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“Dumb” tech is coming on your digital camcorder. Camp Snap is bringing its screen-free strategy to video with the brand new CS-8 digital digicam, a Tremendous 8-inspired system that we had an opportunity to check out — on the Happiest Place on Earth, of all locations — earlier than its official launch this fall.
Recurrently $199, A/V lovers can pre-order the CS-8 and save 25 p.c earlier than it ships in mid-September. (It’ll arrive simply in time to reward to your favourite filmmakers this vacation.) The rechargeable digicam is designed to make it simple for newbies and professionals alike to decide on the look, really feel and format of their footage: one dial enables you to select from 5 nostalgic filters and one other gives 4 facet ratios. (Purists will need to look elsewhere in the event that they need to tinker with publicity or swap out lenses, however that’s not what the CS-8 is all about anyway.)
The video digicam’s video decision shoots as much as 4K, relying on the facet ratio you select: 4:3, 16:9 (widescreen), 1:1 (sq.) and 9:16 (for Reels or TikTok). Your filter choices are black and white, grainy analog, commonplace, VTG1 (which provides Y2K feels) and VTG2 (pale sepia). Not like the earliest Tremendous 8 cameras (sound with movie arrived in 1973), the CS-8 data mono audio with a built-in speaker. It features a 4GB SD card that holds about 5 hours of footage, whereas two analog meters maintain monitor of your battery life and storage. It features a USB-C cable for charging the battery and connecting the system to a pc to obtain information.
So far as video specs, the CS-8 shoots in encoded H.264 (MP4) at a body fee of about 30 fps, retaining file sizes manageable. (A four-minute video in 9:16 is about 520 MB.) It doesn’t take images, however tech-savvy customers can pull stills by way of a video editor or screenshot their favourite scene from a telephone.
Camp Snap CS-8 Digital Video Digital camera
The Camp CS-8 is able to use out of the field — no must fiddle with movie; no lens to click on into place. Flip it on with the On/Off dial, choose your facet ratio and pull and maintain the set off to file. You’ll have to make use of your free hand to zoom in or out with the T and W buttons, providing an analog-esque expertise. The digicam’s rubber eyecup and a padded again cushion gives stability and luxury, and the sturdy plastic deal with has an ergonomic, hefty grip. Peer by way of the viewfinder and also you’ll see the time, a battery life indicator and the chosen filter. A loop on the deal with enables you to connect a lanyard for retaining the digicam in your wrist or neck.
Camp despatched The Hollywood Reporter purchasing editors a pattern unit, which we promptly took to Disneyland for a magical take a look at run. The CS-8 gave our 2025 theme park footage a decidedly mid-century residence film really feel — with no need to course of or digitize movie. The Mad Tea Get together’s spinning pastel teacups seemed like they flew straight out of our household’s 1966 Disneyland archive movies shot on 8mm movie. One would possibly confuse our river scenes from the Mark Twain Riverboat with ones scanned from our ’60s reels, had been it not for the visitors in brand T-shirts and frayed denim shorts. (See our CS-8 footage beneath of the Home of Mouse’s barbershop quartet, the Dapper Dans.)
At simply over 1 pound, the CS-8 clocks in at about twice as heavy as your pocket-sized tremendous computer-camera-calculator. (Our iPhone 16 Professional clocks in at 7.5 ounces, sans the case.) Don’t anticipate one-handed operation or the moment gratification of video playback — however that’s precisely the purpose. In our hands-on testing, we cherished that the video digicam stored us immersed in our filmmaking and within the expertise in entrance of us.
One other bonus? And not using a built-in display screen, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, there’s no strategy to submit on-line in actual time. You’ll have to attach the digicam to a laptop computer or desktop laptop and obtain your video information from the SD card to your laborious drive or cloud storage. The CS-8 enables you to level, shoot and benefit from the second — plain and easy.
For a restricted time, the Camp Snap CS-8 is accessible for pre-order for $149 (or $50 off the total worth); purchase it on-line at campsnapphoto.com.
