Help choosing digital camera for 4 yo, please

[02AggieGirl]

My daughter loves to take pics with my camera, so I want to get her a digital camera for her bday--we will be at DW when she turns 4. (I think it would be fun to see Dw thru her eyes and pics). Anyway, there seem to be several out there. I was just wondering if your child has one--what kind and would you recommend it? Or what kind have you bought for your child for the holidays?
Thanks!

 

[capecoddisneyfamily]

In true disney fashion we bought the MM one online @ disney.

 

[MNdisneymom]

My DS got the fisher price kids digital camera when he was 3.5. It is great for little ones for a number of reasons: two-eyed viewfinder (so they can use both eyes at once to take pictures), very sturdy (can be dropped oh, down the stairs without breaking...and why do I know that? ...), expandable memory (but the slot is under a screw plate, so kids can't get at it), easy to manipulate buttons (to look at all the pictures they will take).

The downside...small viewing window, and the picture quality is so-so...but it's okay as long as you're not going to print anything bigger than a 4x6 print.

We took it on our last trip to FL...and DS (4.5 now) took some really nice pictures. My favorite was the one of the manatee in the water--we took a manatee cruise, and none of my pics turned out. How he got it, I'll never know--but it's still neat.

 

[Piglet'sPal]

I just got the new Polaroid pixie 3 megapixel camera for my DS (4). I had looked at the Fisher Price, but it had a lot of bad reviews regarding picture quality. The Polaroid just came out this year. Hopefully it will be decent!

 

[Frantasmic]

In situations such as this, you need to give your child your camera, and then upgrade to a new one you like.

 

[wdwnomad]

I got my neice the Fisher Price camera and she loves it. Sure the picture quality isn't the best but they don't know the difference. I had an old memory card and gave that to her to add to the camera. It now holds alot of pictures. It is very easy to use. She knows know to use all of the features on it. In fact, I just bought my other niece one because they fight over the camera.

 

[ThreeMusketeers]

Although my dd is almost 6!!!! We bought her a cheaper Kodak brand camera. She is very careful, and knows its not a "toy" its expensive and she has to be extra careful. We bought a $75 digital model, with case and lanyard for her to keep around her neck. She loves it, and my existing software works well with it, so i don't have to upload a new one into the computer and lose even more memory. (something which is of precious value in our house: computer memory) lol

 

[EnchantedPrincess]

My dd4 has the Fisher Price Kid Tough camera and loves it. The pictures quality isn't all that great, but it is very durable and the two-eyed view finder works better for her.

 

[02AggieGirl]

In situations such as this, you need to give your child your camera, and then upgrade to a new one you like.

LOL! Well, my husband bought a Nikon D50 for me a couple of Christmases ago and I love it. I don't think he would go for a upgrade just yet. My daughter is always asking to use it to take pics. She is very careful with it, but it still makes me nervous. She actually takes pretty good pictures.

I've been looking at the VTech and Fisher Price models--so thanks for the reviews.

 

[poohfriend77]

In situations such as this, you need to give your child your camera, and then upgrade to a new one you like.

This is what we're thinking of doing for our DD4. DH says that's "cheating" since it's a gift, but I just can't see spending $70-80 when we have a perfectly good camera sitting in a drawer. I'd be happy to buy a kids' camera, but I can't seem to find one that gets good reviews. Frustrating! She really wants a good viewing display, and we want to print decent 4X6s.

Does anyone have the Polaroid kids camera (I think it's a Target exclusive)? It looked promising: dual viewfinders, big display screen, 3MP, games, and most important for us, it's PINK! There are only 3 reviews posted though, and 2 say the camera just stopped working shortly after they bought it.

 

[cissy]

I agree with the last poster. We are also thinking of getting a digital for our DD's (5 &6) before we leave for Disney. I have been trying to research the kids cameras on the market, but am coming across only negative reviews for ALL of them. I don;t want to buy a camera that takes poor quality pictures. What is the fun in that. My girls are old enough to know the difference.

So, we have decided to buy them an "adult" camera instead. They already use my camera and know that they have to put the wriststrap on before they use it. We plan on spending about 100.00 for it. They will have to share. And this way, it won't be obsolete next year!

As far as the sharing goes, well, we already have a system in place for that. About two years ago we instituted "your day" for the kids. Our oldest has the even days of the calendar and the younger has the odd days. On "your day" you get to pick which seat in the car to sit in, which night time movie we watch, etc. It has ELIMINATED the arguing over so many issues. So, we will make the camera a "your day" situation as well.

Best of luck.

 

[grlpwrd]

In situations such as this, you need to give your child your camera, and then upgrade to a new one you like.

I agree with you because this is exactly what we did, too.

I am a mom of 5 and even our 2yo and 4yo know how to take pictures with our hand-me-down camera. lol

My 12yo and 16yo share a Sony Cybershot (they used to have a basic Kodak digital camera), while our 9yo uses a simple Canon Powershot, and our 4yo and 2yo share the Kodak that was handed down.

Mind you, I never pay retail.

We are of the recycle/reuse/renew/reduce persuasion, too.

 

[bigredsfan]

we bought our daughter a $60 kids camera from toys r us, she liked it but quality was horrible so couldn't justify keeping it. We bought an olympus slr but will want something for her to take to disney. A disposable might be the way to go though as I cant see spending bucks on a digital yet..

 

[Not so Dumbo]

After reading all of the reviews on the Disney digital cameras my advice is don't buy one of those. Every reviewer said they were junk and couldn't believe Disney would put their name on it.
I bought my DS5 a Polaroid digital camera from Circuit City it was their $49 BF deal. He is also looking forward to taking a lot of pictures at WDW.

 

[Princess_Michelle]

We bought DS3 one for Christmas. It's wrapped up in our room I read a lot of reviews about cameras....Fisher Price got a lot of bad reviews, and so did a couple others. We got him the V-Tech one. There weren't but one or two so-so reviews and it was a top-pick in Parents magazine for kid tested toys. We got it on Amazon, it happened to be on sale for $50!! It's usually $60, and you can get it at Target as well. It looks really neat. You can use a memory card or not, has decent picture quality, AND they can add Borders, funny faces, graphics, and other things to pictures using the camera. They can also play games with it, on the screen. I think DS will LOVE it....

 

[scrappin]

I have two kids 7 and 11 and have been taking pictures since the little on was about 4. I tried a "kids" digital camera but the pictures were just awful!

Several years ago, I found some low end - very easy to use kodak cameras on ebay (they came free with a dell computer) and so I picked them up for under $45. It has been well worth getting a "real" camera vs. a kids camera. The picture quality is good and the kids are so proud of their pictures. My 11 year just used some early Christmas money to "upgrade" and by herself a better camera.

Therefore, go with the "real" camera in the price range you can afford for the kids.