This is an awesome toy plain and simple. It will keep your young child occupied and entertained for many many months to come. I feel for the price it is an excellent value.
However please be advised this is not an awesome camera. In fact as a camera it is way below average. Think cell phone quality photos and you won't be far off the mark. However a young child does not care about photo quality. They care about fun and usability and Fisher Price has delivered this in spades. Now on to the review:
This camera is colorful, chunky and easy for a child to hold. I bought this for my 4 year old son who was always asking to use my digital SLR. My choice was a cheap megapixel camera designed for adults that would deliver reasonable pictures but was still complex for a child to use or this toy camera that was easy to use but delivered sub-par photos. I knew my son would get more fun out of being able to take pics like daddy than reviewing them later for quality on a computer so the choice was easy.
This camera is very easy to use and very well designed. The viewfinder is used with both eyes so your child does not have to close one eye (which is in fact very hard to do for a 4 year old believe it or not!). There is one red button on top to press to take the photo. No zoom or focusing to worry about it so it shoots quickly. In low light the flash works automatically. The flash recharges in about 2-3 seconds. The resulting picture is promptly displayed on a small lcd screen on the back of the camera (just like dad's!). The resolution of this lcd is sub-par but kids will not care about this.
Also on the back are the power on button and two buttons to scroll thru the saved pics (again just like dad's). There is also another red button on the back to delete the photo being reviewed. I was surprised my son figured out how to delete pics without being shown. Very easy and intuitive to use.
The hand grips are chunky and rubberized and easy to hold. My son has not dropped it yet. He has thrown it during a tantrum and it survived handily. For the price you could buy a megapixel camera but these are hard for kids to hold and will be dropped and broken in short order. You could hit this thing with a mallet and it would come out unscathed.
It takes 4 AA batteries (not included) that are placed in pairs in the bottom of each grip. This keeps the camera balanced and again easier to hold. You will need a phillips screwdriver to open the battery compartment so keep one handy at home AND in your car. It also comes with another small battery that will keep the pics saved in between battery replacements. It looks like one of those 5 year batteries so just pop it in and forget about it.
The camera has 8mb of internal storage that will hold roughly 70 pics. You can insert an SD card to expand this memory. I put in a 256mb SD card that are close to free nowdays and it will hold over 2000 pics. This sounds like alot but your child will fill it up over a few days of constant happy snapping. On 4 alkaline AA's my son captured over 6000 pics with about a third of those using the flash. Battery life is excellent. Fisher Price wisely included a battery saving feature that will turn the camera off if left unused for a minute or two. Thankyou.
There is a USB connector behind a small sliding door on the back of the camera. A USB cord is included. Don't worry about installing any software....connect the USB cord to your computer and windows will automatically recognize it as a mass storage device. Now you have an SD card reader and storage device in emergencies as well!
Now the photo quality is not very good. My son could care less and to be honest I don't really care either. Being able to see the world from my 4 year old's perspective totally blows my mind. Photo qulaity may be poor but the ability to shoot memorable pictures remains. These will look fine as 4x6 prints for a childs very own photo album. Trust me when I say a young child has a unique and valuable perspective on any event and you and your child will cherish these great pictures even if the photo quality is not up to par.
So why didn't I give this camera 5 stars? If Fisher Price included a neck strap (just like dad's) I would be more than happy to give it 5 stars.
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