A few days after Christmas last year, the sound of my family’s doorbell ringing brought me out of my daily winter break couch nap. I immediately leapt to my feet and began running, as I knew exactly what it was. After all, I’d been waiting for it for what seemed like forever (two weeks). At last, I would finally get to hop on the bandwagon for the trend booming all over social media: the Y2K digital camera.
It’s no new news, but Gen Z is obsessed with Y2K fashion, technology, and the aesthetic of the decade — back when most of its members were single-digit aged. It could be a nostalgia factor, or maybe even the huge difference between the seemingly ancient technology of yesterday versus now. Either way, there’s been something drawing a whole generation back two decades ago. Whatever it is, digital cameras, popularized in this era, are part of the resurgence.
Think of the disappearance of digital cameras: how your parents switched from capturing memories with the red, handheld family camera (with a wrist strap!) to a touchscreen smartphone. You might’ve even owned a digital camera as a kid or played around with your parents’ Sony like it was a toy. Either way, as the 2010s approached, you probably noticed the decline in people carrying colorful digital cameras everywhere.
Popular social media platforms, including TikTok, have repopularized the digital camera for daily use. The fast transition from Gen Z taking their Saturday night selfies on Snapchat to a 15-year-old digital camera was aided by the Y2K fashion resurgence. With reselling platforms like Depop, eBay, or even thrift stores, digital cameras made their way back into Gen Z’s hands. Combined with the currently trending fashion, makeup, and hairstyles from the early 2000s, these low-resolution pictures are often indistinguishable from those taken back in the day.
So, what did I think of my digital camera once it arrived? Did it hold up to the iPhone camera that I use every single day? Is it better? Worse? How often do I use it in my daily college life? Let me give you the rundown.
I tore open this eBay package to reveal the relic that had been on my mind the past two weeks: a 21-year-old, boxy, silver Kodak EasyShare camera. I also got to go on an adventure to Walmart and buy (specifically!) lithium batteries and order a very small capacity SD card thanks to outdated technology!
After finding a PDF of the camera manual on Google, I was able to figure out all the basics: how to shoot, delete pictures, toggle the flash options, etc. I quickly learned that the battery life on this prehistoric device came nowhere near the iPhone’s, or any modern smartphone. This told me that my camera’s life (unless I bring batteries everywhere, which I sometimes do) was precious and needed to be preserved! In other words, I mostly bring it to special events, frequently having it serve as a special guest when I hang out with friends.
My digital camera has already made itself popular among my group of friends, being met with lots of love and excitement whenever I take it out of my purse. Honestly, at times there’s a certain energy in the air that tells me it’s time to bring it out and snap a picture with it. Having these special moments (in a much lesser amount than the thousands of pictures in my iPhone’s camera roll) stored on my camera, and then imported to my laptop with an SD card reader, increases their value. Compared to 60 high-quality, poised, perfectly lit photos taken with my iPhone’s Burst mode, these singular freeze frames honor moments in a very different way.
Obviously, I don’t take pictures of the board in class with my digital camera. I still record most of my daily life with my iPhone camera, especially since it’s more reliable and efficient.
It’s a cool bonus that my digital camera pics have the grainy look of the early 2000s, adding to their uniqueness. My digital camera has its own time and place: to document special moments in my twenties that I want to remember forever.
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