Vivitar ViviCam 4345

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Vivitar Vivicam 4345
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Yet another camera review. I have had so many cameras in my time but this particular camera is my girlfriends and what a camera it is. She purchased this camera about a year ago and has been using it since. The reason that I am writing a review about this camera is because I have used it more than her and I seem to know all of the ins and outs ...
...of the review about the Vivitar Vivicam 4345 my personal experience and opinion of the camera is very good and it has not yet failed the needs of me or my girlfriend who the camera was originally for but I seemed to use it more than her at one stage. So there is not anything bad that I can say about the camera really except that it is a little outdated now. For the look and design of the camera I would rate it a 7/10 because it is not the best looking ... more

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Vivitar Vivicam 4345
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Yet another camera review. I have had so many cameras in my time but this particular camera is my girlfriends and what a camera it is. She purchased this camera about a year ago and has been using it since. The reason that I am writing a review about this camera is because I have used it more than her and I seem to know all of the ins and outs of the camera so I thought why not write a review and see what other people think about and maybe persuade some other people to buy the camera.

Upon purchasing the camera I did lots of research for her as she would have gone and bought any old thing and would have regretted what she bought. Anyway after doing lots of research in the shops and also on the internet I came to the conclusion that it would be best if she got this one, bearing in mind that it was almost a year ago when this was purchased. So I went and got it for her collected the item and paid of course and then went home to investigate the camera. So when I got home and took the box out of the bag I found that it was all nice and neatly packed as you would expect. The box was a nice bright blue showing all of the main features of the camera.

When I got into the box I found a whole range of things after removing the top sheet of cardboard. There are several items that came in the box along with the camera and they were: the instruction manual, software CD, a guide called “getting to know you camera”, a USB lead to connect the camera to a computer, wrist strap that you can attach to the camera and of course the camera itself. This was all very nicely presented in the box although I have never managed to get it back in the box the way that I came.

Well lets move on to the camera. The main features of the camera are:
- 4 Megapixel camera
- Auto flash
- 1.5” LCD screen
- Optical zoom
- Digital zoom
- 12MB internal memory
- SD Memory Card
- USB connection
- AV Cable
- Photo editing software
- Camera pouch

So as for the 4Megapixel camera this was very good at the time and basically means that there are 4 million dots in each picture. Auto flash, this is a nice little function for when you are using you camera in any conditions if the camera feels that the conditions are to dark or dull then the flash will automatically come on when you are taking a picture. Which I thought was quite a handy feature as you don’t want all of your pictures turning out dark or underexposed. The 1.5” screen is not a massive screen but it allows you to view all of the images and videos that you have made using the camera and therefore it is quite good. Digital and optical are just two different zooms that can be used on the camera and allow you to zoom into objects so that you can see them more closely but as you would expect there is a loss in the quality of the image. You are also able to zoom in to images once you have taken them and it is quite good as all of the images are in a lot of detail so when you zoom in on them and look at them on the LCD screen you can not really see the loss in quality.

This camera has a built in memory capacity of 12MB, this means that you are able to store 12MB, this not a very large capacity if you are wanting to store lots of high quality images. I think it will let you store about 9 images of high quality. The camera does support a memory card so you will have to go out and purchase one of these if you want to take lots of images and store them on the card. The cards can be quite cheap to purchase these days especially from the internet as they can be bought in bulk. In my opinion I think that you should purchase one of the sizes 1GB so that you can store huge amounts of pictures. This will allow you to store about 500 images at the best quality that the camera will allow, if you decide that you do not want to have the best quality and resolution then you can opt for the worst and store about 10000 images which is a huge amount but bear in mind that all of the images will turn out very rubbish when you are viewing them on the camera, come to view the on the computer or you go to print them out.

In the box when you purchase the camera you will find a USB cable which will allow you to transfer all of the images on to the computer. If you have a memory card slot on your computer you can also use the slots for your memory stick if they are supported and this will transfer the data at quicker rates and therefore save you time, providing that you are able to take the memory card out quickly.

Also in the box you get a CD that has all of the software that you need to print and edit the images using you computer and therefore you are able to accomplish anything with the pictures whether it be something like touching up the images because they are too dull or whether you want to use the clone tool to get rid of the date or something of the sort. The tools on this software are very good to use and are quite good once you have used them a couple of times and then learn your way around. On this software disc then software that you actually get is: Photo explorer 8.0, Photo express 5.0, Acrobat Reader, Drivers for windows 98(USB Mass storage and a user manual. I have looked at and used all of these and they are really quite useful. The reason that the driver is only for windows 98 is because newer versions don’t require drivers for the USB Mass storage.

