The Short Storyfor those who don't want to read my waffle!
We're looking for 4 compact cameras for our Scout group and I need your help!
Does anyone have any contacts I might be able to utilise or know of any charitable camera sellers? (I've already written to the major suppliers). We're looking for either a camera donation, or a discount if we buy four cameras (otherwise it's going to get incredibly expensive!)
Thank you!!!
The Long Storyin which I use all my powers of persuasion...
I currently vounteer with Boston Spa Scout Group. We're a thriving Scout group in the small village of Boston Spa, currently housing 2 Scout troops, a Cub pack and a Beaver colony. We hope to add another Beaver colony and Cub pack in September.
We're looking at acquiring some cameras for our group. We had an autistic child in our group for a while and I began to work with him. He was struggling to join in with group activities, I introduced him to my camera and he absolutely loved it. He began to join in more and interact with the other children more, asking them to look at the camera etc.
I would post his photos on our website (http://1stbostonspa.org/?page_id=62) and he loved to see them go up each week. Other parents enjoyed it to because it meant that they could see what their children were up to each week. He’s moved on to Cubs now, but I still post on the website each week as the parents enjoy having a look at it.
I am hoping to acquire four, basic, cameras for our group (one for each section).
This is for a number of reasons. Firstly, as you can see, only the Beaver part of the website is up-to-date. I’m hoping that by getting a camera for each section, we can keep the website, as a whole, more up –to-date, which should help us to expand our group and encourage more parents to volunteer. Secondly, the boy who I was working with is now in Cubs, but they don’t have a camera and he is struggling to interact and join in, at times. I feel that bringing photography back for him would really help him and encourage him. Finally, I am moving onto university in October so will be moving to a new Scout group. I really want to leave something behind for this group, and also want to enable them to keep the website going, once I have left.
So basically, what I'm asking is... does anyone have any contacts I might be able to utilise or know of any charitable camera sellers? (I've already written to the major suppliers). We're looking for either a camera donation, or a discount if we buy four cameras (otherwise it's going to get incredibly expensive!)
It sounds like you are looking at new cameras -- may I ask why?
Consider, for example, something like the Canon Powershot G5, which has full manual controls if you want to be able to teach the children photography, as well as excellent automatic modes for simple snapshots. Yes, it's 10 years old, but it was a top-of-the-range camera when new and will still produce remarkably good results. There's one selling on my local Craigslist for $35 with everything included.
If you don't need the flexibility and fully manual options of something like that, you could get a basic digital camera that was much newer for a similar price -- compact digital cameras are considered disposable, with manufacturers bringing out new models every six months or so, but there is very little to go wrong with them. Again, a quick search on my local Craigslist brings up a Samsung camera released in 2008, 10 megapixels, records video, image stabilised lens, fully functional, for $35, as well as several other options.
With a small amount of searching around I would expect you wouldn't have too much difficulty picking up four reasonable used digital cameras for a total of around $150. It's not free, but it's a lot more affordable than buying new, and you might be more easily able to find someone in the local area willing to donate such a relatively small sum? It's also a lot less of a financial issue if one of the children accidentally drops a camera and breaks it.
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Consider, for example, something like the Canon Powershot G5, which has full manual controls if you want to be able to teach the children photography, as well as excellent automatic modes for simple snapshots. Yes, it's 10 years old, but it was a top-of-the-range camera when new and will still produce remarkably good results. There's one selling on my local Craigslist for $35 with everything included.
If you don't need the flexibility and fully manual options of something like that, you could get a basic digital camera that was much newer for a similar price -- compact digital cameras are considered disposable, with manufacturers bringing out new models every six months or so, but there is very little to go wrong with them. Again, a quick search on my local Craigslist brings up a Samsung camera released in 2008, 10 megapixels, records video, image stabilised lens, fully functional, for $35, as well as several other options.
With a small amount of searching around I would expect you wouldn't have too much difficulty picking up four reasonable used digital cameras for a total of around $150. It's not free, but it's a lot more affordable than buying new, and you might be more easily able to find someone in the local area willing to donate such a relatively small sum? It's also a lot less of a financial issue if one of the children accidentally drops a camera and breaks it.