Jump to:
ZRecs Home |
Z Recommends |
PRIZEY |
Polliwogged |
The Tranquil Parent |
Gardenaut |
Punnybop |
The ZRecs Guide
Get Z Recommends via -
-
Advertisements
Our pick for a good kids’ digital camera
By Jeremiah | November 27, 2008
We've had several reader inquiries for us to repost or revise last year's ZRecs Digital Camera Showdown, and we're seeing a lot of search traffic showing up there, so I thought it might be helpful to step in with a few observations if you're thinking about getting one for your child.
I have to admit right off that we haven't tested the many new, lousy-looking kids' digital cameras that have come out in the past year. None of them offer specs that seem better than the ones we weeded through in last year's ZRecs Digital Camera Showdown, and the prices aren't coming down yet - they are all still $50-$60 unless you are looking at something that definitely won't be around next year. So let's check in with last year's contenders:
Fisher-Price Kid Tough Digital Camera: None of the internal specs have changed, and we were quite happy with them - in our juried photo comparison, the Kid-Tough came out on top - but the housing has been redesigned to make the camera waterproof. Sounds good to us. We rated this camera a very good option, gave it our "Top Pick" status, and praised its ease of use and image quality. Every once in a while we get an angry email or comment from a parent who expects a kids' digital camera to take photos as good as their own digital camera does, and to them I say phooey. This is a toy camera. It's as good as you're going to get, at least for now; creating a padded container of your own for a used digital camera, or just holding off for a few years until your child stops being so fumbly, is always an option. But if you want a kids' digital camera, we think this is the way to go. In short:
VTech Kidizoom: We stand by our original assessment: The photos suck, the file size is absurd, and the extra features are a waste of your child's precious hours of childhood. The "sale" price of fifty-some dollars seems to be the going rate now, instead of the list price of $70, but still, the F-P model just takes waaaay better pictures. Here's what we said about the Kidizoom last year:
Nothing has been changed in this camera's guts or exterior - it's the same camera. You've been warned!
Polaroid Pixie: We gave the Pixie a thumbs-up with the caveat that children old enough to use it might do just as well with a used "adult" digital camera. We also had some problems with the camera in our testing, but worked out that it was just the slow cycling of the flash when it was in use:
After our review ran, however, we started hearing reports that some consumers purchased cameras that quickly died on them, which, in case you're taking notes, tends to enrage them. We used ours for a few weeks without incident before passing it on, but spotty performance will kill a product like this out of the gate, and that is what appears to have happened to the spritely little Pixie. It quickly garnered a bushelful of one-star reviews on Amazon.com and Target's website; it's now available on Amazon only through resellers (even at $40 they'll have a hard time selling a camera with a one-star customer rating) and although Target's site claims it is available "in stores only," we haven't seen one in ours, and we suspect they have gone the way of the dodo.
Which is ironic, because the Pixie's companion product, a digital video camera, is a great find. We highly recommend it. Especially because, holy cow, you can get the pink one now for $40 on Amazon.com. Do I need to tell you how great this deal is? (Guess they should have stuck with the blue/orange, which is palatable for both genders and will still run you $65.)
We can't really close this round of recommendations any better than we did last year:
You don't have to look far to see why this is the case. Below is a listing of the folder of images we had printed. Notice how the file sizes drop off after the images taken by our "adult" camera (labeled "sony").
In contrast to 2007, when many companies were playing catchup to 2006's breakout Fisher-Price camera, 2008 was a fallow year for kids' camera technology, with no new advances to speak of, and no improvements made to existing models. It thus goes without saying that none of the feature requests we posed to companies last year have been realized - a custom style of flash for toddler use (since they tend to take pictures from a shorter distance), elimination of the in-camera delete option (toddlers cannot make such choices responsibly), and a camera memory that retains pictures even when the batteries run out, instead of losing them. But while companies may fail us, readers rarely do, and someone (can't remember who now) offered a useful hack for the first request: Put a piece of that foggy-looking Scotch tape ("Magic Tape") over the flash, and you've instantly diffused it.
So there's our recommendation for you: A Fisher-Price Kid-Tough Digital Camera and a roll of Scotch Tape.
