We all know that retro-style imagery and video footage are in right now, and I don’t see this supposed craze dying down anytime soon. If anything, I think people are going to be craving retro-style imagery increasingly and it’s largely because of AI. I hate to sound like a broken record, but AI-generated imagery is giving a lot of people the ick. In fact, only recently did I finish writing an article where I claimed that GenAI paranoia is ruining photography contests.
In a world where social media is perpetually drenched in a soupy broth of AI slop, retro-style imagery feels safe, genuine, real. But genAI isn’t to blame entirely. Before the generative boom, we had already reached image-fidelity oversaturation.
The megapixel race had become a bore, the very latest editing trends dominated Instagram, and computational camera phones were presiding over an era of headache-inducing sharpness and HDR imagery that made even family snaps look like a commercial advertising campaign. In short, the industry was ripe for a retro style reckoning.
Cue influencers flocking to buy up retro compact cameras and inflating prices, Fujifilm’s penchant for retro cameras bolstering its brand to the forefront of Gen Z’s radar, and a renewed interest in film photography. Heck, last week, I wrote about the Nikon Coolpix S9300, a camera I forgot existed the day after its release way back in 2012, yet it was trending!
And let’s not forget society’s lust for retro style in general. Throwback entertainment such as Stranger Things and Guardians of the Galaxy, not to mention retrospective fashion trends. My hope is that we’ll continue to search for ways to stay more connected to image making, beyond our computationally driven camera phones and soulless genAI prompt text boxes long into the future.
If I’m right, vintage cameras and retro-style cameras will continue to sell as a bastion of authentic image making. But if I’m wrong, and retro style is largely superficial, I guess it won’t be long until people start turning to ‘low-fi’ AI imagery. The technology already exists.
Only time will tell.
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