Digital camera for a 7yo?

[crusoe2]

Can anyone recommend a decent digital camera that would be appropriate for a 7yo? My DD has asked that the Easter bunny bring her one so that she can take lots of pictures on our next trip. I know there are tons of cheap $15 or $20 kids' cameras around now but I wouldn't mind spending a little more than that to get her something that will be easy to use and take decent pictures. I would prefer to not go over about $40 but might consider spending a little more than that for the right camera. Any recommendations? TIA

 

[NYCDiane]

Don't buy one of the cheapies.... she won't be able to get good pics and it will only frustrate her trying to use it.

I got my daughter a very nice Vivitar 8.1 megapixel with 8x digital zoom camera at Wal Mart for about $50 or $60. It came with a case as well. Best part? It's PINK. LOL!!! Aside from that, it's got a touch screen and is very easy to use.

 

[skw444]

I don't have a recommendation for a camera under $40, but we got our dd7 a Nikon Coolpix camera. It may be more than you are willing to spend, but you can get the Coolpix L20 for around $80. It is nice and small which is easy for her hands and takes great pictures for a cheaper camera. We got it for her for her last Disney trip when she was 6 and even got her a little case that she could put it in and wear around her neck. She ended up with some great pictures and it was neat to see Disney pics from the eyes of a 6 year old.

 

[mward73]

We got my parents a Canon Powershot and my 3yo kept taking it and using it. We ended up getting him a 6MP one for Christmas last year. I looked around and got a gently used one on ebay for around $40. It's in great shape and we've been really happy with it. He uses it almost daily - he knows how to take pictures and videos with it. He turns it on and off himself - it's basically his camera. It takes great pictures, which is nice since the "kid" cameras aren't great quality. He does have a Vtech Kidizoom as well, but prefers to use the Canon. Your daughter is much older, so I would think getting her a "real" camera would be the way to go - you can get them inexpensively now and she'd probably enjoy the quality of the pictures with it.

 

[crazyme5kids]

We got my 11 year old a Canon Powershot for Christmas. It's a real basic one, very easy to use, and surprisingly, it takes great pictures.

 

[teacup princess]

What kind of camera do YOU have. I just upgraded my camera and gifted my old one to my 8 y.o. She was thrilled to have her own camera and didn't care that it was pre-used.

 

[bigbabyblues]

We got our oldest DS a refurbed Kodak for his 8th bday and he loves it! No problems with it so far, that was in 2008, and I think we paid around $60-70.

 

[kellia]

My sons have been using my old Kodak easyshare. I wish it was rechargable, though and didn't take batteries, they drive me nuts having by using all my rechargable batteries up and not recharging them.

 

[ohlas]

well my 7 year old is getting my old camera fujiflim finepix 5.1mp and one set of batterys everyday...... im going to wrap it up and give it to her she will think its a big deal to have her own camera, and if she drops or loses oh well ....

 

[ceecee]

What kind of camera do YOU have. I just upgraded my camera and gifted my old one to my 8 y.o. She was thrilled to have her own camera and didn't care that it was pre-used.

We did the same thing. The newer version of the Easy Share does recharge. The batteries on the old Easy Share still lasted 5 X longer than the HP I had.

 

[mrsklamc]

A friend of mine bought this for her daughter last night for $30 at target:

http://www.vtechkids.com/product.cfm/KidiZoom_Camera/520/?

She blogged about it, including pics taken by her 4 year old, here:

amycornwell.blogspot.com

 

[RF536]

I would stay away from the kids cameras they tend to be very low quality. I would look around for a nice one on sale, or as pp have suggested upgrade your camera and give her your old one. We hunted around for several months before ours sons' 1st trip to DW in 2005, and ended up finding some nice 5mp cameras, which were good quality at the time, for about $60-70. The boys were almost 3 and almost 5 at the time, they did great and loved having their own cameras.

 

[delmar411]

We got my parents a Canon Powershot and my 3yo kept taking it and using it. We ended up getting him a 6MP one for Christmas last year. I looked around and got a gently used one on ebay for around $40. It's in great shape and we've been really happy with it. He uses it almost daily - he knows how to take pictures and videos with it. He turns it on and off himself - it's basically his camera. It takes great pictures, which is nice since the "kid" cameras aren't great quality. He does have a Vtech Kidizoom as well, but prefers to use the Canon. Your daughter is much older, so I would think getting her a "real" camera would be the way to go - you can get them inexpensively now and she'd probably enjoy the quality of the pictures with it.

My YDS also took over our old powershot. He takes pretty good pictures too and knows how to work all the features. The g-parents got him and ODS Samsubg 12.2MP cameras for Christmas and the boys already have those figured out perfectly.

I'd say a 7yr old should be perfectly fine with a regular digital camera.