What to do with that old P&S

[kiro]

Hey folks - so if you're like me, you've at one time or another had an old

digital P&S sitting around. I had one such P&S, a 5MP nikon that, when I

checked eBay, looked like it would gather about $20. I have a son who is now 5,

but when I did this, he was about 2 1/2 yrs old. So I said what the hell, and

handed him the camera to see what he could do with it. After about 50 shots of

the backs of me and my wife's knees, and the dogs' butts, he started picking up

on the idea of pointing the camera upwards some. Then he started arranging toys

into scenes and stuff and made some cool pics... because of the instant

gratification of the digital lcd on the back, they learn fast. the point is, if

santa brought you a new P&S, and you're wondering about what to do with the old

one that's not worth the trouble to ebay, hand it down to a little kid. it's a

pretty cool experiment, and has provided some pretty cool perspective on the way

he thinks when mom and dad are not around. or, hell, ship it to me - after two

years of getting banged into everything in the house, the camera finally died

(those little buggers are tougher than you'd expect!) and it's time to get my

son a new one from ebay. in my view, the roughly 1000 photos that he took with

it are worth the $20 that i didn't get on ebay, especially since they are the

bulk of the rare photos of me (the curse of being the photographer).

 

happy new year!

[david_m]

I hope you checked completed auctions that sold and not 'for sale' listings. You cannot give P&S cameras away. I find them in thrift stores for $2-$3. I've found the really good ones like Canon MC and Kodak VR35-K12.

[bosshogg]

I gave my seven year old my Canon G6 because I've moved on to other things. Gave it to him as a Christmas present, and through two family gatherings he took about a hundred images. Some of them are very very good. He broke everyone up however when he was taking a group photo of my sister in law and her two sons. One of them said, "Make us look good now." To which my seven year old grandson said, "Hey, I can't produce miracles." Biggest laugh of the day.

 

Great idea to give kids these old cameras. They can learn so much, and it doesn't cost much for them to do the pictures if they have a computer.

[francisco206]

Great idea. Nice way to start the creative process. Thanks.