I’ve loved photography ever since my dad let me play with his old SLR on vacation when I was a child. I know how important creativity is to a child’s development and as a parent you’ll want to encourage it as much as possible. It’s also crucial to protect them from the toxicity and dangers of the internet when they share their creations online. Want a solution? The myFirst Camera 50 might answer your prayers.
This smartphone camera, designed for 5-12-year-olds, allows children to shoot detailed stills thanks to the 20MP main camera, and fun selfies with the 16MP front camera. The Camera 50 lets children unleash their creativity by editing brightness, saturation, etc., play with filters, add stickers, and more. Video editing is easy too, as the camera does it for you. What’s more, your child can share their creations with their friends and family in a secure online environment monitored by parents. But there are a few things worth considering before you spend $129.
Could this be one of the best cameras for your child? Read my full myFirst Camera 50 review to find out.
myFirst Camera 50 review: Specs
myFirst Camera 50 review: Cheat sheet
- What is it? An easy-to-use smartphone camera designed for kids
- What age range is it for? For 5-12-year-olds
- How much does it cost? The myFirst Camera 50 is available for $129 / £109
- What do we like? The detailed macro photos and stills in bright conditions, ease of use, quick video editing tools, and safe online space for sharing children’s creations
- What don’t we like? The laggy touchscreen, underwhelming low-light performance, and subpar ring light
myFirst Camera 50 review: Price & availability
Launched in Summer 2024, the myFirst Camera 50 is available for $129 from myFirst U.S. / £109 from myFirst U.K. The manufacturer creates child-friendly tech, such as cameras, earbuds and even smartwatches. There aren’t a lot of smartphone cameras aimed at children, so the Camera 50 capitalizes on a gap in the market. The Camera 50 comes in either pink or blue, and is suitable for 5-12-year-olds.
myFirst Camera 50 review: Design
Upon first glance, the myFirst Camera 50 looks like a regular smartphone. I thought I was holding my old iPod Classic. Measuring 4.93 x 3.16 x 0.78 inches and weighing 5.26 ounces, the camera is comfortable to hold in one hand and you can easily use your thumb to use the touchscreen. The camera is equipped with a 3.97-inch Color LCD touchscreen which, in my testing, was a little slow to respond and would often lag behind after taking a photo.
Minimalistically designed, there’s a 20MP main camera on the back and a 16MP selfie camera on the front. On the bottom, you’ll find a USB-C port for charging and a microSD card slot next to it. The camera comes with 16GB of internal storage which is expandable to 128GB with a microSD card, giving you plenty of space for photos and video clips.
The camera comes fitted with a case featuring a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) frame — this material is thicker and more durable than silicone and rubber. As MyFirst claims, and as was proven by my testing, the case is scratch resistant (I tried scratching it with my fingernails and nada), so you don’t have to worry about your children damaging it.
myFirst Camera 50 review: Controls
Since the myFirst Camera 50 is aimed at young minds, there aren’t a lot of controls for children to familiarize themselves with. On the right edge, you’ll see the power button, a ring light button which lets you cycle through three intensities, and the shutter button. Half pressing the shutter button focuses on the subject, fully pressing it takes a photo, and pressing and holding the button starts a video recording. As an adult with medium-sized hands, I struggled a little to press the shutter button because of the compact spacing , but it should be fine for children with smaller hands.
Navigating the UI is straightforward. With a few quick taps, you can change system settings, access the gallery, edit photos by adding filters, cropping and drawing on them, and using the AI features (more on that soon).
myFirst Camera 50 review: Image quality
The myFirst Camera 50 has a relatively wide-angle 26.7mm lens with a 3x digital zoom, which is well-suited for selfies, landscapes, group portraits and more. The 20MP sensor captures sharp images in bright conditions.
While having a 3x digital zoom is handy, the results aren’t flattering when fully zoomed in, as you can see above. The first photo, at 1x zoom, is well-detailed and the colors have been faithfully reproduced. The second photo, at 2x zoom, retains lots of details and you can clearly read the text on the book’s spine, and you can see the finer details on the string of hearts plant too. The third photo, at 3x zoom, is fuzzy as a lot of noise has crept in.
The Camera 50 also has a macro mode that triggers automatically when you’re very close to a subject. The macro mode exceeded my expectations and you can see the results above. The finer details are visible in every shot. I love the first photo of the rose as the petals’ edges are sharp and the colors are vibrant, with lots of contrast. The second photo of a leaf clearly shows the different lines and shapes. Of course, the macro performance doesn’t compare to my Google Pixel 7 Pro’s, but it’s good enough for your children to capture bugs in the backyard.
