Children’s Photography
Equipment
(If you have any other good suggestions please share and I’ll pass on the info to other teachers)
There are so many options available and there are pros and cons to all. I would advise prioritising something that takes good quality images, and is easy to navigate and hold. Consider buying second hand equipment, which is often available at a fraction of the price.
Canon PowerShot range SX110 to 170 – Good quality cameras. Second-hand only. AA batteries. Large LCD screen. Good grip. £30 eBay
Nikon Cool pix W100. Shock proof/ waterproof Available in bright colours From £93 new
Fuji FinePix XP120 Shock proof/ waterproof Fixed lens, bright colours From £125 new
Tablets/ Mini-tablets/ Old mobile phones (without SIM) – selection of rubber protection cases are available – I recommend the ones for tablets with hand grips – allowing pictures to be taken easily with thumb. It can be useful to remove aps from home screen to avoid accidental navigation.
Of the cameras actually designed specifically for young children:
VTech kidizoom duo (£40) – tough rubberised build, easy to hold. But low image quality, small low res LCD, distracting menu of effect/games
Useful aps for android or iOS:
First camera for kids – very simple to operate
PicCollage – collate images into a collage
360 Panoramas – wonderful 360 degree images
Lapse it and Hyperlapse for long exposure capture