"Daddy, why is your camera so ... big?"

[Heroique]

Say it's your 8 or 10-year-old child who surprises you with this question – a perfectly natural question, given that his friends (and their parents) all use tiny devices for instant picture taking.

Is this the perfect time to sit down with your child for a helpful talk ... before "it's too late"?

Please share your views about the best timing for this all-important "film talk."

Should it come before the birds-and-bees talk, at about the same time, or later?

Would it be wise to have film-related items at hand to make your explanations more clear?

Would you advocate any particular format – or try to be as neutral as possible during this face-to-face talk?

And finally, what 2 or 3 points would it be important for your child to take away from this conversation?

[Old-N-Feeble]

Daddy's brain is bigger.

[djdister]

I'd say there is practically no minimum age. But you need to show them all parts of the process, including the printed output, otherwise they won't get it. Only describe or explain as they ask questions - do not lecture.

[Alan Gales]

I have a grandson who is autistic. A couple years ago I was taking pictures of him with a Hasselblad. He got pretty mad at me when I wouldn't show him his pictures on the back of the camera. Waiting for film to be developed and printed was a concept that he couldn't quite grasp.

[Ari]

I started early with my daughter; she's always seen me take her photo with an 8x10.
So it's far more likely that she would ask everybody else "Why is your camera so small?".

[Darin Boville]

Funny, I've never heard it referred to as a "camera" before...

Darin

[richardman]

This is not something to worry about. You worry if they ask "Why is your photograph so... bad?"

[Christopher Barrett]

This summer I bought myself a Blad 500cm with a 50mm. Then I had to explain to my ten year old son that there was this thing called "film." That made me kind of sad (that I had to explain it). He'd been around cameras plenty, loved firing the shutter on my view camera with the digi-back, but never had an inkling that there used to be cameras that you couldn't see the picture on the back of right after you took it. Then I showed him how to load 120 film onto stainless reels. He thought that was pretty cool.

I'm looking forward to showing him how to print

[StoneNYC]

I think you're trying to brag...

[steveo]

When ever I take the RB67 out to take pictures of the kids my four year old comes running over to look in the VF and try and use it, camera weighs as much as he does. He has at least got the concept that you can't see the picture on the back of most of daddies cameras.

He has a framed photo of his grandad that he took whilst sitting on my knee and I was taking the weight of the camera. Its actually not bad!