I sing too far off-key to have much in common with Taylor Swift – but it turns out I have at least one thing in common with the legendary musician, because we’re both a bit enamored with a $200 retro camcorder. Fans spotted Swift using the newly-launched Camp Snap CS-8 at the Kansas City Chiefs game on Sunday.
Swift is no stranger to photography, and based on the trove of paparazzi photos of her with the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV, she’s a fan of the retro look.
The Camp Snap CS-8 certainly fits that description. The CS-8 is a digital camcorder, but it’s made to look and shoot like the Super 8 cine film cameras popular in the 1960s and 1970s. Like the older film cameras, the CS-8 has a large handle and a trigger to start recording, rather than a traditional record button. Retro dials adorn the side of the camera that allow users to choose from a few different retro looks.
Like the OM-D E-M10 Mark IV, fans don’t need Swift-level resources to try the Super 8 digital dupe. The Camp Snap CS-8 retails for $199 / £152 / AU$230.
The CS-8 actually comes from a small business that started when parents were looking for a way for their kid to still be able to take photos at a screen-free summer camp, without the cost and wait of a disposable film camera. Camp Snap is still screen-free, but the brand has also found success among digital minimalists and retro camera fans and has recently expanded to offer the CS-8 camcorder as well as a more advanced screen-free point-and-shoot, the CS-Pro.
Now, if you’re looking for 4K videos with modern sharpness, then skip the CS-8. The CS-8 isn’t about the best possible video quality (in case the price didn’t clue you in). The zoom is rather terrible (so it wouldn’t be my first choice for a football game).
But that’s not what the CS-8 is about. It’s about a retro shooting experience and a retro look to the videos. It’s also about shooting videos in a way that’s fun yet doesn’t pull you entirely out of the memory that’s unfolding. I love the retro filters, which make the footage feel like a distant memory even if they just happened yesterday.
The CS-8 actually feels like it has a lot in common with the OM-D E-M10 Mark IV that Swift has also been spotted with – both are retro, and both are relatively affordable. When Swift was first spotted with the mirrorless camera, a spike in sales followed – and I wouldn’t be surprised if the same thing happens to the CS-8. For now, the Camp Snap website is still listing the retro camcorder as in stock.
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