Advice when buying gifts

[The Critic]

I had this experience:

I thought I was doing a young person a favour by buying them a good Digital body and recycling an expensive set of 35mm lenses (Japanese).

To my chagrin, the person was frustrated and upset because they wanted a camera "like their friends" that they could slip in their purse, take anywhere and shoot photos automatically, without any 'hassle'.

In other words, they wanted a $100-$200 point and click they could stick in a pocket and take pics of their friends to post on the net.

The good camera (nearly $1,000 at the time, but saving the use of $1,000 worth of lenses) sat around unused. They didn't want to learn how to take pictures (even automatically, with autofocus and pre-set modes).

I ended up taking back the camera and lenses. They can use it and do occasionally, but I haven't another $100 for a 'cheap camera' now.



ooops.

[sasajovanovic]

One of the best gifts you can give graduates is a way to preserve the precious memories of this time in their lives. Whether the grad on your list is a budding photog in need of a quality digital camera, or simply needs a fine way to display photos from his or her graduation

Digital cameras have been one of the most popular Christmas gift items in recent years, and 2006 is no exception. This year, though, gifts that were once considered cool are now totally retro.


Digital cameras for children have improved dramatically so that they actually produce decent pictures and are built with kids in mind. Children just love cameras, but most people don't want to drop too much money on a camera that will get abused by a child.