May 26, 2026
By Zahara Chowdhury
Editor-in-Chief
In an era of multiple cameras on smartphones and high-resolution photos, some teens are driving a resurgence in compact digital cameras.
In a survey of 75 LHS students conducted on Google Forms between March 11-18, 63% said they use a compact digital camera. Among those who use a compact digital camera, 70% said they prefer it to their smartphone, with 72% citing photo quality as the main reason.
In 2022, the digital camera market was valued at $21.3 billion, reaching $24.4 billion in 2025, according to Global Market Insights, a company that collects industry data and research.
Senior Joely Ferreras said she brings her Kodak compact digital camera, which she bought on Amazon in July 2025, to most events, such as dinners, hangouts and vacations.
“I use my digital camera as something fun to do with my friends,” Ferreras said. “All my friends love the look of my digital camera [photos of them, and] I also love how pictures of nature and scenery look.”
“It’s a little bit more intriguing and just a little bit more fun [than using] our phones. I think a lot of people are just more interested [in] the quality looking a little dated.”
Ferreras said her compact digital camera has made her more intentional about her photography.
“With your phone, you can keep taking pictures every second, but with my digital camera, you have to wait a few seconds until you can take the next picture…. It makes me live in the moment and capture the beauty of something that’s imperfect,” Ferreras said.
Sophomore Kaden Brattoli said teens are nostalgic for older cameras. He said that over a year ago, he started using his uncle’s Canon compact digital camera, which is more than two decades old.
“It’s a little bit more intriguing and just a little bit more fun [than using] our phones. I think a lot of people are just more interested [in] the quality looking a little dated,” Brattoli said.
Although he does not print his photos, Brattoli said he finds value in doing so.
“[Printed photos] hold more memories. On your phone, [photos] get lost…. If you have a printed photo… and you’re going through your photo album every so often, it brings back memories,” Brattoli said. “[If] you have photos put up on your wall, there are a lot of opportunities to see that photo.”
Senior Ioanna Hantzaras said she started using a Canon compact digital camera that she bought online at B&H Photo in 2023 to reduce her dependence on her phone.
“A lot of people, especially Gen Z… know how awful our phones are for us, and we can see… how it is affecting our brain, how it is affecting us,” Hantzaras said. “That is a big reason why people are moving to digital cameras.”
Hantzaras said she shares the photos she takes with her compact digital cameras on her Instagram account, @mechkacam.
“[These types of posts are] bringing back how social media felt in the [early] 2000s,” Hantzaras said. “There will always be a dedicated community [for] this.”
Hantzaras said she appreciates various forms of physical media.
“It’s convenient to have [digital technology] at the touch of a fingertip, but it’s also just so much more different listening to [music] on a vinyl, for example, and hearing the record scratches, or listening to it on CD and knowing that you own that music,” Hantzaras said. “With streaming services, you’re just renting everything. [With] physical media, you own it. You have that, and in that, it makes whatever media you’re [using] more enjoyable.”
