In my recent group test of lo-fi digital which the older 1.01 Camp Snap won, I did point out there was newer improved model and that I could have shot with a vintage filter firmware. Literally a week after getting home my new Camp Snap 1.03B turned up and was interestingly preloaded with the vintage film firmware. So time to uncork and sample.

A little Camp Snap History

In brief Camp Snap was founded by Brian and Melanie, a couple originally from Toronto in Canada. Like many North Americans they looked fondly back at their childhood memories of running around summer Camps. This is slightly foreign to us Brits as the term Summer Camp either puts (a) Ruth Madoc shouting Hi Di Hi at you or Butlins by the sea to mind or (b) visions of US teenagers being pursued by serial killers and cocaine addled bears.

But I digress.
Brian and Melanie wanted their kids to have a camera to take on their summer camps. A Camera the kids wouldn’t get distracted by screens and menus, was cheap and took more shots & without the hassle of a disposable film camera. And this led to the Camp Snap. It was a quiet success and then exploded when it was picked up by Lo-Fi shooters. Bar a few early adopters with the original v1. Most folks have had the 1.01 version but the 1.03 arrived early this year quickly being replaced by the 1.03B. Camp snap openly indicate this was down to CPU supply issues with the 1.03. The 1.03B is slightly slower but as we’ll see still much faster than the old 1.01

Since 1.01 there has been the option to get a filter like effect by changing the firmware

So What’s the camera like

It’s a basic camera with no major frills just like the older models. All models have shutter button that doubled as an on switch. Onn the old model on the rear a small red diode LCD shows shots taken (no screen) and a screw secured micro SD slot with a provided 4GB card (you could swap in a bigger one if you desired but it was intended to stop small fingers fiddling at camp). There’s also rubber capped USB-C slot for charging and data sync

Old and new there is a 8MP sensor.

It’s a plastic body looking like many of the current retro plastic fantastic film cameras. And that really is it

Camp Snap last year released 3 versions of firmware. There’s a standard, Vintage and B&W. This has been carried on to the later version.

What does the new Camp Snap 1.03B bring to the table

The changes are subtle. The only obvious surface change is it has strap lugs at first glance. This is a welcome addition. On the base under the cover for the micro SD card you get 3 setting buttons that allow you to change the camera time and date and adjust the volume of the beeps etc. The noises the camera makes on boot is better but the shutter noise is an odd sound more like a wooden ruler hitting the desk. The old 1.01 was more camera like.

The camera has noticeably less delay between shots. There’s still about a second’s delay before you can shoot again. The rear LCD is monochrome but has 4 digits making it more suitable for altering time stamps but less easy to see in low light.

The Sensor is purportedly different and I note the protective lens has a blue tint. It Records images with less JPEG compression and a higher DPI (97% quality 180² DPI v 90% and 72²). The camera also has a Higher ISO range with less noise

For comparison take this lower light shot (around EV_100ISO 5.5). At small print full frame the differences aren’t obvious

But zoom in and you’ll see more detail preserved, less noise and less artefacts

Interestingly my camera came with the vintage firmware filter pre-installed

Firmware ?

Like the original you can change the colour profile by flashing the firmware. Camp Snap give you 3 options and it just involves in placing the preferred firmware .bin file into the root folder of the camera

It’s quick check to see what you have installed. Just take a photo and check the EXIF .

The firmware is listed as program name in windows properties or as software in a EXIF Viewer. The standard firmware ends with .ST which I assume is standard and the Vintage film end with .VF (B&W is .BW)

The Camp Snap 1.03B Filters (as of Nov 2024)

Here’s 3 similar shot taken on the camera with each of the filters

The Standard remains slightly cold but accurate for colour. I shot the below images on the 1.01 (standard) and1.03B (vintage) which probably tells you all you need to know tonally

The Vintage firmware adds in a warm (cream on white) colour balance and feels a bit more vivid in bright light. It’s more film like but lacks the grain and corner vignetting you get in the rivals.

