Low-rise jeans, flip phones, wired earbuds. Gen Z is careening us all over the cliff of Y2K revivalism — and as it turns out, they’re coming for the cameras, too. A certain breed of 2000s-era point-and-shoots are trending these days … but unlike the denim, this might be a welcome return.
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Early aughts point-and-shoots have an aesthetic that balances film-like feel and charmingly crappy detail. They’ve got soft, blooming highlights, minimal resolution and distinct color casts and tonality that come from that era’s charge-coupled device (CCD) sensors. To be sure, they also have 2000s-era foibles. They’re slow, the autofocus is hit-or-miss, they use memory formats that will have you diving into Wikipedia — but isn’t that part of the fun?
But the best thing that Y2K point-and-shoots have going for them? They’re cheap. At least for now.
Good vintage digital cameras of 2000s provenance can be purchased for less than $50. Great ones can be had for less than $150. But be careful: they don’t have quite the same value proposition as some of the legendary film cameras. They’re nearly impossible to repair and early-2000s CCD sensors have a tendency to corrode over time, so try to avoid convincing yourself to shell out $800 for that mint Panasonic Lumix and instead treat these as a wonderful, low-cost way to have a little bit more fun with photography.
