Going to make a bold prediction (or a hot take) here: Camcorders are going to make a point-and-shoot style comeback in the next year. In the same way that compact cameras have experienced a resurgence among youth looking for the nostalgic vibes, so too will the handy cams that those of us who actually used the things back in the day will never understand.
And I'll admit, I'm one of those that don't quite understand. Outdoor/Adventure Vlogger Ryan Stella makes the case for for the Sony HDR-CX405 HD Handycam she purchased in 2025, and there are a lot of good reasons she cites: there's the tactile feel of actually holding a camcorder in your hands, operating zoom levers, and pushing buttons. These are not dissimilar to the reasons Fujifilm users live and die by that brand, for instance. There's also the slowed-down pace. She cites a 15-second startup time that means a moment has usually passed once the camera is powered on, leading to actual captured moments feeling like some kind of victory. Then there's the SD card recording medium that precludes instant, thoughtless posting on social media. We're off to a good start here.
But where my old self fails to understand the nostalgia value is in the image quality. So many times, Stella puts up her iPhone footage back-to-back with her camcorder footage, and it's undeniably better in terms of focus, image quality, colors, and audio. By contrast, the camcorder exhibits lots of color noise, softness, and is notably shakier without the sophisticated stabilization found in an iPhone.
But maybe that's the point. Younger generations of photographers (and in this case, vloggers) seem to yearn for video that serves up old-school-looking images. If you've never used a compact camera or camcorder, or haven't since you were very young, these devices hold a certain mystique to them—not unlike the film cameras that seem to draw 30- and 40-somethings like myself. Film cameras were something I used in my youth, but never in my actual career, and so they still hold a sort of value as a fun thing to play with from time to time.
All that said, while the video may evoke sentimental feelings of the past, I personally have no desire to revisit the poor handling of the camcorder era. I was forced to teach video journalism with camcorders, and I still shudder to think about just how much harder it made my job to have students start learning on cameras they'd (at the time) never touch in the field. I'll gladly stick to my mirrorless/cinema cameras of today, whose controls and menus feel much more intuitive than in the camcorder era.
Stella has a lot of footage and thoughts about the camera in her video above, and it's worth checking out if you're thinking about hitting the used market for one of the cameras. If you'd like to get an updated version of her camera, there's the Sony FDR-AX43A UHD 4K Handycam that offers a significant resolution and feature bump over the camera in her video.
What do you think? Will camcorders make a comeback? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
3 Comments
I bought my 1st camcorder in 1992. The design of the camcorder is perfect (imo) for taking video. Instead of improvising it, the manufacturers are adding the video function to a photo taking device, camera. It is so unnatural to use the camera to shoot video, Hope some new camcorder will come out in the near future.
Enjoyed shooting handheld, run-in-gun personal video on my JVC GR-DV2000 much more than hybrids or iPhones. The form factors on many of camcorders of the era were awesome. I'd still use it as my fun cam if a decent external SD card recorder was available.
When you use a Camcorder, SLR, Mirrorless, versus a Phone, I've yet to drop my camera from my hands, maybe from a table or some other support, when not being careful. My phone has been dropped several times and breaks every time. So, Camcorders are great.