Are digital point and shoot cameras the new vintage audio?

[Bone Yard]

A family member wanted to get into digital photography using a "real" camera and not a phone. I thought no-problem, Target always has something cool on sale, but they no longer stock cameras. Ok, Amazon has everything but again brands like Nikon, Panasonic, Sony and Olympus are non-existant, at least in the sub-$300 range. Checking out our local Best Buy, I can get a small Nikon or Sony, but they start around $700.

So I'm thinking I'll just get used on the bay but after looking around it seems like anything with 10 mp or more is going for 1.5-5x more than they retailed for. My tiny Nikon S01 is going for silly money now and it's not a great camera but it is small and cool looking.

I've bought neat little point and shooters in the past, usually for a few dollars, at least up to last year but wow, there's some serious sticker shock along with no-longer made anxiety now. I checked on some of my other cameras and they've all made huge jumps in value.

Anybody else noticing this?

 

[Oerets]

I know finding one used has been tricky for some time.
Use to see them for dirt cheap not anymore.

Glad to still have some of them around. I think they take better pictures then my iphone.

 

[OBMG74]

There have been some good deals on used digital cameras on Barter Town lately.

If you become a subscriber and post a WTB ad, I’ll bet you will get some responses.

 

[OBMG74]

In fact there’s a D3200 on there now for cheap money.
No affiliation.

 

[Old Ears too]

Much to my wife's chagrin, I peruse the Goodwill auction site every morning while having breakfast, mainly concentrating on the cameras/lenses.

In the last couple months prices have risen substantially for those types of cameras, if they're in good to decent shape.

I managed to collect a number of Canon SD1000's before they went thru the roof. To find a good one now for not a lot of money is like finding hens teeth.

I'd suggest looking at that site keeping in mind that they are donated. I've gotten some really nice lenses from it in past years, sometimes even buying a camera too just because it had a lens attached to it.

I think the tariff situation has caused a lot of the price increases lately. That and the fact camera manufacturers are moving the entry level cameras up scale more and more every year it seems.

 

[rickb119]

I have both a Nikon D3300 and a Coolpix S8100. The Coolpix actually takes better pictures (probably due do a better lens than what came with the D3300. Several Coolpix's listed on ebay, with most <$200. Been a while, but I think it retailed for $400 +/- when new.

 

[Old Ears too]

I've noticed that the Nikon CoolPix Sxxxx cameras have gone up quite a bit of late. It may be that yours has a better sensor in it than the D3300 does too. I'm not that familiar with either so don't really know. I have a Nikon L35AF film camera that we used a long time ago, that takes really nice images too. It is now one of the more sought after cameras of that genre.

 

[rickb119]

I've noticed that the Nikon CoolPix Sxxxx cameras have gone up quite a bit of late. It may be that yours has a better sensor in it than the D3300 does too. I'm not that familiar with either so don't really know. I have a Nikon L35AF film camera that we used a long time ago, that takes really nice images too. It is now one of the more sought after cameras of that genre.

I also have a Nikon N6006 that takes better pictures than either of the digital; even with an after market lens.

 

[Bone Yard]

I might have to move up although I was hoping for something smaller then the D3200, I really like my tiny Nikon J5 but it's a little too complicated for a younger person. I would like some higher-end settings so they learn old school picture taking and realize when it's time to "upgrade."

I pulled out a flea-market five dollar Sony DSC-W220 I got last year, my first Sony! and it uses the Memory Stick, I might try to get this working, I just haven't figured out how to download memory (and buy it), mine came without a cradle (or memory) and there's no cradles on ebay that I can see. The camera has appreciated nicely, it's now worth over a hundo.

I don't mind too much that they're going up in value but it hurts that they don't make the sub-$200 models. As a Walkman Collector I've always thought these were similar with nice build quality and a million different versions.

 

[OldJBL]

A family member wanted to get into digital photography using a "real" camera and not a phone. I thought no-problem, Target always has something cool on sale, but they no longer stock cameras. Ok, Amazon has everything but again brands like Nikon, Panasonic, Sony and Olympus are non-existant, at least in the sub-$300 range. Checking out our local Best Buy, I can get a small Nikon or Sony, but they start around $700.

So I'm thinking I'll just get used on the bay but after looking around it seems like anything with 10 mp or more is going for 1.5-5x more than they retailed for. My tiny Nikon S01 is going for silly money now and it's not a great camera but it is small and cool looking.

