A digital camera for a child has many uses. It provides an opportunity for adults to see the world from the perspective of children. It is also a useful learning tool, helping kids expand their vocabulary, hone narrative skills and enrich their research abilities.
Look at the world through the eyes of children
So why can digital cameras revolutionize child research and enrich parents' perceptions of the child’s inner world? Some do not trust high-tech toys. But the story of the camera for children began with digital cameras. They made everyone happy, even those who were worried that electronic toys and games suppress the creative abilities of the younger generation. Digital devices eliminated the need for film to appear, making photography more accessible to children. This is a revolutionary change, but it takes some time to realize all its consequences.
For the first time since the invention of photography , it became possible to give even small children a camera and let them do whatever they want. The results are intriguing. A camera for children is a real storehouse of rich material about their inner world. We see what is important to them. We can see the world through their eyes. If this sounds like an exaggeration, you should be aware that cameras are used by researchers who want to understand what children are looking at. Experiments were conducted when cameras were mounted on the heads of infants. Some creative researchers have created visual ethnography for children, giving them cameras and analyzing the results.
What do children take pictures of?
This decided to establish European researchers. Small representatives of five different countries belonging to three age groups - 7, 11 and 15 years old, were shown how to use real cameras. Children were not taught photography or aesthetics. When scientists studied the images, they noticed several patterns:
- 7-year-old children often took pictures at home, and they took more pictures of their possessions (for example, toys).
- Compared to older and younger children, 11-year-olds took more pictures without people. They took photographs outdoors and took fewer staged photographs.
- In general, 11-year-olds created the most artistic or unusual pictures. They also got the largest number of exhibition-quality photos.
- Older children (11- and 15-year-olds) were more likely to make humorous or stupid shots.
- Teenagers were most focused on their social world. They took many pictures of groups of peer children.
- Children appreciate spontaneity. Older children consciously preferred unplanned photographs.
- Older children (11 and 15 years old) experimented with various photographic effects, for example, with unusual angles.
So a digital camera for shooting children provides many opportunities for games and research. What else can you do with it?
Fun for kids photographers. Stories in Photos
According to the researchers, children can use photographs to illustrate their own stories. Children can start with their pictures and write stories to them. Or vice versa, first write a story, and only then take pictures.
For preschool children, it is proposed to compare the pictures with the text. You need to offer them from the whole set of photos taken for each page of text to choose the best, and then explain their choice. If all else fails, you should choose a different picture.
Conversely, you can give your children a set of random photos and ask them to come up with a story from them.
Create a set of facial expressions
It is necessary to help children create a set of “emotional” photographs - pictures of people with different emotional facial expressions. If you print them, then you can use them in educational games.
Animal Behavior Studies
There is a reason that zoologists take photos. Pictures allow you to capture details that are either hard to understand or analyze in real time. Therefore, wildlife (and even domestic animals) is photographed not just for beauty. This is a research tool. And with a zoom lens, children can discover that animals are much more interesting than they thought.
You can take a camera for children for walks in the park, in nature and in the zoo. And let the children decide for themselves what to photograph: the legs of a pigeon, ants or the nose of a dog. Children choose these objects because they are already interested in them. And, most likely, the results will give more opportunities for learning than any standard, well-composed “postcard” image.
Young Rangers
Animal tracing can help children hone their analytical and spatial skills. The camera for children allows them to save the traces found and view them again and again. You can show your children how to place a coin or other object in the picture to give the viewer a sense of scale. And let the children keep records of their findings.
Organization of exhibitions and shows
Creating photo shows and photo collections is very interesting in itself. Children should be encouraged to keep photographs in albums or newspaper clippings. And your favorite, special high-resolution pictures can be projected onto the wall.
Time flow
How does your family kitchen change throughout the day? What happens to an ice cube when it melts? Photography helps children capture changes and reflect on the passage of time. Here are some examples:
- Use a camera for children to capture how a flower (such as morning glory) opens at dawn and closes at night.
- Place the plant near a source of sunlight and photograph it daily. You can fix the process of phototaxis - plant growth in the direction of light.
- Try shooting the same landscape in different weather conditions.
- Take a picture of the cleaning or home renovation process.
