My nearly 6 year old grandson loves taking pictures, but the developing of them costs so much.?

Question

Is there a cheap digital, just for kids, that I can buy for him and download pics onto my computer, so we can only print the good ones?

Hey, guys, I don't live in the states, so we don't have most of those stores. Walmart is supposed to carry a cheap camera for kids, but they never have any in stock in the city i live in, and there are 6 stores.

Answer 1

I'm no child expert, but I'd imagine in the hands of a 6 year old the camera may go through a bit of abuse. If this is the case with your grandson, I would not recommend some of the cameras noted in earlier answers. You'll want to avoid anything with an optical zoom. Optical zooms use moving parts, and you'll want to keep anything mechanical to a minimum. Digital zooms have no moving parts, but produce lower quality photos (at full zoom) than optical, but he might not notice/care. Or you could go with no zoom at all.

I don't know your shopping options, but naturally check any camera/electronics department. There are cheap, less-prominent brand name*, cameras that run anywhere from $40 to $70 with decent resolution (around 3.2MP), no zoom, (or digital), have internal memory (so you won't risk him losing memory cards,) and hopefully an eyelet for a lanyard so he doesn't lose it!

(* Argus, DXG, Aiptek, ...)

Answer 2

I would avoid the "kids" models. Basically they are way under-spec'd models, packaged as "kids friendly" so that the retailers can make huge margins on them thanks to gullible parents ;-)

Personally, and depending on how much you are ready to spoil your grandson, I'd recommend going for a standard model but of an earlier generation, say from the Canon Powershot line, or from the Fujifilm FinePix line, or the Nikon Coolpix line (I'd avoid Kodak or Sony, lower quality photos).

As the craze is to have more megapixels, and current models are around 6 or 7mp (up to 10mp for higher-end), the models with just 4 or 5mp (or even 3mp would be sufficient for postcard sized prints) will be heavily discounted. The trick will be to find them of course, and maybe a small camera shop will have better chances there?

In my opinion you should be able to buy one of these 3 or 4mp models, new, for about 100 dollars. Of course this is not cheap, but if you're going to save 10 or 15 dollars of poor prints each time around, it'll be well worth it, I think.

The other important factor is that, with a digitial, one can experiment a lot and quickly see the results and thus correct mistakes, i.e. it is a great learning tool.

As for the printing, I personally find that it is quite expensive (cost of the printer, cost of the paper) and I prefer the on-line services where you upload the photos and they send them to you by (paper) mail. But I don't know whether this is available where you live?

Hope this helps

a

Answer 3

Yes. Checkout Overstock.com for cheap digital cameras and upload the pics to Snapfish.Com. Only pic the ones that are good to print and you have the option of choosing .12 a pic at the sight, plus shipping, or going to your local Walgreens and paying only .19 cents a pic if you don't have many pics that are worthy of printing.

Answer 4

Yes, Walmart & Best-Buy sell them..
We got ours for a good price on E-bay..
My friend bought a really cheap digital webcam *under 20 bucks* from walmart and it works like a digital camera and you can dl the pics online and print them with your printer at home. If you print them yourself it saves money too..
They sell the printing pic sheets cheap at biglots.

Answer 5

There's a lot of digital cameras out there.

Sony, Nikon, Canon and other popular brands now has low-priced, but quality cameras.

Please check the Sony Cyber Shot DSC-S40 (about $100).

Here's a sampling of what you can get for your price target:
http://reviews.cnet.com/4566-6501_7-0.html?tag=dffl1_1&filter=100021_9231531_

As for the store, www.crutchfield.com (1888-955-6000) has an excellent reputation in selling cameras, not to mention their excellent customer service.

Answer 6

go to
http://www.myproductadvisor.com/mpa/camera/inputSummary.do

Answer the series of questions and you'll find out the model that's best for your situation. There are questions about your budget, preferred brands (in case the place you live in does not have that many brands to offer), etc.

Good luck on finding the right camera.

Answer 7

Maybe you might find a deal on a used one in your area. People are always upgrading cameras. If you can find someone in your area selling one for cheap and you can try it out - that might be a cheap way out.

Answer 8

get a digital camera, so you can downlaod all the pic.s onto your computer whether you like the pic.s or not. then you can chose the ones you want and have them developed. i have a imac so i cn download the pic.s onto a disc go to wolf camera and print the ones i want.
good luck!

Answer 9

You can go to your local Walgreen's. If I remember correctly you can buy a camera from their picture developing service and then developing pictures is free as long as you use their camera.

They even provide the film.

Answer 10

Any digital camera from a name brand should suffice.