If there’s one clear sign of where culture is headed right now, it’s this: perfection is officially out. After Y2k fashion had its very loud revival, Gen Z has moved on to something quieter and far more intentional. The new obsession is turning technology back into something tactile, imperfect, and human. The younger generation is soft-launching an analogue-adjacent lifestyle—buying MP3 players, wired earphones, haunting vinyls, and yes, snapping photos that look like they were taken five seconds before Instagram existed.
We’re tired of screens that do too much. Of photos that are too sharp, too glossy, too try-hard. Enter the digital camera, the once-forgotten point-and-shoot relic that lived in desk drawers and holiday kits, now reborn as the coolest accessory you can own. The poor picture quality is on purpose, in fact the charm lies in its flaws: blown highlights, accidental blur that feels like an atmospheric filter and a little noise that feels like personality.
Celebrities are already in on it. Dua Lipa rarely steps out without her trusty Canon IXUS, Kendall Jenner treats her Canon Powershot like an extension of her arm, and, closer to home, Ananya Panday’s vacation dumps—shot entirely on a digicam—have sent fans scrambling. Meanwhile, Gen Z is terrorising shopkeepers from Chor Bazaar to Fashion Street and rifling through their parents’ cupboards, hoping to salvage old tech relics before someone else does.
The catch is that many of these cameras are no longer in production and the good ones disappear fast. Which is exactly why this shopping guide exists: to tell you which digital cameras are worth buying, which ones to grab immediately if you spot them, and what to look out for before you commit. And if even a DigiCam feels like too much, there’s always the easiest entry point into the trend: a tiny camera keychain clipped to your bag. Bag charms may have had their moment, but this is how you one-up the look.
