Toddler/Preschooler Cameras

[chirp]

Hey all

Our son is totally obsessed with our camera. So we wanted to buy him one of those digitals that is good for kids.

We impulse-bought at Toys R Us tonight. The Leap Frog version.

But it makes annoying sound effects and says things like "Great shot" and whatever.

Does anyone have another brand of kids DURABLE digital camera that isn't so...well, cheesy? Just something that takes pictures. We'd love to return this one before he gets his hands on it and wants to keep it forever and ever.

thanks!

[CarrieMF]

honestly I'd just skip buying a toddler camera & buy a cheaper regular digi camera. My kids were around 2-3 when they started using our HP camera. They learned to put the wrist strap on. They'd use my big Rebel too & learned how to zoom in/out manually with it around that age. I helped them take the actual photo with the Rebel because it was 35mm, but the HP they did all on their own. I just deleted alot.lol

[mommariffic]

We have a Fisher Price one. The quality isn't that great [obviously] but it's super durable [we threw it down the stairs on accident, well my DD did I was just an innocent bystander] and it's not that cheesy. She loves it!

[sapphire_chan]

So your kids actually use their camera? Hmm, could be worth trying then.

[lonegirl]

We have a FisherPrice one....the quality sucks, and so does the battery life. I trust him well enough with one of my old cameras. It is an old 3megapixel Kodak....He also take ones with my current one. (I have a huge collection of cameras-it's an ongoing joke with my friends ) I taught him to centre the subject and he is getting quite good at it now.

[St. Margaret]

We have the FP one, too. It was a xmas gift from a grandparent who really needed a "the special gift" idea, so I was happy about it. The pic quality sucks but it's certainly good enough, maybe like a camera phone. Fine by me! DD is quite happy with it and looking at her pics on the computer. It's perfect b/c it turns off by itself and our camera isn't getting beat up (it really couldn't handle that!) or the battery run down just when I want it. It was super cheap, too, like $40 I think?

[snoopy5386]

we got this one for DD. Works well enough and survives drops ok
http://www.arguscamera.com/products/cameras/bean5.html

[Chryseis]

We have the VTech KidiZoom camera. Not the best quality of picture, but enough to make my daughter happy. It's also crazy durable. It's been thrown down our stairs and onto our ceramic tile more time than I care to count. I'm not entirely sure if they even make it anymore, though.

[amandaleigh37]

We like the fisher price one. It makes a sound when turning on and off, and a shutter sound when you take a picture. The battery life seems pretty good to me? It was a Christmas gift and we haven't had to change batteries yet.

[moonlitemama]

I got my youngest the VTech Kidizoom Plus http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ms_ohs_product for Christmas and he loves it. I must say, I'm very impressed with it, as is my husband who tends to be quite a snob about all things technical. It has some nice features, takes tons of pictures at a decent resolution, takes some video and they can record sound over the pictures, which all my kids love doing.

[MammaG]

We also have the Fisher Price one. We've had it for about 2 1/2 years and it's still intact, still working. Both my boys love it. I get the lithium batteries and I think that they last about 3-4 months with those in. Kids go through phases of using it, though. Quality of pictures isn't great, but they're a; least identifyable and the kids love seeing their work (we have about 6 seperate series of photos of Granny's living room ceiling, I think, but whatever...they love it!). I'd recommend it.

[mum2row]

Originally Posted by moonlitemama

I got my youngest the VTech Kidizoom Plus http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ms_ohs_product for Christmas and he loves it. I must say, I'm very impressed with it, as is my husband who tends to be quite a snob about all things technical. It has some nice features, takes tons of pictures at a decent resolution, takes some video and they can record sound over the pictures, which all my kids love doing.

I am in agreement with this. Plus we have found it is not a huge battery hog. We use rechargable batteries and have only changed them once since Christmas.

[chirp]

thanks for all the replies. we figured out how to turn the sound off on the camera. for now though, ds is such a button smasher that he inadvertently turns it back on.

i was impatient to see how much he would love it, and so we already gave it to him. he likes it. i think we'll just keep it. thank you for all the "reviews" though. if we're ever in the market for another one, i'll keep this thread in mind.

just a few comments: we thought about giving him a cheaper adult one, but durability really really mattered to us, as we can't afford to get him another one, really.

and as for battery life...we use rechargeables for everything. so that's not really an issue. but thanks for that input.

thanks again everyone!!! we've got another one on the way...and as much as i'd love to foster sharing, we prolly will end up buying another one in about a year and a half or so!!

[claddaghmom]

I bought DD the fisher price videocamera. Total waste of money. She can hold my digi, turn it on and take photos. But the videocamera is so bulky and poorly made that she can't use it and gets frustrated. We tried out the camera version and it was the same way. (I got the videocamera just b/c it was on clearance).


Anywayssss....I found an online return digital camera at Target and got it for $20. So there, now she has a camera lol.

[Mom2M]

Originally Posted by mum2row

I am in agreement with this. Plus we have found it is not a huge battery hog. We use rechargable batteries and have only changed them once since Christmas.

I looked at the reviews and one of the drawbacks was that rechargeable batteries could not be used. You had no problem with them?
I'm interested in it but only if you can use them.

Thanks

[moonlitemama]

Originally Posted by Mom2M

I looked at the reviews and one of the drawbacks was that rechargeable batteries could not be used. You had no problem with them?
I'm interested in it but only if you can use them.

Thanks

We use rechargables in ours, too, and haven't had any problems. I think I read the review that said you can't use rechargables, and I checked our instructions and don't recall seeing anything about it.

One note, though - if the batteries die and you're saving the pictures just on the internal memory, I'm pretty sure it says you'll loose them. The camera we got allows an SD card, which we got for cheap and keeps the pictures in case of battery failure.