August 16, 2012

Seeking Advice: Class Set Digital Cameras

My PTO president is trying to get a Smart Board in every classroom in our school.  She asked me if I thought I would use one....or if there was other technology I might like to have for the art room.  I have a laptop, LCD projector, and my Lady Bug....I'm pretty set.  However...I have long wanted a class set of digital cameras.  I want to have the information to provide her when I present my idea. So...who has a class set of digital cameras out there?!?!  

17 comments:

  1. I have a class set of digital cameras. I have 20 cameras. Some things to consider:
    1. you want to purchase lots of batteries and/or get digital cameras with rechargeable batteries

    2. you need SD cards for each camera

    3. I recommend getting a USB drive for each camera (for saving images) this way student's can track their own images w/o glutting up the school drives and/or their own personal drives.

    I use the cameras all the time for stuff from portraits, to reference images, to color finds. . .REALLY, the ideas are limitless. If you have someone willing to help with the initial purchase, I would enthusiastically say YES!

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  2. I don't have class cameras but I do have a smart board and I absolutely love it! It's no good for drawing on( I still use my chalkboard/white board for that). The possibilities are endless for uses in the art room! One was installed in my K-2 art room two years ago and at first I thought I would never use it. Boy was I wrong! I use it for video clips, power points, images of art work I pull up on my computer, interactive art websites,etc... I use it more and more as time goes on. I have one in both my rooms now and use them almost everyday. Using it in my lessons also helps to full fill requirements by my district to use 21st Century Skills. :)

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  3. I bought a set of 6 ( one for each table) small Kodak digital cameras last year with some of the profits from Original Works. The cameras are fine and fairly easy to use, but the buttons are TINY and a little tricky for young hands. My advice would be to get cameras with few buttons that are clearly marked for function.

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  4. Hi Check out Mimeo Teach. It's a mobile device that you place on your dry erase board that converts it to an interactive smart board. Far less the cost $699.
    Debbie

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  5. Humm...thought I left a comment...okay again, Check out Mimeo Teach. Only $699 converts your dry erase board into an interactive smart board. I'll be getting one in a few weeks. The tech teacher loves hers.
    Debbie

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  6. I have a set of 8 cameras, each cost around $170. I hav done for each student table in my room. I also have an extra that I store in my desk to photograph student work or class activities. I used one year of square 1 art fundraiser to purchase the set of 8 cameras my first year at my current school. The students love using them and we have done photo scavenger hunts, portraits, still life and micro/macro shots of objects super close up. The ones I bought are just average cameras, not kid cameras, and we haven't had trouble with the students using them are fully. I have used them as low as second grade.

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  7. Mr. E
    I have been taking photos for over 35 years. I teach photography at a college and am an elementary art teacher.

    Recently have been doing some training for Best Buy and one of te resources I tell their employees about is a web site called snapsort.com. I think it will be of value to you.

    My only tip is to find cameras that include a video feature because eventually you will wnt it to.

    Regards, Rich Ankeney
    Galesburg, Illinois

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  8. Have had great success with all of the Fisher Price and Vtech cameras we have had for our children. If looking for something like that think about the fact that many of them now have a gaming option on them (Vetech for sure)

    If you are thinking less kid camera I know that Olympus makes its Tough series that can be dropped from 10 feet and is water proof. This is the next camera I am getting. My sister has one and has not had to replace her camera in 2 years (previous to that they went through one nearly every 6 months due to kids dropping them)

    Not a certified art teacher (anymore) but as a stay at home artist those are my thoughts. Oh and I LOVE the idea of the art teacher having digital cameras for an elementary classroom more then I can voice!!

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  9. Mr e. the smart board is a great thing to have. I been using them for few years now.

    I teach technology as well and my school we don't have a class set of camera. The problem I see with them is do you have enough computer so the students can get their picture and edit them and print them.

    You know the smart board could be the way. Or. Even think about a few iPad. They would have the camera on them and you could fine free apps on the to do you editing of the pictures.