I've bought neat little point and shooters in the past, usually for a few dollars, at least up to last year but wow, there's some serious sticker shock along with no-longer made anxiety now. I checked on some of my other cameras and they've all made huge jumps in value.

Anybody else noticing this?

TBH, a decent newer smartphone is better than a low end point and shoot camera. The AI they have to process the photos is far better and will get more consistent results. Plus, there is no PITA process to go through to get the photos from the camera so they can be shared instantly. I have used expensive, dedicated camera gear for nearly all of my adult years. This said, I now default to using my Samsung S23 Ultra for the bulk of what I photograph these days.

I still use the expensive gear for photos that I want to have the best quality, but in reality, the smartphone does just fine for photos shot at the grandkids birthday parties, traveling where lugging heavy gear is a pain or not possible, etc. Also, most images are consumed on smaller screens these days so high resolution photos are mostly a waste of storage space. As an example, I can take a night time photo with my smartphone in Night Mode and in literally seconds it will take multiple photos, stack them, do the processing and the results are mind numbing. To do the same with my expensive gear would take hours, or even days, to get a finished product that might not be much better depending on how it will be used.

 

[Bone Yard]

It makes you want a "smart" camera (without phone). I've been very impressed with some phones but my personal phone is a huge rugged brick cuz I do stupid things like drop it on the ice rink while flooding. It looks like I can get an SD adapter for the Sony Memory Duo Card, that will help get the Sony up and going.

As far as the point and shoots, it seems like 10 mp's and above are going for decent money now but the older models are still cheap. Right around 2011 seems to be the cut-off which is too bad, I really like the look of some of the early cameras and they would look great up on the shelves.

 

[Oerets]

Really depends on where most of the pictures taken end up now does it not. If the pictures are going to uploaded to the cloud or internet anyway. Then a phone for most applications will be the simple easy route to undertake it seems. If wanting a framed forever picture can't beat a digital camera, especially if a action shot. Plus you can take plenty of pictures not worrying about space on phone.

I don't keep many pictures on my camera at all. Move the ones I choose to keep over to a thumb or computer drive. With close to 50G of music on a 125G phone keeping a lot of pictures. Most don't make the cut. Thought I was going to have enough memory at the time.....

 

[Romeo Wolf]

I have a PowerShot G12 that my uncle gave me that I'm looking to restore back to good working order. It needs a new lens and sensor (sensor is damaged, lens has a few noticeable scratches on it and the aperture often gets stuck in the closed position), but even the broken ones tend to sell for $300+ which is well out of reach for both my budget and the kind of money I'm willing to pay for a parts camera. It's absolutely absurd some of the prices people are willing to pay nowadays for a camera that just a half-dozen years ago, you could find a nice one for around $150.

 

[Romeo Wolf]

I've been collecting digital cameras for about 3 years now with having over 100 different models by 26 different companies. 27 if you count the two polaroid instant cameras I have (I don't have any of their digitals...yet). A decent chunk of them are popular Canon/Sony/Nikon point n' shoot models that I could resell for a good chunk of change if I wanted to, but I'd prefer not to. They've already found the perfect home right here with a tech enthusiast (me)

I managed to get the majority of my cameras in working condition for cheap usually on eBay (do a search on cameras for under $25 and start scrolling), but I am also fortunate enough to live near an antique store that I'm a frequent regular of, where one of the vendors sells untested digital cameras for under $25. Most are obviously broken but I have scored a few gems there that work perfectly. Another way is I post a listing on local Craigslist starting that I buy digital cameras (working or untested) for x amount of money and under, and I just wait for E-mails and messages to come in.

My favorite ones to shoot with though are the early ones from the 90's with wild design choices, primitive features that are janky at best, and ones that are generally just dinosaur-slow. Models that came from an era where nobody really knew what a digital camera should look like. I would absolutely love to have one of the early Kodak DCS/Fujix/Nikon DSLR's that were just SLR film bodies with a digital sensor & back slapped onto them

 

[Romeo Wolf]

@Bone Yard were you ever able to get your fellow family member a "real" camera?

 

[Bone Yard]

No, still hoping for a flea market/garage sale find. I'm going for 12 megapixals and that seems to be the hot spot for collectors.