I bought this camera almost a year ago form tesco because I wanted to take some pictures of my little brother on his first day at secondary school. I am not impressed with the camera and I will tell you why.
++So who are Vivitar?++
Vivitar are a company based in california who specialise in the manufacter of cameras and camera equipment. They do make some really good cameras and have wokred with kodak to produce some disposible cameras. Some of their models are very good and advanced cameras but this one isn't.
++What does the camera look like?++
The camera is small and thin and very light. My camera is silver but I know that you can also get it in pink and blue. At tesco, when I bought the camera I specifically asked for a silver one but got a blue one and so had to take it back so i was a bit annoyed at Tesco. Make sure you tell them exactly what you want. The height of the camera is just 8.95 cm and the width is 5.6cm and the diameter 2.5 cm. It's
a very small light camera that is good for taking about with you and can fit into your pocket or handbag/rucksack easily.
The camera lens is on the right of the camera and above it is the flash thing. Overall, it is a very attractive camera, boasting a metaillc colour.
++What features does this camera have?++
This camera is a 3.2 megapixel camera. This is alot of megapixels for the price of around £30. But, to be honest I don't think that the 3.2megapixel is good. It's poor quality and when you can now get 4 and 5 mp camera for around £50 there is no point in buying this camera.
It has just 16mb internal memory and this holds around 10 pictures, in my experience. I have an Sd card in it though because this camera has an SD card slot. If you do buy this camera then you will need to buy an Sd card because otherwise you will not be able to take many pictures so there is obvioualy more cost involved here.
It has 4x digital zoom which is okay. The zoom function on this camera is probably one of the only good points. I think the zoom function works well for such a budget camera.
This camera has flash on it. Well, according to the description of it in the manual. My flash has never worked on the camera. I am very annoyed about this! If yours does the same take it back immediately. To be honest, I was so unimpressed by the service at tesco that I couldn't be bothered to go back there and take it back. The staff at tesco took about 20 minutes to find this camera and the staff were rude. But anyway that's a different story. Obviously therefore I can't comment on the flash on this camera.
I like the fact that this camera has an LCD screen. I think that this is a great feature. It's only 1.5" so its very small but it's good enough. LCD screen and colouring is however, not the best quality viewing, but what do you expect?
There is a self timer which works okay. there is not much to sya about this function really.
There are various Shooting Modes Beach, Foliage, Landscape, Macro, Night scene portrait, Scenery, Snow, Underwater. I don't really understand what these do. They don't make much difference to the photo. Just a bit naff and pointless really. Underwater doesn't means it's waterproof by the way.
You can also apply 'Special Effects'- Black & white, Low sharpening, Neutral. Don't really se what is so special about them. Low sharpening doesn't really.
You can record videos using this camera but not with sound. So if you want videos with sound s then this is not the camera for you.
You can also use this digital camera as a webcam. This is how i have been using this in my household becuase, to be honest, it's not good for much else.
++What extras does the camera come with?++
This camera comes with software, case, cables and batteries. I really don't think that mine came with batteries, maybe it's a new thing from tesco. I don't use the software that came with it because I coulsn't get on with it. I go into settings- cameras and acanners on windows and then load my pics from there.
++Why shouldn't you buy this camera?++
I don't think that you should buy this camera. It has many disadvantages- firstly, the AAA batteries last only about an hour. Absolute rubbish. So you have to keep buying more and more batteries. And they can't just be cheap batteries either. If you buy cheap ones it lasts about 15 minutes. Absolutely terrible. So every hour you use it you will have to buy a £2.50 pack of duracell. If you do buy this camera make sure you get rechargeable batteries.
Also, my flash has never wokred and after about a month of having the camera it stopped working and kept turning off even though it had fresh duracells in it. Then it wouldn't turn on. Not it works on and off and so we are using it as a webcam.
The camera is not very robust, it's so light and flimsy, it's just like a child's toy camera.
++But there must be some good points?++
Yeah, there are. The picture quality in daylight is really good but, then again, if like me, you have no flash, you can't actually take any pictures on a dark day or evening. even with lights, on the photo you take will just be a balck blur without flash.
It's a good camera for children I think. It comes in different colours and if you buy rechargeable batteries and ensure that your child looks after it then it will be a great camera for kids beacuse it's not too high tec and complicated.
The price is good- it's around £30. BUT I still don't think it's worth the money. For the kids, I guess it is. But if you want a good qaulity camera, or at least a half decent one then you should pay that little bit extra.
++Conclusion++
Don't buy this camera!
Pictures of Vivitar ViviCam 3105s
22.01.2008 01:36
Thanks for the warning :-)
09.09.2007 23:08
great review. you obviously get what you pay for but like many parents its nice to buy a cheap camera for my 2 girls(both under 10yo) which they can use to take half decent pix before they drop, kick and eventually leave on a bus somewhere!! lol. ....Andy
11.08.2007 10:44
Very nice review indeed :)