Capturing Family Memories Worth Sharing

The Best Camera For Your Family

Where Do I Point This Thing?

So your kids are growing up, or maybe you’re expecting your first. Congrats! You’re probably here because you think your kids are the cutest/smartest/funniest little people on the planet. Of course you don’t want to forget a single, adorable giggle! You’re looking to find out what the best camera for your family is.

We’ll get to that in a moment, but first, it’s important to figure out what you actually want to capture.

Not all moments are created equal. Without the old restrictions of film rolls or tiny memory cards, it can be easy to take pictures and videos of EVERY. SINGLE. THING. This can leave you with 500 photos of the same moment from minutely different angles. Or a dozen five-minute-long video clips because you just HAD to record every second of every single gift being opened.

Memory Hoarder VS Memory Curator

So what’s the solution? What do you do when you’ve found the best camera for your family but treat it like a machine gun? Just end up feeling overwhelmed by the sheer volume of photos and videos that you never actually do anything with because it just stresses you out?

After decades of taking videos and photos and filling many hard drives, I’ve found a philosophy that keeps the best memories front and center. All while keeping my stress low.

Delete, Delete, Delete.

I know it sounds crazy, but one of the best ways to end up with great photos and videos is to wield that delete key with reckless abandon. Here’s what that looks like in practice:

Your kids are doing something really cute or have dressed themselves in some hilariously mismatched clothes and accessories. It’s all too easy to fire off several dozen photos of what’s essentially the exact same moment. That’s totally fine. Goodness knows it can take that many just to catch a kid smiling.

The important thing is what you do after the fact.

So, you’ve taken a bunch of photos and videos. Either copy them off your family camera or look through them on your phone. This isn’t much extra work. Think about it. We all know that after an exhausting day of parenting our kids, we usually end up spending at least a few minutes of our evening downtime looking at how cute they are in that day’s photos.

Going through the photos you’ve taken, if a picture isn’t an awesome shot or a very specific moment that you don’t want to forget, delete it. If you took 20 photos of the same moment, delete all but the best one. It doesn’t matter if there are other good ones; pick one. It might be hard at first, but it’ll get easier.

Try this for a few weeks and then look back at what you have. Even with this one simple change, you’ll have gone from a media hoarder to a media curator. Those special memories and moments will be front and center! So much easier to see when they’re not buried under a mountain of duplicates.

Now that we’ve got the philosophy side of things out of the way, let’s get to the hardware!

What Even IS a Camera Anymore?

But where to start? There are so many brands and types of cameras these days that it can be overwhelming. Every other influencer is telling you why this or that camera has the best specs, the clearest picture, and the most nostalgic colors. But do you really need all that from a family camera?

I’m going to help you cut through the noise and pick out the best camera for YOUR family. Not everyone has the same needs or wants, so let’s figure out what yours are.

Smartphone, Photo, Video, or Hybrid?

The options may seem endless, but they boil down to three main categories:

1. Cameras that emphasize photo quality
2. Cameras that emphasize video quality
3. Hybrid cameras capable of both

The smartphone in your pocket is the most popular hybrid choice because everyone has a smartphone. If you have any name-brand smartphone from the last few years, odds are it has a pretty great camera. Therefore, if you use yours and you’re happy with it, great!

If you’re reading this article, though… I’m betting that you fall into the category of people who are happy to grab quick pics and clips with their cell but would really like to be more intentional and take the quality up a notch.

That’s where dedicated photo and video cameras come in. Most of these cameras will take both photos and videos, but usually have most of their best features focused on one or the other.

If you just like taking pictures of your travels or family and don’t really care to mess with editing video, then stick to a camera that’s going to up your photo quality and ease of use without any extra baggage.

On the other hand, maybe you’d like to capture more home movies or do some vlogging. There are options for that, too. These cameras will prioritize video quality, but also give you more audio options and a flip-out screen for filming yourself.

