 Great toy for young kids! |
| Review Date: January 5, 2010 |
| Reviewer: JeFaMe, Georgia |
| I have to say I got a kick out of the reviewers who were so disappointed in the quality of this camera. It is an easy-to-use, fun TOY for a CHILD 2-6 years in age. We only paid $49 for this Kidizoom last Christmas and think it's been great for that price. A couple of years ago, my husband and I bought a cheap SONY digital camera for ourselves. A few weeks later it was bumped, not dropped, and, despite some tinkering, never worked right again. This very solid TOY camera has been dropped several times and repeatedly seems unfazed. I don't think my 2 or 4-year-old (now 3 and 5 years old) would have been able to manipulate all the functions of a cheap "regular" camera and find it to be so engaging. The Kidizoom is age appropriate with big buttons that their little fingers can use, plus funny add-on images, plus games. My kids have had the camera for over a year now, and it remains the toy with which they consistently play (and argue over) most. (We should have two of them.) They both love to photograph our dog, their stuffed animals, or each other, then add on the funny hats or scenery and giggle. My 5-year-old has also developed a confident, artistic eye by photographing the furniture, shoes, houseplants, etc, asking me "Mommy, doesn't this picture I took look pretty?" Yeah, the quality of the image is nothing like our Canon, but the kids do not care. It is their camera to use as they wish, and they love that. They do get frustrated over the flash not working every 2 seconds. It seems you have to wait about 7-8 seconds in between photos for it to flash. We explained that to them, so they often wait and pause before they click, which does the trick. This is a much-loved toy that inspires creativity and stands up to the usual bumps and bruises at the hands of children. That's why I give it 5 stars. |
great investment! Super fun! Creative family time
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| Review Date: December 14, 2009 |
| Reviewer: jenn, Usa |
| These cameras are so fun! They really give an oppurtunity for kids to express themselves and be creative. They can take pictures and record a voice over them, add silly eyes or ears, and make their own video. For pics the flash is good enough. With videos the lighting in the room can effect the quality but the kids really aren't dissapointed by that. They are so excited they made a video! A great silly time toy that actually keeps them busy without sitting ifront of the tv. The adults in my family were having fun with adding all the silly features on the pictures, we all had a good laugh.They do have some tic tac toe type games that will occupy them for a bit. We returned my 3yr olds fisher price one for another of these as they are so much better. my now 4 and 8 yr old still use these a year later.My 3 yr old needed a little guidance with how to work it but she got the hang of it quite quickly.Battery life isn't too bad. Definetly one of the best toys I have bought and worth the money. |
A good buy
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| Review Date: October 7, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Jocelyn Smith, Anchorage, AK |
| We purchased this camera after being given the Little Tikes version (which is terrible, btw). We love this camera! It is easy to use, takes video, and has a few games on it too. You can even play back video right on the camera, with sound! There is also a feature to add frames or funny faces to your photo. My 3 year old loves this camera to just take photos, and I know she will grow to use some of the more advanced features in the years to come. The only thing I would change is a neck strap instead of a wrist strap. |
Great idea, lousy execution
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| Review Date: December 25, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Hey-mo!, |
THE GOOD: This camera has a great design for kids. It has a nice shape for little hands and feels fairly sturdy and rugged. I'm sure that it will survive more than a few drops. The dual viewfinders are great for beginners.
THE BAD: At the end of the day, it is a toy camera with the accent on "toy." The photo quality is, at best, on a par with what would expect from a 2004-vintage cellphone.
I am a fairly experienced photographer (HS yearbook, college newspaper), and I have an extremely difficult time taking a "decent" picture with the camera. My 5.5 year old, who takes pretty reasonable pictures with an old Sony my wife keeps around for snapshots, is frustrated that her pictures almost never come out. And the controls are much too complicated for our 3.5 year old.
THE UGLY: The packaging and specs very prominently advertise "2.0 megapixels". But there's an asterisk. In very tiny print, it says "interpolated." The camera only shoots 0.3 megapixels; you use software included with the camera to upscale the picture to 2.0 megapixels. So if your kids want to be able to print the pictures they take, move along.
OTHER: Some other reviews of vtech cameras discuss using rechargeables. You can probably get by with Eneloops or some of the other better NiMH batteries. But you should be aware that those batteries deliver 1.2 volts, as compared with 1.5v from a standard alkaline. And the user's manual specifically states, "We do not recommend the use of rechargeable batteries."
To the manufacturer: You have a great concept here. Dump the games and feature creep in favor of stripped down controls. And for god's sake, put a decent sensor in the thing!
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What a disappointment
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| Review Date: November 17, 2009 |
| Reviewer: James E. Rardon, |
I am really disappointed with this camera.
Based on the reviews, it seemed to be just the ticket for the daughter of a semi-pro photographer.
The camera is indeed durable; it's been dropped from two or three feet, with no ill effects. Unless abysmal image quality, random flash performance, and lousy battery life were the result of the drop.
The camera has a nice solid feel, and is easily holdable by a child. The binocular viewfinder is a nice touch. Includes a wrist lanyard, too.
But the pictures are a joke. You can buy a six megapixel camera for what this thing costs. For fifty bucks, they could have made this one at least two or four, but it's 640 by 480. The package says 'Two megapixel', with an asterisk indicating 'interpolated'.
The flash fires when it wants, and is purely random. I have shot weddings on film with guide number flash and manual focus in all kinds of mixed lighting. I could not produce a flash picture from this thing that I couldn't have done better with a phone. The flash will fire without regard to distance or lighting, on random shots. Doesn't matter if it has fresh batteries or not.
The camera has a lot of features a kid will love, like the frames and other edits. But it has no business being labeled as anything other than a toy. I would not give five bucks for one of these. |
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