Film photography, vinyl records, analog synthesizers covered in knobs, cassettes, and other once-obsolete formats have enjoyed a sustained revival. Why is that? Boomers often dismiss this resurgence as a \u201chipster\u201d trend. But when a trend has been growing, evolving, and attracting new participants for more than 25 years, it\u2019s clear that something deeper is going on.<\/p>\n
The Need for the Physical<\/p>\n
Vintage film cameras and film cameras in general are enjoying an enormous resurgence.<\/p>\n
Unlike older generations, younger generations were born into digital technology. They were born into a world of streaming music, endless digital photos viewed on their phones, AI, instant sharing, and an endless \u201cfirehose\u201d news cycle. All of this exists in the cloud, with none of it feeling permanent. Digital overload.<\/p>\n
You wouldn’t blame younger generations, including younger Millenials, Gen Y, Gen Z, Gen Alpha, for embracing something real, something physical<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cStudies show that people are hardwired for things like touch from infancy,\u201d Beth McGroarty, the research director at the Global Wellness Institute, says. \u201cI think it\u2019s a rebellion against that shapeless, disembodied, throwaway digital world of screens, and a hunger for physical objects and tools that are touchable.\u201d Whether these are film cameras or vinyl records, they are physical and tactile. They feel real.<\/p>\n Psychologists have long understood this. Studies on psychological ownership<\/a> show that, from early childhood through adulthood, people form stronger emotional connections to things they can physically touch, manipulate, and control. A raw file buried on a hard drive doesn\u2019t feel the same as a negative in a sleeve or a print on a wall.<\/p>\n Vinyl and the Return of Intentional Listening<\/p>\n One of the numerous record stores in Japan. The movement of younger people wanting more physical items seems to be across many countries.<\/p>\n Vinyl records are often the most obvious example\u2014and for good reason.<\/p>\n Vinyl sales have grown since the mid-2000s, rising from under 1 million units in the mid-2000s. And it continues, unabated.\u00a0Since 2016, vinyl album sales have increased from 13.1 million to 49.6 million in 2023<\/a>. 224.9 million vinyl records have been purchased since 2016. And this has been driven largely by younger buyers who grew up entirely in the era of streaming (Vinyl Alliance study via Musically<\/a>).<\/p>\n What\u2019s interesting is why they buy records. Sound quality matters, but ritual matters just as much. Choosing a record, placing the needle, and flipping sides are physical actions\u2014tactile and intentional.<\/p>\n That same reason shows up everywhere else in the analog revival.<\/p>\n Film Photography and the Value of Slowing Down<\/p>\n Japan’s cities often have popular, thriving camera stores with whole floors devoted to used film cameras.<\/p>\n Film photography has not been an exception to this movement toward the physical and the intentional. It\u2019s slower, more deliberate, and less forgiving than digital. In fact, that’s the whole point.<\/p>\n You don\u2019t shoot hundreds of frames and sort it out later. You think before pressing the shutter.<\/a> You commit. Many younger photographers describe film as feeling more \u201creal\u201d and more meaningful than digital, even when they also own excellent digital cameras, as described here in Fstoppers<\/a>.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t nostalgia, either. How could it be? Many of these photographers never shot film growing up. They discovered it recently. Market data reflects that reality, with renewed demand for film cameras, primarily driven by younger people<\/a>. Even manufacturers like Pentax released a new film body, the Pentax 17<\/a>, for the first time in decades. The demand for film has been so high that film manufacturers struggle to keep up production<\/a>.<\/p>\n The same appeal applies to mechanical cameras, manual lenses, and darkroom printing. There is a sense of being real. It’s appealing. It’s physical. It’s fun.<\/p>\n Physical tools invite play.<\/p>\n Knobs, Switches, and Physical Control<\/p>\n Two Korg MS-20 analog patchbay synthesizers. The closer one is mine. Twenty of us rented the Integratron near Joshua Tree National Park and stayed up almost the entire night playing odd, improvisational music, an absolutely magical night.<\/p>\n In music, keyboards have followed a similar path. Analog synthesizers, modular rigs, and even electromechanical keyboards have exploded in sales. This was a direct reaction against the menu-driven keyboards of yesteryear and, later, software synthesizers and virtual keyboards found on computers. It continues to grow despite software synths being less expensive and more powerful.<\/p>\n Why? There is an appeal to electromechanical instruments. They feel real. A hammer strikes something and creates a sound. And even with analog synths, there is tactile satisfaction in turning physical knobs and sliders. It does something software doesn\u2019t. It engages the body. It encourages exploration. It feels real. One walk past the analog and electromechanical booths at the NAMM Convention is rather convincing, as almost everyone at the booths is under 30 years old.<\/p>\n Cassettes, CDs, and the Power of Limits<\/p>\n Tape loops, part of a long evening of strange improvisational experimental music that about twenty of us played at The Integratron near Joshua Tree National Park.<\/p>\n The tangible appeal extends not only to vinyl, but even cassettes and CDs, formats once regarded as nearly dead.<\/p>\n If you play a vinyl record, cassettes, or even CDs, you do so with intention. You take it out of the package, put it in a device, and press play, knowing that it will play specific music for a finite amount of time.<\/p>\n Doing so is intentional, and it has limits.<\/p>\n A cassette has a beginning and an end. A CD plays an album, not an algorithm. These formats reward patience and attention. The Guardian recently noted that younger consumers are actively embracing these formats as part of a broader “analog resurgence.”\u00a0\u00a0The Guardian reports that sales of CDs are up 74% from last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re seeing something of a retro renaissance.\u201d – Heather Andrews<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Nikkormat (sold as “Nikomat” in Japan) were primarily consumer-level mechanical SLR cameras produced by Nippon Kogaku (Nikon) from 1965 to 1978.\u00a0<\/p>\n Creating Identity<\/p>\n