The myFirst Camera Insta is a sturdy children’s camera that prints out the kid’s favourite picture. The thermal printer only prints in black and white but it still is a wonderful delight for children to see their photos come to life in this way. The print quality is pretty OK and reminded me of both a polaroid and a photobooth picture. A great feature is not having to wait for it to dry (like you would with a polaroid) and a mega bonus is not needing to ever refill the ink (just the thermal paper). The only slight issue is with tearing the picture off – this young Londoner didn’t quite understand the concept of tearing the picture off and had to be reminded EVERY TIME to tear it gently and not just pull it off (along with a lot more paper from the roll).
The camera has a removable SD card and comes with 1 gig worth of storage but you can increase this quite easily, should you need more space for the seemingly same-looking photographs your young Londoners take. It comes with a few rolls of paper (for recharging after the kids want to print ALL of their photos). This is pretty easy to do for an adult or for slightly older kids – I struggled with a four year old trying to ‘help’. Other accessories included with the camera are a Micro SD to USB adaptor, neck strap lanyard and a charger (the camera needs to be well charged for it to print the pictures).
We’ve had the camera for six months now is a variety of locations, settings and weather conditions and I am happy to say that it has survived the family well. It’s fallen down, gotten wet (and muddy) and been smudged with greasy fingers over the lens. The first few drops led us to implement a rule that the camera neck strap has to be around the neck. It has still done well to survive this very active toddler. So it is a major win for durability in our book. Although it is not waterproof – it has survived the British weather for over 6 months.
The kid is in love with it and asks for me to pack it on most holidays and outings (even at the park). It is really light and easy for him to hold (and for the parent to carry). We have got creative with our portraits and even framed a bunch.
Our conclusion is that the myFirst Camera Insta 2 is a wonderful first camera for children and a perfect gift for budding photographers. myFirst Camera Insta is £94 and available to buy via their website.