The GetDPI Photography Forum

Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!

Re: Digital Camera for Elderly Individual (Rush reply)

D&A

Well-known member
Re: Digital Camera for Elderly Individual (Rush reply)

Hi All,

Was looking for possible suggestions and recommendations. I was hoping to purchase a small, and quite inexpensive digital P&S for a lovely relative (woman) getting on in age. I'll provide a bit of background that may help solicit opinions in choice of camera.

She used to enjoy shooting a simple film P&S and then dropping off the film for typical 4x6" prints. Getting out is generally infrequent now as the years have advanced . She is in her mid 80's and her husband over 90. She always game to learn a few things and turns on her desktop that was set up for her to send and receive e-mails and is a very capable person to learn and use a bit of technology.

I was looking for a P&S that had a big rear LCD to make it easy for her eyesight and instead of hooking up a card reader, a camera she could simply attach a USB cord to, and hood up to her PC desktop, that would bring up the simplest and uncomplicated software (almost plug and play), whereby by clicking on a large icon on her desktop screen, would allow the images she took with the camera to be available to insert into an e-mail without having to do my else (including her having to 1st downsize the images).
I guess I could set the camera to take small sized jpegs in advance?).

Although unlikely, maybe on the infrequent occasion remove the SD card and have someone hand it in for prints (that's the easy part). The harder part is the rest of what I described above.

I want to keep this both simple (especially the plug and play part she will have to content with, and relatively (quite) inexpensive and a camera that I can quickly purchase now. It's the ease of being able to take shots, plug in the camera via USB and then basically having the images show up and somehow making the process of attaching one of those images to an e-mail as simple with as few steps as possible for her to deal with.

I would greatly appreciate any suggestions with a name and model # of such camera. Thanks!

Dave (D&A)
 
V

Vivek

Guest
Re: Digital Camera for Elderly Individual (Rush reply)

There are Nano Ms, Micro Ms and a Mini M. Would compliment your Ms.

You being in the US should be able to buy any of these (or any other) and should be able to return it for a full refund if they are not satisfactory.

In the UK, I understand (via a recent news item: BBC News - Man calls Solihull police to complain about prostitute's looks) there is a "Sale of Goods Act" that covers any disappointments.

Good luck and please report back what you decide on and why. :)
 

Shashin

Well-known member
Re: Digital Camera for Elderly Individual (Rush reply)

Dave, I think you are going to have to go with a systemic solution with you setting up her computer. I wonder if a new wireless camera that would automatically upload to a Facebook account would be the best. That could also be a cell phone.

Have a look at a Canon PowerShot ELPH 320. Samsung has a series of "Smart Wi-Fi" cameras that might work. Nikon has a Wi-Fi camera, S6500.
 

Oren Grad

Active member
Re: Digital Camera for Elderly Individual (Rush reply)

Dave, I think you are going to have to go with a systemic solution with you setting up her computer.
I think this is right.

Afraid I'm not familiar with the software provided by many different brands, but IIRC, at least the Canon digital cameras come with a program that can be used to easily "ingest" pictures from the camera when you plug it in.

I don't think you can completely automate the functions she would need, but it should be possible to set it up for her and write up a one-page instruction sheet explaining in simple terms exactly what to do.

As Shashin says, it may be possible to do something this with one of the newer wireless-enabled cameras too, though my impression is that these can still be a bit kludgy to set up and use, and she'd likely still need your help to figure out how to make it work.

Re capturing in small sizes so that resizing is not required for email, keep in mind that that will be trouble if she ever does want prints.
 

D&A

Well-known member
Re: Digital Camera for Elderly Individual (Rush reply)

Thank you everyone for all your helpful suggestions. I think each one made some valid points and there is no "one button" solution in terms of plug and play. She's used to writing a sheet of instructions for a computer task, so I may have to resort to that.

I looked at some preliminary cameras today and there was a 16MP Samsung who's in-camera menu was about the simplest of all the little P&S cameras I tried on display. What I don't know is how easy is the software that interfaces with the camera when she plugs the camera into her computer. I don't want to set up a card reader as that is another thing to learn.

As for image size, I could show her basic changing file size in the camera's menu or simply set it to be a compromise for e-mail attachment and 4x6 prints. Obviously compromises will have top be made. When I hopefully come across what appears to be an easy set-up in conjunction with an inexpensive P&S, I'll let everyone know. Again very much appreciate everyone's input.

Dave (D&A)
 

mmbma

Active member
Re: Digital Camera for Elderly Individual (Rush reply)

I don't think any of the Leicas would make sense here. As the build quality would translate into weight and bulk.

I would focus on these parameters:
1) Ease of use. None to many fancy modes and scenes. Simple UI
2) Big LCD and fast auto focus.
3) Compact zoom, fix lens doesn't make much sense here.
4) Small

Have you considered getting her an Iphone? that would combine her email, cell phone, and photo all into one. It's got a very simple UI

Another option jumps to mind. The Canon S95 or S100. Although it is an older model, I've yet to find a handier replacement to my S95. Yes I tried all the new compacts and went back to S95. (Have not tried the S100). It's small, got a fast zoom, huge LCD, easy to operate. and takes fantastic photos. A mint copy would only cost you 200 dollars, quite disposable.
 
Top