best camera for a 5 year old

My 5 year old daughter has a serious interest (as serious as a 5 year old can get) in learning how to use a camera.

The fischer price stuff doesn't cut it anymore. Does anyone have an idea of a very entry level camera for a youngster

but one that she can begin to learn basic photo editing (cropping, resizing). Dad will take all the precautions

necessary.

Surely it is an introduction to a good editing programme which she needs for the tasks you quote. Any P&S with some manual overides, focus is not required or available in many, that you are willing to risk in her possession should suit. Even without over-rides much can be practiced in learning to trick the automatics into giving you/her the result required. The good editing programme will also enable her to adjust colour and tones selectively instead of holusbolus way of the simpler programmes. The sooner she learns about and how to use adjustment layers I would suggest the better :-)

Our 4-year-old likes to take pictures and insists on a "real" camera, so we just put our regular P&S (a Fuji F31fd) on auto mode and let him use that. He hasn't broken it yet, though I'm sure it'll happen eventually. I'd say give her any P&S that you don't mind seeing destroyed, or if you want to buy something, maybe one of the shock-and-waterproof models. I think Olympus and Pentax make some. I don't consider editing important at his stage, and my wife and I want to minimize the amount of time that he spends in front of a screen anyway, so I have no suggestions for an editing program.

JC, David i have an old p&s, olympus 5050 but i hate the shutter lag which is probably a few seconds...in my daughter's world, a few seconds is an eternity...maybe there's a lesson to be learned...thanks....David

Most P&S's nowadays should be a lot better than a few seconds. Our Fuji is probably a bit under 1/2 second, and it doesn't try our son's patience too much based on the volume of pictures that he takes :-).

She can do cropping and resizing on images from ANY camera. My advice would be to get the most basic p&s that takes care of the exposure and focus for her. Get it used off of Ebay. Don't worry about image quality. Just get a camera that's easy to use. If you make it too complicated, she'll lose interest. If the bug bites, then she'll eventually want more from her camera. That will be the time to upgrade per her needs. I would give her "ownership" in the process by letting her earn part of the money necessary for her equipment and matching funds with her.

 

Finally, I would suggest you search the archives for threads about how people here got started in photography. Many of them got started as children. (I was one of them.) You might get some ideas about what those people found important as children. In my own case, I was excited to find an old brownie box camera in the attic, and I enjoyed taking pics with it. I was too young to pay for film and developing, so my parents paid that expense. I later discovered an enlarger in the attic, and my mom helped me set up a darkroom, teaching me what she knew of the craft. It's an experience I wouldn't trade for anything. I think what was initially important to me was the involvement of my mom and the excitement of finding cool stuff in the attic to play with. Oh, and I was one of those kids who took excellent care of her possessions. I managed not to break the brownie at age 6. Your daughter will probably do fine with a cheap digital at age 5. :-)

My daughter was very precocious (like everyone's, I guess ;-) ), but I wouldn't have wanted to have something too

expensive and fragile in her hands at the age of five. On the other hand, the contradiction here is that it's not

going to be very interesting unless it actually works and can produce a decent result. What I did, but this was

when digital photography was in its infancy, was to get her nice Kodak or Fuji disposable film cameras. She took

these to camp, on vacations, and actually produced some nice results that were all her own. If the camera were

lost, it's not such a tragedy.

 

At this point in time

there are still surviving (tho' quickly diminishing) one-hour processors too. I'm thinking that these cameras may

still

be a good idea until your daughter gets a little older and can move up to digital and computer editing and printing.

We just got a Vivitar (I think it's a 6200W?) for our 5 yr old. It has a non-zoom lens (zoom lenses are fragile) and is very rugged. Bright yellow cladding, and is rated for underwater use. Uses simple AA batteries and an SD card. Cost around $100US at Target. Even shoots video clips. All point-and-shoots are a compromise, but we like it so far.

thanks all...she liked the Polaroid but the price of Spectra film has gone through the roof, up to $4/pic...Olympus has a

$120.00 6mp camera with decent reviews...i think more then anything it gives my daughter a chance to do something

special with her dad...thanks again!

I'd recommend something digital. Then you don't have to worry about film costs and you can make it a fun time to review

the pics with her on your computer. Try to find a camara that can stand the drops and falls, abuse of a youngster. It's nice

to see them explore this realm of photography w/o the constraionts, at least not to many worries, about the camera when

it's tossed and falls.

 

You're a lucky person!

It is so easy to get over the shutter-lag of the digital camera ... just take half trigger when you need to be precise in time with the exposure. Thinking about what you are going to take is an important lesson a photographer needs to learn to justify that title.

Do you have an an older 3, 4 or 5 MP point and shoot that would make a great starter. I started my daughter on an older 4 MP Pentax Optio S40 two years ago. It was a great starter because it not only had an optical viewfinder but the LCD screen could display lines so she could practice composition with the rule of thirds.

 

Hope this helps.

I've bought my 8 year old a Canon A80 from ebay for xmas and my 5 year old a 2nd hand Canon a320.

Not only are they cheaper than a 'cheap' new digital camera but they are of better quality IMO. If they break during the year then I'll get a couple more 2nd hand models next year. The A80 in particular is capable of very nice 6 x 4 prints.

thanks all...i'm leaning towards a Canon p&s for about $160.00...i'd give her my Olympus C5050 but the shutter lag is

atrocious...i also have a Canon 10D and Digital Rebel for her when she's older...it's an investment...with kids you never

know, what's in one day is out the other but I have a good feeling about this, thanks again!

Go for a Canon S3 IS - the most important thing here is the viewfinder.

 

My 4 year old daughter actually prefers the evf. I have shown her how to switch between the screen and the viewfinder, but no... She will obviously want to have a DSLR in a few years.

 

On the other hand, she might go the Leica way... She seems to stay with the 35mm perspective, and does an amazing job of framing shots!

 

If only my father had given me a camera when I was 4 years old.<div></div>