This camera also has the capabilities to let you connect it to things such as TV’s which allows you to view your images and videos on the television. I thought that this is quite a good feature as it can sometimes be good if you would like to view the images and videos on a bigger screen. The last thing that was in the box was a pouch that can be used to store the camera in and protect it from small damages.

There are a few things that I would have liked to see in the box but were not and they were things such as the batteries, memory card and also an AC power adapter. With this product you do not get any batteries and therefore you have to go and purchase some yourself. I recommend that you get some rechargeable batteries and a charger as this would save you lots of money on all of the disposable batteries that you would normally use. As I mentioned earlier you do not get a memory card with the camera and they can be purchased from most good electrical stores and can also be purchase don the internet.

So what does the camera actually look like? There are several buttons on the camera which all have there own little functions and allow for the user to interact with the camera very well. The main buttons that you see when you are holing the camera are the directional keys that actually have more than one function for different menus etc. there is a button that allows you to view you images or you videos, the button that takes you to the main menu and then of course the delete button that allows you to delete the selection that you make. To find out all 9of the information that is related to the buttons you can view the images at the bottom of the page where it shows all of the buttons and what they do.

On the top of the camera there is a main feature which is called the mode dial. This allows for all of the different modes to be selected at the users choice. There is a dial and then it has a power button in the centre of it. I’m guessing you all know what the power button is so no for the mode dial. There are eight different modes that you are able to choose from. They are:
- Program
- Auto
- Video
- Portrait
- Landscape
- Sports
- Night
- Setup
All of these allow for different things such as the landscape mode allows you to take images that will apply a landscape profile and therefore will allow you to take the best image that can unless you manually configure the settings. I would go into detail and explain all of these buttons would it would take too long to explain and therefore I have managed to get an image and I have inserted it at the bottom of the screen for you to view and get more information about each of the different modes

When using the camera you ill find that there are masses of icons that you will need to know what they are, because I cannot show these in the actual review they will also be inserted into the picture gallery so that you can view them if you would like to.

When talking an imager there are several different modes that you could use and these depend on the thing that you are going to be doing for example if you are going to be taking pictures or people moving quite fast then it would be a good idea if you were to use the sports setting etc. although when you take the image you can only see it on the 1.5” screen it actually does appear bigger on the computer and can be viewed full screen and it still has a good quality factor.

Depending on how many pictures you would like to take and the quality that you would like your images to be you are able to manually change the settings for a few different functions such as the image size, quality and mega pixel. This can be a very useful feature because I have found myself running low on memory card space before and have had to change to a low quality so that more images could be saved. All of the images that are taken are all approximately 800Kb each so that you can get an idea of how much more space you will need for each of the images. That is when the image quality and resolutions is at its best by the way.

Like most cameras you are able to zoom on it and it has two different zooms that you are able to use. The digital zoom and also the optical zoom. The optical zoom is basically when the lens is moving and making the camera see the image more closely and the digital zoom is where the camera actually zooms in using digital technology. The optical zoom is actually quite good and it allows for you zoom in quite far. The digital zoom is not quite as good although it is 4X digital zoom. That’s what it states on the box and the camera itself anyway.

The flash can be used in many different ways as well. There are different things such as the auto flash, the flash being on all of the time and also no flash. These are the three settings that the camera has that allow you to make the best image possible on this camera. It is your choice as to what settings that you have it on although the auto flash is recommended if you are a beginner at using a camera. As well as the flash function there is also a feature that reduces the red eye that is produced. There are a few preventative methods to reduce red eye and that is to ask there person or object that you are taking a image of to look straight at the camera and also to get as close to the camera as possible this is a very good way to try and prevent people having red eyes on photographs which can sometimes spoil them.

The self timer is also another handy function that can be used. This is kind of self explanatory because it basically has a timer and takes the image when that timer has got to zero. This is useful feature if you are taking images when you are along or would like all of the participants in the picture.

User configuration is a big part in some cameras and this is one of these cameras although there are presets but for the more advanced user it allows for them to make images better to suit the scene so that they look the best that they can be. The main things that you are able to configure yourself to make the images look better than ever before are the exposure also know as the EV compensation and also setting the white balance. Using a combination of both of these then you are able to make images look more and more clear.

