Talk:Vivitar

Vivitar ViviCam 3765 digital camera

Review of Vivicam 3765 by R.H.

My perspective: I'm a semi-professional photographer (my pix accompany my other work in media -- both in print and online). Have used film cameras heavily for decades, and several consumer-grade digital cameras. Have formal training in photography and digital image processing.

I bought a Vivitar Vivicam 3765 digital camera 2 years ago, and really like it. Though it has some major shortcomings, it's an excellent starter digital camera for people who have a fair-to-excellent aptitude for gadgets, and it's a good all-purpose personal digital camera, or semi-pro backup unit -- but limited in some key ways. It's a 2004 model, apparently, so it's dated, but still great.

Essentially, for about $70 (on e-Bay and other places, today) you get: 3 megapixels, 3x optical zoom, 1.4" display screen, JPEG files saved to 16mb internal memory, accepts SD memory chips, USB, 5-mode flash, movie mode, digital video camera (for hookup to a VCR), PC/web-cam mode, automatic and manual functions, and lots of other goodies -- and beautiful pictures.

Have used mine heavily for about 2 years now, and still can't get over the joy it gives me. Some of my pix have even been published in minor (newsprint) magazines. Used various "starter" digital cameras over the years, and hated them all, until this little joy. For the money, this is a LOT of camera. By far, the best buy in a cheap digital camera that I've ever seen (and I've tried several, including the major names).

PRICE:

When I bought my Vivicam 3765 two years ago, it was about $140 brand new, at WalMart -- with apparently about twice the quality, value and features of anything else at THAT price, at that time. As of this writing (Nov. 2006), it's on e-Bay and elsewhere for about $70. Despite the antiquity of its spec's, it still sounds like a bargain.

But it has certain very important limitations, as described below.

BASIC SPECS:

_Functions:

- Digital still-photo camera
- Digital video/audio camera-recorder (camcorder)(320x240 .AVI files), with built-in microphone; records about 1-2 minutes of video/audio on a 32mb SD memory chip).
- Digital video/audio camera (320x240 NTSC image), with built-in microphone, and cable for VCR hookup.
- PC/web cam (when hooked to computer through the USB port), but dim.

_Interfaces:

- USB
- NTSC composite output, with audio, for hookup to TVs and VCRs.

_Image:

- 3MP (3.0 mega-pixel)
- 3x optical zoom (and 4x digital zoom)
- focus, light-level and white-balance (color) controls.

_Storage/Retrival:

- 16 MB internal memory (holds about 8-12 pix, at 2048x1476 pixel (3.0 MP), high-quality settings.
- Secure Digital (SD) memory card slot (I've used up to 64MB SD chips, and think it'll accept much larger).
- all images saved as JPEGs (about 1-2 MB each for a maximum-resolution picture).

_Lens/Imaging:

- 3X Optical zoom
- F/no: F2.9 to F6.9
- Focal Length: f=6.2m to 18.6m
- Zooming: 6 step zooming
- Range of Focus 8” to Infinity (20cm to Infinity)
- Shutter Speed 1 to 1/750 sec.
- Exposure Automatic with +/- 2EV in 3 steps
- 2048 x 1472 Resolution

Surprisingly capable in low-light, espeically for stationary subjects, if you hold it steady enough.

_Power: 2AA batteries (rather quickly), or 3-volt input jack.

_Flash, 5 modes: automatic, forced-on, forced-off, red-eye reduction, and automatic delay.

_Accessories and other features: Tripod mounting-screw hole and (too tiny) wrist strap. Disk with (so-so, sometimes annoying) image-handling software. Manual (rather vague), cables for USB and video/audio outputs, cheap pouch (replace it with a decent camera pouch, with pockets: you'll need it).

IMAGE QUALITY: Optics are sharp, permitting clear, crisp photos -- compared to many other "intro-level" digi-cams with cheap optics that give smudgy, blurry pix, with runny colors. The ViviCam 3765's crystal-clear sharp pix are compromised somewhat by only being available as JPEGs (not RAW format), which inevitably compress the data some, resulting in a bit of graininess.

