they could be, but the lack of a screen means your videos are a complete mystery until you connect the camera (or its SD card) to a computer to offload the footage. Camp Snap is positioning the CS-8 as a way to rekindle “the magic of filmmaking where you stay in the moment and experience the surprise later.” Hopefully it’s all good surprises.
