this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2025
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Single Purpose Devices

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Point and shoot cameras (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 day ago by impudentmortal@lemmy.world to c/singlepurpose@lemmy.world
8 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I bought a used point and shoot recently so that I could be more mindful to not only take pictures more often but also to take better quality pictures.

I noticed that since everyone has a smartphone, people have been less likely to take photos and videos and people get annoyed when they are photographed/recorded. I think part of that is because those photos and videos get uploaded to social media where everyone can see/judge.

I wanted to try to take more photos of family events though since it was always fun to look through old photos of family members. I grew up in the 90s and 00s when it was really common to have photos taken at every event. Though I I haven't uploaded any of my photos yet, I've definitely taken more pictures than I ever had prior to having a camera. (I plan to buy a NAS hard drive during black Friday so I can store my photos privately.)

It sucks that good point and shoots are basically discontinued. I paid almost double the msrp for my camera and it was used and made in 2018. If you're able to find some good point and shoots for a good price, I would highly recommend you trying it out.

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[–] then_three_more@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I used to love photography back in the day, but life events and to be honest phone cameras meant I got out of it. With the phone I find I often don't tend to think too much about what I'm shooting. I'm also coming to dislike the heavy HDR, AI enhanced automatic post processing.

I dug out my father in laws old Powershot G9 last year and I totally agree that it's more mindful I've been also surprised at how good the quality of the photos has been.

https://pixelfed.social/p/struds/818890893098325033

https://pixelfed.social/p/struds/850967984975551156

This month I've gone for the full mindful and got a fully manual (technically it has shutter priority, but I really don't like the readings the meter is giving) Olympus 35 RC rangefinder.

[–] impudentmortal@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

Looking at old photos that I took with my old point and shoot (which I sadly couldn't find) made me want to buy a new camera in the first place. I saw how good my photos looked compared to my smartphone (granted my smartphone is also really old at this point too) and I thought it would be great to have a camera again. Your photos came out great! Hope you're having fun with photography again.

[–] FRYD@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago (3 children)

If you enjoy photography and like the kinda vintage idea of how photos used to be, you should look into getting an old film SLR camera. I have a Minolta X-700, you can get one on ebay for like $200 and it’s a ton of fun. Film photography is a totally different experience than digital because you can’t just check a photo and delete it if you don’t like it. It’s more advanced than a point and shoot, but nowhere near as complicated as a modern DSLR. You can still buy film pretty easily at places like CVS too and most places that develop photos offer digital scans as well as prints.

[–] impudentmortal@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

My brother is a cinematography (mostly for commercials) and he swears by the old school film look. If I ever get motivated enough, I'd definitely love to give it a try! Will check out that model if I ever do

[–] FRYD@sh.itjust.works 1 points 35 minutes ago* (last edited 35 minutes ago)

Another commenter mentioned film point and shoot cameras too and it’s not a bad idea if you don’t want to deal with all the technical stuff. I have no experience with them though, so I can’t speak for their ease or quality. My friend has a Minolta 3000i that I’ve been curious to try out. Those are on ebay for like $20-$50, so it may be a better choice for your first film camera.

[–] Libb@piefed.social 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

You can also buy (excellent) point & shoot film cameras, btw. or a rangefinder camera for a decent price (non-Leica branded, because Leica is expensive no matter what ;)

I hope you wont mind me reminding this: film is not simpler. It's as much work if not more as any other type of manual photography, digital or not. The difference, beside the lack of immediacy, being that you control the output and not some computer code... which means that you must assume the many mistakes that will happen too ;)

I learned photography on a film camera back in the late 70s. And to me B&W film have yet to be rivaled by anything digital. The real issue with film is that, depending where you live, it can be a pain to get it properly processed (of the few remaining places around here, too many simply can't be bothered to do it right). One could certainly process B&W at home but it would still be a pain to learn to do it properly. And don't even think about colors (a lot more complex and expensive) and then there would be the demanding task of scanning each negative or each print and then digitally clean it.

[–] impudentmortal@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

I know myself enough to know that I will definitely be too lazy to develop film. Heck, I am too lazy sometimes to even back up my photos. Though it would be kind of fun to enjoy film cameras, realistically I will likely never see those photos at all.mm

[–] then_three_more@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

It’s more advanced than a point and shoot, but nowhere near as complicated as a modern DSLR.

I couldn't disagree with this more. A modern DSLR or mirrorless with have an extremely advanced automatic mode, really advanced autofocus with subject detection and tracking. Even the most modern SLR's from the early 2000s won't be able to match them for ease of use when everything is set to automatic. Edit

Plus with a digital you can spray and pray. Set it to burst end trust one out of the 500 photos you take will be any good.