Fisher Price Kid-Tough Digital Camera for Boys
by Fisher Price
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List Price: Our Price: $12.00 You Save: $57.99 (83%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Toy See more product details |
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Toys and Games Reviews of Fisher Price Kid-Tough Digital Camera for Boys
Customer Review: Overall good camera for a 3 year old
Summary: 3 Stars
There's a few reasons why a parent would want a camera for their 3-year old child. Most likely they can't keep the kid away from their ready-to-break-any-second Canon Eos. Or maybe they want to cultivate the child's artistic talents. Or else they think it might be fascinating to digitally capture their child's eye-view of the world. For a 3-year old, this camera will accomplish these goals. The camera runs on 4-AA batteries. It is heavy and bulky, but durable and comfortable to wield. There is an optical viewfinder for composing the picture. There is a small LCD screen which is too grainy to be useful for framing the picture, but is OK to review pics after they are taken. There is no zoom capability, and the flash and focus are, of course, automatic. Besides the shutter release, there a 4 buttons on the camera: forward and backward scroll, on/off, and delete (more on this later).
Pros: --very durable, will practically bounce when dropped
--stylish, ergonomic, easy to point and shoot
--binocular optical viewfinder, making squinting to aim unnecessary
--automatic flash with decent indoor capabilities
--USB port- easy to download pics even without installing software
--decent storage memory
Cons: --Strangely, depite this success at simplifying digital photography for a toddler, there are some glaring defects in the design of the camera. For instance, you cannot turn off the sounds that occur whenever a button is pressed. They are loud, and not always appropriate to the setting (what if the child wanted to take pictures at a wedding? Does everyone need to hear loud squiggly beeping coming from his camera?) Also, the delete button is big and red and right there. In other words, it is the most prominent button on the camera. And it makes a cool sound when you press it too. It is easily possible to press the big red noisy button 20 times in a row, thus deleting every picture in the camera.
--Do I need to mention that the picture quality is lousy? We're not talking Carl Zeiss here. But resolution isn't everything. If a million typing monkeys could come up with Shakespeare, then a million toddlers with cameras can do Ansel Adams. Just look for the beauty through your child's eye.
There is not much good competition out there in children's digital cameras. Overall this camera is a decent choice for a toddler or preschooler. If it weren't for issues regarding the sound and button design mentioned above, I would recommend it more strongly. It takes passable pictures which are easily downloaded. It is durable, simple, easy to use, and most importantly, fun.
Customer Review: Fair picture quality
Summary: 2 Stars
The point about the Kid-Tough digital camera is that it is kid-tough. And it really is. If this core feature is not required I recommend rather buying an older version of a traditional digital camera for about the same price.
The quality of the Kid-Tough camera is fair to say the best. It is comparable with a really cheap Web cam. Nothing even close to an old 2MP Canon camera from 2000. The flash is quiet useless because if the object is further away than 5 feet, the flash does not reach and the picture is black, and if it is too close then the whole picture is white. In addition, the flash only works with brand new batteries and switches off as the batteries become weaker. It also switches off when you use rechargeable batteries and those are drained to like 70% capacity, which happens with rechargeables by simple self-discharge after a few days. Usable pictures are only possible with good light conditions. The camera also has an issue with white balance. If there is a bright object in the picture such as a white sweater or a window, parts of the picture will become a big white spot. The camera has a normal and high resolution mode. You switch the camera permanently from one to the other. I recommend the high resolution mode when using extra flash memory.
Fisherprice mentioned that you cannot use the camera with rechargeable batteries, but besides the flash issue, it appears to work fine with more modern NiMh or older NiCa batteries alike. I recommend NiMh with low self-discharge such as the Sanyo Eneloop batteries. The camera takes a SD card of up to 1GB space. When connected via a USB port, the camera makes the SD cards available to the computer like a memory stick. The built-in 8MB flash is then not available anymore. You need your own photo software or use the software, your OS ships with. A big plus is the very easy user interface. One button for on/off, one for delete, two buttons for forward and backward view of pictures on the card and one to take the picture. It takes two strokes to delete a picture, but very tempting for young kids.
Summary: If you are looking for a digital camera for a very young child, this is the one for you. Kid-tough! If you have an older child, then better look into older versions of the big brands. But note, that standard digital cameras do not take much abuse, which is the reason why we bought this camera besides its shortcomings.
