Tiny SLR for a kid?

I'd go for the Nikon EM. Hopefully, he won't damage it. But don't be surprised if he does. After all, he's only 6. And he's a boy.
 
I vote for the FG...

1. Not only small, but light!
2. He can use AE.
3. It's a brand he'll love forever.
4. In a near future, he will play with manual exposure with the same already well known and beloved body.
5. For sure you already have lenses for him to experiment.(Or for weight and size you could get him the 45 pancake... I have wanted it for years!)
6. High quality images are (easily) obtainable.
7. You can borrow it...

Cheers,

Juan
 
+1 for Pentax

The ME, ME Super, MG, and P3 series are all incredibly affordable, small, and well made. If you pick up an ME/ME Super, you'll also be getting one of the biggest, brightest viewfinders available in an SLR (it easily rivals my Pentax LX and Contax RTS II). Makes focusing a breeze, that one.
 
Consider the original Canon Digital Rebel - light and cheap!
I know it isn't a film camera but I predict he enjoys it!
 
My doughter no.1 used to take impressive pictures with a (by Cosina made?) Yashica FX-3 "super 2000" at the age of three years. Even concerning exposure setting, it was not difficult to intruct her: "move the aperture ring until the signal is green."
 
when I got my Pentax ME Super, the smallest SLR that I know of, I was new to this SLR lark and I found it very heavy. My hands ached; and that was with the really quite diminutive 50/1.7. It took a while to get used to it. For a smallish kid it's going to take some hefting. I think perhaps a mini rangefinder might be a better proposition. For example the ricoh 500g. The ricoh is also very cheap; much cheaper than the pentax.
 
varjag said:
(also he's not really liking the Powershot we have in the house).
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Does he like using film cameras instead? I would figure that if he liked photography, he would love the powershot, with its ease of use and immediate feedback.

Maybe he needs some photo projects that kids would find entertaining. I'm thinking things like long exposures in the dark, stop motion animations, time lapse photography (look up CHDK on google), multiple exposures, action shots, things like that.
 
I have to agree with earlier suggestions and say Nikon EM and series E lens or two. They have a great 35/2.8 and a 100/2.8. An option would be to go with the FG. Bit of a step up from the EM but not too much. An SLR with a 35 is a great place to start and an 100/2.8 would make it perfect for many years.

B2 (;->
 
lorriman said:
when I got my Pentax ME Super, the smallest SLR that I know of, I was new to this SLR lark and I found it very heavy. My hands ached; and that was with the really quite diminutive 50/1.7. It took a while to get used to it. For a smallish kid it's going to take some hefting. I think perhaps a mini rangefinder might be a better proposition. For example the ricoh 500g. The ricoh is also very cheap; much cheaper than the pentax.
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My ME Super (body) was a buck fifty from KEH As-Is and works fine. Hard to beat that. No idea what shipping would add, of course.

I agree that they're small but surprisingly heavy. And they're AE rather than full auto.

If Pentax, I recommend the ME Super over the MG. The mode dial on the ME Super has a lock that makes it hard even for adults to leave Auto. The MG has no lock and a 6yo will move that dial from Auto to the fixed back-up speed of 1/100 or to B in no time at all.
 
Juan Valdenebro said:
I vote for the FG...

1. Not only small, but light!
2. He can use AE.
3. It's a brand he'll love forever.
4. In a near future, he will play with manual exposure with the same already well known and beloved body.
5. For sure you already have lenses for him to experiment.(Or for weight and size you could get him the 45 pancake... I have wanted it for years!)
6. High quality images are (easily) obtainable.
7. You can borrow it...

Cheers,

Juan
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+1

The FG, FG-20, and EM are all built on the same chassis and with the same mechanical components. The FG has the wider range of exposure modes.
 
If you're interested, I've got a Nikon EM with a (crappy but fine) Sunactinon 28/2.8 lens. It's a tiny little SLR with auto exposure, simple features and a decent layout. You can have it for nothing if you pay for shipping fro mthe UK if you would like it. You can see a review here.
Good luck,
Jack.
 