    Mr R

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  10. I have a class set of 18 digital cameras that I purchased through a grant. I love them and we use them all the time. Once you get going, the projects and applications are endless! There are some hidden costs.

    1. you need to either buy cameras with rechargeable batteries (and remember to recharge) or add in the cost of about $200 worth of batteries.

    2. You need to purchase an SD card for each camera.

    3. I recommend buying a USB drive for each camera (for when students move their images to the computer). They often take a lot of images and they take up a lot of space. You don't want to hog the space on your school's server and/or you don't want the students' to take up all of their space on the school server with images. Also, this allows you an easier method for reviewing their work.

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  11. Smart boards are wonderful tools for the elementary art room, but so are digital cameras! During my student teaching, my cooperating teacher received a grant to purchase four Kodak Easyshare M530 digital cameras, which I was able to use with my first, second and third grade classes. Since, I have purchased a set of 8 for the prek-8 youth program I coordinated at a local community art school. I was able to find great deals on Amazon for as little as $69 each. Although the buttons indeed are small, they have been quite successful with even the youngest (preK) groups. Kodak Has great visual references on their website, so I made a interactive 'match the parts' smart board worksheet to familiarize students with the few simple, yet important functions of the camera. Great opportunity to introduce some good photography/ camera vocabulary too

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  12. Smart boards are wonderful tools for the elementary art room, but so are digital cameras! During my student teaching, my cooperating teacher received a grant to purchase four Kodak Easyshare M530 digital cameras, which I was able to use with my first, second and third grade classes. Since, I have purchased a set of 8 for the prek-8 youth program I coordinated at a local community art school. I was able to find great deals on Amazon for as little as $69 each. Although the buttons indeed are small, they have been quite successful with even the youngest (preK) groups. Kodak Has great visual references on their website, so I made a interactive 'match the parts' smart board worksheet to familiarize students with the few simple, yet important functions of the camera. Great opportunity to introduce some good photography/ camera vocabulary too

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  13. Canon hands down makes the best, most user friendly cameras. I have a class set of cameras, 1/2 are polaroid brand, and 1/2 are canon- I rarely even get out the polaroid. I only buy Canon for my personal use as well. Often, you can get a great one cheaper when they are ready to introduce the new model. You do need to think about memory cards beyond what comes in the camera. I tried re-chargable batteries, and it was not worth the space they took up- I have better luck going to sams and buying a huge pack of batteries.

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  14. My art room does not have a set of digital cameras but I have been using a smart board almost daily for the past two years and I love it! I use it for drawing all the time. I have also taken a course on it and some of its special features are amazing and really get the kids into the lesson. I have recently started my own elementary art room blog and I hope to blog about the smartboard and provide ready made smart board lessons in the future.

    http://theartapron.blogspot.com/

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  15. I second Becky Lynn... I received my SmartBoard last year (my 1st yr teaching K-3) and I LOVE IT!!! I use it daily!!! I even read (ok... it reads) books to the kids... it is much larger than the actual visual that I have hard copies of and it is awesome for showing examples or art prints or you tube videos... I now have a hover cam that I am sooo excited about trying... instead of having 25-30 kiddos fighting to see your demo around one table, I do it under the hover cam and it shows on my smart board!!! Can not wait to use it!!!
    Love the dig camera idea as well... not sure how often I would use it with my age group... but middle schoolers I can see taking lots advantage of!!!
    Going to go check out theartapron now!!!
    anxiously waiting to hear what you come up with!!! it will be great!
    artteach91

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  16. Christy...the thing is...I have an LCD projector already..so I can show anything on that!!!! I have the lady bug(like an ELMO)..so I can place anything on that and display it on the screen. So..I'm just not seeing the point of the smartboard

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  17. Our school went with bright links projectors instead of smart boards. You can turn any plan white board or white wall into an interactive space. Ours projects on a white board and I can draw on it and show things of the Internet. Everything you can do with a smart board but without having the cost of a projector and a smart board. I love it so far. I have to travel from classroom to classroom and I just log into that teachers computer and my desktop is right there. Then I can project any artist art work and zom in or draw on it, record what I did and upload it to my website for students to view at home.

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