Hopefully, with these three categories in mind, you have at least a general idea of what camera would best cover your family needs. Now, on to the hardware!

Best Camera for Those Precious Family Photos

Best Photo Camera for Your Family: Ricoh GRIII and GRIIIx

Film simulation is all the rage these days. If you don’t know what that is, think of it as an Instagram filter that’s built into your camera. Unlike Instagram filters, which tend to be cranked to eleven and overdone, film simulation tries to perfectly replicate (you guessed it) film.

This can give you amazing colors and depth that don’t feel as sterile or digital as we’ve come to expect. The Ricoh doesn’t have the same options built in from the get-go as the next (and more expensive) option I’ll discuss, but it has a great community that will provide you with plenty of options to fit whatever vibe you’re going for.

The fact that this is something you can easily keep on you means you’re far more likely to actually capture those impromptu moments with your kids. Don’t even think about taking videos with it, though. The video quality is terrible and tops out at 1080p. Videographers need not apply.

This has an APS-C sized sensor. This is far larger than what you’ll find on any smartphone. What a camera like this can do with light and physics, smartphones try and make up for with AI tricks. A larger sensor and lens can let in more light. This allows you to shoot in different lighting conditions and can give you those blurry backgrounds that smartphones have to fake, which can lead to some strange artifacts.

The ability to whip this camera out of your pocket and capture the moment with little effort makes it a real contender to be the best camera for your family. As an added bonus, this and my number one pick for video camera fit perfectly into Peak Design’s small tech pouch like it was meant to be.

Upgrade Pick: Fujifilm x100VI

If you’re looking for cameras on TikTok, you’ll have seen this one for sure. It and its predecessor have been so popular that even if you want to buy it, you may have trouble finding one.

The first thing you’ll notice is that this thing is gorgeous. On paper, it trounces the Ricoh on almost every spec. The biggest difference is size and weight. This is not a pocket camera no matter what marketing tries to tell you. This is a solid camera, and you’ll feel every ounce.

What that price and heft gets you is Fuji’s famous film simulation. This, paired with a real viewfinder, lots of satisfying dials, and some pretty great video quality, makes it a tempting option. You could almost put this on the hybrid list if you didn’t mind leaning more on the photo side.

What’s the catch? Aside from being hard to find, it’s also twice the price of the Ricoh. But hey, if money is no object, this makes one gorgeous family camera, inside and out.

Interchangeable Lens Option: Sony A6700

With the same sensor as a camera in the next list, the FX30, this little APS-C camera from Sony can really do it all. If you don’t mind, or maybe even want, the option to swap out lenses for different lighting and aesthetic scenarios, this is the place to start.

Sony has a great lineup of lenses, and APS-C lenses are generally cheaper than their bigger, full-frame cousins. The camera body itself is compact and even manages to keep a digital viewfinder.

Like the Fuji, this little guy has no problem pulling its weight on the video end with 4K 60 and 10-bit recording. If you’re not familiar with 10-bit, that just means the colors in your videos will look that much cleaner and be less likely to get weird if you decide to mess with color correction in a video editor.

One of the fantastic things about sticking with Sony cameras and Sony lenses is the spot-on autofocus. Whether you’re tracking eyes or following a subject, it’s actually kind of hard to get an out-of-focus shot with these cameras, which comes in extra handy when your subject is a toddler tearing around at lightspeed.

Best Camera for Filming Your Family Cinematic Masterpieces

Best Video Camera for Your Family: DJI Pocket 3

Every creator on YouTube spent the last year singing this camera’s praises. It was so over the top that I really just assumed it was all a bunch of payoffs or something. There was just no way this tiny, little stick of a camera could be all that.

And then I got one, and let me tell you… I couldn’t have been more wrong.

The DJI Pocket 3 has a smaller sensor than the APS-C sensors in some of the cameras we just talked about. Those have more than double the surface area, but that doesn’t tell the whole story.

