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chargirlgeniusHenry has been using our old 2 megapixel camera for snapshots around the house for about the last year. He's finally dropped it one too many times, or rather, Eddie has gotten to it, and it's dead. All of the internals still work, but the lens won't pop out when you turn it on, meaning that it won't open to take pictures.
So, we decided to get him one of those little kid cameras that they can drop and throw all over the place. What a mistake.
Ok, I'm sure that what's most important is that he can play with taking pictures, but I see no reason on earth why the camera has to take such crappy pictures. I mean, for under $100 I can find a 10 megapixel camera, way less if I look at discount sites. Sure, it's not ruggedized, but why would it be so difficult to make a kids camera have 3, or even 2 megapixels?
He's shooting pictures, and he's having fun, but what happens if he manages to get a well-composed picture? It's still going to look like crap. For heaven's sake, he took the picture that is my default LJ user pic. It's conceivable that with a decent camera we could put together a silly album for his grandmother.
There's a flash on the thing, but every picture is too dark or way overexposed. Even a shot that should have been cake, five feet away or so, came out dark and blurry. Which is too bad, because it would have been an otherwise cute picture of Eddie. Ugh.
It's a nice idea, and one that I actually thought of about five years before they appeared on the market, but the execution is awful. I don't know if we can return it, but I'm thinking of looking for older, used point and shoot cameras on the cheap that he needs to try to be careful with, but I won't cry if he ruins.
So, we decided to get him one of those little kid cameras that they can drop and throw all over the place. What a mistake.
Ok, I'm sure that what's most important is that he can play with taking pictures, but I see no reason on earth why the camera has to take such crappy pictures. I mean, for under $100 I can find a 10 megapixel camera, way less if I look at discount sites. Sure, it's not ruggedized, but why would it be so difficult to make a kids camera have 3, or even 2 megapixels?
He's shooting pictures, and he's having fun, but what happens if he manages to get a well-composed picture? It's still going to look like crap. For heaven's sake, he took the picture that is my default LJ user pic. It's conceivable that with a decent camera we could put together a silly album for his grandmother.
There's a flash on the thing, but every picture is too dark or way overexposed. Even a shot that should have been cake, five feet away or so, came out dark and blurry. Which is too bad, because it would have been an otherwise cute picture of Eddie. Ugh.
It's a nice idea, and one that I actually thought of about five years before they appeared on the market, but the execution is awful. I don't know if we can return it, but I'm thinking of looking for older, used point and shoot cameras on the cheap that he needs to try to be careful with, but I won't cry if he ruins.
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(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-07 06:12 pm (UTC)And yes, you can still get 3 and 4 mpix cameras for cheap. Check ebay.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-08 12:45 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-08 01:37 am (UTC)