Vivitar V3000

Vivitar V3000s
image by Leo DeLa Parca (Image rights)

The Vivitar V3000s and Vivitar V3000 are fully manual 35mm film SLR cameras marketed by Vivitar. The V3000 and V3000s were manufactured in China by Phenix using the Yashica FX-3 chassis - a chassis they used for several other SLR models as well as the Yasuhara T981 rangefinder.

The magazine Popular Photography carried a release announcement for the V3000s in the June, 1994 issue as part of a list of new cameras shown at the 1994 Photo Marketing Association (PMA) conference in Atlanta, GA. The announcement says the suggested retail price was $317.95 USD.^[1] A later review in the December 1994 issue of Popular Photography is generally positive, comparable to the venerable Pentax K1000 but with better metering, and praises the fully-manual shutter of both the V3000s and K1000 as a feature sought after by photographers in a time when most cameras had electronic shutters. The review indicates a street price of about $225 USD.^[2] At the time, the still-current V4000, with roughly comparable features (but assembled in Japan by Cosina) showed a list price of $377.95.^[3]

In the late 1990s the V3000s received an update and became the V3000. There is no apparent difference between the two models other than color. The original V3000s was an all-black camera. The newer V3000 had a two-tone black and silver appearance, possibly to better match the black and silver Vivitar V4000 that was released in June of 1998. The V3000 is no longer listed in the 2004 Vivitar product catalog but continued to be listed in the Vivitar SLR product line and was shown on their website as late as October of 2005, suggesting that production of the camera ceased prior to 2004 but existing new stock was sold until depleted.^[4]

The cameras use the Pentax K-mount lenses. The camera body is plastic and includes a hot-shoe flash socket, internal light meter (activated by pushing the shutter release button half-way), manual film advance, a screw thread for remote shutter release cord. It has a flash sync terminal but no automatic exposure capability.

The V3000 was sold in a kit with either a V3000 body plus a 50mm f/1.7 prime lens or as a V3000 body plus a 28-70mm f/3.4-4.8 zoom lens. Both kit lenses were also Cosina-made.^[5]^[6]