What is all the fascination with compact cameras? I thought phones killed them off!

Compact cameras.

A few years ago, compact cameras were dead and buried. But like something from a B horror movie, they’ve not only risen from the grave, but they are everywhere, and I don’t understand why.

Their demise was predictable. Compact point-and-shoots were the preserve of casual snappers. Invariably based on a tiny sensor, phone tech first matched them for image quality, and then, thanks largely to smartphones’ increasingly sophisticated processing grunt, overtook them.

Advanced algorithms reduced noise and artifacts. Panoramas could be stitched on the fly as the phone was panned through a scene. The multiple array of lenses on smartphones not only gave a range of native focal length options, but were also used in tandem for tricks like simulating a shallow depth of field.

Focusing was as easy as tapping on the subject on the phone's large rear screen. And when most of your snaps were going to end up on Facebook or Instagram anyway, shooting them on a phone that already had those apps installed made posting pics a darn sight easier than having to first connect the camera up to a computer to download the images.

Want a cool-looking retro themed camera? Forget your crappy point-and-shoots! Get one of these instead… (Image credit: Nikon)

So, camera manufacturers stopped manufacturing these point-and-shoot models, instead focusing their energies on the kind of cameras that phones couldn’t compete with: those with interchangeable lenses that could be adapted for everything from incredibly detailed close-ups with a macro lens to capturing sports action shots measured in fractions of a second with a super-telephoto.

But then something curious happened. Gen Z, with its love of all things retro, rediscovered the compact, first liberating their parents’ long-forgotten point-and-shoots from dusty drawers, and then creating demand for new models. And now it seems that every other week there's another new compact on the market.

But one thing hasn’t changed: they’re still rubbish. For casual snaps, your phone is better, and for anything more sophisticated, I'd get an interchangeable lens camera any day of the week. And if it's retro good looks you're after? Look no further than the Nikon Z fc.