UKH

Our son (age 9) is showing an interest in photography, he has been taking some pretty nice pics on our camera and would like his own for christmas. Can anyone recommend a cheapish, but good buy compact. Preferably small with a nice screen at the back.

Cheers

Heike

In reply to Heike:

At that age I'd have thought one of the tough cameras would be a good idea, no moving lens parts and he can get it caked in mud or take it into a river, drop it etc. 

 

I've had both an olympus and lumix one and both are fantastic, image quality isn't as good as a normal compact for the money but you take way more interesting photos not worrying about a fragile camera.

In reply to jamie_bkc:

thanks! Good idea, they look nice, just had a look at prices of these. Might be a bit out of our league, but the idea of tough and rugged is good.

Cheers

Heike

In reply to Heike:

How about buy 2 or 3 similar Canon Ixus or PowerShot cameras. Shouldn’t cost more than 20 quid per camera from Egay. 

 

Takes actually good photos, and If they break it’s no big deal (and you can use the batteries If you have a similar spare camera).

In reply to Heike:

I'm no photographer, just a climbing clicker, but have a bit of experience as I'm a clumsy oaf and keep breaking 'em hence have this opinion based on the last few years: Panasonic Lumix TZ and SZ series are very very good but fragile - I have a pile of broken ones.

The compact pocket sized Canon Ixus series (and Powershot SX280 though prob a bit more than you need) are excellent and rugged. Myself wife and daughter each have an Ixus 2xx series, specifically Ixus 230, 255 and 265. From the 230 onwards they have the larger 3" screen, the lower numbered models a 2.7". Both mine and my daughter's have had some hammer and now have cracked screens but keep on working perfectly nonetheless.

With a bit of careful selection you can usually find 'em on eBay or Facebook Marketplace in vg condition with good boxes (since it's for a gift) for say £40 to £75. That's where ours have come from. 

Good hunting Santa!

In reply to Heike: in typical ukc fashion , I know you asked for a compact , but you also said your son wanted to get into photography. My friend just got a Nikon d40 for his daughters  10th birthday . Small light and easy to use . She had been asking for a "proper " camera and its also that .I had a quick play this evening and want one . I think they got it for £80 and it has a very low shutter count . When your son publishes his first book , I want a credit . 

Review here : https://kenrockwell.com/nikon/d40.htm

 

In reply to Heike:

You can have my old Panasonic Lumix LX3 if you want? Great camera and has been with me on almost every big route from 2012 to 2017! 

It's bit beaten up, but probably still a better camera than a cheapo new one. I'll send you some pics.

In reply to Alasdair Fulton:

Thanks, that sounds great!

 

In reply to Martin Bennett:

Very good idea! Better than spending hundreds...

Thanks

In reply to mike123:

Hahaha! I'll let him know. Thanks for your suggestion. I will look into that. Our son is adamant that he wants to do "proper" photography, not this nonsense his daddy and I do, i.e. climbers climbing a route etc. He says he is inspired by some BBC guy who does nature photography (whose name I have forgotten...bad mum)

In reply to mike123:

In my view, 99% of photography is about pointing the camera in the right direction at the right time - everything else is detail. So I would have thought a compact would be fine for starters. Having said that, in my opinion a viewfinder really helps with pointing a camera in the right direction, but a viewfinder will increase cost in a compact!

 

In reply to Robert Durran:

I think you are quite right. Good subject/ motif at the right time. Some people have a better eye for  a shot than others, but otherwise, yeah! Lucas has done a couple of nice shots these days, but hey, let's not overdo it. He wanted a simple thing, just better than his crappy baby version or us shouting "no" when he wants to use ours. (Not that we are great or even careful with our camera )

 

In reply to Heike:

Lots of sensible answers on here already, many different ones and none of them "wrong"....but for starters I'd go pretty basic with a second hand old "tough" camera, even a really old one like a Canon D10 (I saw one for £10 recently but it didn't have the charger and that made things complicated and more expensive, I think they go for around £35). 
I don't know your son and how he handles things, and I don't have much experience with 9-year-olds and gadgets, but the D10 is nice chunky fun. It is from 2009 or so, so "old tech", might feel a bit slow and lo-res and this is by no means a specific suggestion but just an idea of what could be a good start.
The reason I am thinking "basic" is that a limited camera will help define what direction he wants to go in e.g. a better tough camera, or something more sophisticated but more delicate.
The flipside of starting on a tough camera is that he could get in the habit of bashing cameras around and then when he gets a non-tough camera when he's 12, he'll knack it within a week