19 commentsBuyer’s guide: Buying a digital camera for your kids
// April 14th, 2008
My kids are naturally curious about photography having a shutterbug for a dad. I started them out tentatively with some disposable film models but those were unsatisfying. Too slow. No LCD screens. Kids aren’t known for their patience. Digital was made for them.
In this article I talk about why you should stay away from “made for kids” cameras and get a real camera instead. It’s easy to find a great camera that your kids and your wallet can be happy with. And by getting an actual camera instead of a toy, you’ll be buying a product that will last longer than a week and that has capabilities that your child can grow into over time.
Last Christmas I was looking at cameras specifically for my daughter who was seven. Fisher Price is notable for coming out with a model designed to be child-proof. Ha. As I’m sure most parents can attest, there ain’t no such thing as a child-proof anything.
The bigger problem with the Fisher Price camera and all other “made for kids” cameras is that the actual camera is utter crap (“made for kids” really means “made for landfill”). 640×480 resolution interpolated to 1.3 megapixels gives you images that look vomited rather than photographed.
I knew I could get better value for my money.
Every low-end digital camera in the sub-$200 range takes better photos than any “made for kids” camera. And with barely any moving parts all of them are already very rugged by design. Heck, I’ve dropped my Canon S50 a half dozen times onto concrete and it still works fine.
My criteria for a camera for kids were:
- Easy to use. That doesn’t mean unsophisticated or dumbed down. Just straight-forward design, big displays and buttons, minimal interface, and easy to understand icons and graphics for modes.
- Kid-sized. Kids’ hands are small.
- Good image quality and decent LCD screen size.
- Zoom and video capability.
- Expandable memory.
- Nice looking. Not intimidating.
- No additional software required. Lots of those super cheap cameras require you to load special software just to download the pictures. No thanks.
- Under $150.
There are literally hundreds of cameras that fit those criteria. I went with the Kodak Easy Share C613 with a 2GB SD card. You can get the Kodak with extra memory for about $80. Nice little camera. Perfect size for small hands, 6 megapixels, videos, zoom, and we got a neat little blue carrying case with a shoulder-strap to protect it. With the 2GB SD card, it holds over 650 photos. Another great feature of that camera is that it runs on two AA batteries (I use rechargable NiMH batteries). My daughter has taken hundreds of photos with it, taken it out on the open ocean and shot video of dolphins, and even started making some home movies with her brother. In short, she’s had a blast with it.
For a little more money you can get any of the cameras in the Canon Elph line. The SD1000 ($150), for example, is a 7 megapixel camera. All of the Elphs take great photos and are made for small hands. Every manufacturer makes cameras in this category. Check out these from Sony, Casio, Panasonic, Samsung, Nikon, and Olympus. Or browse hundreds of additional models.
Whichever camera you get you’ll also want to get an extra memory card. Memory cards are very inexpensive these days. I think I paid about $5 for a 2 GB card that can hold about 600 photos. You’ll also want to get a soft carrying case just big enough for the camera with an adjustable over-the-shoulder strap.
So what do you do with all the photos? I import them every couple of weeks from the SD card and tag them all “bykids.” We go through them together and she’ll ask for prints now and then. But mostly, she just likes shooting them. No Flickr account—yet.
As far as instruction goes, I’ve pretty much left her to figure out things on her own. I’ve shown her how to switch between automatic and video and the basics of taking photographs. But beyond that I’ve let her experiment. As Patton once said, “If you tell people where to go, but not how to get there, you’ll be amazed at the results.” Kids have an interesting perspective on life and a camera allows them to express themselves in a new way creatively.
I was concerned initially that my daughter would be disappointed with the Kodak, but in fact she couldn’t have been happier to have received a real “grown-up” camera instead of the same kids model her friends got.
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This is dead on. Exactly one year ago, my son was given a real, Fuji digital camera for his 4th birthday. It is still working today. He knows how to care for it, always using the wrist strap. We looked into the kid cameras but I was so disgusted by the poor resolution. I figured for about $50 more he could have a 7 mp camera.
I’d say it depends on the kid and how much money you want to spend. My daughter (three and a half) is just now getting the hang of holding the camera steady. Yesterday we were out and she was shooting and I watched her drop the camera three times onto concrete. With the rubberized build of the Fisher Price camera, it just bounced. I don’t think you’re going to find that build quality in a comparably priced “real” camera.
I agree John!
We were on the waiting list for one of the Fisher Price “Kid-tough” cameras before they were released. Amazon delivered it the day they were available to the public. I’ve been disappointed ever since. Yes, it is kid tough – it has stood up to much abuse. However, my daughter didn’t like the images it took – and she was only 3 at the time!
