[awscreo]

OP found his daughter a very cheap *istDL (a few posts up) and already has a normal prime for it. He's done, at least until he knows for sure how serious she is about it.

I certainly can't fault your suggestion as a longer-term solution if she turns out to be rabidly enthusiastic, though if she can handle the *istDL now, growing into its more advanced functions or into another Pentax DSLR won't be an issue for her, and may make more sense for OP's family than a separate camera ecosystem . She can strike out on her own when she's a teenager or something.

Didn't read the entire thread, just posted some quick thoughts)

[jtkratzer]

I learned the foundations of what I know about photography between the ages of 18 and 22. The first 35mm SLR camera I ever used was a Minolta SRT-102, which was very similar in form and function to a Pentax K1000. My high school had two of them that were used in the photography classes and by the school newspaper and yearbook. One had a 50mm lens and the other had a 100mm telephoto. It was dead simple to figure out. Set the desired shutter speed, keep the needle in the circle, focus and shoot. It would be a few years before I learned the relationship between aperture and depth of field in a photography class I took in college. It was taught in the physics department so lots of math was required. I never learned the formulas even though I comprehended the basic concepts of exposure. In the time between taking those two photography classes my last semester of high school and my last semester of college, I acquired my first 35mm SLR, a Minolta X-570, and developed a decent eye for composition.

I don't know how a younger child would pick up the basics of photography. I'm sure every child learns differently and some would grasp the technical stuff right off, while others would more likely gravitate toward focus and composition. I know that as a child with ADHD, I would have wanted instantaneous results and wouldn't have had the patience to figure out things like f-stops and shutter speed. Before taking photography in high school, I can count on one hand the number of times my parents allowed me to shoot a roll of film with an old instamatic camera. My results were consistently horrible because I was too excited to hold the camera steady. I couldn't learn from my mistakes because it would be literally years before I'd have another opportunity to shoot another roll. Although the technology didn't yet exist, I think a DSLR would have been a great learning tool for me as a child since I've always been a non-linear, intuitive learner. I would have been able to see my results immediately and perhaps figure out what I did wrong or at least how I could do it better.

I can totally relate. Grew up with ADD and Ritalin until I was junior in high school. I was very much a figure it out myself kind of learner. I tore apart appliances and rebuilt them, never followed the instructions on Lego projects if I even made it through the first build, and to this day, enjoying tinkering with my diesel truck.

I'm not trying to make her a pro. I want to provide her with something she enjoys and it's an opportunity for us to do something together that we both enjoy. Too many activities we don't/can't do together right now. Not ready for hunting, we've fished a few times, but I run ultramarathons, she's good for a couple miles. She's into field hockey, I was on the ice. Photography is something we can enjoy together any time we want. I was in the garage working out Monday evening and she was out there with the camera and getting irritated that she couldn't get the exposure set because it was too dim for 100 ISO and f/3.5 on the lens.

OP found his daughter a very cheap *istDL (a few posts up) and already has a normal prime for it. He's done, at least until he knows for sure how serious she is about it.

I certainly can't fault your suggestion as a longer-term solution if she turns out to be rabidly enthusiastic, though if she can handle the *istDL now, growing into its more advanced functions or into another Pentax DSLR won't be an issue for her, and may make more sense for OP's family than a separate camera ecosystem . She can strike out on her own when she's a teenager or something.

Plan is to stick with Pentax for now since I already have (with the *istDL) nine K-mount bodies. She may inherit the K-5iis if/when I upgrade. I'd almost rather go to a medium format film body before getting a K-3 or K-1.

[JensE]

Congrats to finding such a good inexpensive solution!

Just to provide some experience on the above thoughts: I have been looking out in the past weeks for a digital solution for my son, turning 10 soon. He looks up to his big sister (pretty good eye and proud owner of a custom-color K-50) and brother (action cam guy). He started out with a Praktica BX20 in aperture-priority mode, with the standard 50mm f/1.8 and some amount of expired film. Making the limited exposures count turned out to be very valuable indeed in making him think about each picture. But in my experience, while he enjoyed the admiration of his classmates for the analog camera, getting more timely feedback would indeed very valuable. It would save a lot of disappointment when due to a systematic mistake an entire film turned out to have almost no usable pictures a week later. He really liked the manageable complexity though - color coded exposure times in the viewfinder, just worrying about aperture and focus on dedicated rings for now.

He wants something more compact. I guess it's a sad fact that only at relatively high prices you still get this directness, and a sense of DoF control at all. I think I'll need to spend a little more, hoping he'd continue to value an older premium compact over the ubiquitous phone camera, soon to come for sure.

[pathdoc]

I think I'll need to spend a little more, hoping he'd continue to value an older premium compact over the ubiquitous phone camera, soon to come for sure.

My guess is that by the time the phonecam comes, he will realise its limitations when compared to a larger sensor and restrict it to its appropriate uses.