Old digital cameras are trending

Apparently we’re ditching smartphone photos for digicams.

There’s a blurry photo on my fridge right now. It’s not particularly well-framed. The colours are a bit off. The lighting’s weird. And yet… I love it.

It came from the Fujifilm Instax Evo Wide, a camera I reviewed recently that spits out big, polaroid-like prints that look like they were taken at a 2005 house party. Using it reminded me what it felt like to take a photo without immediately checking if it was “good enough.” It was refreshing. And oddly joyful.

It turns out I’m not alone. Teenagers all over the world are reportedly ditching their fancy phone cameras in favour of old-school digital point-and-shoots – think Canon IXUS, Samsung Digimax, early Sony Cyber-shot. Yep, they’re trending again.

Blurry. On purpose.

On TikTok and Instagram, #digicam and #photodump content is everywhere. Teens are romanticising the blurry, slightly overexposed, oddly framed photos that digital cameras from the early 2000s produce. It’s not about clarity or quality, it’s about vibes.

Instead of the hyper-slick, cinematic iPhone photos we’ve all become used to, these digicams offer something else: a bit of unpredictability. You can’t edit as easily. The screen’s usually terrible. You might take a whole batch of photos and only one turns out kind of okay. And that’s exactly the point.

There’s something liberating about letting go of the idea that every photo needs to be perfectly curated. Maybe the camera flash blows out your friend’s face. Maybe your finger’s in the shot. Who cares? It feels more real—and less like content.

What they’re buying

South African teens (and twenty-somethings) are raiding their parents’ cupboards or hitting up Cash Crusaders and Facebook Marketplace in search of these pixelated treasures. Some of the most popular models include:

• Canon PowerShot and IXUS ranges
• Samsung Digimax
• Sony Cyber-shot

If it’s under 10 megapixels and has a tiny LCD screen and a built-in flash, it’s probably a winner. Bonus points if the photo files have those old-school EXIF stamps or red-eye baked in.

Most of these cameras cost under R1000 second-hand. Add a cheap SD card and you’re good to go.

Why this matters

I know it might seem like a fad, but there’s something deeper here too. Slower tech invites slower moments. These cameras don’t let you check your shot a hundred times or instantly post it with filters and hashtags. You take the photo, maybe look at it, maybe don’t—and then you move on. No retakes. No pressure. Just moments.

And for parents watching this happen? It’s strange. We spent years upgrading, improving, chasing the sharpest lens. And now our kids are chasing what we left behind.

But maybe that’s okay.

Using the Fujifilm Evo Wide reminded me that photographs don’t have to be perfect to be meaningful. In fact, it was the imperfections that made the photos feel more special. I didn’t overthink the lighting or the angles. I just snapped and printed. I kept the ones I liked and stuck them to the fridge – blurriness and all.

There’s a kind of freedom in that. A reminder that capturing a memory doesn’t always need to be tied to megapixels or cloud backups or “likes.”