Film Camera Revival

Film cameras from the 1990s and 2000s that sold for $20 at thrift stores 5 years ago now sell for $150 to $300 on eBay. The price surge tracks with a broader revival among people my age who grew up entirely in the digital era and want a slower, more physical way to take pictures. The appeal isn't that film looks better than digital, because in most technical measures it doesn't. Rather, the limitations of 24 or 36 exposures per roll and the delay of developing force you to be more intentional about what you photograph. You compose a shot knowing you can't delete it, and that pressure changes the relationship between you and the image. The tactile experience matters too. The weight of a metal camera body, the mechanical click of the shutter. The satisfying resistance of the film advance lever make photography feel like a physical activity rather than a screen interaction. My friend shoots on an Olympus Stylus point-and-shoot from 1997 and the grain and color saturation in her prints look nothing like what an iPhone produces. Warmer and softer and slightly unpredictable in a way she describes as honest.