- Make candies and place them in sugar syrup, taking daily pictures to capture the growth process of sugar crystals.
- Put cookies or other food along the ant trail and take pictures every few hours.
Parent Tips
Suppose you agreed on the need to purchase a camera for children. Real, digital. What's next? Here are some suggestions.
Let the children use the camera without constant supervision. If parents want to see the world from the perspective of their child, then it should be left alone. This is necessary because adults are changing the way children use cameras. They have their own ideas that children should take pictures. Parents tell their children about the camera and tell them how to take good pictures. And even if you don’t interfere, the mere presence of adults can affect the result.
In one study, children were given cameras and two groups were compared. One of them filmed in the presence of an adult, and the other remained unattended. Although the adult did not give the children any instructions on what to photograph, his very presence had an effect: the children were limited to ordinary objects. The second group took very different pictures. These were mainly nooks, such as corridors, cozy places and bathrooms. And the subject was more pronounced (for example, photographs of naughty children).
No one wants to give children an expensive camera and leave them unattended. But in searching for a suitable model that should be both durable and inexpensive, you should be careful with saving on its functional capabilities, which will make your child’s camera a really useful learning tool.
Megapixels
Many digital cameras for children, that is, specially designed for them, often have a low resolution of 1.3 megapixels or less. This may be enough to meet the main goal, especially if you do not plan to print photos. But many, including preschool children, complain of poor image quality. If you plan to print pictures of a normal size (for example, 10 x 15 cm), you will need a camera with a resolution of at least 4 megapixels. And if you need a larger increase, you will need a sensor with more than 5 megapixels. Technology is constantly changing, and different people may have different standards. It is better to verify the quality of the pictures yourself.
Increase
Optical zoom is better than digital zoom. Why? Digital zoom simply increases the pixels, so you get more “snow” and “noise”.
Expandable memory
You must have an additional memory card. Children take off a lot. And if there is no desire to free up space on the map every hour, then you need to worry in advance about its sufficient capacity.
Batteries
Some cameras run on AA batteries, which is extremely convenient. You can use NiMH batteries or disposable power supplies. The charge, however, quickly ends, so you should always have a supply of charged batteries at hand. Depending on how many shots you can take with one set of batteries, this will cause too much concern.
Alternatively, you can buy a camera with branded batteries. They work longer. But there are two problems:
- if the battery is discharged at the wrong time, you will have to recharge it before continuing to shoot;
- the branded battery will eventually have to be changed - they are expensive and may not be available if the camera model is out of date.
For these reasons, some people buy an extra battery when they purchase a camera.
A real camera for a 3-year-old child will be premature: batteries are not edible, memory cards can cause choking, the camera can be harmful if thrown at people, etc. Below are the best camera options for children, sorted by age range. Many models are not specifically designed for young amateur enthusiasts, but with the observance of obvious warnings, they can be used.
5–8 years old: VTech Kidizoom
Buying a camera for a child of 6 years will probably not want to spend too much. The longevity of the camera is also important. The device should be light so as not to crash at the first drop, and the easier it is, the better.
The first camera for a 7-year-old child must be sturdy and inexpensive, and VTech Kidizoom Connect meets these requirements. This durable 1.3 megapixel toy camera comes with 128 MB of internal memory, 4x digital zoom, and it can also shoot video. The more expensive “plus” model is equipped with a 2-megapixel sensor, 256 MB of internal memory and an SD card slot for children who have grown from the age when they stick them in their mouths. Power is provided by 4 AA batteries. There is a 1.8-inch LCD.
Nikon Coolpix S3
Kidizoom is a toy, but the waterproof Nikon Coolpix S33 is a real entry-level camera designed specifically for use by a child or family. Its wide-angle lens with 3x optical zoom (30–90mm equivalent) offers only digital image stabilization, but the key points of this 13.2-megapixel camera are durability and ease of use. The Nikon camera for children can withstand drops from a height of 120 cm. And it can also be immersed in water to a depth of 5 m (or used in a bathtub or shower). There is also an underwater shooting mode, a tilt simulator (Diorama mode) and a single-color isolation function (color highlighting mode), which allows the baby to show more creative activity.
