Camp Snapshot CS-8 doesn’t care about the frame rate, bit rate, or whether your recordings are stable to a stable level. It doesn’t want to replace iPhones or compete with mirrorless camera settings. Instead, it offers something simpler and more deliberate: the feeling of shooting videos for it.
Just like the click-and-click still camera that Camp Snap started in 2023, the company’s only other major product, this is a reward for not thinking about the camera, and when you didn’t expect to see the image you just captured, until later, sometimes it’s late.
Inspired by the Super 8 cameras introduced in the 1960s, the CS-8 is undoubtedly retro in appearance and function. The body is primarily plastic with artificial metal details and leather texture designed to evoke the mechanical age rather than imitate it convincingly. Its hands are chunky and sturdy, though it is in a distinctly symbolic way. If you are looking for authenticity, you won’t find it here: There is a fake shoe on the bottom of the pistol grip and a fake shoe on it. But that’s not the point- it’s not Kodak’s $5,000 Super 8 revival, but a $199 camera designed to live in the real world, pass in parties, send it into a day trip backpack without thinking about it again.
Lights, cameras, actions
Photo: Sam Kieldsen
There is no screen, no play, and no delete button. Here, what you shoot is what you get. Settings and options are stripped, one for dialing (4:3, 16:9, 1:1 or 9:16) to select aspect ratios and the other for video effects. These include standard colors, monochrome and three Lo-Fi filters, including a granular appearance that simulates the 8mm film.
I found the last one marked as a simulation and was the star of the show. It reduces the frame rate to 20 fps (30 fps with other modes) and sprinkles in digital scratches, causing the lens to be imperfect in the most intentional way. By contrast, the rest of the filters feel a little flat, although the monochrome setting can induce its own strong charm in the right lighting.
Using the CS-8 is refreshing physics: by waving the dial, pressing the eyes on the viewfinder of the rubber cup, and then squeezing the trigger to record. There is no concentration here to worry. The 8x zoom handles the “W” and “T” buttons on the wide and telephoto buttons, although it is only digitized and the resolution drops quickly when you push too far.
