# best camera for a toddler



## questionsabouthigh (Jun 3, 2020)

Hi All,
Master 2 is about to turn 3; he currently walks around everywhere with a 'camera' he made out of cardboard, so I think it's time for a real one. Any recommendations?
Thanks!


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## SecureGSM (Jun 3, 2020)

questionsabouthigh said:


> Hi All,
> Master 2 is about to turn 3; he currently walks around everywhere with a 'camera' he made out of cardboard, so I think it's time for a real one. Any recommendations?
> Thanks!


Yup, here:

https://petapixel.com/2018/12/19/leica-is-selling-m-camera-lego-sets/


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## dcm (Jun 3, 2020)

Here's one for starters, if you don't have an old PowerShot point and shoot that you don't mind giving up for the cause. My granddaughter started with my daughter's SD300. An old Olympus tough would also be a good choice. Key factors are small, simple, tough, etc. Here's my thoughts in another thread.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jun 3, 2020)

Do you have a old smart phone around? They tend to be easy to use and give instant feedback to view the photo. You can usually pickup a used phone for a low price, and remove all the apps but the camera related ones.


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## questionsabouthigh (Jun 3, 2020)

Thanks all. I'm thinking of this: https://www.vtech.com.au/product/detail/18841/Kidizoom_Duo_50_Blue


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## Ozarker (Jun 3, 2020)

questionsabouthigh said:


> Hi All,
> Master 2 is about to turn 3; he currently walks around everywhere with a 'camera' he made out of cardboard, so I think it's time for a real one. Any recommendations?
> Thanks!


I have a three year old grandson who likes to follow around "papa" and do everything I do. I've set him up with an old film camera and lens he loves to carry around and pretend to take photos with. He operates the film advance and knows to press the shutter button. I think, in a year or two, I'll get him an old DSLR and lens. All his toys are fair game for throwing or hammering with something, but he is always gentle with his little camera and copies me... cleaning the lens, putting it back in the case, etc. I love being a grandfather. My wife and I are raising him 5 days a week as my daughter works long hours and does a lot of traveling for Microsoft. I'm very happy to step in for him vs daycare. Our current projects include building simple circuits (battery, switch, light, buzzer, etc.) and disassembling/reassembling old items. He's got his own tool box and tools... including a multi-meter. The photo was taken with an old Auto Mamiya/Sekor 55mm f/1.4 adapted to my R.


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## AlanF (Jun 3, 2020)

CanonFanBoy said:


> I have a three year old grandson who likes to follow around "papa" and do everything I do. I've set him up with an old film camera and lens he loves to carry around and pretend to take photos with. He operates the film advance and knows to press the shutter button. I think, in a year or two, I'll get him an old DSLR and lens. All his toys are fair game for throwing or hammering with something, but he is always gentle with his little camera and copies me... cleaning the lens, putting it back in the case, etc. I love being a grandfather. My wife and I are raising him 5 days a week as my daughter works long hours and does a lot of traveling for Microsoft. I'm very happy to step in for him vs daycare. Our current projects include building simple circuits (battery, switch, light, buzzer, etc.) and disassembling/reassembling old items. He's got his own tool box and tools... including a multi-meter. The photo was taken with an old Auto Mamiya/Sekor 55mm f/1.4 adapted to my R.
> View attachment 190709


You are doing a great job!


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## old-pr-pix (Jun 3, 2020)

questionsabouthigh said:


> Thanks all. I'm thinking of this: https://www.vtech.com.au/product/detail/18841/Kidizoom_Duo_50_Blue


I offer the following experience with grandkids and similar cameras: 1) Understand how many images they can hold before someone needs to download or erase or they automatically overwrite. Toddlers tend to 'machine gun' shoot random stuff. 2) Understand the image quality they will get -- most are marginal and digital zooms can be really poor. Toddlers get disappointed when images on mom's cell phone look great and theirs are blurry blobs. I like the old cell phone approach except most cell phones won't take the constant dropping, throwing and running over that seems part of the game.

On the other hand, by age 8 or 9 our grandson was carefully using my son's old 20D and EM10 and shooting video on his mom's old cell phone! Nothing Pulitzer worthy yet, but the interest is clearly there. It's great to see you encouraging the same!


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## questionsabouthigh (Jun 4, 2020)

CanonFanBoy said:


> I have a three year old grandson who likes to follow around "papa" and do everything I do. I've set him up with an old film camera and lens he loves to carry around and pretend to take photos with. He operates the film advance and knows to press the shutter button. I think, in a year or two, I'll get him an old DSLR and lens. All his toys are fair game for throwing or hammering with something, but he is always gentle with his little camera and copies me... cleaning the lens, putting it back in the case, etc. I love being a grandfather. My wife and I are raising him 5 days a week as my daughter works long hours and does a lot of traveling for Microsoft. I'm very happy to step in for him vs daycare. Our current projects include building simple circuits (battery, switch, light, buzzer, etc.) and disassembling/reassembling old items. He's got his own tool box and tools... including a multi-meter. The photo was taken with an old Auto Mamiya/Sekor 55mm f/1.4 adapted to my R.
> View attachment 190709


That's wonderful!


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## Deleted member 381342 (Jun 4, 2020)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Etpark-Children-Recorder-Anti-Drop-Transfers/dp/B07XPM6WHV this one comes in pink and blue. Cost nothing in comparison to others. And my 3 and 5 year old nieces where able to work it with little effort.


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## Bennymiata (Jun 4, 2020)

When I was 4 or 5 I got a Kodak Brownie (long, long time ago...........)


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## questionsabouthigh (Jun 4, 2020)

Codebunny said:


> https://www.amazon.co.uk/Etpark-Children-Recorder-Anti-Drop-Transfers/dp/B07XPM6WHV this one comes in pink and blue. Cost nothing in comparison to others. And my 3 and 5 year old nieces where able to work it with little effort.


Looks good, though I can't find one for sale in Australia...


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## Boyer U. Klum-Cey (Jun 4, 2020)

Not exactly a toddler, but my grandson with a little liking for art, inherited my last body camera from when I worked. Twas a pounded, but working S90. This year, he is getting a gently used M6, as I upgraded to an M6 MkII to participate in the mirrorless revolution(Act II). The S90 will be going to a wild man 3rd grader, so we will have to see if it survives long enough to get to his sister who is going into 1st grade. Time will tell, eh?


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## matthias (Jun 4, 2020)

My son is almost 4 years old, and he uses my „old“ M6 with the 22mm. He takes a lot of pictures, and sometimes they turn out quite good


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## stevelee (Jun 4, 2020)

Bennymiata said:


> When I was 4 or 5 I got a Kodak Brownie (long, long time ago...........)


I don't know my age, but I did use Brownie cameras very early. Later my uncle got me into doing contact prints off of the 616-size negatives. The paper made prints more gorgeous than what you could get from enlarging paper, though, of course, small. When I was 21, I bought an enlarger, and did darkroom work, both color and black-and-white, until I started shooting digitally.


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## Don Haines (Jun 18, 2020)

I’d go to your local camera store and look for an M camera that came in on trade.....


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