The tiny little Nikon camera…

Yes, you read that right. We, being a professional video and photo team, still make use of a tiny Nikon camera. You know the one: it’s probably somewhere in a cupboard in your parents’ house and your family home videos are on it or your baby pictures were printed from it at Kodak - that one (some serious Y2K vibes).

Why, you may ask? Well, because…

It’s. For. Everyone. 

The beauty of this camera is that anyone can use it. If you want to capture your honeymoon on it, or just take some braai pics or you want to take trendy, retro photos for the gram - you can! 

So what are some of the benefits and the reasons we started using the Nikon 'kameratjie':

It is portable.

Let’s be honest, yes, your phone is also portable and it will probably also take really great pictures and you can use a retro filter to get the same type of vibes. BUT every day we hear more and more people talk about a phone fast or a social media cleanse and the intent to be more present in life, savour moments and relish in memories.

This camera makes all of that possible! You can put away your phone to actually enjoy capturing memories without seeing those 1300 email or family group whatsapp notifications.

Being able to have this one by your side at all times because it is so portable really makes it all the more likely you will use it. The best camera that is, is the one that you use!

The storage on that thing is what dreams are made of.

Unlike the early 2000s, we have modern SD cards that pack a big punch. You can take literally thousands of photos without running out of storage because the files are small.

SD cards are available everywhere and go for cheap nowadays so you don’t have to worry about deleting all of your aunties ‘Good morning’ videos and images to free up storage for your Cape Town holiday. Put one SD card in that thing- bam! Sorted.

You’re unique.

Phones - blah blah. If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. That goes for the photos we take with them as well. Sure Apple comes out with a 18 lens phone every couple of days and Huawei can take a picture of the surface of the moon in 4K quality, but it’s not the uniqueness of the little 'kameratjie'.

With low-rise jeans, butterfly clips and pleated skirts making a comeback, let’s bring back something from the early 2000s that actually has some style!

It really is refreshing to see someone taking photos with something other than their phone or their YouTube vlogging camera.

Popular, you’re gonna be popular.

There is a significant rise in the popularity of film cameras. The downside to these are that you have to buy film (and develop it) and that also creates a lot of waste.

However, the little Nikon camera is much more sustainable because you get the same nostalgic effect, but for a lot cheaper and with the planet in mind.

Just run it through one of the free photo editing apps and put a light filter on it - voila! It looks amazing.

We tried it at a wedding.

One evening at a wedding, after we put our gear away, Cam took the Nikon 'kameratjie' to just take some random photos as the guests partied and danced. He literally took photos of everything and anything - blurry dancing photos, pictures at the bar, funny group photos, you name it!

And people loved it! Some of the feedback we got was that people thought it looked straight out of the movie Hangover. Guests said they were also more comfortable being themselves, because it wasn’t a big camera with a massive flash that’s very visible that’s in your face as you are doing the Leeuloop.

It was just a tiny camera (literally smaller than a phone) that was taking pictures of everyone having a great time. 

To the photographers and videographers

Obviously, the little Nikon camera will never replace professional cameras and other gear. We love the grainy, nostalgic moment, but there is still a need for high quality pictures. 

But we want to encourage you pick up something you’re not used to, move away from the polished, edited digital photos that we, collectively as the ones who capture memories, use and to invest in something a little different like a klein 'kameratjie' or an old video camera that has the screen that flips out to the side (you know the one).

You can even use an old lens and adapt it to your current body - whatever you can do to challenge yourself and spark creativity in your artwork.

To the laymen/women.

We also want to encourage you to go and rummage for that camera and take photos of literally anything in your life. That is the charm of the early 2000s - we did not care what other people were going to think of our photos because we didn’t post them to social media platforms so that other people would like them.

We did it for ourselves!

So take photos of a random sign, or your food, or your friends where no one is posed, or your dog or your birthday cake or Valentines flowers without thinking of the angles and the aesthetic. Let your creativity flow through the capture of your everyday life. 

So, get yourself a klein 'kameratjie'. You won’t regret it.

That’s it.



That’s the blog. 

Thank you for reading, we really hope this sparks some creativity in you!

We would love to see what you come up with, so tag us in your nostalgic photos and videos!