Camera for 6 year old!

[reagan]

Good for you, jesse. Have fun!

And IMHO, Go with film! My granddaughters (6 & 10) were given Fuji throw-aways last summer on their MARATHON VISIT!! with us. I heard them reminding each other, "Don't waste it! Take a picture of something good!" They liked the surprise of seeing pics next.day much more than the quick glance at the back of a digital. Plus, they liked getting to take the occasional shots with one of grandpa's *real.cameras*.

I'll continue giving them a throw-away on daytrips for now and if one of them takes a little more interest in how to get better shots, I have a Minoltina-P held back in the drawer that I think will work well for a first camera. It has a 38mm Rokkor, match-needle meter and the little focusing images on the lens for portrait, group shots and landscape.

...the little angels :angel: 🙄

 

[RML]

Film for a 6 year old? Nonsense. Digital is IMO the best approach. My daughter happily took photos with a digicam. Children that young often don't even care for the photo they took. They just want to imitate mum or dad. When you show them the photo they took, they find it cool, perhaps even interesting, but their minds are already somewhere else. They live in their own world, with their own interests and curiosities, and with an attention span varying from hours to seconds.

Now, I cultivated things a little with my daughter by just letting her shoot with a digicam over the years. Then, by the time she was 7-8, I tried to get her a bit more involved in the looking-seeing-taking part. That worked and she started to take photos more deliberately and "planned". Now she's 9 and I've introduced her to the rf VF, which she finds cool. Also, to focusing a rf camera (another cool). And also to previsualising: the difference between what your eye sees and how it will look in the shot (and I told her about Winogrand and why he shot so tremendous amounts of photos. Again, cool). In the meantime I let her help me develop my B&W film, and just a couple of weeks ago I got an enlarger. I'm now setting up a darkroom so I can introduce my daughter to the magic of printing.

Getting your kid into photography is a gradual thing. Just let the kid itself decide when it's ready for the next step. Mine always came to me, and then I explained and taught her. Not once did I force things on her. But because I shoot often when she's around, and use her as a model, she's regularly involved in photography, which keeps her newly found knowledge alive, her thoughts and ideas fresh, and it's fun to do things with dad.

 

[jesse1dog]

Thanks everybody.
There is a lot of experience out there for me to get to grips with.
I need to have another think and reread.
The essence seems to be:
Don't force things on the 6 year old - go with the swing.
Talk to them about what you are doing and let them have a go.
Some sort of 'point and shoot' has posibilities, but whatever keep it simple.
And it all depends on the 6 year old!

The discussion between film or digital is an interesting one.

 

[Finder]

I am not sure the arguments for digital that it is the technology of the future is valid. That would be like saying there is no point in teaching kids to do math on a piece of paper because there are computers that will do it for them. I don't think it matters whether it is a film or a digital camera; the important factor is that it is simple. I don't think waiting is an issue either - Kids don't seem to forget or lose interest in Christmas and that takes a year to come around. The whole process should center around play as that is the way kids learn.

 

[keithwms]

I remember fooling around with my dad's yashica tlr when I was around that age, maybe a year or two older. It really inspired me, not just in photography but in science in general. Being able to see the inner workings of the camera, that was great.

I do worry that digital cameras have become black boxes. When it comes to learning something, I take the Amish approach! I want to know exactly how every bit works. And I think every kid has a great innate curiosity that can be developed, so why give them a black box.

I know that a lot of kids enjoy using throwaways, that may be a good way to go. Polaroid also has some fun things for kids. Seems to me that either of those options would be more suitable than a digital. Digitals produce images- fine. But at that age, as I recall, I was more interested in how things work than getting a printout.

Or get some print-out paper and let the kids play with that, or build a camera obscura and/or a pinhole camera. These are all really fun projects for kids. What kids learn from those kinds of exercises is far more valuable in the long run than relying on black box for capture and another black box for editing and another black box for printout.

 

[Pepe]

I've fondled my grandfathers Zeiss Ikon Nettar 6x9 camera from 1941 through my entire childhood. When I found it again in a box when I moved to my own house with my wife it started me going with photography.

Oddily, I've only shot one roll with it (it still works, perfectly, I'll buy a digital when I believe it will last like that). And only very recently.

I can only hope my kids will like it when they get old enough to appreciate it

 

[jbf]

For those of you complaining about the idea of instant gratification with digital and that kids should use film and learn patience must have forgotten about a ancient relic known as...


Polaroid.


Have you forgotten about these cameras? I used these exclusively as a little kid. Taking ton of photographs of mostly extremely stupid things like toys or out of focus photos of my dog or shoes.

Its no different than digital folks.

Plus kids get to have a print in their hands.

