I Tried The Viral Camp Snap CS-8 & The Videos Are Making Me Nostalgic
Calling it: This celeb-beloved camera will be the hottest accessory this festival SZN.
I’m a deeply sentimental person. Scrolling through old photos, watching ‘90s TV shows, and never throwing away souvenirs are all part of my MO. So, seeing the likes of Taylor Swift, Joe Jonas, Nina Dobrev, and Victoria Justice using a retro video camera over the last few months more than piqued my interest — I had to try it for myself.
The Camp Snap CS-8 is a digital camcorder that’s styled like a vintage Super-8 camera from the ‘60s and ‘70s; it’s lightweight (about 1 pound), has a bunch of vintage film-style filters, and — unlike most modern digital cameras — there’s no playback screen. This means you can’t watch (or delete) your videos until you transfer them to your computer. That’s the goal for the brand: “Stay present.” Something you should definitely aim for during festival season and summer vacay.
What is modern are some of the settings, including a rechargeable battery that lasted me all day, a variety of aspect ratios (one is specifically meant for Reels), and a pre-installed 4 GB SD card that holds around 30 minutes of footage, which you can upgrade to 128 GB (~16 hours).
Since I was headed on a trip to Disneyland Paris to experience the inauguration of the World of Frozen, I could think of no better time and place to put the Camp Snap CS-8 to the test. Below, you’ll find my honest review of your favorite celebs’ favorite camera.
Packing Was A Bit Tricky
Even though it's lightweight, it’s bulky. I don’t currently have any of the CS-8 accessories (e.g., protective carry bag or lens cap), so I kept it wrapped in the foam pouch it came in and put that into a water-resistant drawstring bag I was planning on bringing along anyway.
It made it there and back in one piece, which is great — but I’m definitely going to get the add-ons ASAP. If you want to get the CS-8 for Coachella Weekend 2 or Stagecoach, I highly suggest investing in a crossbody that can hold it and a lanyard so you could strap it to your wrists.
The Video Quality Was Better Than You Might Expect
Since it was modeled after a Super-8, I thought the footage would turn out like all those home movies you might see on the early seasons of America’s Funniest Home Videos. Looking through the viewfinder kind of gives that vibe, so I assumed that’s how the final products would appear. But honestly, look:
The sound is a bit muffled, but the picture actually comes out pretty good.
...Unless You’re Zooming In
The camera offers 8x zoom. Compared to my iPhone’s 15x zoom, there were a few CS videos that didn’t come out quite as sharp.
I’m sure the feature is still better than it was in the ‘70s, though.
Night Mode: Not Activated
If you want to take any videos in the dark, you'd better bring a separate light. Even surrounded by street lamps — and a lit-from-within snowflake fountain — here’s the best shot:
TL;DR
None of my Camp Snap CS-8 videos were perfect — and that’s the point. Honestly, I laughed so much going through all of the memories days later because there were so many 1-second shots of the ground and Blair Witch Project-style shaky cam footage. It reminded me of the uncurated Facebook albums millennials are famous for.
During my trip, I had three different people come up to me asking about the camera so they could Google it and potentially get it for themselves. Mark my words, you’re going to see it pop up all over this festival season.
