Look at me go, Mommy thinking ahead to Christmas and wondering what to get Velociraptor. One thought is… a camera.
He loves taking pictures, in fact he is nottoobad at it, and I’d like to encourage it. Besides, I’ve got some nice pictures from other angles at family things with him running around with mine!
Thing is, I don’t want him using my camera all the time, I think he should have one of his own to play with. I am thinking of going somewhere like Excess Cargo and seeing about finding a semi-decent point and shoot for not too much (so if it does get lost, or broken, I’m not wincing at the expense wasted). But I was wondering if anyone had some tips on what might be a good one, what sort of things I might look for, or if I should just go for the cheapest camera I can find.
If it had been like years ago I would have gotten him one like I had at that age, one of the rectangular ones you simply drop the film in. That won’t work though (heck, I’m not even sure if I could find those anymore!).
Try the toy aisle. There are a number of cameras that take real pictures with a much more rugged casing.
OTOH, made-for-kids cameras do tend to take pretty low quality pictures, and a quick look at amazon shows me they aren’t as cheap as they used to be. If you aren’t to concerned that he’ll drop it, go for one that is easy to use and has an auto setting. Those Nikon Coolpix that have a setting to correct for when your hand jiggles look pretty nice.
You’ll probably get a lot of recommendations for Kodak EasyShare. While they take nice pics and are easy to use, when I got mine it quit working in less than a month for no reason whatsoever, the replacement quit in less than a week. At that time, I found a lot of similar complaints in online reviews. I’d research it carefully to see if they fixed the problem before going with that one.
I forgot to say his age, sorry. He’ll be 7 on Christmas. I’m not too concerned he’ll drop it but something that can take a little accidental dropping would be nice. A little old for the Fisher Price one I think especially since he really has no problems using mine (Canon PowerShot) but he doesn’t need something like that, heck I need to take a class because I don’t really need something like that!
Ah, awkward age! Just too old for a “kiddy” camera - although there are others on the market not quite as kiddy as the Fisher Price one.
Entry level digital cameras are so cheap these days that it’s probably not a real worry putting a “grown up” camera in the hands of a 7 year old. Most adults never take their cameras off of full auto in my experience anyway, so don’t worry too much about ease of use! An anti-shake function would be good, and it might also be worth looking for ones that have fun built in special effects.
Just get out there and touch and feel them - I’m sure you’ll find one that feels right.
Olympus point and shoot has a line that are shock resistant to a 10’ drop and waterproof to 15’. I also noticed at a recent camera show that Sony is advertising the same kind of line.
Preferably under 100, 50 even better. That’s why I’m thinking excess cargo, if I have an idea of what to look for maybe I can find it there. It’s been suggested to me by my IT coworker before as a good place to get that sort of thing.
Between my budget and his age it’s a toss up between him taking good care of it, or it ending up shattered/drowned somewhere so cheaper is better just not so cheap it doesn’t take reasonable pictures.
Like others said, keep an eye out for deals (www.woot.com and slickdeals.net)-- you can find a good camera for your price range. That way, the kid has the options to fiddle with grown up settings if he wants, but if he breaks it or loses it you wont be a rage volcano.
I got my current cheapo camera at Woot back in the spring for $50 plus the usual $5 shipping, and the Firebug (turned 3 in July) can already use it passably. He may inherit it for his next birthday, if I find a better camera for a similar price between now and then.
I don’t think kids need a whole lot of features, just durability, ease of use, decent (3 megapixels or better) resolution, and maybe a 3x optical zoom. (The Firebug doesn’t know what to do with the zoom on my camera yet, but give him a little time. The OP’s 7 year old, OTOH, would find it handy for taking outdoor pictures.)
If I were you, I’d buy the cheapest one I could…by a company whose name I recognized (in a positive way). Vivitar = bad, a cheap Kodak or Canon or Sanyo = good. I got my first real camera (a Kodak) at age 8 and it was still functional when I graduated from high school.
The only downside to getting a cheap camera is if your son really gets into it. Then he’ll want something with more bells and whistles. In that case, you’ll end up buying a more expensive one anyway. But still, what a fantastic hobby to have!
I got my 4 year old niece a Vtech kiddie digital because she had a hard time manipulating the buttons on regular cameras. Well, she could hit the buttons but the thing can’t take a in focus picture, it seems-and it’s not like kids have the steadiest hands in the first place. Do not recommend.
For the same dough, XS Cargo has a 12mp Olympus. Maybe I’ll go get her one of those for this Xmas (and she’ll keep her mitts off mine )
We bought my son a camera when he was about 7. This was back in the day when digital cameras were new and expensive, so we got him a cheap point n shoot film camera. He seemed to have a good eye for composition, design and visual imagery, and besides the purely enjoyable aspect of photography, I wanted him to understand when he looked at photos in books or periodicals what went into producing a good photograph.
He is still into visual imagery. He’s attended design camp for 2 summers, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he went into a field that deals with visual impact and composition - architecture or product design, for example.
Too bad they don’t make Polaroid cameras anymore. They didn’t provide the best images, but you couldn’t beat the ease of use and instant gratification. I had hours of fun with mine as a kid.
My nephew is a photographer. I asked him, on behalf of a friend, for some camera recommendations. His advice was, “don’t concentrate on the camera. Pay attention to learning how to see and compose photos.” So his advice to my friend who wanted to spend thousands on a professional camera was - spend a few hundred on a good camera and the rest on lessons/books.
My recommendation is to try kijiji.ca or something similar. We purchased a Sony cybershot for my 5 year old. She loves taking pictures and we spent under 20 bucks for a camera that was a point and click with a few options. I spent so little that I don’t worry about her breaking it and if she ever does then it is a lesson to take care of her stuff.
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