The same thrifting adventure that yielded yesterday’s Crumar DP-50 rewarded me with a small Nikon point-and-shoot camera, a CoolPix S8000. I’ve overlooked these little fellows for years, since I am a Serious™ person and own Serious™ cameras. But, as it turns out, these don’t suck. Or this one doesn’t, anyhow. It is seriously weird to not have the usual complement of settings and options inherent in modern camera software; I have honestly never owned a consumer camera in my life (unless you count some of my film camera finds. but in this modern gilded age it takes a certain amount of knowledge to render a photo from one of those, so I don’t count them), having learned to shoot on “enthusiast” film cameras courtesy of my “enthusiast” father, and currently enjoying a state of financial security that allows me to own and use “professional” digital cameras. 

Long story short, I’ve overlooked these pocket point-and-shoot cameras since they existed, and bought this one entirely on a whim. It took some puzzling over the battery to get it to charge, and once I charged it, some further puzzling to figure out how to get the photos out of the thing and on to my computer, and then a little time setting up a Lightroom preset that I felt complemented and accentuated the inherent look of the camera, but now I have it on lock, and am pleased to add this camera to my collection.

It makes me wonder what other interesting vibes are hiding in late 90s/early 00s consumer electronics, though.