So... I recently found my old camera. I found it at the very bottom of my drawer piled with other "old tech". When I say "old tech", they're actually not even that old. They were tech that I used when I was a kid.
About the Camera
This camera you see right here, is the Casio Exilim EX-Z800. It has 14.1 megapixels with FE 3.9. My dad bought this for me so I can take pictures whenever I go out, specifically on school trips because hones back then couldn't really take decent pictures. I think I had that since I was nine, so this makes this camera more than ten years old. Is that considered old? Some of you might think since when does Casio produce cameras? And are they any good? Honestly, I had the same questions, so I Googled it. Casio had a lineup of cameras under the brand Exilim since 1995, but they discontinued it in 2018. They were also the first ones to launch an LCD consumer digital camera.
Going Back to My Day 1
So I've been seeing a lot of Instagram posts of people taking photos with an old digital camera and giving out that "Gen Z Childhood" vibe, and I like it. Holding this camera again brought me back all the memories. The camera is actually smaller than remember, probably because I'm no longer a 10-year-old girl anyone. I wish I could show you the old photos I took, but they're on another computer which I have yet to turn it back on. Anyways, I decided to bring the camera with me to Malaysia to attend a wedding and see what kinda magic I could do with this. At first, I thought this would be a "brainless camera" where I can just take whatever whenever and however I want. Unlike my usual camera -- the Sony A7III, this Exilim EX-Z800 is so light, sometimes I sometimes don't even remember I put this in my bag. Back to what I was saying, this supposedly "brainless camera" actually comes with all sorts of settings for different situations, like portrait, landscape, light-sensitive environment, and there's even a setting for YouTube. Just when I thought I could just click away without thinking, I found this camera quite a charm.
Obviously, this camera is not capable of taking in RAW format, so everything is shot in JPEG, I mean, my SD card only had 2GB so definitely can't shoot RAW. Being so used to shooting and editing with RAW files, editing these photos in lightroom is actually an interesting experience for me. So instead of using by normal colours, I've gone a bit on the creative road and chosen to use colours that I've never really used before. I decided to use cooler tones with lower exposure and contrast to give it that aged look.
Looking back at these photos, I was so surprised how clear they look. Of course it'd be a different story once you start zooming in. Knowing that the camera is old, and with low resolution, I had lower expectations. I thought I would be getting very pixelated and very high-contrast photos with very black shadows, like what I saw on Instagram.
The Photos
Here I decided to use edits that are similar to how I would normally edit but a bit more shadow. Without zooming in real close, I don't think people would realise this is taken from a 10-year-old digital camera.
Colours Make a Difference
I actually did two versions of some of the photos. One of the reasons being how indecisive I can be sometimes, I like both versions equally as much.
Final Thoughts
People would think because a camera is old, the pictures wouldn't be as good. But like a lot photographers may say, " It's not the camera, it's the photographer". It's important the use what's around you and make the most out of it.