Camera Test on Two Dolls (A Comparison Between Two Digital Cameras Made by Fischer-Price and Canon)

(Originally written on October 28, 2007. Last updated on August 5, 2009.)

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Since I wrote this article, Fischer-Price has come out with a line of waterproof digital cameras for children that one can buy in either blue or pink through Amazon.com. The original non-waterproof digital cameras like the one I bought are still available. In addition, there are now a whole lot of digital cameras for kids that have sprung up with some of them bearing licensed artwork from various companies (such as Disney's Hannah Montanna and Pirates of the Carribbean). Many of these newer cameras cost as low as $20. I haven't purchased or tested any of the newer cameras out mainly because I don't have any small children living in my home and I just don't have the time or money to go around and buying every single cheap kiddie camera in existence just to try them out.

This article is still valuable for anyone who's thinking about purchasing a cheap kiddie digital camera for any reason because it'll give you a general idea of what to expect. But I need to add this disclaimer: The results I got with the Fischer-Price camera doesn't mean that you'll get the same results with whatever cheap kiddie digital camera you decide to use. You might get better quality photos with your camera than I did. Or you might get worse quality photos than I did. I will NOT accept any responsiblity for any results that you may derive from your own kiddie digital camera.

Photography and I go back a long way--as far back as the time I was in Girl Scouts and I worked on obtaining a "My Camera" badge. I was so proud when that badge came in the mail. I still have fond childhood and adolescent memories when I was the proud owner of a Kodak Pocket Instamatic camera that used a 110 film cartridge.

When I took a few photojournalism courses in college, I got my first real professional SLR camera, a Pentax MX. I had that Pentax for 15 years and I used it a lot.

There was a turning point when my Pentax MX suddenly had a broken shutter. The one thing I found very annoying about the MX was that its shutter would break every few years. Previously I would take that camera in to the repair shop then wait at least two weeks until it was repaired. Well the last time it broke its shutter, I took it to the repair shop as usual. A few days later I got a phone call saying that the camera couldn't be fixed because Pentax no longer made any replacement parts for the MX. I still remember the guy telling me, "You have an old camera", which rankled me because it was only 15 years old, not 150 years old.

Then one Christmas my husband surprised me with my first digital camera, an Olympus. That camera also had a fixed focus lens but I loved the fact that it was digital, which meant that I could preview the shots I had taken and I could upload them directly on to the camera. There were times when I missed having a SLR camera but the digital aspects of this camera made up for it.

I would bring that camera whenever I visited relatives. One year one of my brothers-in-law was getting married and I went to a pre-wedding get-together. My various nieces and nephews loved my digital camera and I would let them take photos of each other while they viewed the results and they loved it.

I held on to that camera for about six or seven years until it started to act increasingly erratic. (It wouldn't always shoot when I held down the shutter release button. This happened even after I installed fresh batteries.) It finally died when I accidentally dropped it on the sidewalk outside my home. By that point prices of digital cameras had gone way down and there were even digital SLR cameras that were putting out photos that were just as high quality as the traditional film SLR cameras. So I broke down and purchased a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT and I've been happy with it ever since.

Even though I love my current camera, there was a time when I felt uneasy. During a trip to Phoenix earlier this year to visit relatives, two of my young nephews--ages 8 and 10--remembered the fun they had with my previous digital camera and they begged to shoot some photos with the new camera. I relented but I became paranoid that one of them would drop the camera and break it so I didn't let them use it for very long.

I decided that I would look for a cheap digital camera that I would feel comfortable in letting my various nieces and nephews use. (I have 10 nieces and nephews ranging in age from 2-20.) I wanted a camera where, if they broke it or lost it, it would not be a major financial catastrophe for me. My only criteria for this cheap digital camera were that it had to be easy enough for them to operate (all they would have to do is point and click without having to worry about such things as focusing lenses, aperature openings, and shutter speed) and the camera had to be Macintosh compatible (mainly because I spend about 99 percent of my time on a Mac). Well I had no problem in finding cheap easy-to-use digital cameras but I had a harder time finding a cheap digital camera that was Mac compatible since the majority of them are Windows-only.

I finally found my solution during a trip to Wal-Mart. As I walked through the toy section, I found a digital camera that I thought would be perfect for my nieces and nephews and the box was marked as being Macintosh compatible. I was midly rankled by the $50 price tag that Wal-Mart charged (most of the other cheap digital cameras I saw were priced as low as $15, with $20 being the average) but it was the only camera that I found that was touted as being Mac compatible and it was still way cheaper than what I paid for my Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT. So I bought it.

The Fisher-Price Kid Tough Digital Camera has a lot going for it. The buttons are big enough for a child's tiny hands. It has a fixed-focus lens so the child wouldn't have to worry about doing any kind of manual focusing. The entire outside body of the camera is made out of a thick hard plastic, which means that the camera won't instantly shatter if someone accidentally drops it on the sidewalk outside. (Although it would probably still shatter if someone tossed it from the top of a 10 story building or hit it with a hammer.) There are two viewfinders so the child can decide on which one to use or he/she could put both eyes through both viewfinders. There is a preview screen that can be used to aim the camera at an object (instead of using the viewfinders), to see a photo after the shot is taken, and to see all the photos currently stored. The photos can be stored directly in the camera, which can hold a maximum of 60 low resolution or 20 high resolution photos. Unlike many of the other cheap digital cameras I saw, the Kid Tough Digital Camera also allows the use of an optional SD card, which can hold even more photos depending on the size of the SD card. (However, this camera can only hold a SD card up to 1 GB. According to the instructions manual, the camera can't handle anything larger than 1 GB.)

