I'm counting buttons here and even these simple cameras end up with about 6. On/off; shutter;normal/closeup;and two or three to deal with settings and downloading. Of course, with the SiPix you could probably open it up and disable some of them, even possibly tape over them. I'll keep your situation in mind while I explore modifying these cameras. I like the BarbieCam specs if such a thing could be found, but I'm not sure it would go with my dark green truck... could repaint I suppose... One thing with kids-it's nice to give them the experience of quality. Even a box Brownie could qualify on that score these days. >Well Dave lets not forget that the intended photographer will be 5 >years old October 8th. When I said she used my camera, I meant I set >the aperture, shutter speed and focus for her. Digital camera menus >and half a dozen buttons are not her forte. She's an artist, not an >engineer. The beauty of the classic polar bear camera is its >simplicity. There is nothing to set or more correctly, there is >nothing to set wrong. Also I would rather she accidentally smash a >$16 camera against playground equipment than a $200 (double US$ to >get Canadian$). > >Ideally I would like a digital with 2 buttons (on and shutter), >auto-off, optical viewfinder (no screen) and an indestructible, pink >bakelite body and the name 'Barbie' and a bunch of flowers printed >on it. In the interim though I think I'll just shove some 1600 film >into the polar bear cam and see what we get. > >Thanks, Greg > > >> If you go the digicam route you might consider some thing a >> step up from >> the SiPix Roam which is more a web cam than an un tethered >> digicam. Take a >> look at the SiPix SP1300 for an example of what you can have for under >> $100.00 US. >> >> http://www.steves-digicams.com/2002_reviews/sp1300.html >> >> Check out the sample images. Steve only displays out-of-the-box >> anyone-can-do-it type examples and all things considered the SP1300 >> compares quite well to digicams costing over twice as much. It is also >> bundled with an image editor that is a lot better than the card maker >> usually packed with an inexpensive camera. >> >> Dave >> East Englewood >> --------------------------- >> >> -- Alan P. Hayes Meaning and Form: Writing, Editing and Document Design Pittsfield, Massachusetts
