Choosing a Camera for a Child
Jun 25 '01
The Bottom Line You have to consider the age,maturity and technical skill of the child you are buying a camera for.
PROS: Anyone can take a picture.
CONS:Kids easily get carried away. They need a photo budget.
There are a lot of different types available; let's consider each of them.
I Zone: These are the newest cameras on the market so of course kids love them. I Zones were the must-have item this past Christmas but are cooling off now. It is an instant print Poloroid camera and easy to use, but the film is expensive and makes prints which are literally postage stamp size. It comes in sticky and non-sticky type film, neither of which result in a very keepable picture.Gently guide your potential camera buyer away from this choice.
APS: The next to newest type of camera. For some people this would be a good choice because of ease of use. The film loads with a simple drop-in, they have auto film advance and rewind, and are available in a wide selection of models and prices.Most people really like the option of taking three different picture sizes on one roll of film.(Classic-4x6,H-4x7, Pan 4x10)
When you get the film developed the negatives come back reloaded in the cassette. You get an index print with your pictures,which you need in case you want to order reprints. If you lose the index print, you can't look at the negatives to find the pictures you want.On the plus side you can order reprints in a different format than the pictures were originally taken. For instance, if you took a panoramic picture but the subject is smack in the middle, you can order a reprint as a 4x6.
When they first get an APS camera people typically take a lot of panoramic shots, sometimes without even realizing it.This gets expensive unless your developer doesn't charge more for the panoramic prints. Most do.
110 Cassette cameras: Let's not waste much time on this option.These are cheap and easy to use,which in spite of poor quality prints would make them a good choice for kid's cameras but 110 cameras are being phased out. My store doesn't have any to sell now except for a Barbie model. The film will still be available for a few more years.
DIGITAL:Prices have steadily fallen and you might find a digital is easy enough for a photographer born into the computer age.Memory cards are reusable making them more cost effective, but some of the cheaper cameras have a non-removable internal memory.Still these can be erased or downloaded and reused. As with adults, if you are after images to e-mail this is the perfect choice. But if you mostly want prints to hand around or put in an album, digital cameras produce more expensive pictures with poor quality. (Unless you buy a very high quality camera and printer.)
A lot of kids would enjoy just taking the pictures and erasing them over and over without even making prints.
35MM: Probably what you will be buying.There are a lot of good models available in the $40- $80 range. Look for one with all automatic features: fixed focus, fixed or automatic exposure,and most importantly motorized film advance and rewind or at least with a motorized rewind button.
Why? If you get a model with a manual rewind it won't last long. They are not like the older model traditional manual 35mm SLR's. The rewind mechanism will be a flimsy bit of plastic and very delicate. It's too easy to snap one of these off. Also if the film rewinding is not done correctly it will strip the film edges, making it impossible to rewind which usually leads to someone opening the back of the camera in frustration, ruining the film if it wasn't ruined already.
35mm cameras give good return for your efforts. You get good results as long as they are taken in adequate light,held reasonably steady and aimed reasonably well.Reprints can be made from the negatives and with a scanner they can also be e-mailed or otherwise manipulated on a computer the same as digital images.
SOME GENERAL ADVICE:Have your film processed at a place that lets you look at the prints and take out the clinkers before you pay for them.In kids pictures you'll see snaps of toys, the TV(very popular), people's knees and many blurry self portraits of just a nose and one eye.
If you can't get the film rewound don't open the back. Take it to a one hour film processor and ask if they can open it in the dark box and rewind it for you.
Remind your budding photographer that what they see through the viewfinder isn't exactly what the camera lens is seeing.They are offset a little, not so noticeable in distant scenery, but more noticeable the closer the camera is to the subject. In fact after you see the first set of pictures you might want to figure out where the difference is, and put a tiny strip of masking tape on the viewfinder to block off what won't be in the picture. Usually the top and right edges, but on your camera it might be the top and left edge. This prevents cutting off people's heads in pictures.
Also to prevent getting their fingers in front of the lens, try putting a small piece of tape on the front as a guide to finger placement.You can feel the tape when your fingers are in the right place. This is expecting too much for most kids to remember, but it's worth a try. After all, Your child is much smarter than average, right?
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