There is one thing I discovered about the Fisher-Price Kid Tough Digital Camera that is of concern to Mac owners. Even though a SD card is usually an option, I found out that if you want this camera to be compatible with a Mac, you'd better invest in a SD card and a SD card reader because I tried connecting the camera directly to my Mac via a USB port and it just wouldn't come up onscreen at all. (I even have OS X installed.) When I installed a SD card, took a few shots, then put it in the SD card reader that's connected to a Mac, it came up on the computer just fine. (For the SD card reader, I used a Dynex Mini Memory Card Reader/Writer which I purchased for around $14 from Best Buy.)

I took a few test photos with both the Fisher-Price and Canon digital cameras. To level the playing field a little bit, I put the Fisher-Price camera on high-resolution mode (since the Canon shoots high-resolution photos) and I put the Canon entirely on automatic mode (since the Fisher-Price is completely automatic). I used Adobe Photoshop only to crop the photos. I didn't use any of Photoshop's other features because I wanted to give a sense of how these cameras perform under different types of lighting without resorting to any kind of digital trickery. I took a series of indoor and outdoor photos of two punk rock-styled dolls. The red haired doll is an Ellowyne Wilde doll (which is manufactured by a Tonner subsidiary known as Wilde Imaginations) while the other is a Mattel Teen Trends Kianna doll.

Click on any of the photos to see a larger version open in a new window.

Indoor Shots

Fischer-Price	Canon
Fischer-Price	Canon

While both cameras have a built-in flash, the Fisher-Price has a very weak flash. In fact, I would recommend that the Fisher-Price camera be only used outdoors unless one is shooting inside a very well-lit room (meaning having tons of light bulbs on and having all the windows opened to let the sunshine in).

Outdoor Shot in Direct Sunlight

Fischer-Price	Canon
Fischer-Price	Canon

The Fisher-Price camera performed much better in direct sunlight despite the fact that the colors seemed a bit washed out compared to the Canon shots, despite the fact that I put the Fisher-Price camera on high-resolution mode. I also learned that the Fisher-Price camera doesn't do too well with close-up shots. (Notice how Ellowyne Wilde's face seems to lose the detail of one side of her face in one of the Fisher-Price close-up shots.)

Outdoor Shot in Shade

Fischer-Price	Canon
Fischer-Price	Canon
Fischer-Price	Canon

The Fisher-Price camera performs okay in the shade as long as you don't get the camera too close to the subject since it does a pretty crappy job at close-ups. On top of that, the built-in flash tends to activate in the shade and, unlike the Canon, there is no "flash-off" option so if you get too close to the subject matter in the shade, you will risk having an overexposed shot due to the flash. (Ironically the flash turns out much stronger when taken outside in the shade than it does indoors.) The colors are still washed-out looking in the shade, compared to the Canon.

I'll admit that I would never use the Fisher-Price camera for myself. Not only does the colors seem more washed out but I had a hard time centering the subject using the two viewfinders, which is something that I had never encountered with any other camera I've ever used. I frequently felt frustrated whenever I felt I had the shot perfectly composed in the viewfinders only to find out that the subject matter has been severly cropped in some way. I found that using the preview window provided a much more accurate way of centering an object than using either viewfinder. I would only willingly use the Fisher-Price camera if I was doing some sort of off-beat experimental photography.

But as a camera that my nieces and nephews can use, I have to give it two thumbs way up. The Fisher-Price camera provides an excellent and inexpensive introduction to the world of digital photography to any budding photographer in the same way that my old Kodak Pocket Instamatic camera gave me a similar introduction to film photography all those years ago. On top of that, the camera uses icons, large buttons, and sound effects so that kids who haven't mastered reading yet can still take pictures. This camera can also be of interest to older children who want to dip their toes into taking digital photos.

This camera could also serve as a stop-gap solution to cash-strapped doll fans who desperately need to purchase a new digital camera as soon as possible. The photos that the camera produces are passable enough to put on a personal doll site as long as you have access to photo editing software (i.e., Photoshop, GIMP, etc.) because you will need the software in order to have your photo overcome the camera's limits.

My biggest complaint is that the Fisher-Price camera comes in two traditionally sexist colors--pink and blue. And the design on both cameras is designed to appeal to one gender or the other. I ended up purchasing the blue camera with the white circles and red dots mainly because I feared that my nephews would resist using a pink camera while most girls tend to have no qualms about using anything that's designed for boys. I think it's stupid to have such gender-specific cameras because a camera is one item that's used equally by both sexes (which is why most cameras are traditionally made in silver and black colors). I wished Fisher-Price had shown some creativity by not using such stereotypical colors and design schemes. There are plenty of alternative non-gender based colors that Fisher-Price could've used that would've appealed to children of both sexes (like green or yellow or even white).

Despite the sexist color design, weak flash, and washed-out colors in the photos, I would still recommend this camera to anyone who's looking for an inexpensive digital camera for a young child.

I'm now relieved that I now own a digital camera that I have no qualms about letting a young child use.

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