In bright light, with a steady subject, the depth of field (the range that things are in-focus) is stunning. Everything from a few INCHES away to a few MILES away can be in focus, simultaneously.

Works amazingly well in low light, without flash. Sees better than I do! The tradeoff is slowness and (especially in twilight/nighttime/dark places) it can have focus and color balance problems (see below).

The "Preset" mode allows certain focus-and-light settings. One of these is a "macro" focus, which seems to work on things only inches away.

Have also regularly used the camera as a scanner, to photograph pages of documents for storage and retrieval as images in my computer. The resolution is good enough for 10-point Times or Arial to be readable, if you get in close enough so there's no space around the edges of an 8-inch x 11-inch sheet of paper. Flash may help, but it eats batteries (of course, you wanna use good rechargables ALWAYS)..

An "ISO" setting lets you select for ISO 100 or ISO 200 light-sensitivity -- sorta like using either ISO 100 film (for bright daylight) or ISO 200 film (for average light) in a film camera. The ISO 200 setting yields brighter (and higher-contrast) images.

LIMITS:

IT IS SLOW. Forget capturing fast-moving events and sudden surprise moments, especially indoors. For those, I keep a disposable flash camera handy. The Vivicam flash can take up to a full minute to charge up. On the other hand, it gives a kinda artsy blur to fast-motion images. Experiment.

Also, LOW-LIGHT conditions can result in problems: blurred focus and/or sloppy color balancing. Sunsets don't always look the same as in real life. Semi-automatic focus, aperture and white-balance controls (described below) often help.

FEATURES:

- STILL CAMERA, with FLASH: 3x optical zoom, 3 megapixels (internal memory has room for 5-8 pix at max resolution; generic SD memory cards can add as much memory as you want.).

- VIDEO CAMERA (up to at least 2 minutes of sharp video and pretty good sound with a 32mb memory card)

- WEB CAM (which I don't know much about, except that it's easy to use the thing as a security camera -- if you have a long USB cord). In low light, images are disappointingly dim and refresh rate is very slow.

- 3x OPTICAL ZOOM, motorized and fairly fast, gives you a lot more flexibility in shots than most other cameras in its price range. Coupled with great optics, and respectable resolution, I've gotten some of my pix published.

- Variable resolution, from 3 megapixels (2048 x 1472 pixels) on down to about one-third that.

- Small-but-sharp VIEWSCREEN with zoom-in (lets you really examine your pix in detail), and audio on videos.

- AUTOMATIC & SEMI-AUTOMATIC FEATURES: FOCUS, LIGHT-LEVEL, WHITE-BALANCE (See this topic, in detail, below this list); preset modes include (as near as I can tell):

-- Macro mode (for CLOSE, close-ups)
-- Portrait mode (focus on center of image)
-- Scenery/Landscape mode (focus on distant image)
-- Sports mode (fast shutter speed, if light is good) 
-- Nighttime mode (exaggerated contrast, slow shutter speed, for maximum  light)
-- Manual control of aperture/shutter-speed
-- Timer mode:  allows you 10 seconds to get in front of the campera, before the camera automatically takes the picture.

I lost the manual before I learned all these features (will try to provide info later). But using the up-and-down arrows on the right side, when shooting, allows you to manually adjust the picture light levels (whether by varying aperture or shutter speed, I'm not sure, but think its shutter speed).

- VIEW SCREEN SHUTOFF selectable when in camera mode, to save battery (helps a lot).

- A/V output cable allows connecting to the TV to preview your pix (way cool, but the zoom-in feature only works on the camera view screen; for some #@%$! reason, if using the viewscreen zoom-in feature, the TV image doesn't get more detailed, only enlarges the existing dots). Still, I can slap together a video presentation in minutes with my Vivicam, and take only the camera and cable, and am ready to hook up to any properly equipped TV (or any TV-and-VCR combination) anywhere for a show.

- BUILT-IN LENS COVER, automatically opens/closes with power on/off. (This is a FIRST-CLASS disaster-prevention feature. But can backfire if you're not paying attention, and it doesn't open completely (which happens rarely). Result is pix that look like they were taken through a crack in a fence. Gently nudging it open with your fingers will cause it to open completely.)

