Trends have revived the compact camera from the dead – and experts believe the trend isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. But browsing through the list of the top trending compact cameras at B&H, I’ve spotted a key pattern. There are really two types of compact cameras – and they’re quite opposite from each other.
The list of trending cameras right now is so varied that the cheapest one is $35 and the most expensive is nearly $2,200. There are two types of compact cameras that are trending right now: the high-end camera that crams mirrorless tech inside a pocketable body, and the affordable point-and-shoot for anyone tired of taking pictures on their phones.
Those two trends are obvious when looking at B&H’s list of trending compact cameras for the month of February:
- Kodak Charmera keychain camera
- Fujifilm X100VI (Black)
- Ricoh GR IV Monochrome
- Fujifilm X100VI (Silver)
- Canon PowerShot ELPH 360 HS A
- Kodak Pixpro WPZ2
- Pentax WG-8
- Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III
- Instax Mini Evo Cinema hybrid instant camera
- Ricoh GR IV HDF
The two cameras leading the list are key examples of the opposing trends in compact cameras right now. The Kodak Charmera is a $35 camera that only takes 1.6MP photos, but its tiny keychain design and retro style earned the camera viral status.
The Fujifilm X100VI similarly went viral on social media, but for entirely different reasons. The retro-styled camera houses the same 40.2MP APS-C sensor that’s inside many Fujifilm mirrorless cameras. That’s paired with a bright f/2 23mm lens and a highly portable size. The X100VI’s viral trend has staying power too – the camera is now more than two years old, and it’s still hard to find in stock.
Looking at opposite cameras like this, it seems pretty clear that the point-and-shoot revival has more than one trend behind it. There are experience-focused buyers who just want to take photos not on a phone, and then there are image quality-focused buyers who want a portable camera without sacrificing image quality. Cameras like the Charmera and the Instax Mini Evo Cinema, the Super-8-inspired camera with a “time-travel dial,” are about the experience of taking photos.
Looking deeper into the list, there are a few other trends to highlight. There are two waterproof cameras on the list, the PixPro WPZ2 and Pentax WG-8, both of which fall under the more affordable side but pack waterproofing on top of that.
The two pricing extremes in the compact camera trends aren’t without cameras that try to bridge the gap. The viral and hard-to-find Canon PowerShot G7X Mark III has a smaller one-inch sensor paired with a zoom lens, and isn’t quite a cheap point-and-shoot, but doesn’t quite hide a mirrorless-sized sensor either.
Notably, the list of bestsellers at the US retailer B&H has a few differences between the most popular compact cameras at a popular retailer in Japan for January (the latest data available). Japan’s numbers include the Canon PowerShot SX740 HS Lite, the Sony ZV-1 II, the Ricoh GR IIIx, the Panasonic Lumix TZ99 / ZS99, the Kodak PixPro C1, the Nikon Coolpix P1100, and the Canon PowerShot V1 that aren’t on B&H’s list. (The Ricoh GR IV that’s on the list in Japan also isn’t the HDF version.) That’s quite a few models that don’t match between the two regions.
Regardless, it’s always interesting to see what cameras are selling well and where. For more insight, browse the B&H best-selling digital cameras overall across compacts and mirrorless.
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