Camera for young kids

wyx087

wyx087

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I have a 4yo. He loves taking photos using mummy's phone. I'd like to get him a camera of his own.

During Easter break, I made the poor decision to give him our waterproof point-shoot, Sony Tx30. It has been dropped a few times and carelessly smashed against wall while he ran with it dangling by his wrist. While it still works, I don't think it is waterproof anymore.....

So what would be a good, easy to use, solid, rugged camera that can produce nice modern point-shoot quality photos, yet can withstand some level of beating by carelessness nature of young kids?
 
I’m not sure this is the answer, but the Oly waterproof cameras were relatively drop proof too.
 
My Oly wasn't waterproof...

For beach and underwater use, I now use cheap action cams from 7dayshop - the only downside for a 4yo is that when they're switched on, they start in video mode rather than still.
 
My boys, 5 and 3, have been using Nikon Coolpix S3x cameras, I think an S31 and S32, they seem pretty robust so far.
 
The Nikon Coolpix looks good, nice and friendly.

But I would prefer to have zero or very little button / configurations. Just point + shoot, a second or so of result and move on. Don't want (re)playing with old photos to be a distraction. I would much prefer to artificially create this excitement looking at photos properly on a computer/tablet screen when we get home, just like the film days.
 
Not keen on giving a whole phone....... but do have a couple old iPhones laying around, just add rugged case. I'll discuss with wife.

Any recommendations for iOS photo apps that are very locked down (no chimping, only point+shoot, no configurable options or filters)? I can then set it to be in this app only.
 
Compuwight said:
I bought these for two grandchildren and they loved them, lots of fun

VTech Kidizoom 5MP Camera - Blue £55 from Argos​

Click to expand...

Both our girls started with these when they were very young.

Good fun for them can do silly edits and play games etc all on the camera.

Think they are a really good way of introducing young kids to taking photos although image quality is absolutely awful.

They are virtually indestructible as well.
 
f/2.8 said:
although image quality is absolutely awful.
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As I suspected......
I had bought a £20 knock-off from Amazon last year. The image quality is totally unusable in any stretch of imagination. So I sent it back.

Hence here asking for point+shoot quality point+shoot camera. At least those are comparable to smart phones from a couple of years ago, before today's more advanced computational photography. I'd want something that can produce usable prints after some cropping.
 
wyx087 said:
As I suspected......
I had bought a £20 knock-off from Amazon last year. The image quality is totally unusable in any stretch of imagination. So I sent it back.

Hence here asking for point+shoot quality point+shoot camera. At least those are comparable to smart phones from a couple of years ago, before today's more advanced computational photography. I'd want something that can produce usable prints after some cropping.
Click to expand...
Depends what way you go when our eldest was around that age she had the Vtech camera which was a lot of fun for her. I also bought here a very used and abused Nikon DSLR for very little money that I gave her to use when we went for days out etc.

At that age they are u likely to care too much about image quality.
 
wyx087 said:
The Nikon Coolpix looks good, nice and friendly.

But I would prefer to have zero or very little button / configurations. Just point + shoot, a second or so of result and move on. Don't want (re)playing with old photos to be a distraction. I would much prefer to artificially create this excitement looking at photos properly on a computer/tablet screen when we get home, just like the film days.
Click to expand...
All the editing stuff on ours are rubbish, you can replay/review, but we generally download to iPad and clear the card.
 
Panasonic GF-1
Cheap as chips, no distracting touch screen, some buttons to fiddle with but they soon learn they don’t work if you do that! Ours have had them since 3-5 and now they’re 5-7 I’m going to get them a couple of bridge cameras so they get used to a viewfinder etc
 
How about one of these. It might be good for small hands too ;)

Canon IVY REC - Cameras

Whether you're trying to capture some extreme snow-boarding footage or you're snorkelling with dolphins, the Canon IVY REC lets you take videos and photos you'd never be able to get with your smartphone.
www.canon.co.uk www.canon.co.uk
 
Thanks all, I've managed to add a neck strap to the current Sony P&S (it only have a tiny lug). Hopefully this means it no longer makes contact with the floor. We'll use this for now. It's free, it works and he likes it.

The Canon IVY REC looks very interesting. No screen = perfect for toddlers.

But I would go with an old smart phone locked down and in a rugged case, Simply because I have a 5s sitting in the drawer. Panny GF-1 would be second choice in a couple years if he really likes taking photos.
 
If you download family link from the Google play store for the 5s you can restrict which apps they can use and set usage limits for screen times or lock the device after a set time (bed time etc). Ideal for allowing camera but restricting gallery. Plus when they get older and have a phone/tablet etc for games you can approve age appropriate downloads etc. Really great app and free too :)
 
wyx087 said:
Not keen on giving a whole phone....... but do have a couple old iPhones laying around, just add rugged case. I'll discuss with wife.

Any recommendations for iOS photo apps that are very locked down (no chimping, only point+shoot, no configurable options or filters)? I can then set it to be in this app only.
Click to expand...
If you start the camera from the Lock Screen you can only review the photos taken since the phone was woken from sleep.
Not sure of any phone apps that don’t allow opening the photos already taken.
 
Interesting idea.....the ultra wide angle of gopro is very far from ideal.

For iphone, there is no way to disable emergency call feature from lock screen. At 4 yo, he's too young to use a phone responsibly even with all the restrictions enabled. He will randomly press everything trying to get to another screen. I'm worried he will accidentally call up 999.



Using the Sony Tx30 point and shoot now, with a neck strap. So far so good. But with camera readily available, he no longer shows much interest. It's a long nurturing process......
 
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wyx087 said:
Interesting idea.....the ultra wide angle of gopro is very far from ideal.

For iphone, there is no way to disable emergency call feature from lock screen. At 4 yo, he's too young to use a phone responsibly even with all the restrictions enabled. He will randomly press everything trying to get to another screen. I'm worried he will accidentally call up 999.



Using the Sony Tx30 point and shoot now, with a neck strap. So far so good. But with camera readily available, he no longer shows much interest. It's a long nurturing process......
Click to expand...
I don’t think you can call emergency services if there is no SIM card?
 
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