Vivitar VIvicam 3785

My Vivicam 3785.

Firstly, what should it do? Apparently...
"The VIVICAM 3785 is a compact, feature-packed, 3 MP, 4X digital zoom camera with a resolution of 2032 x 1520 pixels and is an affordable choice for anyone seeking a versatile, high quality digital camera with the simplicity of a 4X digital zoom lens..
The stylish VIVICAM 3785 is equipped with a 3 mega pixel image sensor. Images may be made with up to 4X ...
...at up to 4X.magnification. An electronic programmed shutter with speeds of 1/4 to 1/1000 second and manual compensation +/- 1.5 EV in 0.3 EV steps allows for changing lighting conditions. The images may be reviewed on the camera's 1.4. color TFT display. In addition to outstanding digital still images, the VIVICAM 3785 also has movie clip capability of 13fps at 320 x 240 resolution. The recorded files may be easily played back on Windows 98 SE or ... more

My Vivicam 3785.

Firstly, what should it do? Apparently...
"The VIVICAM 3785 is a compact, feature-packed, 3 MP, 4X digital zoom camera with a resolution of 2032 x 1520 pixels and is an affordable choice for anyone seeking a versatile, high quality digital camera with the simplicity of a 4X digital zoom lens..
The stylish VIVICAM 3785 is equipped with a 3 mega pixel image sensor. Images may be made with up to 4X digital zoom and played back at up to 4X.magnification. An electronic programmed shutter with speeds of 1/4 to 1/1000 second and manual compensation +/- 1.5 EV in 0.3 EV steps allows for changing lighting conditions. The images may be reviewed on the camera's 1.4. color TFT display. In addition to outstanding digital still images, the VIVICAM 3785 also has movie clip capability of 13fps at 320 x 240 resolution. The recorded files may be easily played back on Windows 98 SE or later PCs or Apple computers running OS 9 or above."

But what does it do (in English please!!)?
Well, it's a lovely looking, nice sized little camera (I'd describe it as 'cute' but the Other Half thinks that sounds girly). It's only 3.6" x 2.5" x 1.5" so fits easily in a handbag or rucksack and only weighs 175g (6.2oz). Attractive silver / blue casing means it looks nice (and more expensive than it is!) It comes with a silver / grey case with Velcro belt loop and a wrist strap, which attached to the camera. The wrist strap is very long and probably better suited to round your neck than wrist, although you can easily just double-wrap it round your wrist. The case doesn't add much bulk to the camera and is useful as there is no lens cover and the lens and screen could be scratched if it's banging around in the bottom of a bag.

The camera is extremely easy to use, with icons on the buttons to explain what they do, plus a good on-screen display of icons. The buttons are: a small 'On/Off' button and a 'Shoot' button on the top, and on the back there is a 'mode' button (which takes you between picture taking, video taking and viewing modes), a 'Menu' button and a four-way '+' button with 'OK' / zoom in the middle. Menus and pictures are navigated using the four-way button. It takes seconds to initially set-up (just enter time / date) and you can be snapping away within a minute of opening the box. The instruction manual seems good and has plenty of details and diagrams, but to be honest, the buttons are so self-explanatory I've barely looked at the manual.

You view your picture on the LCD screen - there's no viewfinder, which initially made me sceptical as experience has told me that using a screen instead of a viewfinder drains batteries quickly, but this did not seem to be the case with the Vivicam. The screen can be a little difficult to see in bright sunlight though. A handy little light above the screen flashes red while the flash, etc is getting ready, then turns green when it is ready to take a photo. The screen is also used to view stored photos and videos and to view menus / options.

It has an automatic flash, which you can turn constantly on / off if you wish, and a self-timer if you want photos of yourself. The zoom is only a digital zoom, so although the picture seems zoomed-in, it's actually just been cropped. Picture size is either 3M (megapixels), 2M, 1.2M or 0.3M. You can also choose between 'Fine', 'Normal' and 'Economy' quality. You can also adjust the EV, the White Balance and the Sharpness if you wish (although most people won't need to). Photos can be taken in colour, or for the slightly artier, there are black and white and sepia settings. In general, we have only taken photos at the highest quality and 3M size; a 3M or 2M photo is of similar quality to a traditional photo, although the 0.3M size is less than some cameraphones and probably won't be used much, maybe for a few photos for websites.

The quality of videos are fairly good, however one major drawback is the lack of sound. Although sound quality isn't always excellent with other cameras, re-watching videos in silence feels a bit strange when you know there was sound the first time! Unlike some cameras, you cannot zoom in / out whilst videoing. Video is only available in colour. Also, obviously you can't use flash with videos, so they can be a bit dark when taken indoors. I wouldn't use it in place of a camcorder to video anything important, but short films of dolphins playing on holiday have come out brilliantly. I also made panoramic videos of views instead of taking a dozen pictures that need 'jigsawing' together afterwards! Once uploaded, videos can be viewed in RealPlayer or Windows Media Player.

The camera comes with 14MB of internal memory - only enough for six 3M 'Fine' quality photos (or 77 0.3M 'Economy' quality photos). SD memory cards can be used with it; we got a 256MB card from an online auction site for about £15, which holds 230 3M 'Fine' quality photos (2830 0.3M 'Economy' quality photos!) The instructional manual has a handy guide to tell you how many photos of each size and quality will fit onto different sized cards. 10 seconds of video only uses about 2MB, so you can take a fair bit without worrying about using up all your memory. The camera takes AA batteries and has a very good battery life - one pair lasted us a concert, a weekend away with friends and a week in Tenerife (nearly 300 photos plus about 20+ videos in all). Transferring photos / videos to a computer is easy via a USB cable (supplied with the camera)

We received the following software with the camera, although I have not used any of it: Roxio PhotoSuite 5 (an image-editing programme) and Photovista (enables you to make 360 degree panoramic images), plus Adobe Acrobat (for reading the manual).

We went for this camera after having a couple of more expensive ones that died. According to their site, the RRP is $124.95 USD (around £70) but it only cost £49.99 from Tesco; it was the cheapest they had. We wanted a camera we could take away for holidays, but also take on nights out and to concerts and the cheap price tag means if it gets lost, broken or dropped in the sea / a pint, then it's not the end of the world. Its simplicity means that my not-very-technically-minded other half has been able to use it with no problem at all, and the fact that it's digital means no more buying film / disposable cameras on holiday (we got through 3 in 5 days in Prague!) I would recommend buying an additional memory card as memory is pretty poor, but as mentioned, these are fairly cheap online (don't buy them from computer shops though - v overpriced!)

This is not a camera for a 'photo buff' as it's not high enough quality, and I also wouldn't recommend it as a family camera, as I think you could spend a bit more and get something really good which will last for a longer time. I'm expecting this camera to last me about 2-3 years of medium-use.

This camera would make a good camera for either a child / teenager wanting their 'first camera' or for a student (such as myself) who wants something cheap and easy-to-use but takes decent photos and can be taken on those important nights out! 

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