Digital cameras for kids?

We have that same Vtech camera (actually two of them so they wouldn't fight) & while they were really into it for about a few weeks they're now relegated to some obscure part of their room. We also tried an older Sony "real" camera but that also found its way to the shelf.

Unfortunately what all of that told us was the thrill for our kids wasn't using a camera, it's doing what we're doing. So they really want to use our camera, no matter what that camera is.

My review of the Vtech is it's cute but is really worth the money. Meaning as far as cameras go it's a really cheap one, think 1 megapixel camera from 2001 that you would but at a Walgreens. If you want you can have one of mine :)

I think you would be better off buying a decent compact Camera (I like & have the Panasonic Lumix TZ5 in addition to an FZ18) where it's the same one you use, they can point & shoot, & it's not so expensive where you have a heart attack if they grab it from you.

My vote goes for "regular" digital camera. We use it as an excuse to upgrade our digital camera stock more often. The technology changes so fast. Every 2 years you are ending up holding a museum piece. But any of these oldies is better than a toy camera.

I'll chime in and agree with the previous two posters. We tried the "kid camera" route with our two daughters and found that they just got frustrated because the pictures were so bad and the process to get them off the camera was too clumsy. In the end I just got a new camera for myself and handed down my old one. One has really gotten into photography while the other doesn't seem to care as much (more like me...)

Any thoughts on cheapo "non-kid" point and shoots? Maybe the one below? -- hard to believe it's only $115...

http://www.theflip.com/products_flip_mino.shtml#scene=sceneMain

Bought the Canon SD750 point and shoot which does video too...

I was inspired by Mike Arrington's "bashing" of the Flip, where he recommended the SD750 instead:

http://tinyurl.com/5wcwkv

It's not HD, but otherwise seems very cool.. got it last night.

We're going to give it to the kids for chanuka -- should be an interesting exercise in "sharing."

I actually bought it at B&H, for some reason it's much cheaper than Amazon ($165 w/ free shipping vs. $230):

http://tinyurl.com/2c8npg

I did buy a well-reviewed 8GB card at amazon for $15 (!)

http://tinyurl.com/6346jh

I'll let you know how it turns out for the kiddies.

The girls figured out how to use it in about 5 minutes and have already taken hundreds of pictures and dozens of videos. It's a lot of fun to see what they come up with, though it's prompted a few conversations about what is and isn't appropriate (i.e., what will or won't get dad arrested when uploaded).

One little unexpected bonus is that the lens is actually a bit set back from the opening, making it harder to get fingerprints all over the thing.

If you've already had your Dramamine, here are a couple of their early masterpieces:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD37fhCV48c&feature=channel_page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oM7wPEZv3A&feature=channel