While this little guy might not have as big a sensor as some of the other video cameras on the list, it’s still a big leap over what’s in your smartphone. So you’re still getting a significant bump in quality over sticking with that.

Specs are one thing; experience is another.

From the way the camera comes to life when you flick the screen out with your thumb to how almost impossibly good the video and low-light quality is, everything about using this camera just made me say, “Whoa.”

I handed it to Meagan (The Mamasaur), and she had an instant reaction to using it. She felt like it was a camera she could REALLY enjoy using, which isn’t something she’s said about any other family camera we’ve owned.

The steady gimbal ensures that you won’t end up with a jittery mess when filming your kids running around the playground. A recent software update even added a lossless 2x zoom, which, to my surprise, works as advertised. This is a big deal on a camera that doesn’t have a lens with the ability to physically zoom in.

Word of caution, though.

The biggest downside for the DJI Pocket 3 is that, because of its gimbal, it’s more vulnerable to drops or splashes of water than a typical camera.

This is one of those rare moments when I went ahead and bought the protection plan on Amazon. It’s worth it for the peace of mind when you know you’re going to be using it around small children. In truth, I put the little wrist strap on it and haven’t had any cause to use the protection plan, but I have no regrets.

Of all the cameras I’ve owned, I have to admit it’s the one I enjoy using the most. I have better video cameras that are far more feature-rich and expensive, but there’s something about the DJI Pocket 3 that really is just a joy to use.

The size makes it easy to throw in a bag (with the gimbal protector on, mind you) and take on a vacation or on a jaunt to the park.

Upgrade Pick: Sony FX30

This camera has been my go-to workhorse for a few years now.

I tend to lean more heavily into video than photo these days. The FX30 is very much a video-first kind of camera. There’s no viewfinder, and it’s a little thicker than your average photo or hybrid camera. It can shoot photos—great ones, even—but all the bells and whistles it comes with are aimed at making shooting pro-level video as seamless as possible.

That means there’s a lot of features packed into this thing, and for your average consumer, it’s probably more than you need. Still, if you want insane video quality at a great price that works with the same lenses used by the Sony A6700 we mentioned earlier, this will do it all.

I shoot interviews with grandparents or family members with this camera on occasion. Nothing planned, just a way to document family stories for posterity. With other cameras I’d used for this, I’d usually run into overheating issues after 20-30 minutes. No chance of that with the Sony FX30.

There’s a built-in fan that keeps things cool. Even with that fan, it still manages to be weather-sealed. It can even shoot 10-bit video up to 4K 120.

Now, what’s the catch?

The biggest downside compared to a more expensive family camera is that there’s a crop that comes with this—a little “zoom in”—but it’s a minor issue when you consider the horsepower you’re getting for under $2,000.

There are lights on almost all sides to indicate when you’re recording, and even record buttons in multiple locations. This may sound strange, but it’s these little details that make using it feel more effortless than cameras that aren’t as focused on providing the best video experience.

Is this camera overkill for family videos? Maybe, but if you want to look back at memories shot in movie quality, the FX30 is the way to go.

But What Do I DO With All These Pictures and Videos?

Google Photos to the Rescue

For me, this is the fun part. I love taking videos and photos, but actually turning them into something more for everyone else to enjoy is the payoff.

At the most basic level of “what should I do with my family media,” I’d recommend getting Google Photos. For some people, this may be all they need. Google Photos, at its core, is just a place where you subscribe and get a certain amount of space to store your videos and photos. It’s a backup, but it’s so much more than that.

Because of Google’s AI smarts, your mass of memories is now searchable. You can label family members, and Google will then be able to find them throughout your entire collection. What’s even more impressive is that it can recognize that newborn Orson and four-year-old Orson are the same person. Even I have to squint sometimes to tell my kids’ infant photos apart.

It will also put together little montages of videos and photos, bringing up memories of outings or holidays. If you want to make a photo book or get prints, you can easily do so without leaving the app and just make selections from your library.

