Get the latest gossip

‘Mistakes are romantic’: the revival of point-and-shoot cameras

Models, athletes and TikTokers shun phone cameras as 35mm sales surge and a new Pentax film camera is launched

“The return of the ‘indie sleaze’ era of the mid to late 00s has been well documented,” said Louise Yems, the strategy director at the creative agency and internet and youth culture specialists Digital Fairy. In the new season of Emily in Paris, released to a cacophony of derision and joy this week, the titular character’s phone case mimics the look of a point-and-shoot camera, cloaking her relentlessly-on smartphone in more analogue trappings. For Williams, “at a time when we are all – but particularly gen Z – looking for some release from the pressures of daily life and the addictive qualities of screens, cameras and taking photographs offers a sense of nostalgic pleasure, which feels wholesome and arty while also making you look cool”.

Get the Android app