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.
Glad to see I’m not the only one still using a point-and-shoot camera. Sorry to hear that you had to pay double the MSRP; my most recent purchase was another Canon PowerShot Elph during late summer of 2021.
It was an older model (cheaper) but the newer models are now equipped with WiFi. I purchased an adapter for my phone (it’s very small) so I can download photos from the SD card. My family is very happy with it because the photos aren’t going to social media right away and they were able to choose and download photos to their phones as well.
I’m currently stalking the Canon PowerShot Elph 360 HS A but TBH, I’m not a fan of the WiFi and the price. Hopefully you’re enjoying your camera and taking lots of photos.
I hope you’re able to find your camera soon. I had considered the Elph 360 HS because of how slim and portable it is. I ended up going with the Powershot 740 because I liked the high optical zoom, flip screen, 4k video (though I haven’t made use of that), and other features. I haven’t used the wifi transfer though because I’d rather do it on my computer.
My favorite feature is something all Canon cameras have and it’s the mode that records videos before each photo. Creates a fun clip show of the entire day.
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.
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.
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.
