Vivitar ViviCam 3615 2MP Digital Camera

by Vivitar

Product Details

Product Manual [2.72mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 4.8 x 3.5 inches ; 1.8 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0000631YA
• Item model number: 59984
• Batteries: 4 AA batteries required. (included)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,842 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: February 28, 2002

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Vivitar's ViviCam 3615 uses a 2-megapixel image sensor and an autofocus lens to capture crisp, sharp images at an affordable price.

The camera is targeted at users who like to simply point and shoot. Focus, flash, and exposure are all set automatically. Hoping for more creative control? You have only a few options: the flash has four modes (including red-eye reduction), the white balance can be set to one of four values to compensate for unusual lighting, and the exposure compensation can be adjusted.

For power, the camera uses four AA batteries or an optional AC adapter. The big benefit to using standard AA batteries instead of a custom proprietary battery is that AA batteries are available virtually everywhere in the world, so missing a once-in-a-lifetime shot due to dead batteries won't be an issue. The downside is that a digital camera will kill a set of alkaline batteries extremely quickly, especially if you're using the camera's LCD display. If you're an occasional photographer, you can get by with high-power disposables, but if you plan to take more than a handful of photos a month, a set of rechargeable batteries (scroll up to the Accessories section) is a virtual necessity.

To compose your image, either look through the traditional viewfinder or use the 1.6-inch color LCD display on the back of the camera. Pictures are stored in the camera's internal 8 MB memory, which holds approximately 12 images at the camera's default setting. The memory can be erased and reused repeatedly, but if you're hoping to take more photos before returning to your computer to transfer the images, the camera also accepts CompactFlash memory cards.

A video-out feature makes it easy to show your pictures in big-screen glory. Just connect your camera to your TV with the included cable to give a virtual slide show to friends or family. If you think your photos look impressive as a print or on a computer monitor, just wait until you see them on a 27-inch TV screen.

There is no optical zoom lens on the camera, but the ViviCam does include a 2x digital zoom. This feature crops the edges off your picture and blows up the remaining image, enlarging your picture at the expense of image quality. Most photo-editing software will let you do the same thing to your picture once you've transferred it to your home computer, so it's a camera feature that's not often used. The reason for including a digital zoom is purely financial; it costs almost nothing to add this feature, and a digital-zoom camera will cost you $50 to $100 less than a comparable camera with optical zoom.

The ViviCam 3615 shows just how much digital cameras have improved in the past few years. Even a year ago, a digital camera at this price would have had an inferior fixed-focus lens and substantially lower resolution. Though the 3615 doesn't have many fancy features, its lens and sensor prove that an affordable digital camera can produce quality results.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Easy for those who want to point & shoot, June 8, 2002

By 

MoonPye "Monica" (Bellingham, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vivitar ViviCam 3615 2MP Digital Camera (Electronics)

With 2.11 megapixels this camera is a good value for the money. At the highest resolution you should be able to blow a print up to 8x10. Camera is easy to use, basically just point & shoot. Push shutter button halfway for auto focus. Altho with default setting you can only get about 10-12 pictures on the 8MB internal memory, if you change the setting to 800 x 600 you can get 40 pictures instead, which I prefer because these pics won't take up as much room on your hard drive. (and this size looks great when I blow up the picture to use as a background on my computer!) With a 32 MB CF card you can get up to 180!! The red eye works very well. I've found with other cameras I always had a problem with red eye when taking pictures of my dog, but with this one I haven't had that problem. The software that comes with this camera is very user friendly. The closeup function works pretty well, you just have to watch the lighting with that to get good quality pics. The camera uses up batteries fast, but all of them do when you use the LCD display alot, which I do.


***UPDATE TO THIS REVIEW***
I originally wrote the above in 2002, before my first child was even born (this camera was a wedding gift). I have since moved on to dSLRs and away from point & shoots. My 7 year old daughter is now using this camera as her first digital camera! This little thing has held up remarkably well over the years. Of course technology has improved GREATLY since then, so this is perfect for a child who is practicing, and I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to an adult who already has experience with point & shoots... but I felt compelled to comment on the quality of this item and remark on the fact that it's still going strong!

Exposure can be a little tricky with it, and of course with only 2 mp the quality of the shots is not going to be perfect, but this camera is far superior to the digitals that are on the market right now aimed at the children's market.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy to use, Excellent picture quality, December 27, 2002

By 

Steve Herr (Jackson, MI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vivitar ViviCam 3615 2MP Digital Camera (Electronics)

My first experience with digital cameras was an Olympus that was rather awkward. This model by Vivitar makes digital photography about as easy as it can get. In about 5 minutes I figured out the basics of taking, reviewing, and downloading pictures. I bought it in a kit that included all of the necessary cables. Despite complaints of poor picture quality by one reviewer, I found them to be sharp and clear. I would reccomend this without qualification to anyone as an excellent entry-level digital camera.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for the price, November 19, 2002

By 

J. Amos (Fountain Hills, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vivitar ViviCam 3615 2MP Digital Camera (Electronics)

My husband and I were looking for a digital camara for the best price.The picture quality is really good (2.1 MP) but at varying light situations the pix fluctuate. Weve taken shots at the house with quite a bit of light and they look good, but at a school gym (with the gyms lights all on, not in the dark) for our childs show the pix were horrible. There was enough light in the pix but blurry and very grainy. Weve taken shots outdoors during the day and it works great. Computers treat it as another hard drive using the included USB cable (plugs into USB port) so it is very easy to download and send pix to whomever (there is also included software to look at and edit the pix plus it will cut the pix size in half when saved through the software). It came with the internal 8mb flashcard but you really have to upgrade to collect any of the best format pix. we bought a 64 MB flash card and it holds about 78 highest quality pix. All in all, great camara for the price but you might want to upgrade (you get what you pay for) for better reliability in varying light conditions. Plus, this will burn through standard batteries like a wildfire. Rechargeable batteries helped alot! They were the Quest rechargeables (comes with a charger).