Which digital camera for a 4 year old?

[james_tigerwoods]

My 4 year old daughter has taken a keen interest in photography (I think I've posted about this before) and, while I'm happy about that, I'm less keen on her using my D3100 for obvious reasons. A friend gave me an old Nikon Coolpix 3100 which she loves and uses a lot.

However, for Christmas, I want to get her a new camera that takes better photos and does movies with sound which she currently does with her LeapPad explorer (which is bulky in comparison) - There is a camera at Toys-R-Us which fits the bill Linky but it's quite a childish camera compared to what she's been using.

I don't want to spend a fortune as there's always the chance she'll break it, but I don't want something that isn't that great - Any recommendations?

Thanks

JTW

[miniman]

We got one of these for our daughter:



Pretty decent, built in screen isn't great but images are ok.

[james_tigerwoods]

I saw that, but I'm on a Lego embargo as I've bought a few things for me my 1 year old that are, apparently, inappropriate for him - Personally, I fail to see how this isn't appropriate

On the other hand she does like lego

Just noticed that there's no alternate storage for it - if that's the case, I'll be looking at something else...

[miniman]

That says 6-12. Months, right?

[james_tigerwoods]

miniman said:

That says 6-12. Months, right?

Apparently she was pretty wise to that. It was this lot that started the "stop buying lego" part and the chinook that ended it...

[LocoBlade]

Don't get the VTech KiddiZoom, it's useless IMHO. We got one for our 2 year old last Christmas, for running round the house randomly pushing the button just so they feel like they're taking a photo its passable, but the images themselves are very poor. The sensor at best gives images equivalent to a poor quality webcam, it also seems to have a slow shutter speed so any movement results in completely blurry images which makes it almost unusable as a kids point and shoot where the need for fast shutter speed to counter them moving is a must.

My mum has an old Coolpix similar to the 3100 and the VTech would be a huge step backwards in image quality compared to that, so if she's getting on with that I'd say just leave her with that if it suits her needs for now, or get her a cheap modern equivalent.

[MysteryLemon]

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5...

Cheap, probably not cheerful, but does movies and will no doubt produce something a 4 year old will be happy with.

Cant argue for under £20.

She might prefer something a little more girly though...

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5...

[james_tigerwoods]

I've seen the Nikon Coolpix L26 and the FujiFilm AX500:

http://www.jessops.com/online.store/categories/pro...

http://www.jessops.com/online.store/categories/pro...

Any views on these?

ETA - she spends far too long planning her photos of toys and little brother, but her attention to detail is pretty impressive

[marctwo]

LocoBlade said:

Don't get the VTech KiddiZoom, it's useless IMHO. We got one for our 2 year old last Christmas, for running round the house randomly pushing the button just so they feel like they're taking a photo its passable, but the images themselves are very poor. The sensor at best gives images equivalent to a poor quality webcam, it also seems to have a slow shutter speed so any movement results in completely blurry images which makes it almost unusable as a kids point and shoot where the need for fast shutter speed to counter them moving is a must.

My mum has an old Coolpix similar to the 3100 and the VTech would be a huge step backwards in image quality compared to that, so if she's getting on with that I'd say just leave her with that if it suits her needs for now, or get her a cheap modern equivalent.

I just bought 2 of those for my Twins for Christmas on the back of good Amazon reviews. I'm not expecting miracles but are they really that bad?

[james_tigerwoods]

MysteryLemon said:

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5...

Cheap, probably not cheerful, but does movies and will no doubt produce something a 4 year old will be happy with.

Cant argue for under £20.

She might prefer something a little more girly though...

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5...

Not keen on the £20 camera there TBH, but I like the £30 one as it's pictbridge compatible which could mean she could print them out herself too...

[randlemarcus]

james_tigerwoods said:

Not keen on the £20 camera there TBH, but I like the £30 one as it's pictbridge compatible which could mean she could print them out herself too...

With all due respect, do NOT buy anything that enables the little sods to print anything themselves. You have seen the Kodak advert with the boys in the garden, yes?

[james_tigerwoods]

randlemarcus said:

james_tigerwoods said:

Not keen on the £20 camera there TBH, but I like the £30 one as it's pictbridge compatible which could mean she could print them out herself too...

With all due respect, do NOT buy anything that enables the little sods to print anything themselves. You have seen the Kodak advert with the boys in the garden, yes?

She knows to not touch Daddy's computer things without supervision - the shouting at that she got when she tried to open my MacBook flat as "Your other computer does" is still fresh in her memory.