- CASE FEATURES: Tripod mounting-screw hole, etc., Wrist-strap is too small to be a lot of help, but better than nothing. Silver body reflects sunlight and heat, and helps protect camera from getting cooked.

---

AUTOMATIC and SEMI-AUTOMATIC FEATURES: FOCUS, LIGHT-LEVEL, WHITE-BALANCE

Normally, the camera sets focus, light-level (aperture/shutter-speed) and white-balance (color balance) automatically. However there are ways to control them, as noted above, and in the next few paragraphs.

There is an automatic white-balance: You point at a point in space that is white, at approximately the same brightness level as your subject, and at the desired focus distance, then press the shutter button part-way down, until the center rectangle in the preview screen switches from white to green. Now the camera has set your white-balance, aperture (light setting) and focus. While continuing to hold the button part-way down, point at the subject, then push the button the rest of the way down, and the picture is taken, using those settings.

The automatic white balance feature is complemented by a "WB" button that lets you select some specific white-balance settings, which definitely helps. Press the WB button until the incandescent light bulb icon appears on the screen, and you'll get better warm-tones OUTDOORS (this seems a bit counter-intuitive). I find this especially helpful for sunsets, autumn pix, and (in low light or outdoors) people.

Light level (Shutter-speed and/or aperture) are adjusted by the

MIXED VIRTUES:

- Auto-shutoff -- If you do nothing for about 2-3 min, camera turns itself off. (Can be maddening when you need it ready, but also saves battery life very helpfully, especially if you forget).

- Battery -- It gets by on just two AA cells, but that also sharply limits battery life. I use Duracell NiMH/Lithium rechargeables (the green-and-white Duracells) exclusively, with a fast charger. They work great. Also keep a couple of pairs of charged batteries with the camera always. You'll need them. The symptoms of battery failure are stubborness, blurred focus, increasing slowness, or the thing just shutting off (especially when it senses the need for flash).

- Light weight: Your hands don't get weary, but your pix can get blurry from the ease with which the flyweight camera is shaken. I bolt a heavy metal bracket on to it with a quarter-inch (I think) bolt, screwed into the camera's tripod-screw hole. It doubles the camera's weight, and really seems to help steady the camera. Or I lean against a steady surface. Especially important in low light, when shutter speed can be amazingly slow. Like 1/5 sec.?

DOWN-SIDE: Like most digital cameras, gimmick overload, and too many features squeezed together on too few, tiny buttons/knobs, poorly labled (tiny icons). But you get the hang of it. Still, changing between still-camera, video-camera, and viewing modes is maddening in low light. Viewfinder is not a very accurate indicator of area in the shot.

- DELAY: The delay between shots can be infuriating when your missing some priceless transient moment (again: keep a disposable film camera, with flash, handy; you'll need it).

- J-PEG format only. To keep the 3MP images down to about 1.5 MB apiece, they are all encoded in compressed JPEG format, so you don't' get the full benefit of all those pixels, with some graininess appearing -- especially in low-light shots.

- Incredibly Lame manual. Too many things are unexplained, and too many details undocumented. Must experiment with many of the features, and are still left wondering just what you've selected sometimes.

- USB port on your computer. You gotta have it to use this camera (but cable is included, and nearly all computers today have working USB ports; old-fashioned 9-pin serial ports that early digi-cams used are history). At least USB is much faster and simpler. However, you CAN simply use a memory card reader to read your SD memory chips (though most of those hook to the computer through -- you guessed it -- a USB cable).

RELIABLITY: As long as you know and respect/accept the Vivicam's limits, and keep spare batteries (and maybe extra memory cards) handy, you'll nearly always get what you expect. I've dropped mine onto concrete (even on the lens barrel!), gotten it wet, used it in environments from 150 degrees to -20 degrees (below zero), and if the batteries were good, it's always worked -- often better than me. I wish I had two. Will hate it when I have to give this thing up, even if it's for a fancier camera.

~RH