Buying cameras for kids

BY TERRY LANE

Last updated 05:00 29/05/2009

The Fuji J15 digital camera.

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Last week, we were asked for advice on buying a camera for a small child. The doting dad tells us that the little tacker takes interesting pictures with his camera, but now she really needs one of her own. What should he buy?

We understand his dilemma. Our No.1 granddaughter likes nothing more than getting hold of her grandma's mobile phone and snapping away, even though the technical quality of the results are appalling.

Granny's mobile is not fitted with a state-of-the-art camera - it's more akin to an early Brownie in picture quality. Still, the child is well-satisfied with the results.

Thinking we might buy her a camera for her birthday, we toddled off to a nearby stationery supply shop and bought one of its A$69.99 specials.

But when we tried it, we found the image quality was worse than the dodgiest mobile phone camera, so we took it back. It seemed there was nothing on offer under A$100 that would qualify as a true camera.

Pre-paid mobile phones with cameras built in would be a cheap option, but it might be risky putting that sort of money-muncher into the hands of a child. If she can take pictures, she can probably also run up mobile bills. Besides, a phone is easy to lose or have stolen, and it is not shockproof.

When we asked Hamish Kirkpatrick, the retail sales manager at Camera Action, if he had many customers asking for advice on buying cameras for children, he replied: "Lots."

He reckons the first consideration has to be durability, because children will drop it, and he had no hesitation in saying that the best camera for careless hands is the Fuji J15. Already we are well out of our price range, as it sells at Camera Action for A$199 (NZ$239 at pp.co.nz).

What makes the little Fuji special is that it comes with a plastic housing. The camera itself is not indestructible, but the supplied housing makes it waterproof and shockproof - to a degree.

Mr Kirkpatrick says there is a big jump in price to the next pair of cameras he would recommend: the Pentax W60 (NZ$789 from www.kens.co.nz) and the Olympus Tough 6000 (NZ$595 from www.photo.co.nz), which are designed for a hard life. But at these prices we needed to revise our original question.

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It's no longer: "Do many customers come in with this request?" It's now: "Once they get the news on price, how many go ahead and buy?" The answer to that question is certainly not: "Lots."

We know one chap who upgraded his camera and gave the superseded model to his daughter. That makes sense. The child gets a new toy and Dad gets a justification for self-indulgence.

- © Fairfax NZ News