How to prevent a child from accidentally deleting photos during playback?

Question

I own a nikon D60 and have recently upgraded to a nikon D750. There are lots of things in the D750 to prevent accidental misconfiguration of some settings (like a small lock on the P-S-A-M dialer) that the D60 didn't have, and that's nice. But one thing that seems to me that is very important and it is in the same state in both models is the deletion of photos. You press the 'trash' button and it asks you for confirmation, and press it again and voilà, your photo is gone.

I have expected that to remove a photo you should do something a little more difficult than pressing the same button twice.

As maybe some of you may be guessing, the problem is with my son. We usually let him hold the camera while we playback the photos and let him press right or left to view another photo. He is very young (2yo) and still doesn't understand what each button do. He instead keeps pressing all buttons while yelling 'button! button!'. And sometimes he accidentally deletes a photo or two. I don't want to punish him nor take the camera away from him because he doesn't still know that he is doing something wrong.

So all this introduction is to just ask the following question: How can I let my child play with the camera and be sure that he won't delete any photo? Is there any setting to change the behavior of the trash button, or to auto-protect a photo just after taking it?

_{note: for those concerned with the integrity of the D750: No, I won't let him play with the camera for the moment, but when the moment arrives I want to be prepared.}

somehow related but looking for better solutions instead of workarounds: http://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/14522/are-there-any-cameras-which-require-a-pin-before-deleting-photos — Carlos Campderrós, Dec 01 '14 at 08:26
Also, a question from 2 years ago related to the D3000 with negative results: http://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/18835/is-it-possible-to-make-protected-the-default-state-for-new-images-on-my-nikon?lq=1 — Carlos Campderrós, Dec 01 '14 at 08:29
Does flicking the read/write switch on the memory card prevent deletion? I feel like it should but I don't have my camera to hand to test it. — ElendilTheTall, Dec 01 '14 at 12:18
@ElendilTheTall yes, but then I lose the ability to take new photos. The optimum would be an auto-protect setting, but it seems it does not exist. — Carlos Campderrós, Dec 01 '14 at 15:20

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 01 '14 at 12:25

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Nikon cameras (at least my D300 and D7100) have a lock button. Pressing this button will protect an image from accidental deletion. Review an image on your camera and press the lock button (the one with a key symbol) to protect the image..

Alternatively, you can setup your camera to make a backup copy on the second memory card. Deleting an image, is only done from the one card. The camera does not delete images from both cards at the same time.

edited Dec 01 '14 at 12:25

mattdm

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answered Dec 01 '14 at 08:40

Rene

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Do you have some link backing up the dual card thing? I've searched in the user manual and I haven't found any mention to this (and I don't have the camera with me right now to test). – Carlos Campderrós Dec 01 '14 at 15:21
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It is mentioned here (for a D800 but I guess it's the same for a D750).
http://diglloyd.com/blog/2012/20120819_2-Nikon-dual-card-mirror.html
– Rene Dec 02 '14 at 07:03
I hadn't tested with the camera, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. The D750 has an option to select the playback folder, and here you select from which card and which folder do you want to view the images. So it is logical once you think about this (because it really is counter-intuitive) that you only remove the image from the folder you are visualizing. I'll have to test it but I think this was the answer I was looking for. – Carlos Campderrós Dec 02 '14 at 10:11

mattdm · Answer 2 · 2014-12-01T15:09:31.387

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Locking the memory card (with the little slider) should do it. Rene's second-card solution seems good too, but I'd worry that with buttons being pressed quickly at random, it'd be easy to delete all or even format the card.

An even better approach might be to use an eyefi card to automatically upload your photos as they are taken. That way, it doesn't matter if they are deleted from the camera. (The D750 has built-in wifi — awesome — but it doesn't seem to have a feature where photos are uploaded automatically or continuously. You could, of course, just make sure to do it before handing the camera over.)b

Personally, I'd just suggest not letting the kid have control. It's not punishment to not let a toddler have everything they want. My nine-year-old wants the car keys, and it's not punishment to tell her no. :)

edited Dec 01 '14 at 15:09

answered Dec 01 '14 at 14:12

mattdm

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Usually when I let the child see the photos I'm not at home, or else I would show him the photos in the computer (so eyeFi discarded). Not giving the camera to the kid is the sensible thing to do for the moment though... – Carlos Campderrós Dec 01 '14 at 15:24
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@Carlos Well, you could configure the eyefi to upload to your mobile phone — or through it to a cloud provider if you have an unlimited data plan. Or, you could upload to the phone and give that to your child to look at the photos. – mattdm Dec 01 '14 at 15:36

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 01 '14 at 15:47

I'm going to suggest a different path: teach him to use the camera. My son went through the same excitement about pushing each button multiple times, and one time I had to do a full reset because I couldn't figure out how to undo some of the things he changed! My son had the camera in front of him since, well, he was born. I quickly figured out that when letting him look at the photos during playback I should cover the left and right controls except for the directional control to navigate the photos. (A secure grip on the camera is never a bad idea anyway.) I'm sure I was trying to direct him on how to use the camera before he had any idea what the camera was (let alone that the buttons could do things) and helping his little fingers to press only the buttons I wanted him to touch definitely worked to promote the idea that these were the buttons he should press. (And keeping wipes handy to get the drool off of my precious camera!)

Of course, in addition to looking at photos we practiced looking through the viewfinder a lot and learned how to press the shutter release. Taking photos is a lot of fun, and even a two year old will be excited to participate in the process, take his own photos, and then get to see them on the back of the camera. (Tangent: it's easy to have a small kid participate in this process with digital because of how immediately rewarding it is. I can't imagine this process being anywhere near as easy, fun, or influential at such a young age with film.)

I can't remember exactly how old my son was when he hit his photography milestones (is that even a thing?) but I'm sure that by two he was navigating playback and excited to mimic both of his camera-toting parents by putting a camera to his face. And I do remember one time shortly after he turned three when he announced he saw something he wanted to take a photo of when I didn't have the camera out, though he needed help to remember which buttons to press to use the camera. Now, at nearly five, my D800 and 35mm are still far too heavy for him to lift to his eye on his own, but he knows the viewfinder and shutter button well, as well as how to navigate photos on his own. After the fact, he likes to see the photos he took on the computer and choose which ones we put on Facebook and send to our Apple TV shared photo stream for a screensaver.

More actively involve your son in the process and teach him what to do, and he'll surprise you with how quickly he'll pick it up. (And not delete your photos!)

score -1 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 01 '14 at 12:09

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You could make a cover to fit over that button.

answered Dec 01 '14 at 12:09

JDługosz

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How would you suggest that be done? – mattdm Dec 01 '14 at 12:47
or... stick something to the trash button to make it feel unpleasant/stinging and convey the message "this is baaaaad button, better not touch it!" – szulat Dec 01 '14 at 16:03
@szulat: great idea! I'm going to glue a thumb tack to my delete button right now. ... Ack, my eye! I just tried to take a photo and now I'm blind in my left eye! – Dan Wolfgang Dec 01 '14 at 18:53
How? I'd look for something the right shape, or fabricate/modify a cap that fits over it: a concave hollow thing the size of a pencil eraser. An eraser is a good starting point, in fact. Use dremmil tool, tiny file set. How to stick? The adhesive feet buttons can peel off plastic; ah, start with an adhesive nylon button "foot" and cut it down and hollow it out. Make sure it's stuck well each time you hand it over. – JDługosz Dec 01 '14 at 19:55

How to prevent a child from accidentally deleting photos during playback?

4 Answers4