Point and Shoot for 4 year old

snips86x · 24 Jul 2014 at 17:51

My son loves using my wife's Canon Powershot and is perfectly capable of using it without assistance and for his Birthday, I'd like to get him one of his own.

I'm looking at £40-£50, with the following in mind:

Canon PowerShot S80 Digital
CameraCanon PowerShot A470 Digital Camera - Red
Fujifilm FinePix AX650 Digital Camera - Red

If you have any suggestions around tried and tested cameras with young children, that would be very useful.

Any suggestions?

redline · 24 Jul 2014 at 18:26

I can't recommend a model, as I can't remember what he currently has [it's a Samsung I know that much]... but when we bought our son, who was then six, his first P&S it was something very cheap, and the results were so poor he was very disappointed, and discouraged... and therefore did not use it. So, we bought he something better, that turns in excellent results, and he loves it!... he's a great little tog, with a natural eye for composition.

Four maybe a little young to get anything too costly, as it will almost certainly get dropped, knocked and filled with gunk, but there is also no point in getting something that will deliver awful images, just because they are young. Start them off well.

D.P. · 24 Jul 2014 at 19:08

whatever is cheapest TBH, I would try to pick something up second hand

Abraxaz1 · 24 Jul 2014 at 19:32

D.P. said:
whatever is cheapest TBH, I would try to pick something up second hand

^^ this times a 1000

he'll probably drop it at some point, maybe try and get one of these out door specific cameras second hand, hopefully they will be child proof.

deshepherd · 24 Jul 2014 at 20:43

Having visited the wildlife photographer of the year exhibition when it's visited Bristol in past years the from the evidence of the under 10 category there then it appears that no child uses anything less than a semi pro DSLR. (Though once there was a highly commended in an adult section that had used a canon powershot)

asim18 · 24 Jul 2014 at 20:53

Out of the three you posted I'd go for the S80. Or any Canon. I still vividly recall the old family SureShot. Would have loved to have my own Canon when I was little. Don't get something that looks like a toy.

snips86x · 24 Jul 2014 at 20:57

asim18 said:
Out of the three you posted I'd go for the S80. Or any Canon. I still vividly recall the old family SureShot. Would have loved to have my own Canon when I was little. Don't get something that looks like a toy.

That's kind of what I was trying to avoid. He's not your typical 4 year old, very smart, bright and an incredibly quick learner. The other issue with the kids cameras is the quality, they're not great.

davido_labido · 24 Jul 2014 at 21:22

what about a cheap bridge camera?

Rojin · 24 Jul 2014 at 21:45

I bought my daughter a Hello Kitty branded camera a couple of years back, it wasn't cheap and pic quality is garbage. It is pink however and she liked wandering around with it.

Lately she has been using my X-E1 but I thought I'd better get her something of her own. So I've just picked up a Samsung MV900F second hand for £65. It seems okay and she'll really like the flippy screen