Vivitar Vivicam 35
Review
by Chad Hauris, Retro Electronics and Audio Lab,
Midland, TX. 12/24/05
Gregory
and I were looking at some digital cameras recently, as we wanted to
have a camera with us for taking pictures of interesting sites when we
go on vacation this winter. One problem I faced is that our computers
at home are all Linux, so we wanted to get a camera that could be used
on Linux. We chose the Vivitar Vivicam as it was cheap! just 19.95. We
will probably invest in a more expensive camera later but wanted to
just get a cheapie now.
As it turns out, it does not appear that this camera will work with
linux. You can mount the camera but when you try to move the files off
of it, it does not work. It uses a TWAIN system for downloading the
images...the download software for Windows XP is provided, along with a
USB cable and batteries. The camera wasn't a total bust though as I was
able to install the software on the shop computer which has windows XP.
Here are some photos taken with the Vivitar Vivicam 35:
The camera doesn't do a half-bad job for $19.95! You can see though
that the focus is not quite as sharp as it could be. It seems to work
best for outdoor shots, though it does have a flash for indoors. Also
the memory is volatile and if the batteries go dead, you lose the
photos stored on the camera. There is no removeable card or viewing
monitor (a viewfinder like on an Instamatic camera is used). We
wanted to provide this objective review of the camera as there really
doesn't seem to be much data on it on the web.
To summarize:
The Vivitar Vivicam 35 is 19.95 and must be used with Windows XP, does
not appear to work with Linux.
Available at Wal-mart.
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