12 Yr Old Wants To Take Better Photos

[redangel]

My daughter wants learn to take better photos. She currently uses a digimax 50 but wants to upgrade. What are some suggested cameras. Not wanting to spend over 300.00. At the moment her focus is to improve composition, and seeks a camera that suits portraiture and some macro. Full auto at this stage.

[PossumCorner]

My daughter wants learn to take better photos. She currently uses a digimax 50 but wants to upgrade. What are some suggested cameras. Not wanting to spend over 300.00. At the moment her focus is to improve composition, and seeks a camera that suits portraiture and some macro. Full auto at this stage.

Why full auto? If she wants to learn to take better photos she needs to understand exposure values and their relationship to one another. Full auto will just hold her back and reduce her confidence to learn later on. And a twelve-year old would probably learn the principles much quicker than an "adult". Fantastic that she wants to upgrade, but don't put a brick on her head by not giving the full range of manual setting options.

At twelve, I'd take a few weeks longer to find "the" camera, and look at used DSLRs, or some of the built-in lens 12x zoom like the Panasonics which have a good Macro setting. Some of the options just a few years old are lovely cameras and would take her forward for years, good investment. Equally good investment would be the book "Understanding Exposure" so she can dib into the theory without pressure.

[whiskedaway]

I have a Kodak Z1012IS - essentially a P&S and I can set it to auto, however it also has all the manual settings and a great macro function. You can also buy extra lenses on eBay. I paid $500 for it when it was new, but I'm sure you can pick it up (or something close) for much less than that now because it's 3 years old.