The S33 shoots video at 1080p, and an ISO range of 80-1600 means that the child will be able to continue shooting even in low light conditions. Power is provided by a lithium-ion battery.
8-10 years: Pentax WG-10
The camera for children of this age still needs to be durable, and there are several cameras that may be suitable for elementary school students. All models are available in different colors that younger children will appreciate and provide a certain degree of manual control that is useful for older children, as they already want to learn more about photography.
Most 8–10-year-old boys probably love the style of racing cars, and the ring of LED lights that surround it with the Pentax WG-10's 5x zoom lens (28–140 mm) will further increase its “coolness”. A waterproof and shockproof camera for a child with a resolution of 14 megapixels can withstand immersion to a depth of 10 m, a drop from a height of one and a half meters and impact force of up to 100 kg, while being frost-resistant and dustproof.
WG-10 allows you to shoot 720p-video, but so far it offers only digital image stabilization. ISO range is generous: 80–6400. Five LEDs operate in a “digital microscope” mode, which is essentially a macro mode. There is no manual control, but there is no shortage of choice of shooting modes - 25 options include auto programs, panorama, underwater photo and movie shooting. It features a 2.7-inch rear LCD screen and a lithium-ion battery.
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TF1
No less durable, but slightly more stylish Cyber-Shot TF1 has a lot to offer. Sony automation is one of the best on the market, and the durable TF1 will be interesting for young photographers to use. It offers an optically stabilized lens with 4x zoom (25–100 mm), a 16-megapixel sensor, water resistance (up to 10 m), shock resistance (1.5 m), frost resistance and dust resistance.
Children will enjoy the panoramic mode, which also has underwater settings, as well as a set of retouching options (Toy Camera, Partial Color, Beauty Effects). The ISO range of the camera covers values from 100 to 3200. You can shoot video with a resolution of 720p. It should be noted that TF1 writes data to MicroSD and MicroSDHC cards. Therefore, one should be careful, as they are small enough and can be dangerous for young children. It features a 2.7-inch LCD screen and a lithium-ion battery.
Older children: Olympus TG-4
Strength may not be so important for this age group, but it depends on the child. Here are cameras for those children who have learned not to rush into valuable things. They give a little freedom for the child to grow from automatic shooting, if he becomes more confident in his abilities.
For fidgets or those who drop expensive electronics, the Olympus TG-4 is a good choice. It is well-made, responsive, full-featured and takes great pictures with a 16 megapixel sensor. The device has automatic shooting modes, but it opens the world of manual exposure for older children who are ready to do more serious photography. Other features include numerous art filters, Full HD video, and support for fisheye lenses and a telephoto lens. The camera has a very good battery life, which is enough for a whole day filming. TG-4 is waterproof to a depth of 15 m, withstands drop from a height of up to 2.1 m, its impact resistance is 50 N and its frost resistance is up to -10 ° C. There is Wi-Fi for quick sharing of pictures, and a GPS receiver will allow novice photographers to see on the map the places where they were taken.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS50
For a child who can be trusted with a more fragile camera, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS50 is offered. This is a great holiday camera with a 24-720mm (30x) telephoto lens and ultra-compact body. The camera focuses quickly and shoots continuously. The frame can be tracked on a 3-inch LCD monitor or in a small electronic viewfinder. The camera can record Full HD - video with image stabilization, which helps reduce device shake.
The ZS50 offers more advanced manual control than the TG-4, so if you need to train a promising photographer in the wisdom of working with aperture and shutter speed or manually focus, the ZS50 is capable of this.
IPod touch
Although it may be too early for children to buy an iPhone, you can prepare for the inevitable by purchasing an iPod Touch. This is essentially an iPhone without a phone, which means access to hundreds of thousands of applications, many of which are related to photographing, sharing pictures via Wi-Fi and other things that have made iPhones the most popular phones in the world.
iPod Touch has a CMOS sensor, 8 MP resolution and f2.4, 29-mm lens, as well as a front camera with a lower resolution for selfies. The device has the functionality of a “normal” camera, there are impressive auto-HDR and panorama. iPod Touch can also record Full HD video with time lapse and time-lapse options. One can only dream of a screen, since the 4-inch Retina display is really excellent. You can even add extra lenses from Olloclip.