As christmas time is nearing parents are frantically trying to get all of their shopping done to beat the holiday rush. One item that may be on your child’s christmas list is a camera. If you are like most parents, your toddler likely already has plenty of toys and in this digital age kids are all about the electronics. Before you go out and look at digital cameras for kids I wanted to share our experience with one that our daughter received last year.
Discovery Kids Digital Photo/Video Camera
Before our daughter received her LeapPad2, she was always wanting to use my phone to take pictures with. At parties and events she always wanted our digital camera to take her own pictures, so we got one that was supposedly kid-friendly. I suppose our first mistake was picking out a camera in a department store.
Specifications: These are the camera’s listed features
- 16 MB of Internal storage
- Takes up to 120 pictures and full-motion video
- Color LCD screen
- USB connectivity for uploading and sharing pictures via computer
The camera comes in two color options for boys and girls and claims to be built kid-strong. In actuality, however, this proved to be false. After opening it I think my daughter used it for a total of 3 days and then it broke. This was very disappointing as she was so excited to have her very own camera that she could take pictures with (and I had my phone back).
She doesn’t play rough with her toys and even though it was advertised as ‘kid-strong’ we still advised her that she needed to take good care of it to teach her how to care for her toys, especially with electronics. It was dropped once ON CARPET and that was the end of it. My husband played around with it to see if he could do anything but it never came on again. We could have tried contacting the manufacturer for a replacement had we kept the packaging, but I was not at all impressed with the overall performance to get another one only to risk having the same thing happen. Upon looking it up on Amazon for reviews by chance ours was just defective (because Amazon is one of the best places to find user’s reviews aside from consumer reports) I wasn’t surprised to discover that it wasn’t even rated!
The picture and video quality was very poor. I wasn’t expecting perfect high resolution photo quality for a child’s camera, but it could have been a little better. The LCD screen is really small for playing back your photos or videos on. The memory is just so-so for pictures, however if you take videos it consumes up to majority of the memory. She had a video clip that she recorded which was maybe 30 seconds long, if that, and was only able to take up to 3 photos afterwards and the memory was full. I would certainly NOT advise any one to waste their money on this product. There are other models by this company as well that I found but have also received poor ratings by consumers.
A few months later she received the LeapPad2,which you can see my review on, that also has a camera on it that she loves. Since this basically took the place of a camera we hadn’t bought her another one, however I did some research to find some better kids’ cameras based on consumer’s reviews that I could recommend.
Recommended Digital Cameras for Kids
If you’re looking to get a digital camera for your little photographer these are some better options that received great ratings by consumers. At a glance you can really tell these are made with better quality simply by the features, specifications and the amount of memory they contain compared to the model we had.
Fisher-Price Kid Tough Digital Camera
Now this is a kid-tough digital camera that is really designed to handle being dropped. It’s more than just a toy, however. This is a real camera that features 4x digital zoom and an enhanced 0.3MP imager. The buttons are large and easy for kids to control and the camera features kid-friendly grips so your little ones can get an easy handle on it. Your kids can also edit their photos and add fun graphics through a downloadable software.
The size is easy for them to hold, the double viewfinder means they don’t have to coordinate closing one eye to look through it.
You can see more reviews here.
VTech KidiZoom Spin & Smile Digital Camera
This camera offers a little more versatility. It features a rotating lens and a timer that allows kids to take self-portraits. It has 4x digital zoom and 2.0 megapixel picture quality with video capabilities and audio. The internal memory can store hundreds of photos so you’re not having to constantly delete so they can continue taking photos. This camera has intuitive buttons that are easy for tiny fingers to control and has been tested for durability to withstand drop after drop.
This camera is a great beginner camera for kids. It’s an awesome product!”
Check out the full reviews
Fisher Price Kid Tough See Yourself Camera
Similar to the VTech mentioned above, the See Yourself camera also features a lens that rotates 180 degrees to let kids take snapshots of themselves as well as standard portraits and video. It has 4x digital zoom, an internal memory of 256MB with an SD slot for a card, and features a color screen. It’s built to survive repeated drops and has large buttons for simple kid-friendly controls. It also features special effects like backgrounds and in-camera graphics for kids to add their personal touch to their pictures.
I was shocked at how well the sound and picture came through as far as the video.
You can see the full reviews here
Don’t waste your money on a poor quality digital camera like the Discovery Kids models. If you were looking for a camera for your child this Christmas, I would certainly recommend the choices mentioned above based on consumer reviews. And for mom, I also have a featured digital camera buying guide so you can capture your children’s faces as they open their gifts!
Speak Your Mind