Can I get advice on a camera for DS 6?

[Mkaz]

Hey guys. It's my first time over here at the photography board. I don't know why I haven't stopped by before. Anyway, I am looking for some advice on what type of camera to buy for my son. He is six. I am leaning towards a digital camera. I fear that if we buy him a 35mm, we will be going through tons of film. Can anyone recommend an inexpensive digital camera for him? Thanks.

Kelly

 

[Kelly Grannell]

Fuji A345. It's cheap and good. My DD7 has one, I have one for back up and thinking about selling it too.

 

[WillCAD]

Before you go out and spend any money on a digital camera, try buying a few disposables first and see how he takes to photography. Disposables are cheap enough to see if he is responsible enough to carry and protect a camera all day, and take good enough pictures to show you whether he has any skill or talent for photography.

If he takes to it well, then you can think about stepping him up to an inexpensive digital.

 

[ducklite]

Will's idea was exactly what I was thinking try him out with a disposable or even an old camera you can scrounge up from someone--my guess is that someone you know has an old 35mm P&S laying around that they would be more than happy to find a new home for.

At age six I wouldn't worry about skill or talent as much as his keeping tabs on the camera, and not losing interest after half an hour. You can certainly expect to see chopped off heads and photo's of the grass. But it will give you an idea as to if it's even worth further investment at this point.

If he takes five photo's with the P&S or disposable and then moves on to picking through the grass for earthworms, there's no sense buying him a digital camera when a roll of film is going to last six months. KWIM?

Anne

 

[Mkaz]

Thanks for the advice. I never thought about a disposable camera. That's a good idea. I was only thinking of the "film" aspect of it. We bought DD her first camera when she was about 6. We ended up with more pictures of the toilet than we care to remember.

 

[T. Lynn]

I gave my DD (6) my old digital camera. I got tired of paying $7.00 for 30 cropped off heads.

Within 5 minutes she knew how to snap pictures, view them, delete them off and even protect them. She took 200 pictures within 1/2 hour and it was nice just to delete them off. Especially the 5 of the toilet flushing...

She did take 3 good pictures of a dog we were dog sitting. Actually, they were EXCELLENT. She practices now and around the house and is very proud of them.

Now on vacation she can snap away.

 

[elgerber]

Fuji A345. It's cheap and good. My DD7 has one, I have one for back up and thinking about selling it too.

My son has this camera too. He got it when he was 11, but he took some pictures at WDW that were better than my $600 digitial. We kept telling him, don't waste your time, the tram is moving, etc, and ha, his pics were great!

 

[T. Lynn]

Here is a cute one that my DD took and she was so proud. We were dog sitting and she just loves him.

 

[Mkaz]

T. Lynn,

That's a really cool picture. I can see why your DD was so proud. She took it at just the right moment.

BTW: What is it with kids snapping photos of the toilet?

 

[T. Lynn]

T. Lynn,

That's a really cool picture. I can see why your DD was so proud. She took it at just the right moment.

BTW: What is it with kids snapping photos of the toilet?

Well, at the time, we had one of those blue cleaning tabs in the toilet.

Maybe mine just liked to see the cool blue color??? I was afraid to ask...

She took about 200 pictures in 1/2 hour so it was nice to delete most of them off and not paying for film developing.

 

[kaddjr]

I gave my DD (6) my old digital camera. I got tired of paying $7.00 for 30 cropped off heads.

I'm with you there. I did the disposable thing with my kids once. Never again. I have a very basic Kodak Easy Share (mine before I bought the S2 IS) that I let them take pics with for now. As they get older and better at taking pictures, we will talk about moving up to something nicer for them.

 

[Greg K.]

...they have oodles of older, refurbished cameras for sale, some very decent Canons (like the A75, for example, and other older models) for a little over $100.

 

[mhutchinson]

I initially went the route of APS format film and 35mm film for both my daughters when they were younger. After spending over $500 for film and development from one trip to WDW ... I decided that a basic digital with about 512mb was a much wiser investment (hind site being so much better). About 2 years ago I bought them both 3.2 MP, $100 Kodak cameras that seemed to work out really good for my youngest and mostly okay for my oldest (she needed a heavier camera to reduce blurr, or a longer attention span on what she was taking pictures of)....my oldest has since taken my old Canon S20 and the weight has helped her pictures greatly.

If they do have any pictures that they want printed off, I currently will use a photo printer (Epson PictureMate). Prior to that I would use an online service such as CVS, Costco, Snapfish, etc...these are still less expensive for what they typically wanted than a single roll of iffy shots.

The benifit of the digital (besides processing savings) is that they can see the image right away and tend to learn quicker at what went wrong if all they have is blur or cut off heads...and are happier because they can correct the situation. They also like to use the video that is built in which can be very interesting when you watch the world as they see it.

Mike