There is a really cool function that I like and it is appearing on Samsung mobiles as well these days and that is where you can take lots of images in a short space. For example you could press the button once and it will take 6 or 9 images very shortly after one another and basically shows the movement that things take etc. I thought that this was a very cool feature as it allows more interaction with the camera and also allows for multiple images to be taken.

If you want to look at all of the different images that you have taken but you have taken so many that you do not want to look at the all individually then you can view all of the images as thumbnails and where you are able to see 9 on the screen at any given time. This can quite useful as it can save time when you want to find a certain image. On the camera there is also a function that allows for you to resize an image. By this I mean that you select the image and you change the resolution. This changes the size of the image and also changes the quality of the image. Although this is not always a good thing it is sometimes needed if you need an image a certain size for some kind of reason.

As well as this camera being able to take digital photographs it can also shoot video. This is very good as the camera quality is also 4Megapixel which isn’t really that much considering today’s technology, but you have to try and remember that I purchased this camera almost a year ago and technology changes by day these days. Once you have made a video clip by selecting the right mode on the top of the camera you are able to playback the video on the camera or you can out it onto your computer the normal way that you would transfer images and view them on the computer. But because in this box that the camera originally came in has an AV cable you are able to plug one end of this into the camera and then insert the other end into the television using the AV slots and view all of the images or videos on the television.

As usual you are able to delete any images or videos that you have taken by selecting the image and then clicking the delete button. This can be used when ever you are looking at you images or videos. Once you have deleted them that is it they have gone for good, there is no recycle bin on the camera so bear in mind once they have gone that’s it they have gone from the camera forever. To prevent images or videos being deleted by accident there is a feature called protection and you are able to select an image or video and then apple protection to it which prevents it from being deleted and therefore it will not be deleted by accident and can only be deleted or moved when you have unprotected the image or video.

As I mention earlier you can connect your camera to the computer by the use of a cable which is a USB cable and allows you to get all of the images off your camera on to your computer etc. this can be done either by using the software that comes with the camera or you can do it by using the explorer as the camera will appear in my computer as a mass storage device. Other than doing this if you have a memory card reader than you could take the card out of the camera and then attach it to your device and therefore use that as a mass storage device where you able to access all of the images that are stored on the card. Both of these ways are a reliable way to get the images off you camera.

Supplied in the box there is a paper manual that has all of the information in it if you are ever stuck with what to do as no one ever reads these things unless you really have too. The manual can really help you if you are ever in need of help of how to work this camera properly and if you are of another nationality you will find that the manual is still helpful as it has several different languages. Also as I mentioned before the camera does not come with batteries but I forgot to mention what size they were, so here goes, the size of the batteries that you are going to need for this camera are AA which are the ones that are used in most remote controls. But I recommend that you get some rechargeable ones.

The product does come with a warranty which can be seen from the image that is in the gallery at the bottom of the screen. The camera is not all that big and is measured at approximately 91 x 61 x 27 mm which is quite small and it also weighs in at next to nothing at a small 130g without the batteries installed. The file format for the camera for the images is .JPEG and for the videos it is .AVI which are the most commonly used file formats for images and videos and therefore should be compatible with most software on most computers etc.

So coming to the end of the review about the Vivitar Vivicam 4345 my personal experience and opinion of the camera is very good and it has not yet failed the needs of me or my girlfriend who the camera was originally for but I seemed to use it more than her at one stage. So there is not anything bad that I can say about the camera really except that it is a little outdated now. For the look and design of the camera I would rate it a 7/10 because it is not the best looking camera that I have seen. And also for the features and functionality of the camera I would rate it 8/10. This is quite a good camera when it is used properly and can be used greatly to the users advantage.

The camera is quite cheap and can be bought for around £80.00 as it has decreased in value since it was first purchased. It can be found in shops such as Currys and other good electrical and camera stores and also can be purchased on the internet from sites such as www.ebay.co.uk and www.amazon.co.uk where it can most likely be bought for cheaper than the normal retail price. To conclude I think that this is a very good camera although not as good as some and I would recommend it to any potential buyers if they are happy with a good but not outstanding camera and also short of cash for a product like this.

Thank you for reading this review and I hope to be hearing from you soon. 

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