Good Camera for a child?

2ponyriders · Jul 19, 2012

My 9 yr old daughter loves photography, she actually has a pretty good eye two of her photos won blue ribbons at the county fair last year and one even took a best in show award then moved on to the state fair. Over the summer she decided that in the fall she wants to do a Photography record book for 4H, we got the book in and it's very detailed and will teach her A LOT.

My first question is I would like to buy her a good camera to start out with but have no idea where to begin. I have for my own use a 10 mp Fuji Finepix s1500 it's what my daughter took her winning photo with but it needs to be replaced any how because it's half broken from me dropping it at Disney almost two years ago.

I'd prefer to go beyond a point and shoot since she is doing this book that teaches a lot about the basics of photography but don't want to spend too much thinking under 500 dollars.

Would it help the suggestions for me to get the book out and list some of the required assignments to finish the book. I'd also hope that the camera I buy now will last her a year or two so she can keep advancing her skills by moving on to the second level book next year if she is still enjoying photography.

Thank you in advance for any help.

unpopular · Jul 19, 2012

Sony a700, Canon 40D or whatever Nikon might have had. These are all mid-end body from several years ago, and can often be found with a lens for less than $500-600. I think it would be a good body for a younger person as they are weather sealed (NOT water proof), have robust bodies and have plenty of room for her to grow.

StandingBear1983 · Jul 19, 2012

you can get a nikon D3100 or a Canon T2i with 18-55 kit lens for that price...she will be very lucky to start with a DSLR...i wish i would have started with a DSLR and not a compact...

Amazon.com: Nikon D3100 14.2MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX VR Nikkor Zoom Lens: Camera & Photo

Amazon.com: Canon EOS Rebel T2i 18 MP CMOS APS-C Sensor DIGIC 4 Image Processor Full-HD Movie Mode Digital SLR Camera with 3.0-inch LCD and and EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens: Camera & Photo

Solarflare · Jul 19, 2012

This thread title is misleading.

Its not "best camera for a child", its more "best first camera for a young photographer".

Other than that, I can only agree with the previous two posters.

As always, though, I will recomment getting the 18-105mm kit lenses, or some such. A lesser quality, lightweight 6x zoom is something that keeps being useful later. A lesser quality 3x zoom will get redundant the moment one gets a higher quality zoom in that area (since those are 3x).

tirediron · Jul 19, 2012

I think I would be looking for a bridge camera rather than an SLR at this point. One of the so-called "super-zooms" which will give lots of zoom range, has manual control capability, etc. Not quite as versatile as an SLR, the advantage will be that there's a lot less gear for her to haul around, and even a small bag with 1-2 extra lenses is going to seem heavy to a nine year old after a while, and if toting the gear becomes a chore, the spark may die. Just my $00.02....

unpopular · Jul 19, 2012

Tirediron makes a good point. I have always been impressed with the Canon G-series. The most modern version is the G1x, which goes for about $600-700 used. The next most recent version, the G12 goes for about $350-400 new.

The finder on the these cameras is top notch.

Other options would be the mirrorless interchangeables, older Olympus EP and Sony NEX-series can be found for well under $500 as well.

AaronLLockhart · Jul 19, 2012

Solarflare said:
Its not "best camera for a child", its more "best first camera for a young photographer".

Shut up. No, really; shut up.

You wouldn't classify the "button pushers" at olan mills or sears as a photographer, but you will consider a young girl that has won some community awards by photos with a point and shoot.

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All that aside, it's great to see that your child is getting into photography at a young age! The comment above wasn't a derogatory one towards your daughter, rather telling Solarflare to get his nose out of your brown hole.

I also have a daughter around that age that loves photography. Last year I gave her an Asahi Pentax K1000 with a 50mm prime that I used when I first got into photography. I told her that when she gets comfortable shooting with it, we will get her a zoom lens as well. Needless to say, now she has an 80-200mm f/4.5 as well. I have always used digital... And in truth, she probably knows just as much about film as I do (I don't know that much about it).

However, this is where I'd start out. Get her an early generation mechanical 35mm film SLR, and buy one for yourself to shoot with her. This will teach her everything she needs to know about using SLR/dSLR, plus it will get her familiar with film speeds and how it relates to ISO. Not to mention the cameras and equipment are dirt cheap, so it won't put a huge dent in your wallet while she's learning!

2ponyriders · Jul 19, 2012

Thank you all for your input. As a totally nonphotographer myself like I still mess up photos I try to take on Auto settings, I worried about just going to a camera store I don't want to be sold something that is way too much for her or have the clerk brush her off as just a little kid by selling me something crappy.

At 9 I'm not sure if the interest will fade over time but right now she LOVES to take pictures she has hundreds on her computer that she has taken with my camera and a crappy point and shoot that I bought her last year. She has had her Dad help her download GIMP and now she's learning to edit her photos on her own, she spends hours on there working on her creations.

Tirediron has a very good point about too much stuff to haul around, not to mention too many choices like that might get confusing for her at this age and learning stage making it work instead of fun.

Again Thank you all for the input it gives me cameras to start researching and decide what will be best.