I have to admit right off that we haven't tested the many new, lousy-looking kids' digital cameras that have come out in the past year. None of them offer specs that seem better than the ones we weeded through in last year's ZRecs Digital Camera Showdown, and the prices aren't coming down yet - they are all still $50-$60 unless you are looking at something that definitely won't be around next year. So let's check in with last year's contenders:
Fisher-Price Kid Tough Digital Camera: None of the internal specs have changed, and we were quite happy with them - in our juried photo comparison, the Kid-Tough came out on top - but the housing has been redesigned to make the camera waterproof. Sounds good to us. We rated this camera a very good option, gave it our "Top Pick" status, and praised its ease of use and image quality. Every once in a while we get an angry email or comment from a parent who expects a kids' digital camera to take photos as good as their own digital camera does, and to them I say phooey. This is a toy camera. It's as good as you're going to get, at least for now; creating a padded container of your own for a used digital camera, or just holding off for a few years until your child stops being so fumbly, is always an option. But if you want a kids' digital camera, we think this is the way to go. In short:
We remain satisfied with the experience, durability, and overall quality Fisher-Price's digital camera offers for young children. The prints we made of several photos taken by all cameras consistently had Fisher-Price entries placing in the top two, sometimes turning in the best-quality shot in the group. The camera's durable design and image quality make it our top pick for children ages 2-5.
VTech Kidizoom: We stand by our original assessment: The photos suck, the file size is absurd, and the extra features are a waste of your child's precious hours of childhood. The "sale" price of fifty-some dollars seems to be the going rate now, instead of the list price of $70, but still, the F-P model just takes waaaay better pictures. Here's what we said about the Kidizoom last year:
The Kidizoom is a missed opportunity, and we'd recommend skipping its first model year in favor of the Fisher-Price option, which offers similar durable styling and far better image quality. If VTech elected to bump up its abysmal capture size to complement this camera's kid-friendly features, they may have a real competitor on their hands. For this holiday season, however, the Kidizoom's image quality, which approximates that of a good cell phone camera, is a big disappointment for parents interested in printed photos or for children old enough to appreciate focus, color, and clarity in their photos. It also takes terrible video.
Nothing has been changed in this camera's guts or exterior - it's the same camera. You've been warned!
Polaroid Pixie: We gave the Pixie a thumbs-up with the caveat that children old enough to use it might do just as well with a used "adult" digital camera. We also had some problems with the camera in our testing, but worked out that it was just the slow cycling of the flash when it was in use:
Our one concern about the Polaroid Pixie is its flash recycle time, which can run from 5-10 seconds between shots. The flash can be shut off, which means users should not experience this lag time when shooting outdoors, but for indoor shots this delay can be frustrating for children and even for adults, and could have been mitigated somewhat by the inclusion of an icon or sound to indicate when the camera was ready to take another picture.
After our review ran, however, we started hearing reports that some consumers purchased cameras that quickly died on them, which, in case you're taking notes, tends to enrage them. We used ours for a few weeks without incident before passing it on, but spotty performance will kill a product like this out of the gate, and that is what appears to have happened to the spritely little Pixie. It quickly garnered a bushelful of one-star reviews on Amazon.com and Target's website; it's now available on Amazon only through resellers (even at $40 they'll have a hard time selling a camera with a one-star customer rating) and although Target's site claims it is available "in stores only," we haven't seen one in ours, and we suspect they have gone the way of the dodo.
Which is ironic, because the Pixie's companion product, a digital video camera, is a great find. We highly recommend it. Especially because, holy cow, you can get the pink one now for $40 on Amazon.com. Do I need to tell you how great this deal is? (Guess they should have stuck with the blue/orange, which is palatable for both genders and will still run you $65.)We can't really close this round of recommendations any better than we did last year:
Z's favorite camera to play with was the Kidizoom, which is why we described that camera as a profound missed opportunity. The user interface and special features are excellent, and she was thrilled by the options of adding borders and silly hats to her subjects. But having seen the way consumers have been divided over the image quality of last year's Fisher-Price camera, which we believe produces passable photos for a toddler camera, we would issue a warning: If Kid-Tough photos did not meet your standard, the low-water mark has been reset by VTech. A couple of examples are below; keep in mind that the rendering of JPEGs for this post actually mutes the differences somewhat, which are even more pronounced in the prints we had made.
Still not convinced? Below are a couple of shots taken with the Kidizoom. These are not selected for their poor quality, but are representative samples of the hundreds of photographs we took with this camera. The first was taken outdoors in full light under a gently overcast sky - ideal conditions for picture-taking. The second was taken indoors under bright interior lights, and an in-camera enhancement was then added.
You don't have to look far to see why this is the case. Below is a listing of the folder of images we had printed. Notice how the file sizes drop off after the images taken by our "adult" camera (labeled "sony").