[randlemarcus]

james_tigerwoods said:

She knows to not touch Daddy's computer things without supervision - the shouting at that she got when she tried to open my MacBook flat as "Your other computer does" is still fresh in her memory.

So why on earth would you want to buy her a camera that empties a £30 ink cartridge at the touch of a button?

[james_tigerwoods]

randlemarcus said:

james_tigerwoods said:

She knows to not touch Daddy's computer things without supervision - the shouting at that she got when she tried to open my MacBook flat as "Your other computer does" is still fresh in her memory.

So why on earth would you want to buy her a camera that empties a £30 ink cartridge at the touch of a button?

Someone might as well use the printer as I don't

[Planet Claire]

I went to visit my nephew, back in February, for his second birthday. When I got out my DSLR to take pics he was more interested in having a go himself, which obviously I wasn't too keen on. However, I had my old Canon Ixus 40 with me so I gave that to him and he was well away with it, snapping away and even managed to work out how to go from taking pictures to viewing them. OK, so there were lots of pictures of feet (which make me laugh when I look back on them) but he took one or two good ones too. It's amazing what they can pick up at that age and to be honest, the cheap plastic kids versions just don't cut it with them, they want the real deal! I would get a 'proper' cheap compact, which is what I'm going to get for my nephew.

[DavidY]

At 2.5yr old I bought my daughter a small point and shoot camera, very basic, she soon out grew this, and at 7 I bought here a heavily discounted Olympus Bridge Camera which 6 years on is still going great, she has always been good at looking after expensive things. But, she soon wanted to do more movies (the lure of YouTube, and local filming projects) so a couple of years ago she acquired a rugged video camera (Kodak).

I would suggest for more flexibility that you consider a rugged camera, as not only will this survive the small drops and knocks, but will enable a lot more versatility when out and about on holiday etc, eg something that is 'rugged' and waterproof, great for waterparks and the seaside. That way she is also 'the owner' (an important job) of the right camera for the task, so you and 'mummy' will have to come to her to borrow it! I know it costs more money but it will get used a lot more!

eg http://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-DMC-FT20EB-D-Rug...

[MysteryLemon]

Planet Claire said:

... the cheap plastic kids versions just don't cut it with them, they want the real deal!

This.

Buying a "kids" version of something with rounded, colourful edges is not what they want. They want what mummy and daddy has, not what you give them.

My daughter is 2 and a half. She loves technology, as you would expect. She used to love phones so we bought he toy phones. Nope, not good enough as it was pink and big. She wanted a black sleek gadget. We ended up digging out old phones and charging them up so she could play with them and use the screen (even though it did nothing). She loved that.

[LocoBlade]

marctwo said:

I just bought 2 of those for my Twins for Christmas on the back of good Amazon reviews. I'm not expecting miracles but are they really that bad?

Yup, really not sure why they get a generally decent write up, my sister in law had one before us and she was the one who said it was good, but it really isn't if you actually want usable images at the end of it. The biggest thing for me is the motion issue, its hard to explain but if you had a web cam and moved it around the image would be all blurry until a fraction of a second after you stop moving when everything catches up, you couldn't do a screen grab and capture a sharp image in the midst of all that movement. It seems that the Kidizoom works a bit like this so whenever it's moving it cannot capture a sharp image, it just sees blur, so probably 75% of the photos my (at the time) 2 year old took were blurry to the point of not being able to identify what the photo actually was, not simply a bit out of focus etc. I suspect it's simply a ridiculously low end / cheap sensor that isn't really meant to be used as a stills camera sensor.

Because of that it makes a poor kids camera, because if anyone needs a camera that can deal with a bit of movement, its a toddler camera.

I'll try and get a few sample photos later if I get time so you can judge for yourself.

[james_tigerwoods]

DavidY said:

At 2.5yr old I bought my daughter a small point and shoot camera, very basic, she soon out grew this, and at 7 I bought here a heavily discounted Olympus Bridge Camera which 6 years on is still going great, she has always been good at looking after expensive things. But, she soon wanted to do more movies (the lure of YouTube, and local filming projects) so a couple of years ago she acquired a rugged video camera (Kodak).

I would suggest for more flexibility that you consider a rugged camera, as not only will this survive the small drops and knocks, but will enable a lot more versatility when out and about on holiday etc, eg something that is 'rugged' and waterproof, great for waterparks and the seaside. That way she is also 'the owner' (an important job) of the right camera for the task, so you and 'mummy' will have to come to her to borrow it! I know it costs more money but it will get used a lot more!

eg http://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-DMC-FT20EB-D-Rug...

That's a bit steep...

[DavidY]

You won't say that when she accidently drops it!!!