Camp Snap

Key numbers

The product

Camp Snap is a screen-free, 8-megapixel digital camera designed to feel like a disposable film camera. It has no rear LCD, no playback and no delete button, just a shutter, an optical viewfinder and a soft film-advance sound. A single USB-C charge captures about 500 photos, stored on a bundled microSD card holding roughly 2,000 images. The newer Camp Snap 2 adds six on-camera film filters and CampLock kid-settings, while the CS-Pro and CS-8 camcorder expand the line. Rugged, pocketable and priced around $69.99, it targets camps, travel and everyday lo-fi shooting.

How they did it

Camp Snap was founded in 2023 by Brian and Melanie Waldman, a married couple based in Redondo Beach, California. They wanted their two sons to take photos at a screen-free summer camp but found no affordable, durable camera without an LCD. Brian, an electrical engineer, prototyped the device in his garage using 3D-printed parts. The first 500 units sold out in a single week. Growth came almost entirely from word of mouth, with parent creators on social media driving hundreds or thousands of sales in a day. TIME named Camp Snap to its Best Inventions of 2025 list. The company says it has passed 500,000 cameras sold, while press reporting puts the figure above one million units. Its cameras are now stocked by Target, REI and Best Buy at around $69.99.

Why it worked

• Screen-free positioning tapped surging parental concern about kids' screen time
• Sub-seventy-dollar pricing undercut disposable film cameras over the long run
• Viral user-generated content delivered cheap word-of-mouth marketing at scale
• A focused one-button design made it easy for children and adults alike