camera reviews listing
Vivitar ViviCam 3615 by clickykbd
Links
specs on dcviews.com
examples on pbase.com
Vivitar ViviCam 3615 (2.1mp)
Links
specs on epinions.com
Summary
I would rate this a medium to poor camera for tossing purposes. It has some serious problems that prevent tossing outdoors without modifying. I was however able to use it in controlled environments at home.
Pros
1) Good contrast when close to bright subjects in otherwise dark environments.
2) two stage LED timer warning light.
3) Internal focusing (no zoom) so no moving barrel that extends past the body.
Cons
And lots of them...
1) 4 AA batteries with the poorly designed contacts for impact resistance. Thus it is worse about losing power on catch than my previous camera was.
2) Wrist strap loop plastics appears pretty weak, wouldn't trust it as a safety method.
3) Plastic body, and hinged covers to various things such as CFcard and batteries seem not rugged enough to survive much abuse.
4) LCD preview (quickview) feature is useless for toss photos, because believe it or not it takes a separate capture for the quickview that very often is completely different from the one it writes to disk. A quirk not easily noticed unless doing motion photography.
5) Plastic lens cover prone to scratching.
6) Shutter button and focusing mechanisms require that you hold the button until exposure starts, there is no delay to get your toss off before exposure begins. So you are tempted to toss rather abruptly which leads to difficult catches.
7) No manual exposure settings, and restrictive 1/2 second longest exposure possible.
Comments
The end of exposure has a nice tapering effect on light sources in my experience, no residual glow beyond that.
Lens is relatively centered, but 4 batteries to one side gives it an off center spinning radius. Nice overlapping curves but difficult to get tight circles.
Examples
tag search my photos
All done by throwing onto bed with pillows, it would shut down if i tried to catch it.
camera reviews listing
