Is Three Year Old Kid Too Young For Camera?

[PeterL]

Acutally, this is quite true. My wife claims to know nothing about photography or photographic equipment (and I agree with her)... other than how to load film, push the shutter release, and drop the film off at the drugstore for processing. But she sure does take some great photos... especially of people. Why... it's what you say... she's unencumbered by the details and 'rules' of photography. Same with kids... as you say.

I was thinking about my mother... My father does all the shooting until my mother got a disposable camera for free somewhere. Very interesting results ! My dad would take a picture of a church and my mother's picture would show the actiion in front of it, on the square, barely showing there's even a church there at all.

Don't wait... go have a couple of kids and you'll get a much better idea of what a 3yo kid is capable of. Some might have the coordination/patience/attention-span required for photography, but many don't. It's not their fault... it's a situation that is easily cured with time!

I don't think my girlfriend would like that "don't wait, get kids now" approach 🙂 We're still a fresh & new couple, so before we go that route ourselves, I can enjoy seeing her nephew and niece and my nephew grow up. All the fun, no diapers to change 🙂 I'm hoping one of them will get the photography bug, it looks fun to be in the kiddie camera market ! Darn, I wouldn't mind one of those FunkyCams or Barbycams myself !


Peter.

 

[x-ray]

I need a Barbi Cam to take on assignment;<) Give her a film camera and buy lots of film. Let's keep film consumption up so it will be around for a long long time. Our kids are the future of film.

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=5045

 

[wintoid]

aren't you going to have to do everything about the photographic process together: loading film, shooting, unloading the film, going to the store (1 hour?), picking up the photographs and maybe have a look at them right there and then, to make the connection?

My daughter (2 3/4) always opens the film boxes for me, and takes the film out of the canister (if it's 35mm). She watches me fumbling around with the developing tank inside a dark bag. She watches me twirling chemicals and pouring and measuring temperatures. She watches me hang the film in the shower. She loves to see Vuescan revealing the contents of the negative.

All of this is "daddy doing a film" to her, so when she was presented with Barbiecam and told she could have her own film, I'm pretty sure she comprehends the whole process.

The bit she doesn't get is probably the framing. We haven't developed the first film yet, but I think we're going to get lots of pictures of knees 😀

 

[ywenz]

Buy a fisher price digi cam... I'm sure they make some crappy cheap toy cameras for kids

 

[varjag]

If you are using film, wil the child actually realise the connection between the printed photographs, and the whole "looking through the camera and pushing the button, just like daddy" experience?

He will, if you take time to explain it. Kids at 3 are fairly perceptive already.

 

[BrianShaw]

He will, if you take time to explain it. Kids at 3 are fairly perceptive already.

True, but digital is probably the best bet. The general guideline for estimating a child's attention span is child's age plus 10 minutes. Okay... so even Polaroid is a good bet!

 

[raid]

I am going to go with a digital camera. This way, my kid can shoot and shoot and see what she managed to capture without costing us anything. I have about 60 cameras and more lenses, so one day she can pretty much pick and choose any film based camera, if film will still be around by that time.

 

[John Robertson]

I have three grandchildren, now 11,8 and 5. Only the eldest Jennie showed any interest in photography at a young age. To keep her quiet one day I bought her a very cheap £4, camera at a supermarket. I fully expected it to be lost or broken, but was very surprised to see quite reasonable results. She was 4 at the time. When she was 6 I gave her a Russian cosmic Symbol I had in the house, and we went out for an expedition to shoot pictures, her results really surprised me. The "other" grandparents not to be outdone bought her a digital camera for her Xmas, fine I thought, that will save dev/printing costs. 🙄
Within a month she was totally bored with it, and went back to the Cosmic Symbol. When she was 9, I gave her a Nikon Pronea S, with two zooms I picked up cheap. now at 11, she is regarded as the class photographer at her school. She gets her films dev and scanned onto disc. I loaded Photoshop Elements on her computer taught her the basics, and am constantly surprised at what she turns out. The other two grand kids, another girl and a boy are not remotely interested. I totally depends on the kid when if ever they will show any interest, if they do just encourage them the best you can. Whatever you do don't force them into it!!!
Oh! and spare your friends and colleagues constant display of what the kid has done now, you will find they avoid you like the plague. 🙄
You never know where it might lead when they are older. I just know that Jennie and I have great days out visiting places to photograph, she also makes a great assistant when I am shooting, and absorbs information like a sponge. Photography is also a great add-on to other hobbies, nature studies, sports, etc.

 

[popitz]

It will be a couple of years however before I hand him over his Leica Mp with 50 summicron which I bought on the day that he was born (all paperwork dated on his day of birth) and hasn't been used yet. He will be the first to shoot a picture on that one.

A Leica MP with a 50 'cron! I wish I was your kid.

My son didn't even wait for me to give him his own camera, he bought himself a Rolleicord II on an online auction site when he was 7 months old. He did it by pressing the Enter key while my wife was still discussing with me whether to buy it or not. Good thing he got it cheap 😀.

Now he's 19 months old and loves to mimic daddy and mommy taking pictures. We handed him a disposable camera to take pictures with but can't seem to find it now 😕. He might have disposed it while we weren't looking 😛. Maybe he doesn't like the feel of plastic.

His first taste of a camera was a Vitomatic IIa. But I think the Pens are more his size.



He loves mommy's Mamiya 645 but it's still too big for him. So mommy taught him how to use the Pen FT. He loves the sound the camera makes when he presses the shutter button.



Unfortunately, it seems he inherited his dad's expertise in lens cap photography 🙂.



He doesn't know it yet but he's gonna be stuck with more than 60 (and counting) old cameras that don't have a digital sensor 😀.

 

[raid]

This is hilarious! Great photos, by the way. 🙂

 

[popitz]

This is hilarious! Great photos, by the way. 🙂

Thanks raid, your daughter will surely love the camera. And I'm pretty sure she's gonna take really good pictures just like her old man. I hope she also grow up to like film cameras, too.

I can't wait for my son to learn how to take pictures by himself so we can all shoot together. I find it a bit difficult to take pictures while taking care of him. My wife used to sling him on her back when she goes out to shoot but he's getting heavier and likes to run around so that doesn't work now either.

 

[raid]

Whenever Dana puts on a new dress, she first says " I want photos".
I will strat out with the camera on a tripod so that she can see some results with a "stable hand" before having her walk around with a camera.

Where in Japan are you located? We spent last summer six weeks in Nagoya.

Regards,
Raid