I got my 11 year old an OM-4 (now with Camtech for an overhaul)

part of the decision was - I'd like him to have a camera, but not ready to share mine, but maybe he can use my lenses when I see he' not going to destroy them :)
 
marc,

I hope you have better luck with your 11 year old. Make sure the bag you get holds thing secure (read when it's tipped over no lenses drop out) no matter what. My son was great with the R I got for him, but dropped a CV 35/1.7 from about three feet up onto concrete. It worked but not as well.

B2 (;->
 
This thread is just weird. A little bit disturbing.
A 6-year-old doesn't even have a good grasp on the world around him, how is he supposed to photograph it? He doesn't have full motor skill development, or the cognitive ability to even understand what photography means. You're pushing your hobby on him, and before you tell me "he likes it" have you thought that 6-year olds are incredibly impressionable, and anything he sees you do (and then you proceed to put in his hands), he will seem to like? Does this mean that he is enjoying it for what it is? No.

I'm sure you have the best of intentions (photography brings you great joy, and you'd like to see your children experience that too), but let him be a kid, and find his hobbies on his own (better yet, let him experience that period of childhood where he just plays, not even having hobbies) . It'll be that much more rewarding when he gets somewhere himself.
 
apconan said:
This thread is just weird. A little bit disturbing.
A 6-year-old doesn't even have a good grasp on the world around him, how is he supposed to photograph it? He doesn't have full motor skill development, or the cognitive ability to even understand what photography means. You're pushing your hobby on him, and before you tell me "he likes it" have you thought that 6-year olds are incredibly impressionable, and anything he sees you do (and then you proceed to put in his hands), he will seem to like? Does this mean that he is enjoying it for what it is? No.

I'm sure you have the best of intentions (photography brings you great joy, and you'd like to see your children experience that too), but let him be a kid, and find his hobbies on his own (better yet, let him experience that period of childhood where he just plays, not even having hobbies) . It'll be that much more rewarding when he gets somewhere himself.
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I disagree. A 6-year-old can focus and shoot in AE, and for sure he will be VERY HAPPY on his new own camera! It's a perfect age... I remember how happy I felt by that age when my father and my uncles allowed me to soot their SLRs by the end of the seventies...

Cheers,

Juan
 
I disagree as well. I've never pushed it on my daughter and at 4 she loves it. She takes portraits of her stuffed animals and will even take group pics of people. Always posing her subjects (live or stuffed). I know she didn't pick any of this up from me. I abhor taking portraits. If a child shows interest why not encourage it? Let them explore it on their own time in their own way. Maybe they'll like it maybe they won't. I think it's actually very important to get them their own camera. At this age they are trying to build a self identity and having their own anything can help with that.
 
Being strong believer in letting my kids experiment and find their own way. Often it is doing stuff that I do and one of them wants what dad has, same or better. Hard when you're using an M6 with a rapidwinder "But my camera doesn't have a winder!" was an often heard refrain. Didn't want to use my T as it had no built in finder. Lots of stuff for sports, music and things that have found other homes.

B2 (;->
 
It depends on the child. My daughters were accustomed from birth to seeing me with a Canon F-1 and 50mm lens. For her third birthday, I gave my oldest a Casio Exilim EX-S2. That was right-sizes for her little hands with a metal body that could withstand a few drops - and she totally gets the idea of photography. Her older cousin kept breaking the plastic mode selector switch, so now she has an Olympus D-395. For all her intelligence and skill and visual sophistication, I don't know how well she'd do with manual focus, and she's six now.

But if your son can do it, I'd recommend a Canon A-1 with either a 35/2.8 or 50/1.4 FDn lens. That's a light and capable rig, and cheap since it's an orphan lens mount.

Ari
 
I think we as parents assign capabilities and maturity to children that's well beyond them.

Maybe your son or daughter has those skills. Good for them.

As for myself, I want to know what my daughter did with the MP3 player that I gave her last summer, why she let the dogs chew up her dance shoes after we told her to put them away and who in hell from her school stole her Sony PSP.
 
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