Camera for a 4 year old

ukaskew

ukaskew

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Something that has come up from time to time, but would be interested to hear current thoughts on this, particularly with loads of cheap old mirrorless cameras now on the market.

Basically looking to get my recently turned 4 son a camera he can use on days out. He's obsessed with my gear, loves taking photos with it, but even though he's incredibly careful for a 4 year old I'd rather he not have a a7RII and 35mm 1.4 round his neck!

Not worried about it being shock proof or anything, budget around £200 tops and would like it to be at least of reasonable quality (i.e. not one of those V-Tec ones!) Something that will happily shoot all day ok in fully automatic, largish shutter button with as little clutter round it as possible would be a bonus.

A Panasonic GF1 and 14mm 2.5 is in budget, as a starting example.
 
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ukaskew said:
I looked at the entry zooms, but don't quite a few of them retract and have to be unlocked/twisted to release them? I quite like the idea of a simple robust prime.
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With this one you just have to touch the zoom I believe to kick it into action, then its pretty much point and shoot, it's just a little more flexible than a prime. But, the prime will be better in dimmer light, not by a whole lot, but it might make a difference to you
 

Btw, the little zoom has OIS which might be handy for a child to help with steadiness
 
viewfromthenorth said:
The simplest, cheapest most robust camera you can find. They will drop it, lose it and generally treat it like a toy. An old compact is ideal.
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In the OP he says pretty clearly that the child is careful and he's already taken pictures using Dad's gear. This doesn't seem like the usual case where you're just fobbing a child off with something they need not take care of. I think he wants to nurture the child's interest in photography, and I think that's great. I wish one of mine had gotten more into it, I did buy them cameras for Christmas when they were younger, they lost interest fast. They're more likely to use their tablets to take selfies ...
 
Leica M10 with a couple tri-elmars :D

On a more serious note a LX100 or even an old nex6/7/A6000 with a samyang 24/35mm prime which can also use on your A7RII.
 
How about a Fuji X10, quite retro looking, manual zoom and with a leather case it will have some protection. I have 2 grandsons (5 and nearly 4)and have thought about introducing them to photography with the X10 then when a little older an S5Pro.
 
Cagey75 said:
In the OP he says pretty clearly that the child is careful and he's already taken pictures using Dad's gear. This doesn't seem like the usual case where you're just fobbing a child off with something they need not take care of. I think he wants to nurture the child's interest in photography, and I think that's great. I wish one of mine had gotten more into it, I did buy them cameras for Christmas when they were younger, they lost interest fast. They're more likely to use their tablets to take selfies ...
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I understand completely and don’t disagree with any of that. My daughter is very careful with my gear. But with her own camera it’s a different matter, despite how many times I tell her!! And when she is with her friends and getting silly and distracted it’s a lost cause - I’ve found the camera all over the house. Of course all kids are different, but for a four year old I think something cheap and simple with a big memory card will lead to fewer tears being shed! [emoji3]
 
My 4 y old niece drop my phone onto the concrete path yesterday trying to take a photo - don't worry she said it didn't break its only a scratch :)
Rob.
 
viewfromthenorth said:
I understand completely and don’t disagree with any of that. My daughter is very careful with my gear. But with her own camera it’s a different matter, despite how many times I tell her!! And when she is with her friends and getting silly and distracted it’s a lost cause - I’ve found the camera all over the house. Of course all kids are different, but for a four year old I think something cheap and simple with a big memory card will lead to fewer tears being shed! [emoji3]
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I guess there is always the chance, my girls are a lot older and I still don't trust them, though they are careful enough and know they'd lose their tablets if anything ever happened to my gear! [the odd time they do want to take a few pics] - Their pads would be up on local adverts for sale to make up! :D

Even so, GF1 is ideal, you can get them on MPB for about £50, with the lens I suggested earlier the total comes to about £150 delivered. That's a steal, I'd use that as a pocketable back up myself
 
I'm fairly confident he'll be fine with a regular camera (i.e. not robust). He's super careful with stuff and he's so interested in 'Daddy's work' that I'm keen to get him something he can properly experiment with.

The kid is amazing with his hands and operating stuff (he has been building proper Lego kits for over a year now with no assistance from us) so I'm fascinated to see how he gets on.
 
I’ve seen these threads crop up many a time and always wondered about them as in do young kids really need a camera!

Fast forward to my 3 year old who loves nothing more than holding down the shutter button of my dslr! So I bought him a toy camera, the vtech 5mp jobby. It’s robust, has live view and a flash and he loves nothing more than taking snaps with it and showing them off for some praise!
 
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