Good camera for 4-year-old?

stoddarj

TPF Noob!
Joined
Sep 6, 2009
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Location
CO
My 4-year-old son just loves taking photos with any type of (digital) camera you give him, so my wife was thinking about giving him a cheap ($50-$100) camera for his birthday. My wife did some research into "children's" cameras, and many people said that we would be better just buying a cheap digital p&s for him. Obviously, the image quality doesn't really matter for the time being, since he really isn't going to be able to manipulate it properly anyway. I think durability is probably the most important feature, followed by price. Ideally, something with a recessed lens would probably best so that it is less likely to be broken. It certainly doesn't need to be new, either. So if anyone can remember a particularly durable older model for which it would be worth looking, I'd be interested in that. Thanks in advance for the advice.
 
This has come up before elsewhere. My feeling is to locate a pawn shop or camera shop that takes trade-ins or buys older P&S digitals from the pubic, and buy the child an older P&S camera.

Wrap a little bit of thin closed-cell foam around the camera body if you're afraid the child will drop the camera, or at least pad the baseplate. it mivht not be pretty, but closed-cell foam adds a lot of protection. Make sure the child knows how to use the neckstrap or wrist strap. If you want to hide all the foam, let the child plaster high-quality stickers all over the camera.

Used P&S cameras are available for $30-$50 at one pawn shop I frequent, and these were, a few years ago, $300 P&S models.
 
Last edited:
I agree -- find a used P&S .... I gave my kids a 1MP when they were little and they had a blast and took some good pix. Hell, I had a Brownie when I was a little kid and then you had to pay to have film developed.
 
I would get a used P&S that is shock and water proof/resistant.

My 2.5 year old has my wife's Olympus Stylus 720 SW. He fills the card with loads of pictures of his toys. It's been dropped, thrown and dropped in a pool. Perfect for a kid.
 

Most reactions

Back
Top