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we're going away with our 5 year old grandaughter next week and thought it would be nice to let her take her own photos, look through them while we're waiting to eat in the evenings to keep her occupied, that sort of thing.
shes 5 going on 15, knows her way around youtube and google photos and the like, so simple technology wouldnt be beyond her.
i thought an old phone with no sim, set to wifi and google photos would probably be better/easier, my wife disagrees and thinks a dedicated phone that she can carry easily would be a better fit. personally i think that takes away the ability to look at the photos on a screen 'on the hoof'.
what say you oh wise ones? and any recommendations? we'd give an old phone a try if we had one, but we dont so we'll have to buy something, its just what.....
thanks
We have a kids camera with a little screen and a built in printer. Can't remember the brand, but I can check when I'm home tonight if you like.
It's ace. I mean it's rubbish by grown up camera standards, but MiniMonkey v1.0 loves it because it's super simple, and she can print stuff straight off. It's a very, very low quality printer but she loves coluring it in and drawing on it. She can also add in flowers and stuff on the camera before printing.
We've mostly kept her away from phones and YouTube and stuff though, so the balance of analogue and non-connected digital suits that.
Ours went from something like this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Subtail-Kids-Camera-Instant-Print/dp/B0DY19GNPV
to a Samsung A7 tablet, then a smart phone.
Waterproof/tough cameras used to be the best option, but seem a bit outdated now.
We have a kids camera with a little screen and a built in printer
Is it a Fujifilm Instax? No.1 spawn has the standalone printer for this which she loves.
We've got an old Kodak digital camera that I put a new battery in, which is used for school trips and so on where they're not allowed phones.
You will end up with a house covered in millions of printed out photos though. Its basic thermal printer paper (similar to use to print receipts) so its cheap.
Ours was given a Fujifilm Instax Mini, and it's not great - there's no digital screen (so they can't see their photos and choose which ones to keep), it prints out straight away, and the film packets are expensive. And the photos are utter toss - out of focus, the light is awful etc.
She loves taking photos with one of our phones or the tablet though, so I'd suggest an old phone perhaps with a little photo printer at home?
I would buy a s/h, older, branded camera. Something with about 5mp can be bought for £20 - £30. She can put the strap around her neck, so not going to drop it.
You can still print decent photos from 5mp.
Waterproof/tough cameras used to be the best option, but seem a bit outdated now.
We bought ours a Fujifilm FinePix XP camera, can't remember exact model but drop-proof to about 1mtr and waterproof to something decent too. Surprisingly good photos. Around £50 but that was 8 years ago now and can't see anything similar now.
our kids enjoy the printer cameras too. We have a Brand name Vtech KidiZoom Print cam.
https://www.vtech.co.uk/product/detail/19969/Kidizoom_PrintCam
Works well, black and white receipt print outs are fun and less stressful when theyre rattling through print outs at a rate of knots. Good controls (you can limit the daily print limit, and you can also hide the inbuilt games. Very tough construction.
Obviously it also retains the images digitally (and you dont have to print the photos), Ive put a big card in it and perodically recover the photos for the archives.
We also have a chinesium amazon one, and tbh i think the print quality and image quality is better, though the interface isnt as slick, it doesnt have the "selfie" mode, and doesnt feel bomb proof as the vtech
Interestingly, i bought some "off brand" reciept rolls (theyre standardized in size), and the print out qualities are noticiebly poorer
We buy the genuine vtech paper now.
thanks all. knowing her, i dont think she'd be interested in printing, itd just be firing off photos at will, then looking over them all in the evening.
to a Samsung A7 tablet, then a smart phone.
she was given an A7 by one of our friends to download movies and kids stuff to for the plane journey. i realise that will have its own camera, but its a bit big for carting around everywhere, she just needs something small that she can put in her bag.
I would buy a s/h, older, branded camera. Something with about 5mp can be bought for £20 - £30. She can put the strap around her neck, so not going to drop it.
this appeals more to me now come to think of it, i think she'd like a small camera around her neck as shes walking around.
food for thought, thanks everyone.
"We bought ours a Fujifilm FinePix XP camera, can't remember exact model but drop-proof to about 1mtr and waterproof to something decent too. Surprisingly good photos. Around £50 but that was 8 years ago now and can't see anything "
Think the last one of these was the XP120. Discontinued now. Surprisingly good little camera and pretty tough. My modded one (so I can slap filters on it) still gets the occasional outing but has been mostly usurped by (the much more spendy) OM System TG7.
Used XP120s seem to be going for between £60 and oddly silly money on eBay right now. A good option if you can get a decent one for somewhere in your budget. Thing to watch out for is scratches on the plastic lens cover (one of the other reasons I hacked mine about).
My daughter got a VTech Kidizoom Duo like this:
Electronic Learning Toys | Best Learning Toys | VTech UK
She's outgrown it really now she is 10, but it did get a decent amount of use. The pics aren't great, but it's easy to carry around, is durable & the batteries last ages.
It's got loads of filters, stickers and things you can add-on in the images.
It's also got games and stuff which I think you can turn off.
She has also used my 'tough' Nikon camera as well at various times. It's a good option as it has a zoom lens that is completely internal, so there are no delicate mechanical bits that can get easily knocked or damaged.
I would be wary of giving a younger child a camera with a zoom lens that projects from the front of the camera as they are generally pretty fragile.
If you look on ebay for 'tough camera' there are quite a few options.
My 8 year old has had a vtech kidizoom for a few years. He loves it, the pictures are by adult standards are crap, but he enjoys it and adding filters etc.
I thought a camera shaped phone case would be good. The pictures may be decent quality then.
Waterproof/tough cameras used to be the best option, but seem a bit outdated now.
The same was said about wired earphones and headphones…
…just saying…🤷🏼♂️
Another vote for a finepix XP off eBay. The 50/60/70 would be more than great. Get a new battery off Amazon though.
prisoner #3 got gifted mine a couple of years ago and she loves using it. She’s taken it all over, up mountains, snorkelling, biking, parties. It just shrugs off the abuse she gives it. Controls are really nice and there’s two fully auto modes which work very well at adapting the settings. It’s also “instantly on” which was a big plus point when I first bought it as so many tough cameras went the full toaster?>printer?>drill?>oh I’m a CAMERA! as they booted up, by which time the moment had passed.
Joining the party a little late. When my lad was a similar age I bought him a Nikon Coolpix S33 - rugged and waterproof he loved that camera nice and easy to use (but lots of advanced feature if you wanted them). IIRC it was about £80 ten years ago. I just googled them - they are discontinued now but unfortunately refurb'd models aren't cheap 😲