I have over two decades’ worth of photos and videos, and Google Photos is definitely the best way I’ve found to sort through it all.

These Are the Years of Our Lives…

Since getting married, I’ve had a tradition. Every year, I take all the videos I’ve recorded—whether they’re from one of my “real” cameras or just cellphone video—and I make an edit. If you shoot as much as I do, that can be quite a weeding-down process. I try to keep the videos between five and ten minutes long, but the end result is always worth it.

I usually start with one or two pieces of music that fit the tempo and length of time I’m looking for. Sometimes these might be songs that we listened to a lot during the year, or just something that fits the tone.

Then, just as we do when taking photos and videos, I start cutting ruthlessly. By the time I’m done, I’m left with just the very best clips. I try to choose them in such a way that they tell the “story” of our year. I try to keep things more or less chronological so that you can really feel the passage of time.

I’ve made five of these for Meagan so far, and I’m about to start on the sixth. She and the kids still go back and frequently watch previous years’ videos. They serve as beautiful reminders of how far we’ve come, and sometimes, how much we’ve forgotten.

Off the Screen and Into Your Hands

Last, and probably most obviously, is to bring your photos into the real world. Why, you may ask, would you bother spending money on printing when you can just pull them up on your phone or tablet for free? For me, there are two reasons. One is human, and the other is practical.

First and foremost, humans like to hold things in their hands. Even if it’s the same image, printing it out, writing some details on the back, and putting it into a photo book is a great way to relive your memories. Kids love photo books. Grandparents definitely do. It really does bring an extra layer of life to the experience.

And then there’s the other reason.

Put simply, technology can fail. Whether it’s an electromagnetic pulse from a sun flare or just a company going out of business, our digital memories aren’t immortal. Having a physical backup of your precious memories provides peace of mind that even if Google’s servers crash and your phone gets dropped in the toilet, you’re not left with nothing.

As I mentioned, Google Photos will do prints and books. I usually do books through them just because it’s convenient, but when it comes to printing out photos for an album I use Amazon Prints. The price is good and I’ve had no issues with the prints.

So I Got a Little Snap Happy and My Hard Drive Is Full…

I’m not going to spend a lot of time here. You can really go down the rabbit hole when it comes to storage, but here are the options I recommend.

First is the one I’ve already mentioned: Google Photos is what I use, and it’s what I’d recommend. There are cheaper options for more storage, but those won’t offer you the features that Google Photos does, and I think for that, it’s worth it.

In place of or paired with cloud storage, you can set up your own little storage station.

You could use an easy plug-in hard drive and call it a day, or you could do what I’ve done. Use a NAS to put a bunch of large hard drives together in a RAID setup. If that sounded like gibberish, it just means I put several large hard drives together to make sure that my files are protected. One goes down, I still won’t lose my files.

If that sounds like a lot, then just stick with buying a large plug-and-play hard drive or getting Google Photos and calling it a day!

Tips and Tricks After… (Checks Notes) A Few Decades of Doing This

And last but not least, here are a few rapid-fire camera tips to give you a better chance of capturing family memories worth sharing!

• It’s better to stand still than shoot while moving (unless you’re using the Pocket 3 as your family camera).
• Pick a frame rate you like and set your shutter speed to approximately double that. If you’re shooting 24 frames per second, your shutter should stay at 1/50. This will make your motion blur look more movie-like.
• Turn off any smoothing/beauty/enhancement filters. They’re just going to make things look fake and mushy.
• Look into using neutral density (ND) filters if your footage is coming out too bright. There’s a wealth of YouTube videos explaining the why and how of this.
• Only buy the gear you’ll actually use!
• Remember to stay in the moment! Snap a picture, grab a video, and be done. Your camera captured the family memory; now, live in it.

FINAL NOTE: If you’re more interested in the film photography niche, click here to read our related article, The Mamasaur Reviews: San Marcos Film Lab!