Nick Khoey: Auckland Camera Centre Manager on Gen-Z's digital camera obsession

Digital cameras are seeing an explosion in sales following the latest Gen-Z trends. 

These cameras have widely been considered dated since the arrival of smartphones. However, the younger generations seem to have made the switch back. 

Auckland Camera Centre Manager Nick Khoey told Heather du-Plessis Alan that the rise in demand for these cameras has been outstanding.  

‘We’ve been selling them new, used... we just can’t keep them in stock’ 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Here's a blast from the past. Remember those crappy film
and digital cameras we used to use before the iPhones
came in. It turns out the gen Z as the
kids nowadays tripping over themselves to get their hands on
one of these things. Nick Koe is the manager for
Auckland Camera Center in Morningside and with us.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Hey, Nick, good evening, Heather.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
Are you selling a lot of these little digital cameras
to the kids?

Speaker 2 (00:20):
We are? We've seen a huge increase over the last
few years of these cameras. We've been selling them used
and just whatever we can get our hands on. We
just can't keep them in stuff right.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Kids want so many of them, you're running out.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Yes, there certain models we are, but the sort of
uptake and demand for them has been huge.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
Why do they love them so much?

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Well, I think there's a little bit of a split.
I think a lot of the younger kids, the gen
Z people, are wanting to kind of have a little
bit of a disconnect from their sort of digital life style.
But also fashion goes in circles, so I think this
is a little bit of a trendy thing as well.

Speaker 3 (01:07):
Look, Nick, I can't be bothered with the fat can you,
Because you've got to take the photo, then you've got
to get the little memory card out, and then you've
got to download it on the computer, and then you've
got to upload it to your Instagram.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
That just feels far too hard, doesn't it.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
It can be, but it's not as hard as you
would think. And the sort of the vibes that you
get from the older cameras, I think it's hard to
get that from an iPhone. The iPhone photos and digital
photos that you get out of your phone do look
really really quite perfect and quite honed. And there's a

(01:43):
lot of AI and things in the cameras now in
phones too, So these older cameras they give you a soft,
kind of led out look that they're really keen to
kind of chase and invest the extra time to get.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
Okay, if anybody's got their hands on a digital camera,
you know, because I've got I've got a bunch of
them lying at the bottom of the electronics box. Are
they worth anything if I dig them out?

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Well, they couldn't be. You need to check it thoroughly
to make sure it's working properly and that the battery
charge is okay. But most digital cans. You can get
spare batteries and things, but sure, you never know, maybe
you might find somebody who might want to use one,
or you can resell it or gift it.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
Gift it as if I'm going to make every dollar
I can off it. Thank you, Nick, Nick coey Auckland,
camera Senter Manage it.

Speaker 4 (02:29):
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