File size is not a conclusive determinant of image quality; the eye is. But given our experience of the digital files we viewed on our computer monitor and our blind assessments of the digital prints made from some of those files, the breakdown is no surprise to us. The Kidizoom's competitor for toddler cameras, the Fisher-Price Kid-Tough model, takes far better pictures, while the Kidizoom's are so bad we consider the camera defective by design.
In contrast to 2007, when many companies were playing catchup to 2006's breakout Fisher-Price camera, 2008 was a fallow year for kids' camera technology, with no new advances to speak of, and no improvements made to existing models. It thus goes without saying that none of the feature requests we posed to companies last year have been realized - a custom style of flash for toddler use (since they tend to take pictures from a shorter distance), elimination of the in-camera delete option (toddlers cannot make such choices responsibly), and a camera memory that retains pictures even when the batteries run out, instead of losing them. But while companies may fail us, readers rarely do, and someone (can't remember who now) offered a useful hack for the first request: Put a piece of that foggy-looking Scotch tape ("Magic Tape") over the flash, and you've instantly diffused it.
So there's our recommendation for you: A Fisher-Price Kid-Tough Digital Camera and a roll of Scotch Tape.
Categories:
electronics, toys
Browse Z Recommends
-
recent posts
Mighty World, Playmobil, and the role of realism Adventures in Playmobil Link roundup: Phthalate bans, “extreme” breastfeeding, tiny mail, and low-mercury CFLs Kick the branch New Year’s wishes! The Baby Bjorn Travel Crib Five takes on the bunnybear Link roundup: Spoilsports, dangerous high chairs, and great books A gift from Z Recommends: Our first audio story Merry Christmas from Z Recommends
-
categories
activism activities advocacy animals announcements art supplies babyproofing bargains kids' bed and bath behind the blogs bottles BPA camera and photo car seats chemical safety Christmas clothing cooking CPSC crafts creativity deals diapers and diapering DIY drawing electronics educational toys exercise and fitness FDA food formula games garden planning gift guides green living holidays humor illness infant feeding kid and baby accessories kids' books kid and baby clothes kids' movies and DVDs kids' music and audio learning - letters, spelling, writing learning - numbers, counting learning - shapes learning products link roundup milestones MP3 and media players music natural care products outdoor play pets photography phthalates plastics politics pretend play puzzles rainy day projects reading robots science shopping sippy cups sleep snacking straw cups tableware toys travel video clips web applications wildlife
- blog archive
- blogs we read
Looking for something?
Search
The ZRecs Guide
1048 products,
156 brands, and counting...
Conversations on Z Recommends
Chandra said: Sorry to do this here, but I was hoping to contact you about the newsletter. I’ve only received one and… [Mighty World, Playmobil, and the role of realism]
Kristin said: I admit, I first started getting my boys Playmobil toys solely because I had always wanted them as a kid. … [Adventures in Playmobil]
mamamary said: I LOVE IT… best purchase I’ve made. Got it at amazon.com for $169… YES, only $169… I don’t know why… [The Baby Bjorn Travel Crib]
Cathy @ Chief Family Officer said: Thanks so much for including my post, Jeremiah. I love, love, love my little letter - in fact, I tucked… [Link roundup: Phthalate bans, "extreme" breastfeeding, tiny mail, and low-mercury CFLs]
LooneyJen said: What a great shot! And yes, like everyone else, I’m thoroughly jealous of your weather. Now, if the… [Kick the branch]
Conversations on all ZRecs sites
Get ZRecs’ monthly newsletter
Get a monthly newsletter from the ZRecs Network, plus the chance to win a great prize every month - not just the month you sign up. This month we're giving one lucky subscriber two Thinkbaby BPA-Free Feeding Sets - keep them both or give one to a deserving friend! You can read about the set here, or just sign up now!
Learn about our privacy policy
I agree with you! I got my son the blue FP last year and have only changed batteries twice. They’re very durable and take relatively good photos. :)
Thank you for this!!! I was just looking at the reviews at Amazon yesterday and was so unsure of what to think. You’re the best!
Last Christmas I got the Little Tykes kiddie camera for my son. I found it on sale for $25 (half price) and still feel like I got ripped off. The pictures are terrible, even if I’m taking them. This year I’ll shell out the cash for a FP. Thanks Zrecs!
