The two primary cameras for young children today are the following.  Please note that by ordering through these links you are helping to support this site.

Note that these are really just two cameras.  Each camera comes in either pink or blue.  Both cameras have been updated recently – but the update is strictly to add more megapixels to the existing cameras.  Everything else about them hasn’t changed.

We gave the Fisher Price camera to our older son when he was three years old.  He used that until losing it in Jerusalem, after which we replaced it with the VTech.

The Fisher Price is a more basic camera, but we felt that it took more high quality pictures.  Here is a shot that Eitan took with it while in Thailand.

The pictures are of a decent quality and generally it exposes quite well.  Here’s a shot he took indoors of his brother.

The camera is really no frills.  It does not have a zoom, the flash cannot be turned off, and obviously the exposure cannot be overridden.  However, for a young child it is extremely easy to use.  It is also practically indestructible as it did go flying on several occasions.

Eitan absolutely loved the camera and was heartbroken when he lost it.  Rather than buying the same camera, I decided to buy the VTech due to the higher megapixel count and the fact that it has video.

The VTech isn’t as good when it comes to pictures.  Although it has more megapixels than the Fisher Price, the optical quality isn’t as good and the exposure is often wrong – particularly when the flash fires.

Here’s an example shot from the VTech.  In general we have noticed far fewer ‘keepers’ from this camera.

You can see that the quality isn’t nearly as good as the Fisher Price, despite the fact that it has a higher number of megapixels.

The VTech does have the advantage that it supports video and has games on it.  For awhile Eitan played these games a lot.  In fact, I think he has used it more for the games than for pictures or video.

For video though, it can be quite funny seeing what happens when a hyperactive kid takes it out for a spin.  He took this video when we weren’t watching. (Note: if for some reason the video does not appear here you can also view it at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kirispupis/2993531665/)

He played around with the video for a bit, but no longer uses it.

Recently, Eitan has stopped using the camera completely because it doesn’t zoom.  Currently I help him take pictures with my camera, which he loves to do.  I have been eyeing buying him the Olympus SW1030, which is rugged enough for his age but is a bit high for our budget right now.

However, between the Fisher Price and the VTech kids cameras, in my opinion (and Eitan’s) the Fisher Price is the clear winner.  The VTech has more features and a higher resolution, but the Fisher Price is much easier to use and takes better quality shots.

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This picture was taken entirely by him, with his father only helping him to hold the rather heavy Canon 180L lens.  Still, I think it is rather impressive that at this age (a few months short of five) he is using the rule of thirds already.

Here’s another shot that he took the same day.  I rather like the thought with this one.  Thought it was a bit out of focus it’s very interesting that out of all things a four year old would try to frame the shot this way.  I know that he intentionally framed it this way because he rejected an earlier attempt that was off and retook the shot.

In other shots he attempted to be a bit more artistic.  I’m not sure what the story is behind this shot, but he was very determined to get it right.

What I found even funnier was later on when I was taking photos of them.  Eitan stopped in his bike and asked that I take a picture of him in this pose.

Is this a future photography great in the making?!

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