I say give them a polaroid and also give them a real cheap film (35mm) camera. Let them play with both.

 

[keithwms]

Haha, yeah I have miffed many a digital user by pointing out that polaroid prints are had even faster than digital prints 😉 Of course, we don't want to talk about the price per capture, and for a 6 year old that may be an issue....

But I was going to mention the polaroid stickies that you can get; you can take pics and then adhere the photos anywhere. Pretty fun for kids. But probably pretty pricey for a 6 year old.

Incidentally, with a little hot water, you can get great emulsion lifts from fuji fp100c, that might also be great fun for kids. You get a durable image on stretchable plastic. Perhaps better for artsy, older kids, but it's great fun and quite fascinating. The lifted emulsion is way less fragile than the previous polaroid stuff, it can be sprayed and hardened and mounted...

 

[dhartse]

I used to have a digital point and shoot, which my 6 year-old daughter has laid claim to as hers. (She does let me borrow it.) The rest of my cameras are all film cameras. She's told me a number of times that she likes her camera much better than my cameras. So based on my experience, I'd have to vote with those who say to get a digital camera for a 6 year-old.

Duane

 

[bean_counter]

When my daughter was that age, I bought her a Barbie 110 camera. Limitted her rolls so that she had to think a bit about "wasting" shots. A disposable is probably the equivalent.

When she was 8 (nearly 9), I bought her a Canonette. She got used to focus VERY quickly, and stated to take some pretty good pictures. She needed help to load (saving my film budget!), and didn't understand stops and shutter speed, but the auto exposure took care of that.

At age ten, she started shooting chromes, and actually won the 18 & under Landscape category at the county fair. Now at eleven, she's starting to play with exposure, depth of field, and shutter speed (with help, of course).

FUNNY thing happened this week on vacation at The Breakers (Vanderbilt's mansion in Newport Rhode Island); a small crowd of Japanese tourists gathered near her as she was snapping photos of flowers, the Nikon-toting fathers and grandfathers in the group pointing at my daughter and excitedly talking to the youngsters. Couldn't understand the language, but it was almost certainly "gee, I used to have one like that!"

 

[thomasw_]

for a 6 yr old? a cheap digital. just for the joy of the instant capture; it is gratifying. let the more complex thinking and reflection take place years later....

a father of twins who shoot away with delight... thomas

 

[dhartse]

Let me add that I went to the hardware store and bought a rubber o-ring to put around the wrist strap of the digital camera, so the strap better fits my daughter. I've taught her that the first thing she does when picking up the camera is to put the strap around her wrist and pull the o-ring snug. It's saved the camera from falls a few times.

Duane

 

[RML]

Let me add that I went to the hardware store and bought a rubber o-ring to put around the wrist strap of the digital camera, so the strap better fits my daughter. I've taught her that the first thing she does when picking up the camera is to put the strap around her wrist and pull the o-ring snug. It's saved the camera from falls a few times.

Duane

I bought wrist straps from Gordon Coale and happily give my R-D1 to my daughter now (to hold while I'm in the toilet, have to dig in my pockets for money, or other while doing other tasks that require a hand without a dangling camera attached to it. 🙂 ). Like you said, the O-ring is very convenient and gives me the assurance I need to let her hold my main (and for me valuable) camera.

 

[dhartse]

I bought wrist straps from Gordon Coale and happily give my R-D1 to my daughter now (to hold while I'm in the toilet, have to dig in my pockets for money, or other while doing other tasks that require a hand without a dangling camera attached to it. 🙂 ). Like you said, the O-ring is very convenient and gives me the assurance I need to let her hold my main (and for me valuable) camera.

Those Gordy's straps are nice. The strap that came with the camera is adequate for my oh so ordinary digital P&S, but a Gordy's strap is a good choice for a camera that you value--whether it be film or digital.

Duane

 

[gudlagoba]

I think a digi cam would best for starters.

My daughter is 2 1/2 and she has learned to cock the shutter, change speeds and fire. Focus is next. I have given her my SP 500. Whenever I take out my Bessa she runs to her SP 500. But I'll probably get her a digi when she turns 3 and let her continue to train with the SP 500.

 

[Finder]

I think a digi cam would best for starters.

My daughter is 2 1/2 and she has learned to cock the shutter, change speeds and fire. Focus is next. I have given her my SP 500. Whenever I take out my Bessa she runs to her SP 500. But I'll probably get her a digi when she turns 3 and let her continue to train with the SP 500.

But that Pentax is really going to tone her arm muscles - forget digital. 🙂

 

[RML]

But that Pentax is really going to tone her arm muscles - forget digital. 🙂

That's one of the reasons why IMO a digicam is much more useful too. These SLRs are too big, heavy and clumsy in these little hands.