Customer Review: Nice try but flawed
Summary: 2 Stars
Contrary to the manufacturer's claims, this camera is Mac compatible. Pictures can be downloaded through iPhoto. While it comes with a USB cable, I found it also works with the one from my Canon. Because the camera is essentially electronic guts cloaked in thick plastic, my USB port is a little too recessed and I find myself having to push in and hold the cable during download to maintain contact.
The idea of having an SD card slot to expand memory capacity is brilliant since quite a few adult cameras (e.g. Canons) come with a small capacity (for that camera) SD that is permanently replaced by a larger capacity purchased card. It worked well at first, but after 2 weeks we experienced recurring card errors--"SD" shows up on screen but looks like a bewildering "50". When this error message shows up, the camera is paralyzed and can't even be turned off! Of course if your toddler doesn't let you know, the batteries drain completely. The only way to fix it is to go through the lengthy process of removing 2 screws and the base to remove and reinsert the SD card. Customer service suggested removing the SD card permanently, but this limits the image capacity to about 20+ shots.
This camera takes AA batteries. It powers up with NiMH rechargeables, but probably because of the lower voltage (1.2V vs. 1.5V) the flash tends not fire. It works best with alkalines, but when the SD card slot acts up, it gets expensive to keep replacing batteries.
I agree totally about the poor picture quality. Were it not for the toddler friendly design, a used 2MP adult camera would take far better pictures for about the same price.
With kids always wanting to imitate mommy and daddy, there is definitely a need for a product like this. The on/off chipmunk sound is cute--possibly too cute as my toddler loves to keep pressing the power button and it doesn't work 100% any more. Hopefully Fisher Price will improve the product reliability and picture quality in their next generation ... or somebody like Sony might decide to do a much better job!
Customer Review: Reminder: this camera is for little kids
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this camera on a recommendation from a friend. She had bought it for her daughter, and she loved it. My son is always wanting to take pictures with our camera, and so I thought that this might be a good idea.
Well, he loves it. He loves taking the pictures of his baby sister, and took it on a trip to the zoo with his friends. He took pictures of a ton of animals, and could not stop talking about it. All of his friends were tremendously interested in the camera, and everyone wanted a turn. He is also learning how to get people into his picture. He tells them to say "cheese", and waits until people are looking.
The software which you utilize to download is friendly and easy to use. My son already is learning where to click, although I help him connect the camera. He loves the slide shows that can be automatically created with background music (he even had me put the pictures to one of his favorite songs, which was easy to change).
With due respect to those providing criticism, the pictures are blurry because a child is taking the pictures with a low quality camera... probably 1-2 megapixals at best. My son does not seem to care too much if a picture is off center or poor. He is just excited that he took the pictures. The camera is intended for children 3+, so if your child is older or already more focused on quality, she is probably too old for the camera.
Another criticism is that the pictures are tinted... this is not completely true. The photo shows you create MAY automatically tint the pictures, but you can control this by the default shows you pick, or you edit this right out. The underlying picture is never tinted, just the effects of the show.
We have also been lucky, because we have not been plagued with some of the problems that occur, such as poor battery life or lack of durability.
Bottom line, we highly recommend this camera.
Customer Review: IT'S NOT THE BATTERIES!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
My kids love this camera. I have a 2 year old and 3 year old that haven't put these cameras down since we got them. I will admit, after reading all of the reviews, I got a little worried about the battery life. I was not that concerned about the picture quality (it's a camera for toddlers people). It says plain as day that this is a camera for toddlers. If you want to get your children an over priced digital camera so your toddlers can take professional photos, by all means go for it. However, I live on a budget. So again, I'm not concerned about the "blurry pictures".
Regarding the battery life. These reviews made me very nervous. Of course when we received the cameras, the cameras shut off within the hour. I replaced the batteries with new batteries...same issue. Luckily my husband is a tech guy and found the "problem". It is not the battery life at all!! The camera shuts off when the memory card is full. For instance, my children used the camera like crazy, 300+ pics in an hour. We looked at the memory card status and it was full!! Also, the camera will SAVE battery power by turning off if not used right away.
So, if you are looking for a tough, fun, beginner camera for a toddler, I suggest this. If your child is 5+, s/he is probably a little smarter than a 2 year old and might not have as much fun as a toddler would. To those that are going to buy a "cheap digital camera", more power to you. I certainly wouldn't do it. If I bought my daughter a barbie laptop and it had a "battery issue", there is no way I'd go buy a cheap Dell to replace it for her. I'd research the issue and read the manual. It tells you this stuff.
This camera is great. Check the memory card from now on and your problem is solved.