If you are looking for kids digital cameras for young children, aged 3 to 7, you are probably concerned about a few things. Can it really withstand the rough handling children give all their ‘toys’… is it really easy for the child to use so that they want to play with it … what sort of quality can I expect from the photos and videos…. what functions does it have … how often do I need to replace batteries and so on…
I wondered these same things when my daughter asked me for a first camera for her fourth birthday. She was very keen to have the VTech KidiZoom (pink of course!) that she had seen advertised on TV. First of all I thought that it would be a rather a waste of money at her age, a one day wonder and be put away in the drawer for ever more after that, but was I wrong!
I was quite impressed with it from the start and actually had a good play with it myself. It is designed to be extremely robust and can be dropped without worry (not in the bath or pool though!) My daughter seemed to know what to do with it straight away and was soon pushing the buttons adding funny horns and faces and twiddling the joystick like a pro!
Big brother had to demonstate to her how to play the games, but to be fair, she had never played any kind of game before that – these games are quite simple anyway.
She loves her camera and has taken it on two holidays since.
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Over the last few months we have been treated to hillarious shots of over-exposed ‘flashed’ faces (if you hold it too close to an object the flash will trigger), feet, sky and carpet as well as some really good gems!! She has really come on with it now and can use all the features with ease.
I generally go through and delete any dud shots when she isn’t around. It holds up to 200 photos or up to 16MB of video, you can copy these to your PC with the software and cable included. You can also get a memory card if you really want to but the internal memory is, in my opinion, ample for a child of this age. The AA batteries last a long time, I have only changed them once in 6 months!
The picture quality is 0.3 megapixels, so nothing great but certainly good enough, as this is a small childs camera. It is more about getting used to using one than creating a photo masterpiece! My daughter likes to display these on the large family TV and this is where the picture quality shows its flaws, but she is as pleased as pie with her ‘work’.. ! There is no autofocus or zoom functions on the basic model (there is on the” plus” which is more expensive), but does a 4 year old need all this extra stuff , I’d say no! If your child is older than 7 or is particularly savvy with gadgets, then perhaps a first entry Kodak or Canon would be more appropriate but for most children 3-7 ish this is the ideal model for learning how to use a camera. The Kidizoom kiddie camera comes with a sturdy wrist strap, a spare changeable face plate, AV and USB cables for PC and TV, manual and CD rom.
I have been looking around the net for other peoples opinion and the overwhelming view is this toy digital camera offers great value and is an excellent choice and I agree with that view. No it’s not perfect, but it is fun, very usable, robust and a great introduction to photography.
When I asked my daughter what she likes best about her KidiZoom camera, she said, I like the color, because its pink!! With a bit more prodding and probing I was able to ascertain she likes the funny cartoon picture editing and the fact that it is easy to use and makes her feel ‘grown up’ like me and she can plug it in the TV to show us her photos….!
All round, the Vtech Kidizoom is an excellent choice for a first camera. It teaches the principles of photography in a fun way, such as focusing on objects with the viewfinder, using buttons and joysticks to produce interesting photos and even better, it won’t break in the process. There is an upgraded version called the ‘plus’ which has far more options and features – higher mega pixel resolution, more little games to play and more storage space. I would say for most children the basic one is sufficient, but if you want to spend some more dollars the Plus model gives an even better amount of value.
You can also get a lovely matching sturdy case – color co-ordinated to the camera. A nice touch to complete the gift.
Colors are blue, pink, purple, orange and green.
Another good reason to buy kids digital cameras is that you dont have to lend your kids yours to ‘try out’ anymore, that was always a scary prospect!
