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Everything from culottes to chokers to old sitcoms have Guardami (1999) watch onlinemade a comeback at some point or another in our cyclical culture, and now, a piece of technology from our recent past is experiencing a tiny resurgence.

Digital cameras from the aughts are having a moment again, and there's a growing community online making space for them to shine.

The resurgence of relics from the past is usually chalked up to simple nostalgia, but it's more than that when it comes to these cameras — especially to those who have found themselves picking up "digicams" (as they're sometimes called) for the first time in years.

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To some, these pre-smartphone cameras are clunky and outdated, and seen as just another cheap find in thrift stores or junk drawers across the country. But in 2018, early digital cameras have made their way into the hands of professional photographers. Now a few of those photographers are cultivating a community of digicam users and providing a platform to showcase work crafted using pre-iPhone portrait mode technology.

If there's one place online for digicam users to show off their work in a community setting, it's @digicam.love. The Instagram account posts photos from folks who've snagged a Canon Powershot A3500 from 2013 or a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX150 from 2008 and are ready to show the world that these little cameras can hold their own, even by 2018 standards.

Since its creation in January, the account's grown quickly over just seven months. As of publish date, it has 850 followers and three moderators who go through submissions to share work done by other photographers who shoot with digicams. Two of those moderators, Sofia Lee and Bao Ngo, founded the account after embarking on their own personal digicam journeys.

Lee, a photographer and GIF maestro based in Seattle, Washington is one of the fiercest advocates for the return of the digicam. With a collection spanning cameras from throughout the 2000s that she's amassed over the years -- her first was a Canon PowerShot G2 -- Lee is bonafide digicam lover, and her interest in these "vintage digital cameras" (a term dubbed by Digital Photography Review) all started with a dream.

"I know this sounds really trite, but I basically had a dream one summer a few years ago where I saw a digicam JPEG of a mountain," Lee told me via email. "When I woke up, I had this feeling that there was something about the older cameras that I'd been missing — that they produced images that were truly unique."

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She's right — they do produce distinctive images. In addition to being physically different from the popular DSLR camera of today, they also offer a different shooting experience than a DSLR or a smartphone camera would.

"They tend to create images with deep sharp focus, because of the optics and sensor size, so I must be cognizant of everything in the frame; I can’t rely on bokeh to blur things out," Lee explained, referring to the photo effect that a shallow depth of field can produce in the background of images. "They teach me to be patient and careful with my photography. They teach me to get everything right in the moment because there is very little leeway to save the images in post if I expose wrong."

Though there's often debate between photographers who shoot exclusively using DSLR cameras versus those who use film exclusively, digicams rarely come up in these conversations, despite the beautiful results they produce.

To Lee, digicams are "wedged between this 'analog vs digital' debate going on in photography right now." They're often left behind in debates over the merits of what cameras to shoot with professionally, and according to Lee, "there is a social and philosophical aspect to this discussion that often gets ignored." They have the potential to start a conversation about who gets to participate in the art of photography.

Ngo, whose work can be seen in magazines and on album covers, considers digicams a valuable tool not only because of the images they produce, but because of how affordable they are.

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Ngo started taking pictures at a young age with a digicam, but built her career shooting primarily with film cameras. It quickly became a pricey endeavor thanks to the increasing cost of developing film. She eventually made the switch from film to digital because of rising costs, and in 2017, she started using a small point-and-shoot — a Sony Cybershot DSC-T10 — and hasn't put it down since.

"When I switched from digital to film, I thought I had to have an expensive digital camera," Ngo told me. "I thought it had to be really great, and I don't regret [buying the DSLR] ... it's good for what it is, but I thought that it was kind of ridiculous that I have to spend this much money in order to not pay for film anymore."

"Growing up in a family that didn't have a lot of money, I think that financial accessibility in art is really important," she said. "I just didn't have money for equipment growing up and to this day I use fairly cheap equipment. I just kept thinking that there has to be a way for photography to be more accessible because something I hear from people a lot is, 'Oh I want to get into photography but I can't afford a camera or gear.'"

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

After years of online friendship between Ngo and Lee, the two met for the first time just a few years ago, and Lee's use of digicams came up in their conversations. This eventually prompted Ngo to pick one up for herself.

"Something went off in my head after shooting only a couple photos on it," Ngo said. "I realized the images it produced are actually really beautiful."

After purchasing her digicam (she went with a Sony Cybershot DSC-T10), Ngo compared photos taken on her iPhone to ones snapped with the digicam, and was taken with the colors produced in the latter.

"I heavily edit the photos that come out of my iPhone and [DSLR] but digicams look really beautiful," she explained. "Some people like film because they perceive it to be imperfect — and I appreciate digicams because I feel that way about digicams."

And while the capabilities of older digicams might not match the latest technology available in DSLR models from manufacturers like Canon or Nikon, it's worth noting that digicams do have their strengths. For example, Ngo's digicam retains highlights surprisingly well. In the images below, note of the green light emanating from the building in the lower lefthand side of the images. In the digicam version, it's still green, but in the iPhone version it's a blown out, muted yellow.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Lee and Ngo have both shot professionally with digicams, but if you ask most career photographers about their gear for personal or professional use, a digicam might not come up in discussion.

Dee Williams, a photographer who primarily shoots portraits of women of color, is one of the few who have gone back in time with their camera choices. Though she usually shoots professionally with a DSLR and film cameras -- which she loves despite the piling costs that come with development -- this hasn't stopped her from trying out the digicam.

In April, she picked up a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX350 digicam at the suggestion of another artist, and is slowly incorporating it into her life as a photographer. Her interest in a point-and-shoot was purely practical.

"I was just really tired of carrying around my heavy cameras," she said. "I do feel like photographers should have a camera with them 24/7 so I thought, hey, let me get something small, cheap, and affordable that I can put on my waist or strap on my backpack so I can always be ready to take photos."

With it came some pleasant surprises, she said.

"I don't know how to explain it but there's like the vintage, old school look with the digicam," she told me. "You're not getting crazy depth of field, and the colors are not as sharp or crisp as a DSLR but you're still getting that cool, timeless, digital shot. It takes amazing photos. I can definitely see myself using it in a professional setting at music festivals."

Still, she isn't convinced she'll turn it into her number one pick on photoshoots. For an additional camera on deck though, she explained, it's a go.

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Lee and Ngo's @digicam.love platform is made for photographers like Williams who are beginning to use digicams in their everyday lives. "I definitely was interested in seeing if there were other people like us out there who had become enamored with digicams," Lee explained. "It’s thrilling to see people become more interested in this."

Since it's inception, Lee and Ngo have added a moderator, Froyo Tam, into the fold to help run the account. And whether it continues to grow or remains a niche corner of the internet, it's spilling into offline communities as well. The @digicam.love team has gathered folks for photowalks in various cities around the world (the next one is in Seattle at Washington Park Arboretum on August 11).

It'll be their fourth photowalk, but it already points to one thing: the digicam is making a small and mighty comeback.

UPDATE: Aug. 1, 2018, 11:06 a.m. EDT The story has been updated to reflect that Froyo Tam runs @digicam.love alongside Lee and Ngo.

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