Nikon for Kids is Great for Adults, Too

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Nikon for kids -Nikon s30

Nikon’s newest waterproof camera, the Nikon S30, is being marketed as a family camera, perfect for everyone from kids to grandparents. Indeed, this is a great Nikon for kids. But the features and the quality of photos make it a good choice for anyone looking for an affordable waterproof camera.

The Nikon S30 comes in three bright colors – pink, blue and white – and features a 10 MP CMOS sensor with a 3x Nikkor wide angle zoom lens. It also shoots 720p HD video. The camera is built to withstand the rigors of being used by children, as it’s waterproof to 10 feet and shockproof to 2.6 feet. That means you won’t need to worry about this camera falling in the pool – it’s made to go there!

Nikon also packed the camera with a series of fun and creative effects that kids will love. Don’t like to hear the camera beep when you look at a menu item? You can make it bark or tweet instead. Want to have some fun with your images? You can add a digital border, add a fish-eye effect, change the image to soft focus, or create other effects. Want to take a series of photos as the sun sets? Set it to time lapse mode and let the camera do the rest.

Best of all, this camera is priced to appeal to families. You can pick it up for about $120, making it one of the best deals in underwater cameras. There are cheaper waterproof models on the market, but most offer low resolution (5 to 8 MP) and don’t include HD video or any of the other effects Nikon has added to this camera. The only real competition to the Nikon S30 is the Fujifilm XP30. However, Fujifilm introduced three new models (the XP50, XP100 and XP150) in 2012 to replace the XP30 and priced them all above the XP30. So the choices for consumers who want an affordable waterproof camera with high resolution are dwindling as the XP30 gets replaced by its higher-priced cousins.

Fortunately, the S30 is a good option for anyone looking for great underwater and above water pictures. Photos are sharp and bright, the HD video is crisp and clear, and the camera is easy to use. Nikon has placed both the shutter button and one-touch video recording button on top of the camera and all the other buttons on the back. Menu items are easy to select with the four large buttons to the left of the menu, and the text and icons are large enough for kids or grandparents with glasses to see without squinting. The learning curve for this camera is an easy one. Even my 5-year-old daughter was able to start taking pictures almost immediately.

So we’ve covered all the highlights of this camera. But are there any downsides?

Well, I wish they would have made the battery/memory card door a little easier to open. You need a door that latches securely on a waterproof camera so water doesn’t leak in and ruin the entire camera, but this door is a little too hard to open because you need to push a tiny sliding lock at the same time as you slide the entire door on the bottom of the camera. It’s great for ensuring kids won’t accidentally open the door, but there are plenty of other cameras on the market (including Nikon’s own AW100) that have much better doors.

Another downside to this camera is the inability to turn the flash on manually. It can either be turned off or turned to auto, but there’s no option to turn it on manually if the camera fails to do it automatically.

But these are minor inconveniences, considering the price and features of this camera. If you’re looking for a Nikon for kids, this is a great option that can stand up to the abuses of kids and will continue to take excellent photos as they grow and learn.

For more information, check out this Nikon S30 review.