We all carry in our pockets powerful cameras that are technologically more sophisticated than anything we could have dreamed of 30 years ago. The incredible convenience of having a high-end camera in your pocket, ready for snapping beautiful scenes, memorable moments and capturing unique life events is hard to argue with.

Yet, I recently purchased a screen-free, simple point and click camera that has made photos fun again. The serenity of snapping a photo through a tiny view finder and then putting the camera away is liberating. There is absolutely no temptation to look at the photo after I take (because you can’t), even better, I’m not dragged into distractions on my camera/phone after snapping.

When was the last time you had fun with photos? Check out these two screenless cameras for a return to the mystique and hit-and-miss of photography!

The Camp Snap 2

I’m pretty sure I was drawn into purchasing the Camp Snap camera after seeing ads for a similar camera on Instagram - the Klik Camera. I did some research, spent the $70 and bought a Camp Snap 2 camera.

Here are some of the pictures I got with it - at a Virginia Tech football game and our creek house in Giles County.

The Maxmango D53

Unfortunately, the small LCD panel on the back starting flickering. I returned the camera and noticed the Maxmango D53 on Amazon was similar (and $10 cheaper). I bought it, and here are the results of some shots with it:

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Conclusions

First of all, I love the experience of not having a screen on the back of the camera. I love having a “camera.” No phone. No notifications. I like the small size (though it’s much thicker than a phone).

I’m going to keep enjoying this little camera experience. It’s brought mystery, fun, and anticipation back to photography. I had forgotten how fun it was to snap a picture, and discover that you got a great shot. The reverse of that is also deeply experiential - discovering with disappointment that you missed a shot, or it’s blurry/bad quality.

Which camera would I recommend?

I’d still like to try the Klik Camera, but here’s my summary of the two I’ve tried:

Camp Snap 2

Easy to change filters. There’s a mode button on the camera that you can cycle between filters.
The panel on the bottom of the camera to access settings is a small Phillips screw. Inconvenient but easy to take off.
My Mac recognized the Camp Snap 2 when plugged into USBC as a camera, with easy import into the Photos app.

Maxmango D53

Apparently you have to download filters from their website, and the camera can only access one at a time. No one has time for that. Not worth doing.
The panel on the bottom is a tiny star screw. They do provide one with the camera, but with both cameras, I still don’t understand why the inconvenience of a screw to access the bottom panels.
My Mac didn’t recognize the Maxmango. It showed up as an external HD, from which I had to import the photos into the Photos app.

I’m going to stick with my Maxmango, even though the filter issue is a pain. I can always edit the shots on my computer, so a filter on the camera itself is not as important.

What about you?

I want to encourage you to try getting a camera. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by the joy and freedom of having a dedicated device. I think you’ll discover afresh that taking pictures is fun. Maybe we’ve all gotten too big for our britches with oodles of pixels on our phone-cameras. Who needs a selfie that you can put on a billboard anyway?

Notes from the Trail

Introducing: Dumb Cameras