Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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144 of 146 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
My son loves this camera!, 15 Sep 2008
Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:4.0 out of 5 stars
I read the reviews on this camera before buying it and decided that durability and ease of use were more important than picture quality - not least because it was to be a present for my 4yr old, but his 2yr old little brother was bound to use it, so it had to be tough enough to cope with a toddler. We opened and experimented with it before giving it to our son, so we knew how to get decent images (Hold it still, make sure there's plenty of light - natural if possible - and don't get too close), and could coach him.
My son is utterly delighted with it. Both boys have taken decent pictures with it, and my 4yr old was familiar with the main functions within minutes. he can snap away with it and has produced a lovely record of his typical day, and what interests him. He's never had a computer console, so he's just as pleased with the (very basic) games as with the camera.
It is only really camera phone quality, and you get the best results with natural light, but I remember my first camera being much more fiddly to use and giving poorer results. My son is more interested in taking photos and knowing he has them than actually reviewing them so he has yet to notice that I delete the less successful ones!
My only gripe is the batteries. We are using duracell and getting a decent battery life from them, but rechargeable ones would be so much easier (and cheaper) to use. The memory cards are pretty cheap, so it's worth getting one to avoid losing photos when the batteries go.
I wouldn't get one of these for an older child who could be trusted to look after a proper camera, but for a pre-schooler (especially one with younger siblings), it is just the job.
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
My son loves this camera.....make sure you get the latest version though!!, 10 Nov 2008
Durability:3.0 out of 5 stars Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars Educational:4.0 out of 5 stars
We bought this camera for my 3 year old son this time last year after showing an avid interest in using my own Digital SLR's! As has been pointed out in previous reviews, image resolution is low and shots with flash are often burnt out. However, even with that, my son loved the camera showing great pride in taking pictures and immediately showing the person the picture displayed on the monitor (no matter how good or bad it was!). Always with a grin and enjoying it immensely - which is what it's all about IMO. Sure, the twin viewfinder suffers from parallax error at close distances but my son soon learned to frame using the rear monitor. We never bothered trying to print any images as I know there's little point with the 640x480 resolution and anyhow, at his age, my sons more interested in taking pictures than printing them.
As for build quality, the camera appeared very good with a robust casing covering what is obviously a low quality digital camera. I have to say 'appeared' as I noticed around a month ago that the camera often wouldn't power up despite new sets of batteries. My son was somewhat upset at this so I checked the Vtech website and dropped them a short email (having no original receipt etc). To my surprise they apologised and stright away sent me a returns form by first class post. Three days after returning the form we received by courier a brand new camera! Thank you Vtech.
What I noticed straight away is that the image quality, particularly with flash, is improved immensely. The packaging states 'improved sensor quality' & instructions mention improvements with the latest versions - I would say that's correct. Close up shots with flash no longer burn out every time - which is what the majority of shots on this camera are going to be after all. Image quality on the small monitor also looks somewhat better than the old version & the delay between pressing the shutter and the picture being taken, though not immediate, is again improved. Incidentally, the instructions mention that the 'photo editor' includes an interpolation feature to enlarge files up to 2mB in order to print 'high quality' images. Of course, interpolation isn't going to get you sharp prints but it gives you an option if you want to try and get something half decent.
So, if you are looking for a fun camera for your kids and aren't going to lose sleep over image quality or a few shortcomings, I don't believe that you can go wrong with one of these (just try and make sure that you get the latest version). Buy a cheap SD card and let them shoot to their hearts content! If your kids are older and more camera aware then look elsewhere. Otherwise, this is a fun introduction to photography & I have to say kudos to Vtech for being so proactive in offering a replacement.
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190 of 200 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Shockingly bad picture quality, 9 Nov 2007
Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars Educational:3.0 out of 5 stars
I just bought this for my 2 1/2 year old daughter to take on holiday. It looks solid enough and has some nice features. The first thing you notice though is how slow the screen update is, it looks about 2 frames a second. So even for an adult getting a decent shot is tricky. The pictures themselves are of a quality I've never seen from a digital camera. Something probably on par with the first camera phones in bad light. Pictures are grainy and quite a lot are blurred. If I'd seen the quality of this thing before I'd bought it then I wouldn't have bothered. However, my 2 year old seems to like it.
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