End Times Near?

[MarkBarbieri]

I'm thinking about buying a Pentax. My 7 year old has shown a strong interest in photography. He's been using my old Canon 10D.

We've talked to him about what he wants in a camera. Basically, he wants a simple point and shoot with an LCD instead of a viewfinder. He also wants something that he can take in the water.

It looks like the reasonable options are the Pentax W30 and the Olympus Stylus 770 SW. Are there any that missed? Reviews seem to indicate that the W30 is better overall than the 770, so that's what we're planning on getting.

B&H has it for $240, but they won't sell it until after the Sabbath.

Any suggestions on other cameras? Anyone else selling it cheaply?

 

[KrazyPete]

What? They don't make waterproof housings for the Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II? Come on man, practice what you preach! The kid is only going to learn bad habits working with inferior equipment.

That Pentax dang well better have RGB histograms!

 

[MarkBarbieri]

My son doesn't get to play with the Mark II much anymore. He dropped it at WDW, which was a rather disturbing event.

We do have a waterproof case, but it's one of those ziplock bag things. I put the 10D in it when I use it.

He wants something much simpler and he loves the idea of an LCD screen. My thought is that at his age, it's more important that he enjoy photography rather than learn to do it well. If he's still interested, we'll evolve in that direction over time.

As for histograms, he still thinks that is a letter that you send to a woman who has recently had an operation that no one will explain.

 

[Dan Murphy]

My son doesn't get to play with the Mark II much anymore. He dropped it at WDW....

Yikes!!

Sounds great, Mark, encourage and develop though early interests. Very good.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

My son is 9 and he's also enjoying photography like his Mom. I gave him my old HP to use and he's doing pretty well!

It was funny on the S3 thread, we were doing an assignment of taking a picture of a water drop coming out of a faucet. I must have taken 70 shots trying to capture the drop just right - without much luck. Being determined to get the shot and not letting him help much, he went to work himself with his own camera. Didn't the little bugger come up with a better picture than I did in just a few shots. I haven't lived it down yet around here.

I'll follow along here since for his birthday I'm thinking about getting him something similar to what you're looking for.

His:

Mine:

 

[Groucho]

He wants something much simpler and he loves the idea of an LCD screen. My thought is that at his age, it's more important that he enjoy photography rather than learn to do it well. If he's still interested, we'll evolve in that direction over time.

I agree with that. I think it's easy for parents to go overboard sometimes - look at the some parents at a soapbox derby, where the father is working so hard at making a perfect soapbox car than the child is not having a good time.

Back to your original statement - hey, it's only fair, I did buy a Canon PnS for my wife, you can buy a Pentax PnS for your kid.

(Though that Canon may still be jettisoned in favor of a Fuji some day...)

 

[Gdad]

I have a Pentax W20 for fun underwater shots, water rides, etc. My 3yo and 6yo girls both take pictures with it also. It seems fairly indestructible. Here are a few shots with it. Click on image to see full res pic.

 

[ukcatfan]

Jeff already has a Pentax and Mark is considering one..... AHHHH!!!! THE SKY IS FALLING!!!!

Kevin

 

[cpbjgc]

Gee, I was wondeing why there was a plague of frogs falling from the sky

You might also want to consider a camera that is resistant to a rain of brimstone.


But seriously, I hope your son enjoys whatever p&s you get him. The skills will come later and you'll have lots of fun together (without worrying too much about the camera being dropped).

I know my son likes what we can do with the camera. Some selected pages from the flipbook DS10 did (I was the official photographer, he arranged the stop motion poses).

 

[Gdad]

Well- technically Jeff's Work has one- Jeff just takes it to Disney once in a while.

Jeff already has a Pentax and Mark is considering one..... AHHHH!!!! THE SKY IS FALLING!!!!

Kevin

 

[MarkBarbieri]

One nice thing about it is that I'll get a chance to compare the image quality between Pentax and Canon. I'll take some shots with the W30 and my 1D and I'll see which looks better.

 

[photo_chick]

My DD7 asked to use an SLR so that is why she is, but she also likes her little (my old) digitla p&s with it's instant gratification screen. I am considering getting her the waterproof Pentax for Christmas. DS4 likes his little p&s which was DD's. It does not even have an lcd screen but he just wants to take pictures like everyone else so that works for him at the moment.

And nooooo... my kids are not spoiled at all!

 

[Groucho]

One nice thing about it is that I'll get a chance to compare the image quality between Pentax and Canon. I'll take some shots with the W30 and my 1D and I'll see which looks better.

Didn't care for the Canon and Pentax shots I posted in the "PnS vs DSLR" thread, eh?

Feel free to try to replicate the first photo that Gdad posted with the 1D, if you're brave enough.

cpbjgc, you may want to try adjusting the white balance of those Lego shots... that's a classic case of a DSLR not getting tungsten lighting right (as usual). Correcting that can really help the photos "pop" a lot more. I've toyed with the idea of making a little bit of stop-motion animation with my DSLR... might be a fun project. It could also be used as a way to demonstrate depth of field, etc, in a video format. Man, I have no many ideas and not enough gumption to actually get most of them started, much less finished.