Camera for a child?

[EarlJam]

Earl - I'm going to stick with digital I think, I'm a bit of a purist and shoot film but a 6 year old has a short attention span and also the ability to experiment, whether on the screen before taking the picture (backlighting, maybe AF lock) or by taking several and reviewing, is good for a learner. I do think a proper VF is the way to go in the end, and with a longer lens with its shallower DoF then things like aperture start to make more sense. Fuji may be a bit pricey for even me for now though! Such a shame you can't convert the old film cameras to digital, so many good ones for peanuts. I doubt a piece of technology like that would have passed me by!

I should have clarified - the Fuji was purchased used, a little worn but in otherwise good condition, at a decent price. My grandson is just now 5 years old, so has grown up with the instant gratification of digital images. As you note, digital is also much more accommodating when it comes to shooting lots of pictures and experimenting with camera settings. We will go out and shoot film occasionally, maybe 3 or 4 rolls per year, and he's learned to wait patiently for the prints to return. When he's a bit older and once I have some space cleared, my hope is to have him shoot B+W and process it with me, at home.

Re digital conversions for 35mm film cameras - I think that's the holy grail for most of us. There have been several attempts, going back to eFilm in the early 2000s, and a few more recent back replacement schemes, but so far I haven't seen anything even remotely practical make it to market.

 

[johnnyrod]

I should add I'm not like a lot of the RFFers with a $???? Leica or whatever, I've rarely spent over £100/$150-ish. That said, having made the mistakes of buying too cheap, i do appreciate it's worth a few more quid to bypass the hassle. So, something like a Fuji X100 or other is a good shout, something that is new enough to hold its own for a long time. Bit like a 1970s film SLR! But, I'll save it for a while, it's helps not at all to dump loads of toys on a kid.
Some time ago I'd have said we'll just have to get into digital, but the pace of change of technology is really something, maybe this I'm Back thing or whatever will find legs, look at camera phones now for example. We might have another 10 years to wait...

 

[BillBingham2]

If you want something with a bit more MP (yes it's only 5MP) but it runs iOS so you can get apps to control some aspects of it what about an Apple Referbed iPod Touch?

https://www.apple.com/us-hed/shop/browse/home/specialdeals/ipod

Not a lot of money but may run a new iOS version allowing most apps to run. Older phones cost lest, but not sure about what apps run and won't.

B2 (;->

 

[seany65]

Dunno why no-one suggested a Zenith EM:

1) Solid-to protect it from the kid.

2) Heavy-giving the kid some physical exercise and so helping prevent obesity.

3) Heavy-if the kid drops the thing on the kid's foot, it will learn to be more careful.

4) Solid and heavy-so if someone tries to mug the kid they have a useful and legal weapon which will still be usable as a camera afterwards.

5) Simple-to help the kid overcome the increasingly poor education kids get these days.

 

[David Hughes]

Lots of other advantages to the Zenit; you have to RTFM and learn how to use it. So that's focussing, aperture and shutter speed and film covered. And you'll have to get the exposure right and learning by playing around is a good thing for kids: give them something completely automatic and they'll not learn much and expect a lot. So what's not to like and it'll learn 'em photography as well as a lot of other things...

Regards, David

PS And they can probably afford it out of their pocket money; another plus point or two or three even...

 

[skucera]

When my first daughter was born I had the idea that I'd buy some 35mm point-and-shoot cameras, one for each kid, so when we went on family car trips they could shoot their own pictures. Well, I neglected to think ahead because I was just converting over to digital photography myself at that time, 1998, and by the time my kids got old enough for cameras of their own they had hand-me-down digital cameras of 2-3 megapixels. As everyone in the family traded up to better digital cameras, those old point-and-shoots would come to our house for the kids to use. So, despite having smart phones in middle school and high school, the kids took the old digital cameras on their various school trips and summer camps, and a good thing too because they often suffered a bit, like one that went overboard from a kayak and went to the bottom of Puget Sound.


When my oldest daughter wanted a film camera of her own I got her a Minolta Hi-Matic 9 rangefinder at a local thrift shop. She's prized that camera for two years. Unfortunately, it developed a shutter problem a month ago, so she'll bring it back to me when she gets her next leave and I'll take a look at it to see if it is savable.


The other kids are completely disinterested in cameras. When they need to snap a picture, their smart phones are completely adequate for their needs. C'est la vie....


Scott