Digital Kids Camera

It’s a fact that children love to use their parents camera to take pictures. Problem is that cameras don’t necessarily love children.

While you can supervise a child with your expensive and latest Canon DSLR its unlikely that you are going to allow them to use it themselves. Easily damaged by a child that has not yet learned the value of possessions within their reach you may well be thinking of getting  a digital kids camera. If so what do you buy?

This largely depends on the age of the child. Children develop very quickly these days especially when it comes to technology. When so many pre school children have already mastered basic computer skills it seems likely that even a complex digital camera may well be well within their grasp. These days there are two distinctly different routes that you can take.

You could go for a digital kids camera specially made with the toddler through pre school as its target consumer. These cameras are big, colourful and ruggedized and are designed to be dropped ten times a day and still operate. Watch out for two eye viewing which help little ones frame the shot. Other features include large hand grips, big buttons and easy controls while most have viewing screens so that children can instantly see the results of their picture taking. Some kids digital cameras are even waterproof so they can be left outside or taken into the water for exploration.

On the downside they have fairly low resolution usually no more than 3 mega pixels at the very best. Some are as low as 0.3 mega pixel, in our opinion these should be avoided completely. Bear in mind though that a toddler, unless very advanced, is likely to wave the camera around anyway so however good the resolution blurry shots are inevitable. There are dozens of different digital kids cameras on the market with prices as low as £20 rising to around $150. All are capable of taking a half decent photograph in ideal conditions but many have some real failings so you need to be careful.

Battery life can be an issue also make sure that the camera is supplied with a removable memory card to make it easy to download photos onto a desktop computer. As rule of thumb aim to pay as much as you can afford, don’t expect high quality photographs from a $20 childrens digital camera. See our reviews to find the most  popular digital kids camera on the market before you decide but we think that these cameras will only appeal to toddlers, by the time the child reaches five something much more sophisticated is probably on the cards.

Therefore consider sourcing an adult digital camera, for want of a better word, which will produce higher quality pictures. These are mainly compact point and shoot digital cameras that fit easily into a pocket and are more suitable for older children who have learned something about responsibility. There are some really good deals around from the major players in the market such as Canon, Nikon, Sony and Samsung to name just a few. The biggest benefit over a kids digital camera is in resolution, these cameras usually start at around 5 megapixel and typically the norm would be 10 megapixel. This means that provided the camera is used properly picture quality will be excellent. They are tough and robust too, many will take knocks and drops without damage so may well be ideal for a five year old to learn the basics of photography.

Another option is to look for a good used digital camera from online stores like Amazon,  Toys r Us and eBay many models will offer excellent value for money. For a five year old the camera does not have to be cutting edge and there are many fantastic digital cameras around at very reasonable prices.
Kids digital cameras include camcorders too, these are a growing sector of the market that offer children a whole new experience in picture taking. However choice at present is fairly limited and the quality of childrens camcorders are really not great. If the big players like Vtech and Fisher Price gear up for this market then things will improve but right now you are probably better off sourcing a basic low end camcorder for your child to use.