As I mentioned, there’s a 16MP selfie camera too. The selfies I took turned out nice but not as detailed as I’d hoped. You can’t read the text on my t-shirt in the photo above and my tattoos appear slightly pixelated too.
A ring light surrounds the top half of the touchscreen and it can be set to three intensities. I tested the different lighting levels in a dark room lit up by a single lamp and the results were underwhelming, as you can see above. The first selfie was taken with the intensity set to two and the second set to three. It’s not bad, though, as you can see most of me in the second selfie — I just look a little red!
Speaking of dark rooms, how does the Camera 50 fare in low-light conditions? It’s nothing to write home about. The photo above of my patterned pillow cover was taken with the bedside lamp on, and there isn’t a lot you can see. Upon examination, there’s a lot of noise in the image and the white base appears red, much like my selfies above. The Camera 50 doesn’t have a flash which adds to the poor low-light performance.
There are a bunch of different filters for your children to play around with too, such as dual tone, contrast, monochrome, and more. There’s also a fisheye effect that you can apply, as can be seen in the first photo above. You can see a couple more examples of filters above. These are fun to use and make you feel more creative.
myFirst Camera 50 review: Video performance
You won’t get 4K video for $129 but 1080P video at 30fps recorded by the myFirst Camera 50 should be more than enough for a child. While you can’t zoom in during recording, you can press the shutter button once to snap a photo without interrupting the video footage.
The video above was captured on an overcast day. The footage itself is smooth and the ripples on the river’s surface are mesmerizing. But colors look dull, the footage doesn’t look sharp, and the shades of white and gray are overexposed. Look at the sky and its reflection in the water and you’ll see what I mean. I wouldn’t say this is a deal breaker, especially since this camera will be used by a child who might not care about the semantics of photography.
The Camera 50 lets you attach short voice notes to photos you’ve taken, so how’s the microphone? Not too shabby, as you can hear above (barring my croaky voice). My words sound clear as the mic has effortlessly picked up the words. However, it’s difficult to listen to the audio on the Camera 50 itself as the speakers aren’t the best — or the loudest.
AI is a catch-all phrase that keeps popping up in the tech world today, and the Camera 50 utilizes AI too, to assist children with video editing. Children can choose from various templates, such as holiday, nature, vlog, and all they need to do is simply select the desired stills or videos, and the camera will generate a video, add music depending on the “mood” and colors of the footage. “AI” feels like a gimmicky term to use for this kind of editing, but it’s handy for children nonetheless.
I compiled a few photos to test this out and I was happy with the result, which you can see above. The music is upbeat, keeping in line with my “joyful selfie” and the process itself was easy as pie. I had to choose a template, pick the photos (or videos), and voila! The app generated the video in just under 45 seconds.
myFirst Camera 50 review: App
Social media can be very toxic and your children can be exposed to non-child-friendly content if they aren’t careful. This is what myFirst Camera 50 strives to remedy: providing young children with a safe and secure online environment to share their creations. When sharing photos, children can choose if they want to share it with their besties, family, etc. Parents can also control this space by downloading the myFirst Circle app, available on both iOS and Android. The app is easy to use and lets parents choose who can view their child’s posts and what content their child can see.
myFirst Camera 50 review: Battery life
The myFirst Camera 50’s battery life is good enough for children. It’s fitted with a 2,000mAh rechargeable battery which should last you just under four hours. In my testing, it took the camera two hours to go from zero to 100% when I charged it with a 30W USB-A to USB-C charger.
myFirst Camera 50 review: Verdict
If you want a user-friendly smartphone camera for your 5-12-year-old and one that comes with a dedicated secure online space for them and their friends, the myFirst Camera 50 fits the bill. Children can shoot detailed photos of their friends, and the camera also captures detailed macro shots so they can document the cool bugs they see in the backyard. One of the camera’s biggest selling points is its assisted video editing software. It’s easy as pie as all the child needs to do is select their clips and let the camera do the rest. If you’re worried about your child’s safety online, the Camera 50 lets them share their creations in a dedicated secure space online which is monitored by the parents.
That said, the camera has a few flaws. The touchscreen is laggy, and both the low-light performance and ring light are underwhelming.
Regardless, this is an excellent camera for young minds which will help nurture their creativity, expand their knowledge and make them fall in love with photography.
