Digital Camera for 8 year old

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I have a son that likes to take pictures. My wife and I felt a digital camera would be best as he has no need to have hard copy pictures, but would more likely make photo pages of related pictures and he could do all that on the computer. We purchased a JamC@m 2.0, which i have no been very happy with. It is a nice camera, but is too toyish for my taste. The Olympus D-360L seems to be the closest of what i want, but has some holes I hope another camera can fill with out too much more $$$. Below is a list of my requirements and keep in mind that basically I am building on the Olympus D-360L feature set so things I mention that is does have are important or I am saying I could live with out that feature. I am also willing to buy used to keep the cost low.

My son is only 8 and realy does not need to use the LCD, so most functions need to be accessible while using only the view finder. I would like resolutions higher than 640x480, but could live with 640x480 if necessory for a camera that has everything else I want. I need at least 2x optical zoom and would digital zoom for those occassional times and I understand that digital zoom requires the LCD which is why I must have some optical zoom. It needs to have a built-in flash that knows when to flash if possible. It needs to be able to use removable storage media and I would like it to have a USB port and a driver that mounts the contents as a disk. I would like to be able to manage pictures from the LCD and an LCD that displays more info. than the Olympus D-360L would be nice. The camera needs to be small light and very easy to use with buttons positioned well. We need good Mac support. Other features i would like is not too long delay between shots at 640x480 and at least some of the higher resolutions. Anything out there that can provide this for under $400 new?

-- Christopher Mirchandani (cminchrist@mac.com), April 25, 2000

Answers

If your 8 year old is reasonably responsible I would suggest you consider a good used camera. Yes it will have features he will not use immediately but it will provide a lot of growing room. For example Nikon CP-950 used will be within your price category. In the AREC mode they are as simple as any of most of the other point and shood cameras. But they have a superb set of optics, they will meet (and then some) your other requirements. In the MREC mode it will be a camera that will challange him well into his teens.

When I was a youngster his age (1941) my parents took that approach with a film camera. I grew into it and though I never wanted to be a pro it did provide me the basis that permitted me to string with a wedding photo shop and pay my way through collage. And who knows your son may be the Karsh, Eisenstadt or Ansel Adams of the 2020s and 30s.

Bill Cook

-- Bill Cook (billc@wcook.com), April 25, 2000.


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