Budget price, happy faces
Written: Nov 12 '03 (Updated Nov 12 '03)
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Pros: 3.3 Megapixel @ 2048x1536, Easy to Use, Good price, Compact, Intended for First-Timers
Cons: Short battery life, Not completely digital, No sound in video, small delay between shots
The Bottom Line: No fooling here, the low price doesn't mean low quality. Good choice for any budget-minded & first-time digital camera purchase.
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| gem1's Full Review: Vivitar ViviCam 3715 Digital Camera |
It was time for a replacement. My outdated 1.3M camera was starting to get to me. I had a Kodak DC3200 for several years (Personal Review - http://www.epinions.com/content_11173793412), but the blurry pictures & the quality of the pictures weren't up to snuff with most of the current cameras on the market. It was time to get a new camera.
The big problem was that my budget would only allow me to purchase a camera up to $150. The feature I wanted most was to look for a camera that had a high MegaPixel rate. Most of the cameras in that budget range were in the 2.0-2.2M range. While shopping around, I came across this camera and based on the reviews, decided this would be it. I added a 64M SD Memory card that would turn out to be a wise choose. This only comes with 8MB of internal memory, which would only allow you to snap a handful of pictures in default mode.
When I opened it up, I was surprised to find what it came with in a small package. The contents inside were the camera, 2 CDs: 1 with Photoediting Software (not reviewed) & the other with USB Drivers in case you had an older OS system. It included a USB Cable to hook up to your PC/Mac, an S-Video cable, a strap, and a plush carrying pouch.
If you're a true novice or this is your first digital camera, you might want to brush up on the manual beforehand just so you know how to operate this correctly.
One deceptive thing when you first handle this camera is the lens cover & case. When testing the demo, it seems to feel like it's cheap plastic. Don't let this fool you. A couple accidental drop tests didn't cause any breaks or cracks.
I put in two AA batteries and turned it on. It immediately asked to put in the current time & date. Once put in, I started to snap pics to test the quality of the pictures. The back of the camera has a 1.3" TFT LCD Display. It's easy on the eyes to look at the phones you snapped and preview the screen.
When you open the cover case, you'll see a switch under the lens. This is to change the focus type of the lens. Its represented by icons. For a scenic shot, you'd switch to the "Mountain" by pushing it to the left or for an upclose shot, you'd switch to "Flower" to the right. This was a tad bothersome to have to switch it between shots if snapping pics of different items.
When you turn it on, you'll notice the dial with a picture of a camera, an arrow, a movie camera and the word 'set-up'. It's a snap to use. You turn it on, put it on camera, then you immediately can start taking pictures. When you take a shot, there is a brief delay before and after each shot. While you can change the digital shutter speed, any high speed moving objects that a 400 can't handle will still come up as blurry or will be too slow to capture it. This camera is intended for amateurs or first-timers. If you high quality, you'll need to invest a bit more than in this camera.
When you start handling this camera, you notice all the extra bonuses added to it. The image sizes can be from 640/1024/2048 in size. The quality of the picture can range from 1.3M/2.1M/3.3M, each represented by a tiny star. If the pictures need more light, you can change the exposure rate. There is a digital zoom feature included that goes from 1.3x to 4x just by pressing the up/down arrows. A timer function is added in case you need 10 seconds to setup or get into a group shot. There is a flash function by one annoying quirk is that if the flash button is blinking, it won't allow you to take a shot unless turned off.
One big problem, just like with my old Kodak, was that I noticed thing sucked juice when it came to batteries. While it only uses 2 AA batteries, I only got about an 45 minutes to an hour of use of the camera before I had to put in some fresh ones. Most camera enthusiast already knows this by now but if you were going to invest in this camera, it'd be wise to also get some rechargeable batteries.
The arrow function on the camera is a built-in slideshow feature to let you browse the pictures. You can view all the pictures in a tiny screen or view each individually one by one. There is a zoom feature in the slideshow if you look at a picture closely. One small quirk when using the arrows on the camera is that the OK & Zoom feature are in the center button. You're suppose to learn how to nudge it up to use zoom or hit it directly center to hit the OK button.
If you want to capture video of the moment, this camera has it. Too bad it doesn't include a microphone which means when you play back the video, it'll be silent. It captures video at 320x240 mode. The video files are saved in .MOV format, the standard format for Apple Quicktime. You really need a lot of memory to capture a long video as it uses up 10 Megs of memory for every minute of video. If you want to use zoom while capturing video, you set it before you begin capturing video or else it revert to 1x mode that can't be changed.
After you've captured all the pictures & video, you now need to transfer it to your PC. If you have Windows 98/ME/XP, all it takes is hooking up the USB Cable and the Camera to your PC. The first time you do this, it'll see the camera and it'll instantly install it without any hassle. Once a connection has been established, it becomes a Removable Drive. The camera doesn't include any special interface but all you need to do is start Windows Explorer. You click on the Removable Drive then Drag & Drop. It couldn't be easier to do.
After using this camera for a month, I have been generally surprised how much is crammed into this camera. You'd think with a price tag of $130 that corners would have been shaved off. This wasn't the case. The quality of the pictures has been good quality and would even say that they'd be worth printing if I had a picture printer. The added functions give me good flexibility with my pictures. The video function is nice but w/o sound, it becomes a moot function. If you want to do simple digital pictures that look decent, this camera would be a good choice. Just be sure to bring along some spare rechargeable batteries.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 132
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Easy Enough for Anyone to Use
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Epinions.com ID:
gem1
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Location: Austin, Texas
Reviews written: 93
Trusted by: 40 members
About Me:
Loves Movies, Animes & Mangas and completely hooked on Bemani/Dancing Games.
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