She uses our point and shoot Panasonic Lumix all the time. The one rule is that she use the wrist strap every time she touches it. She’s fine with that. Now she’s 5 and gets many of our best family photos!
I feel exactly the same way. We “gave” our son our old Nikon coolpix when we upgraded to the Canon S3. He took some interesting pictures… of his fingers. (He is only 3.) I have looked at the kid cameras but I can’t stomach giving my kid something so subpar as far as photo quality.
Years ago I had what would have been an awesome kids camera, the Sony U20, which was tiny and only had a couple buttons on it, and turned on and off by opening the lens cover. Sadly, I sold it before my daughter was old enough for her own camera. She has had an HP camera since her fourth birthday, and though I consider it far from ideal, it’s been just fine. If I were to be buying one today, I think my daughter would be most interested in movie capability, cute shutter noises, and easy printing, while I’m interested in durability and battery life (preferably Li batteries because she doesn’t use it that often). She’s almost seven now and knows how to make prints to post or cut up into art projects. I have to admit that I set her camera down into the 2 megapixel size so that she can fit more on the card and because I generate enough gigabytes of photos that I don’t need her adding any.
Great article! Just bought my six year old an older Fujifilm model that’s so much better than her little Tinkerbell camera. Agree with Dave-my daughter is most interested in making movies though.
My son got a Fisher Price camera for Christmas when he was 2 1/2. It lasted almost a year. So for this last Christmas (age 3 1/2) he asked Santa for a camera. I didn’t want another kid’s camera because they’re terrible. I looked around and found a cheap $50 camera, but that was just as worthless as the kid’s ones.
Then I had a flash of brilliance – Ebay! I found an old Canon PowerShot SD300 Digital Elph that was used and a little beat up, but that just showed me how rugged it was. It’s only 4 megapixels, but he doesn’t need any more than that. The controls are very simple for him to use, and he loves having a real camera just like mommy’s! I love that it takes great pictures worthy of keeping!
Look at the Olympus waterproof Stylus line, while a bit more expensive, it takes falls up to 5 feet and is waterproof to 10-30 feet. I also have instilled the wrist strap policy with my kids (now 5 and 2) and it works well.
Ebay is the way to go. Got my son an old Fujifilm too for about 30 bucks and the is the envy of his friends.
Buyer’s guide: Buying a digital camera for your kids…
John Watson goes through his process for buying a camera for kids. Lots of things to think about and lots of options out there….
Good suggests, really.
Thanks!
[...] a week or so then the chances are a new camera just for him will be used and appreciated (check out John’s post for ideas on which camera to buy). If the old camera is lying underneath that never-opened board [...]
I made the mistake of getting the Fisher Price one this Xmas, wish I hadn’t. No matter what you do the photos are blurry (I think its unusable), sorry I didn’t go for a proper camera now. If I can find the receipt I’ll try and bring it back.
I think that have a kid specific camera is a good idea for young children. They are designed to have a minimum of moving parts and are more durable than real cameras. The V-tech kidizoom seems to be a great “starter” camera for my 3 1/2 year old daughter. I can teach her the basics before she gets a “real” camera. Is image quality really a concern for most parents?
[...] We were against getting him one of those “kid” cameras for pretty much the same reason John Watson was: [...]
We bought a Crayola Kidz camera for my 4 yr old at Christmas and have been disappointed ever since. She frequently deletes the photos by accident and the battery life is appalling. We have taken some good photos but they have been lost before we could upload them. I am trying to find the receipt to return it and considering a “proper” digital camera.
I have the Cannon SD1000 as my ‘handbag camera’ that goes everywhere with me. Work, travel, family functions the bar, clubs, parties and everywhere in between. It’s durable, reliable and produces some great quality!
Thanks for the great advice! I agree that “made for kids” cameras are “made for landfill”, as written in John’s article.
I had bought my 6 year old nephew a clone wars camera for his birthday, which ended up being broken after literally just a few hours. The camera was poorly constructed and the picture quality was horrendous; additionally, the camera would freeze up and we would have to pop open the battery compartment to reset the camera.
I ended up buying Kodak’s Easyshare C913. *Knock on wood* So far, so good! I am MUCH happier with this camera. More importantly, my little nephew loves it as well! He is already able to transfer his pictures by himself onto their laptop.
Buying a used digital point and shoot at a pawn shop, say a Canon A520, will often net you a very nice camera for under $100. I have gone that route several times. In fact, I bought my Nikon D-200 with an 85mm 1:1.8 lens at a pawn shop for $400.
I haven’t purchased new camera equipment in over 20 years. Why take the depreciation?