I got the FP camera on after-xmas clearance last year for I think under $40 for my then-3yr old and he loved it, then batteries died while w/grandparents (who live in the ground floor of our house) and they put it in a drawer and I kept forgetting to ask where they’d put it. Just put new batteries in it and now little brother (17mo) is insisting on playing with it and he’s figured it out already (and now I really agree about the “please let me disable the delete button” - I put a 1gig SD card in it, there’s no need to delete pictures without help from mommy but the baby likes the sound!). I’m planning to give my 4.5 yr old my original digital camera from 1999 (a 1mb Kodak with 3x optical zoom) because I think he’s ready for more features and that camera is pretty durable (and takes better indoor shots).
If you’re buying a gift for a preschooler, the FP camera is a good buy if you can find it on sale (don’t know if I’d be as happy with the indoor image quality if we’d paid full price, and we spend a LOT of time indoors because I’m disabled and have a hard time finding indoor spaces that are contained enough that they won’t run in opposite directions and get in trouble faster than I can move). Going to try the flash trick mentioned above. I think that any kid who is old enough to walk is probably old enough to enjoy the FP camera, just watch that they don’t keep flashing their own eyeballs.
Hi Jeremiah! I’m a little confused by the conflicting reviews I have been seeing on the vtech kidizoom.
This other review I read on Zndnet says that the kidizoom this year is a 2.0mp camera, which is a great improvement on last year, right?
http://blogs.zdnet.com/digitalcameras/?p=314
Might be a better camera than the fisher price if its really 2.0 mp…
Your articles says “Nothing has been changed in this camera’s guts or exterior - it’s the same camera.”
And Amazon, oddly enough considering its a camera afterall, doesn’t even list the megapixels of the vtech camera its selling on its site.
Could you verify the actual megapixels of this years camera for me? Is it listed on the box at all?
thank you so much for your help! Great article, I’m really excited to buy my little guy a camera!
Buyer beware, geetha! That 2.0 megapixel claim is for “interpolated” pixels, which means that the camera takes the image it shot at a very low resolution and blows it up, filling in the extra pixels with the values that appear around it. I had to dig around in the user manual to find that out.
This may be a new feature for the Kidizoom - not sure about that - but the Kid-Tough camera we tested last year did have this feature (boosting resolution from .3 to 1.6 megapixels via interpolation) and the boosted image didn’t look any better to us at all when both were printed out - it was actually hard to tell them apart.
Interpolation is kind of a joke, but it allows companies like VTech to offer specs that can trip up publications. (In the case of the ZDNet review you linked to, they cited that Fisher-Price’s resolution was interpolated, but failed to note this for the Kidizoom.)
Long story short: .3 megapixels is .3 megapixels, even if you interpolate it. ZDNet’s review is in need of a correction, in one form or another. F-P’s camera far outshined VTech’s offering last year, even without that feature enabled, and our experience with said feature is that it is more of a fake-out than anything else, similar to what you see with adult camera specs that confuse digital zoom with optical zoom.
Ahhh… Thank you Jeremiah!
I didn’t realize that it was interpolated!
Yup, interpolation is a joke, I’ve never used the digital zoom setting on our P&S;camera, only the optical, because the digital zoom is of course interpolated.
Sigh… I wish they would make a kid’s camera with a little bit higher resolution, 2.0 would be nice.
Have you seen or tested the Crayola 2.1 mp Digital Camera? Wonder if that also is interpolated…
http://iparentingmediaawards.com/winners/21/27668-5-2304.php
Thank you, thank you for the quick reply!
Going on a trip in a bit and thought it would be fun to let my son document the holiday on his own camera (or at least keep him away from our slr). hehe
I was REALLY interested in the FP, especially since it seems so durable and is even waterproof now. My only major concern after reading numerous reviews is that SO MANY people complained about the batteries dying super fast (like every couple of days). Have you had much experience/feedback on this?
Thanks!
@Dolphinswimmer: Our daughter has always used hers for an hour or two at a time, and we’ve never noticed it burning through batteries particularly quickly. We also use rechargeables, and sometimes really lousy ones, so I’m not sure we’d be the best judge of that anyway. The camera does shut itself off after two minutes of inactivity, which is a great feature. We just wish it would do so without a “warning” sound to alert you that it’s shutting off - when Z was younger it would often alert her to instinctively turn it on again and mess with it a second, when we’d just as soon it shut down quietly so it she’d turn it back on only when she actually wanted to use it again!
I’m looking for a durable camera for a 5.5 yr old. If the FP is good for a 3 yr old it might be too young for him. I let him use mine when I’m right there and making sure he doesn’t drop it. Seems there are cameras for toddlers and cameras for adults. Is there anything inbetween? I need a camera for a child, not a toddler. I’d pay 100 for a durable camera for him that takes good pics.
Also you mentioned losing pictures when the batteries die. Is that right?! That is terrible.
