Camera for 8 year old.

[zenice]

My eight year old son is fascinated with photography and wants his own camera for his coming birthday. Which camera would be suitable for such an age group? The choices are too confusing.

[WesternGuy]

zenice, not sure what exact camera would be suitable for an eight year old (maybe others do), but if he is at all very active, then I would look for a low-end, point and shoot that can take a bit of a beating, i.e., can be dropped occassionally onto a hard surface without too much effect on the camera. Brand doesn't really matter in my opinion, because all you are looking to do at this point in time is to give him something that will satisfy his curiosity about taking pictures. I would suggest you go down to your local camera store, assuming you have one, (or two) and talk to the knowledgeable people there. I also would not worry about one that has too many frills/features on it, maybe a simple (10X) zoom capability but not much more. In a few years, if he is still interested then you could upgrade him to one of the more sophisticated models like a Canon Powershot model, a Nikon Coolpix or one of the Panasonic Lumix series - these are all higher end point and shoot with more zoom/telephoto capacity and other features. For now, in my humble opinion, he probably does not need this level of sophistication. My 0.02¢.

Cheers,

WesternGuy

[zenice]

Thanks WesternGuy. Good advice. In fact I had a look at the local store and they had all these fancy models which frankly, to me looked very delicate from canon, nikon, sony, panasonic, samsung etc. What would be a rugged camera?

[Grandpaw]

I would get something fairly simple and low cost for two reasons. First in a week or two the interest shown in taking pictures may no longer be there and something else will take it's place and second when they leave it somewhere and it gets lost you will not have to go crazy over the amount of money you spent. It has also been my experience with my children and grand children that the more money that is spent on an item the less likely they are to use it very long, Jeff

[silvering88]

I would get something fairly simple and low cost for two reasons. First in a week or two the interest shown in taking pictures may no longer be there and something else will take it's place and second when they leave it somewhere and it gets lost you will not have to go crazy over the amount of money you spent. It has also been my experience with my children and grand children that the more money that is spent on an item the less likely they are to use it very long, Jeff

yeah, I totally agree with Grandpaw .the very young always tend to toss toys around and a camera would not last long. Some toy companies sell cameras that are mostly plastic, and will survive most children.

If your son is old enough to treat a camera with care, I would also suggest you buy the lowest priced cameras.
http://www.************.com/digital-...s-c-324_8.html
there many digital cameras at the low price.

[zenice]

Thanks for the advice Grandpaw. My son has been camera crazy since age 4 when he could barely hold my Canon. Then he graduated to mobile phone cameras and takes pictures of ants, our cat and pretty much everything else around him. I have been looking on the net for rugged cameras but the choices are rather limited.

[janicee]

guess most of digital camera will do.
I have sony dcs w180 which I guess be easy for an 8 year old.

[zenice]

Thanks a lot janicee. I've narrowed my choices down to the canon powershot series. Somehow I find the canons have better color as compared to others. Appreciate your advice.

[prisslazio]

i think you just need to buy your son digital camera...its enough for him... dont buy SLR hahahaha

[zenice]

Thanks prisslazio and silvering88. Much appreciated

[havana_joe]

I had lent my Canon Powershot A580 to my ex-girlfiend's 9 year old several times, and he had fun with it and took lots of pictures. He admitted he dropped it once or twice, but it still works fine. I use the A580 as my "walk-around" camera, it takes fairly nice pictures and lets me leave my more expensive gear at home. If I'm just out and about and I see something interesting, it's always in my jacket pocket. You might be able to find an outdated Powershot on eBay or Amazon, I used to have the A530, it was not a bad little camera, and they sell for $50-$100 online. Of course, as said before, it depends on the child; if he takes care of his things vs. if he breaks his things. To me, $50-$100 isn't really too much to spend on something that he will use, enjoy, and will last awhile, especially if it can become a life-long hobby, but it's a lot of money to just throw away!

[havana_joe]

One other thing I like about the Powershots is that they take AA batteries. No kid wants to wait for something to be recharged before it can be used, that takes all the fun out of it. I have rechargable AAs, but to be honest I usually just buy a big package of cheap AAs when I find them on sale and keep a few in my pocket. Kids don't like to wait, so if you go the Powershot route you might want to make sure you've got some AAs on hand in a drawer somewhere!

[zenice]

One other thing I like about the Powershots is that they take AA batteries. No kid wants to wait for something to be recharged before it can be used, that takes all the fun out of it. I have rechargable AAs, but to be honest I usually just buy a big package of cheap AAs when I find them on sale and keep a few in my pocket. Kids don't like to wait, so if you go the Powershot route you might want to make sure you've got some AAs on hand in a drawer somewhere!

I think thats an important consideration. Thanks havana joe

[NaturalWoman]

my kid uses a canon powershot a540. it can take a beating, and has, uses AA batteries and she can grow into it, until she can buy her own.

i should mention that this was my camera at first. i gave it to her.

[Photo-John]

my kid uses a canon powershot a540. it can take a beating, and has, uses AA batteries and she can grow into it, until she can buy her own.

i should mention that this was my camera at first. i gave it to her.

I think that's the best bet for kids - hand-me-down point-and-shoot.

[zenice]

Well my son's B'day came and I took him to the camera store and guess what. After the salesperson showed him all the canons, sonys and olympus he choose the Nikon L22. Very happy with it. In fact since that day he's been clicking everything and everyone. He even sleeps with it under his pillow. Can't thanks all you members enough for all your helpful suggestions. They helped me in shortlisting the things to look for in a kiddie cam.Thanks so much.