Recommendations For A Child's Video Camera

My twin 10yo boys are interested in experimenting with video and iMovie. Anyone have any recommendations for a cheap video camera for children?

BenB wrote: My twin 10yo boys are interested in experimenting with video and iMovie. Anyone have any recommendations for a cheap video camera for children?

depends on how 'rough' your kids play

the manufacturer AIPTEK offers several models of 'action cams', not only GoPro-clones, but - no better word at hand: - 'pistol shaped' camcorders, with a flap-out screen etc for way under 100€ ..

I'm using re-branded models (here in Germany under 'Hama Daytour', I think from Aiptek it's 'Sportycam'??)), 4 of them, as b-cams for sports. But those have no zoom. Record in h.264.mov, fully functional in FCPX and iMovie. Pic quality under good light conditions fully acceptable.

Action-cam in your context means: tough to drop from a driving bike, safe under 'wet' conditions (pirate ships-battles in the bath-tube, dog-wash-day, splash-diver-contest-documentairies) ...


I guess, 'water proof' is a killer-criteria for a kiddie-cam ............ :woohoo:

I don't know what your price range is. There is the Canon VIXIA line of camcorders that Start around $299.00. They take surprisingly good video (IMHO). I just don't know how kid proof they are. The are some lower priced like Samsung and some of the Sony's.

Dave

For something real cheap for kids, I would recommend just getting a point-and-shoot camera. Canon Elph line takes surprisingly good videos.

Looking at some very cheap cams at Target, just making sure iMovie and FCPX will read the files. Yeah, seems like there is a ton of cheap stuff on the market, and they all do pretty decent video quality. I'm surprised.

BenB wrote: ... and they all do pretty decent video quality. I'm surprised.

Yeah, under good light conditions, the 'quality' is fully acceptable!

... ok, a 'pro' will notice over-saturated colors, hilarious maxxed out, artificial edge sharpness etc. but, hey, your twins are not DITs, but want to make movies = tell stories.


Aside my hint about action-cams/water proof devices:
Many of those 'GoPro clones' offer 60p (mostly as 720) - that's good for the 'slow mo' afficionados. In that context, I like that seqeunce in the iPhone5-ad, with the kiddie as 'Godzilla' - a bit too childish, but as a father, I know, kids LOVE those effects.........

My 8 year old loves to shoot stop motion lego movies on an older iPhone 4. For my older boys (15 & 18), they shoot use iPhones and iPads. I encourage them to edit as much as they can on the device itself, but you can pop that into iMovie on the desktop without a problem.

I think the Canon Vixias are also a good option.

BTW. All my boys edit in FCPX. Even the 8 year old.