P&S for a 5 year old

Thanks for the replies and suggestions. My wife purchased a used Canon A4000is for $50. Its red, so my daughter will like it. It will be good for her to learn composition and it is a good camera, but I'll choose something with dials for her in a few years.
 
Please just let young children experience life through their own eyes rather than from behind a camera lens. They'll find their own passions in time.

But if I had to answer: the only point and shoot camera I would ever buy for a child would be one of the Fuji Instax cameras. Simple and joyful.
 
I got both my kids (6yrs & 7yrs at the time) one of those Nikon COOLPIX L30 cameras, (back then I think it was the L26 or some close number). I liked the fact that they were relatively inexpensive ($78), used AA batteries (so nothing to recharge), had a big LCD screen on the back (so they could look at their pictures without having to constantly download everything to a computer), had video capabilities (my son and his Lego men movies, and my daughter and her stuffy movies), had creative effects like B&W in camera (which my daughter likes to use), and the image quality, even in low light with the flash, was pretty good.

Best,
-Tim
 
Panasonic Lumix TS1 or TS3 are pretty inexpensive these days.
Waterproof with a flush lens encased behind glass.
Makes it easy to clean off Peanutbutter and other kiddie vises :)

I used a TS1 in Panama in '09 for some Docu work on the boat and for snorkeling.
It was great and kept going for several more watery trips.
Retired it to my then pre-teen niece in 2011 after a trip to Sardegna.
She still uses it.

It takes remarkably nice images considering it's somewhat technically hobbled with that glass encased lens.
You will never regret having a waterproof camera for a kiddo :D

P1010056 - Version 2 by Adnan W, on Flickr

P1000969 by Adnan W, on Flickr

P1010353 by Adnan W, on Flickr
 
BTW.... kudos for hooking up your kids with real cameras.
iPhones are great too but have distracting games and other toys!
 
Even though i am not buying a camera for my children yet i wanted to share the following...

My youngest son is 15 months old, is half Armenian and has Down syndrome. He only recently had his first teeth which is quite late for his age but due to the Down Syndrome everything takes a bit longer with him.
Now Armenians have a tradition that when a child gets his first teeth this is being celebrated in a special way... Apart from the good food and all the family being together, it means that you put the child in the middle of the table surrounded by items that can be related to a profession... a whisk for a chef, a stethoscope for a doctor, a pen for a writer, a brush for a painter, tools for a craftsman.
Whatever item he picks up first supposedly holds a relation to his later profession.

I was so proud of my son when he picked up the roll of Ilford HP5 that was in between the rest of the items!... So I guess I'll have to get him a camera some day... i am already looking forward to the joy it will bring me learning him to photograph...
:)
 
I thought so too, until my son went through a pack of instax film in under 3 minutes (costing $7.50). It gets expensive fairly quickly.

Samouraï said:
But if I had to answer: the only point and shoot camera I would ever buy for a child would be one of the Fuji Instax cameras. Simple and joyful.
Click to expand...
 
My son, Ian (5 1/2) has a Nikon coolpix 775 his Mum found in a charity shop. He's not averse to using my D700 though !! :)

The other day he was mucking about with, and using perfectly, my Rolleiflex T and Kiev 4. Nikon is his favourite though he said. :)

Ronnie
 
I woke up the other morning to find my 2 1/2 year old taking snaps with the fuji X ....He had the camera switched on and seemed to have a pretty good idea on how to hold it .... he took some funny pictures ; )


15570630642_c5a1f24de1_c.jpg
 
abo_1970 said:
Even though i am not buying a camera for my children yet i wanted to share the following...

My youngest son is 15 months old, is half Armenian and has Down syndrome. He only recently had his first teeth which is quite late for his age but due to the Down Syndrome everything takes a bit longer with him.
Now Armenians have a tradition that when a child gets his first teeth this is being celebrated in a special way... Apart from the good food and all the family being together, it means that you put the child in the middle of the table surrounded by items that can be related to a profession... a whisk for a chef, a stethoscope for a doctor, a pen for a writer, a brush for a painter, tools for a craftsman.
Whatever item he picks up first supposedly holds a relation to his later profession.

I was so proud of my son when he picked up the roll of Ilford HP5 that was in between the rest of the items!... So I guess I'll have to get him a camera some day... i am already looking forward to the joy it will bring me learning him to photograph...
:)
Click to expand...
A lot of great inputs from all, especially this was joyfull to read. I wish many great photos to both of you.
 
My youngest is 18 months old, and I wish there were some decent kids' cameras on the market. Doesn't need a massive sensor or a zoom. Needs to be simple to use and resilient. I have an Olympus Tough, but it's a bit fiddly for child fingers. :(

My other lads are both adults now - 23 & 18yo. So digital was way out of the question when they were young. The older one had a Canon Sureshot AF-7. Nice big viewfinder, decent lens and simple to use. He made some beautiful photos. The middle lad was less interested, and mainly borrowed my cameras when he was a bit older, but now has a film SLR he uses very sparingly.

I hope my lads get interested in photography (I wasn't until I was in my twenties, so there's hope yet), but it doesn't matter if they don't. I can't wait, however, to give the toddler the opportunity to get started.
 
shiro_kuro said:
I woke up the other morning to find my 2 1/2 year old taking snaps with the fuji X ....He had the camera switched on and seemed to have a pretty good idea on how to hold it .... he took some funny pictures ; )


15570630642_c5a1f24de1_c.jpg
Click to expand...

Best part with that shot is that he's got the viewfinder eye shut and looking around his nose from the other eye! Priceless! :D:D
 
I gave my daughter a Olympus X-a2 when she was 3. It was in rough shape and had a shutter button that worked reliable as long as you did not push too hard it had a small light leak so I taped the seam by the latch with a strip of electrical tape. I handed it to her and told her a camera is a delicate thing and must be treated with care and respect. Fully expecting her to completely trash it on our first outing I bought a couple more.
She treated that camera like it was made of glass, so careful with it . When she was 4 she caught her first fish and took a picture of it . I noticed she was looking the camera over real good. She saw me watching her and asked " Daddy where is the send button?". She is 9 now and has her 2nd camera an Olympus Stylus zoom 140 . I gave her a digital camera but she never uses it. Sorry so long and I'm sure you already got her a camera. Any camera given to her film or digital will be the best camera ever. Rich
 
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