Consumer Reports Tests Digital Cameras For Kids

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - If you have a budding photographer in your family, but you don't want to hand over your digital camera, there are cameras made just for children.

Consumer Reports just checked out several and can help you figure out which to focus on.

When Consumer Reports wanted to check out cameras made specifically for kids, they brought in pint-sized experts.

Consumer Reports gave 30 fun-loving photographers five made-for-kids cameras to try out. They included ones from Fisher-Price, Crayola and Lego. They cost between $35 and $60.

For comparison, testers had the kids use a regular camera as well.

Things got more scientific in the lab. Testers evaluated battery life, which turned out to be pretty good on all the cameras. They also calculated shutter delay. Most had short delays and testers also assessed picture quality.

"All the kids cameras were two-to-three megapixels and they use plastic lenses instead of glass, so the picture quality wasn't good. But, that's not a top-priority for kids anyway," Carol Mangis from Consumer Reports said.

Most of the tiny testers thought the cameras were easy to use.

Some have special features like graphics you can add to photos. The $60 Lego camera lets you build onto it for added fun.

The $40 V-Tech Kidizoom camera did produce slightly better photos and it also has games and built-in graphics that you can add to the pictures.

Just like most digital cameras, the cameras designed for kids can be hooked up to a computer so you can edit, print or even share photos. So get ready to smile and say cheese.

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