ABC Kids Expo 2009: Shutter Buddy Will Get Your Newborn To Say Cheese!

To the people who know me, it’s no secret that I’m a bit of a photography nerd. So when I saw the Shutter Buddy at the ABC Kids Expo this year I was really excited about it, and not because it was just another camera accessory but a camera accessory that I’m pretty sure no one has thought of before.

Any parent knows, trying to get a newborn to look at a camera can be a pretty frustrating thing. The Shutter Buddy attempts to solve it in the simplest way possible – just put something on the camera that’s going to make the baby want to look at the camera. Genius!

Functionally it works kind of like a big wide lens hood. You just put it the front of your point-and-shoot camera or cell phone and attach the two straps around the back of the camera to hold it in place. Then you attract the baby’s attention with it while slowly bringing it up to shooting position. The baby will (most likely) track it with their eyes the whole time, letting you get a shot of your baby looking at the camera.

It’s recommended for newborns up to about 9 months and unfortunately I wasn’t able to test it (my kids are way past 9 months thankfully) but it looks like something that might really work. It fit on my Canon G10 perfectly (although it did obstruct the flash), but there’s no way it would fit around an SLR sized lens. It also folds up nicely for storage. And to be honest, I’ve bought plenty of useless camera accessories for more than $19.99 in my time. (Just don’t mention that part to my wife).

The Shutter Buddy, $19.99 available at Shutter-Buddy.com