One more thing. I want one with removable media… SD preferrably. Do any of the kids’ cameras have removable media?
I echo the other users and thank you for the site and in particular, this review!
I found it here with SD card slot, for 108:
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=209385337&listingid=34554440&dcaid=17902
and on amazon there is one where in the description it says waterproof, and it’s 58 (a), and there’s another one (b.) that doesn’t say waterproof in the description that is using amazon frustration-free packaging that is 49. confusing.
a. http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-Kid-Tough-Waterproof-Digital-Camera/dp/B0015KVZVC/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1229473469&sr=1-6
b. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001BLZ3YA/ref=amb_link_82959211_2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=hero-quick-promo&pf_rd_r=1QC3E7Q1K6Z78RY3BFAM&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=465862191&pf_rd_i=B0015KVZVC
well maybe the amazon links are because one is a third-party seller on amazon’s site. weird that they have the same product at different prices on the same site.
ok i found the fisherprice listing of the one with the SD memory card. model #: L8341
http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=10&e=product&pid=41305
is that the only difference between the two fp cameras?
this model with the sd card slot they’ve lowered the internal memory to only 8mb but that shouldn’t matter since now we’ll be using an SD card. Interestingly, the camera won’t use high speed SD cards or ones w/ capacity > 1gb. Have to see if I can find an old one laying around that isn’t high speed!
Now I’m going to look into rugged cameras not necessarily aimed at children, since again he’s not a toddler. If I don’t find one, then I’ll get him this one.
Sorry for all the posts, but here’s the one w/ the removable media, on amazon, for 90:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000QULFQC/ref=nosim/fisherprice-20
I’m getting it. It’ll be a good start. Then next yr or for his 6th b-day (6 mos from now) depending on how the use of this camera is going, I might get him a more adult-type rugged camera.
So if you have ideas for more kid rather than toddler cameras, please let me know! thanks! :-)
Slow down, linkwoman! I have never seen an F-P kid tough camera WITHOUT an SD card slot - so I think my phrasing in the post misled you. The camera doesn’t come with an SD card, it does have a slot, but it also offers internal memory, which is what loses pics when the batteries run out. An SD card works fine - we just think they should drop the idea of internal memory altogether, or make it persistent.
Some of the links you provide above aren’t for the prices you state… if you follow our link above (for Amazon) you’ll find waterproof ones for about $80 (at this writing) and non-waterproof ones for $49. I say just keep the kid away from the pool.
all the links linkwoman provided are to the same camera, except the one in comment 12 is last year’s not waterproof version. The frustration-free packaging one says it’s waterproof in the last paragraph of the description and is half the price, and the newer model.
Seriously, my recommendation would be to find a cheap adult digital point-and-shoot that takes AA batteries (instead of requiring constant recharging, which will frustrate the kid) for a 5yr old. I’m planning to hand-me-down my old 1mp Kodak to my 4.5yr old. Sales now are probably better than sales in 6mo on the cameras. You can get quite a decent camera for $100 that the kid can be taught to be more careful with, and with viewscreens as they are now there’s not much point in the binocular viewfinder on the FP one anyway.
via copy-paste from the 2nd link in linkwoman’s 2nd post: Fisher-Price Kid-Tough Digital Camera Blue [Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging]
Other products by Fisher-Price
12 Reviews
5 star: 33% (4)
4 star: 33% (4)
3 star: 16% (2)
2 star: 8% (1)
1 star: 8% (1)
See all 12 customer reviews…
3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
List Price: $59.99
Price: $48.88 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Details
I just bought my 5 1/2 year old daughter the V-tech Kidizoom ($60 Canadian) for Christmas but I was having serious doubts about its quality and was thinking she might even be too old for it. I told my husband there is a Samsung available for $80 and I just might buy that instead. Thanks to this post, that’s just what I’ll do and return the Kidizoom pronto. The Samsung might not be the greatest for grown-up tastes but it will be infinitely better - it’s a $20 difference between a toy and the real thing. It’s small enough and light enough for her to hold without dropping it (hopefully). And, most importanly, it’s available in pink!
Glad to be a help, Mary-Ann! Let us know how the Samsung works out. We’ll be experimenting with “adult” cameras for our four-year-old daughter soon!
My almost 3 year old received the new waterproof FP for Christmas and we’ve replaced batteries twice already. Three sets of batteries in three days?! Although she loves the camera and is learning not to just push the shutter button over and over and over....I’m wondering if we have a lemon. I don’t think we’ll be able to afford the battery replacement at this rate!