tny915
12-05-2007, 04:13 PM
I just picked this up yesterday morning, and it's been in DD's hands from the moment we took it out of the package. It's a winner in our house. I wanted to get this review out there because Target has this on sale for $39.99 thru Saturday, down from $49.99, and the package includes a carrying case. I had to go to 2 different Targets and call 3 stores to find it -- the sales associates at all stores said this is selling like hotcakes. Apparently the price is only in-store, online is still $49.99 and is currently out of stock.
This camera was a replacement for a Polaroid Kids Camera (this is the Polaroid (http://www.amazon.com/Polaroid-3%252e0MP-Digital-Camera-CKA%252d00301S/dp/B000SASMDO/ref=pd_sim_e?ie=UTF8&qid=1196881771&sr=8-2), definitely not recommended) that DD got for her birthday. The first Polaroid stopped working in less than a day, we returned for a new one that stopped working after a couple days. So we gave up and tried the Kidizoom when we saw the great price.
http://trus.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pTRU1-3693081reg.jpg http://trus.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pTRU1-3693081_alternate1_reg.jpg
The camera comes with a good amount of memory (16MB), although it's best to put an SD card in so as to not lose pics if the batteries die. It takes 4 AA batteries, not included. Flash has a tendency to overexpose, but it can easily be turned off. Resolution is what it is for a kids camera -- I don't think any kids cameras take very clear pictures. Camera's the perfect size for DD's hands and feels sturdy. She's already dropped it once and it's quite durable.
The key things that make this camera so fun for DD are the picture frames, stamps, and hats that she can add to the pics after she takes them. She can also add fun distortion and animation effects to the pictures. You can add voice clips to the pics as well. There are 3 games on the camera--tic-tac-toe, a memory matching game, and a puzzle game. A very nice feature --- the camera can take movies, which I don't believe is common for kid's cameras.
DD, at 4yo, can work this camera easily and navigate through all the menus with little help from me. But something to note is that most everything, other than just taking still shots, involves clicking the "Mode" button and navigating through several menus, whether it's to go to video mode, game mode, to add a hat or stamp to a picture, add a frame, etc.
Example: To get to stamps, press the following:
-Press Mode button
-Use arrow pad to select Photo Editor, press OK.
-Use arrow pad to choose the picture you want at add the effect to, press OK.
-Use arrow pad to select what photo effect you want -- frames, animations, stamps -- then press OK.
-Use arrow pad to choose the stamp. Left-right to choose stamp, Up-down to make stamp bigger or smaller, then press OK.
-Use arrow pad to move stamp where you want, press OK.
-Navigate to the save button, or the effects will be lost.
As you can see, it's a lot of steps to remember, even for an adult. And I don't know what it is with the instruction manual, but I needed to really concentrate to read and figure out how to work the thing. To me, nothing was really intuitive right out of the box, aside from taking still shots. It took forever for me to figure out how to review pics since there's no Review button as is found on adult cameras (You push up or down on the arrow pad while in still camera mode--definitely not intuitive.) Anyway, after walking DD through the steps a half-dozen times, she's now a pro, but she's 4. IMO a 3 yo can easily take still shots, but would need lots of help to get to the extra features on this camera.
All in all, highly recommended! I'm hanging onto the package, as I've read handful of reviews about the screen freezing or the camera not working after a couple weeks, but so far so good, knock on wood. DD and I are very pleased with this camera. I think it'd make an excellent Christmas gift, and for $39.99 at Target, it can't be beat.
More review links
Toys R Us (http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2719107)
Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/VTech-80-077300-Kidizoom-Digital-Camera/dp/B000NZORB0/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1196879413&sr=8-1)
Buy.com (http://www.buy.com/articles/loc/63266/channeltype/2/channelid/109/subtype/3/316.html)
This camera was a replacement for a Polaroid Kids Camera (this is the Polaroid (http://www.amazon.com/Polaroid-3%252e0MP-Digital-Camera-CKA%252d00301S/dp/B000SASMDO/ref=pd_sim_e?ie=UTF8&qid=1196881771&sr=8-2), definitely not recommended) that DD got for her birthday. The first Polaroid stopped working in less than a day, we returned for a new one that stopped working after a couple days. So we gave up and tried the Kidizoom when we saw the great price.
http://trus.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pTRU1-3693081reg.jpg http://trus.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pTRU1-3693081_alternate1_reg.jpg
The camera comes with a good amount of memory (16MB), although it's best to put an SD card in so as to not lose pics if the batteries die. It takes 4 AA batteries, not included. Flash has a tendency to overexpose, but it can easily be turned off. Resolution is what it is for a kids camera -- I don't think any kids cameras take very clear pictures. Camera's the perfect size for DD's hands and feels sturdy. She's already dropped it once and it's quite durable.
The key things that make this camera so fun for DD are the picture frames, stamps, and hats that she can add to the pics after she takes them. She can also add fun distortion and animation effects to the pictures. You can add voice clips to the pics as well. There are 3 games on the camera--tic-tac-toe, a memory matching game, and a puzzle game. A very nice feature --- the camera can take movies, which I don't believe is common for kid's cameras.
DD, at 4yo, can work this camera easily and navigate through all the menus with little help from me. But something to note is that most everything, other than just taking still shots, involves clicking the "Mode" button and navigating through several menus, whether it's to go to video mode, game mode, to add a hat or stamp to a picture, add a frame, etc.
Example: To get to stamps, press the following:
-Press Mode button
-Use arrow pad to select Photo Editor, press OK.
-Use arrow pad to choose the picture you want at add the effect to, press OK.
-Use arrow pad to select what photo effect you want -- frames, animations, stamps -- then press OK.
-Use arrow pad to choose the stamp. Left-right to choose stamp, Up-down to make stamp bigger or smaller, then press OK.
-Use arrow pad to move stamp where you want, press OK.
-Navigate to the save button, or the effects will be lost.
As you can see, it's a lot of steps to remember, even for an adult. And I don't know what it is with the instruction manual, but I needed to really concentrate to read and figure out how to work the thing. To me, nothing was really intuitive right out of the box, aside from taking still shots. It took forever for me to figure out how to review pics since there's no Review button as is found on adult cameras (You push up or down on the arrow pad while in still camera mode--definitely not intuitive.) Anyway, after walking DD through the steps a half-dozen times, she's now a pro, but she's 4. IMO a 3 yo can easily take still shots, but would need lots of help to get to the extra features on this camera.
All in all, highly recommended! I'm hanging onto the package, as I've read handful of reviews about the screen freezing or the camera not working after a couple weeks, but so far so good, knock on wood. DD and I are very pleased with this camera. I think it'd make an excellent Christmas gift, and for $39.99 at Target, it can't be beat.
More review links
Toys R Us (http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2719107)
Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/VTech-80-077300-Kidizoom-Digital-Camera/dp/B000NZORB0/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1196879413&sr=8-1)
Buy.com (http://www.buy.com/articles/loc/63266/channeltype/2/channelid/109/subtype/3/316.html)