recommendations for digital camera for son?

[sz9144]

my son fancies himself an amateur photographer at 7 yrs old. I want to get him a sturdy, quality digital camera for our road trip in august.

can anyone recommend a camera that can take clear photos but withstand what a 7 yr old can throw at it?

thanks!

 

[NCRedding]

Don't get a casio (exillium). DD's quit working 10 days after she bought it while she was on a cruise, and by the time she returned home, it was past the date she could return to the store (15 days). We sent it to Casio for repairs, and they wanted to charge us $139 to repair a $139 camera. Terrible customer service.

I've had a Nikon Cool Pix for 5 years and it still works great.

DD loves her Canon.

The Kodak Easy Share seems pretty sturdy too.

 

[sharonmickey]

I would suggest a fairly inexpensive one. DD is 19 and is on her fourth camera in 4 years. Her first one, an Olympus broke in under four months. The second was a Nikon, it still works but a piece of the battery compartment broke off so it needs taped to stay shut. Her HP came free with her printer and works still but goes through batteries VERY quickly. (Under 10 pictures for the rechargeable batteries, and I've tried various brands - it goes through all the brands quickly. The same batteries work in my camera for a long time.) She is now on a Canon.

A friend tried to fix the Olympus and told us that cameras are not like cell phones. They need to be handled carefully and are not made to withstand drops.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[delmar411]

DD's Kodak Easy Share has lasted 2yrs w/o any troubles. DD is 5 BTW and her younger brothers often get into the camera and it's been treated less than gently. It was bought as a previous years model for $25 at CVS right before T-giving 07.

DS3 is a picture nut and he's been using my old Canon power shot (circa 2004! LOL) and that works for him since it is so wide it's easy to grasp. But the new Canons can be had for pretty cheap as well.

 

[pdchris]

Don't get a casio (exillium). DD's quit working 10 days after she bought it while she was on a cruise, and by the time she returned home, it was past the date she could return to the store (15 days). We sent it to Casio for repairs, and they wanted to charge us $139 to repair a $139 camera. Terrible customer service.

I've had a Nikon Cool Pix for 5 years and it still works great.

DD loves her Canon.

The Kodak Easy Share seems pretty sturdy too.

+1 for the Canon. I'm on my second one and have been very pleased. (Replaced the first one to get a SD1100 for it's compactness.)

 

[mykidslovesdisney]

My ds8 and dd6 both have Nikon coolpix L18. They have held up to constant use. The pictures come out really nice. i even used some of their shots for out Disney album. The cost wasn;t too bad. The 1st one was $119. The 2nd one was $99. i have seen them as low as $75. We use durcell rechargable batteries that work well- don't seem to blow thru them. Each of them have cases for them too.

We had a kodak easyshare for ds10 and that was a piece of junk. Pics were horrible. Only worked w/ kodak memory cards too.

Good luck w/ your decision

 

[WendyMS]

Around age 8 or 9 (about 5 years ago) we tried a cheaper model (Fuji --about $99 was a cheap as you could go then). It took fine pictures, but ate through batteries (yes those AA batteries are easy to find and buy--but they get expensive) and my son soon outgrew the limited zoom and features).

At about age 12 (2 years ago) we picked up a demo model Olympus Stylus 760 that we found on clearance at Best Buy for about $120 (prices down and more features!). He loves it! It takes some decent video as well and has a bunch of pre-programmed "scenes" (outdoor bright sunlight, indoor party, snow, fireworks, etc). I also shelled out for a nice little case/bag and alternately a little clip that he can clip it to a belt loop to help keep it safe. Absolutely love it! I do know that Olympus also has a few models that are specially designed to handle a 5 or 6 foot drop onto concrete and several models withstand water a bit better than other brands--those may cost a bit more, but it depends on the type of use and how much you'll worry about your son dropping the camera as to whether it is "worth" the extra $. Personally, I regret the "cheap" purchase we made for the starter camera a few years before as it was frustrating (couldn't charge those batteries and kept running out of them and the features didn't hold my son's interest).

You might check out Steve's DigiCams (do a Google search) as it's one of the best camera review/test sites on the web. You can compare what's out there by price and feature and what you're looking for.

Best of luck! Kid's take awesome pictures from a perspective that most of us have forgotten---it's priceless!