B&W does what it says on the tin. Not that grainy but so are films like XP2

Notable differences on Test

the camera Is more detailed and in lower light conditions there is less noise. Take these 2 image of a clock. the new camera recorded a EXIF of f/2.8 1/16.6 and ISO of 281. This broadly a EV_100ISO of 5.5 and the older camera is within 1/3 of EV of that (f/3.2 1/33 ISO800)

Not much to pick bar the filter effect but crop in an you see much less noise although they both show ghosting

In really lo light you see some grain. The Camera dips to almost 1500ISO and I got shutter speed down to 1/13. Although something odd happens with that ISO on Flash (more on that in a mo.)

Night shot are still a bit hit and miss but no worse than the old model. The tendency to bloom is an issue with all the current Lo-Fi cameras and this is not the worst.

Flash Shots

Broadly the flash shots are a bit better but the weird thing is the reported ISO goes through the roof. I suspect it’s EXIF data issue. That said this flash shot was taken an hour after sunset in Dark conditions. The fact the flash shot is picks up my other half isn’t all, It’s even showing indoor areas as well lit showing the dynamic range was upped. It still low powered but the camera is able to drop the ISO more

To give you an idea of impact here our Lola at night without then with flash.

Sample images taken on the Camp Snap 1.03B

Overall the images are better than the original model marginally. The standard filter shots are slightly cool in colour balance whilst the vintage filter is warmer with a very slight brown tone.

These are uniform filters unlike the effect you get on the Flashback. The vintage and B&W are the most film like but as I discussed in the group test the Flashback and Paper Shoot do this just a bit better even compared to the newer camera and filters. But you do get very useable images that beat from a pure optical quality their rivals by a margin. I get why they pre installed the vintage filter

There is a little pincushion distortion but image quality is pretty good out to the edges

For Long shots the images soften slightly but much less than rivals. Now bear in mind this is a 8MP image

Close cropping to a small size gives us this. It really isn’t bad for such a cheap camera

Here’s some other sample images.

Final Thoughts – Camp Snap 1.03B still class king

The 1.03B upgrades the already good older camp snap 1.01. The addition of strap lugs, date setting and volume control are all welcome. I’m less keen on the new shutter noise however but beyond that it’s all good.

Image quality is improved but it’s incremental rather than radical. For existing Camp Snap users, there is little need to upgrade for as you’re looking to take lo-fi shots here and the improvements whilst noticeable are not massive . The one exception was I enjoyed running round with one loaded with a colour firmware and the other B&W. But I guess that also serves to highlight the camera can only shoot with one firmware at a time.

It remains the best Lo_Fi you can buy bang for buck. That’s no surprise as it’s older version bet the rivals in my recent group shoot off.

Although the vintage filter isn’t quite on par with film look of it’s rivals it doesn’t loiter too much behind and given you’ll have a Camp Snap on your lap. It outshines it’s 2 key rivals image quality wise. And if you want a cheap near disposable digital for other reasons this makes the best sense.

And Later this year ?

The market will get more crowded. Paper Shoot are launching a 20MP headline version. Now I’ve heard actually the 18MP is actually interpolated from a lower resolution which explains some of the image quality issues I noted on the group review so it remains to be seen if the 20MP is just much of the same. That 20MP PS is like a response to the Crappy… sorry Cappy Camera a close copy of the PS being launched by their former N. American distributors They’ll argue it isn’t but 18MP, changeable case, 4 switchable filters, claimed eco cred and the option to change those filters sounds just tad familiar – to the product they used to market ?

And in a similar clone you like mode the Retro Snap launches allegedly this month. This has a similar spec to the Paper Shoot but with switchable filters. That said the images which they’ve made available are only insta squares and don’t keep up with the 1.03B and even the 1.01 although they are limited in size and are cropped. It does offer 5 switchable filters.

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Just to note

Just for the record whilst Camp Snap previously reached out to me to test the pre launch 1.01 filters on the old camera, I’ve never received any other product or payment from them and whilst I’ve chatted with them as I do with other makers about spec, they’ve had no influence on this post which is my own view. The Camera featured I paid for myself (not above trying out freebies but I’ll say if they are)