Review: Vivitar Vivicam 8025 and T328

Chris S

#1 – 8:50 AM July 30, 2009

"No-one who already owns a camera should consider these models."

I will disagree, strongly, with this point. Cameras like this fill a valuable niche, especially given the robustness of most SD cards.

There are times and places I just won't take my great or good cameras. Some places are too sandy, some are too wet, some are too high - in some way these places are just too risky. For those times, I want a camera that is not bad, but should it get smashed to smithereens, I will sweep up the bits, extract the SD card - likely still fine and holding the pictures I did shoot - and then say "Too bad about that camera. Oh, well."

It's the reason I have an HP E427. 6.0 megapixels, fixed focus, can act as a USB drive. And you can find them for $10 on ebay.

HeatherB

#2 – 9:04 AM July 30, 2009

I do have to agree with Chris. Sometimes when I travel or am heading some where that the camera might get damaged (say the amusement park or beach) this is the way to go. I also think these would be great to get younger kids as a gift when they want a camera.
That being said, it will be my elph that still stays in my purse full time for those "Man I wish I had a camera" moments.

Restless

#3 – 9:22 AM July 30, 2009

Honestly, if you can turn off the date stamp and spend a little time with Photoshop and a noise reduction program, those pictures are far more than serviceable. Now you have me thinking about picking one up for our cruise in a few months.

Rob Beschizza

#4 – 11:43 AM July 30, 2009

Chris, Heather: as I said in the review, other companies make models that are much better and only slightly more expensive.

If you just want a low-quality point and shoot for the beach or wherever, get a refurb Canon elph.

Don't be dazzled by my brilliant macro photography, people!

hohum

#5 – 6:47 PM July 30, 2009

So… I know they're cheap… But how cheap are they?

(I know I can Google it my own damn self, but would be nice to have that info in the review, no?)

Rob Beschizza

#6 – 7:52 AM July 31, 2009

$90 for the 8025, $120 for the T328.

But the 8025 is on special at Walmart right now.

The Skint Cat

#7 – 10:17 AM July 31, 2009

What models would you recommend that are only slightly more expensive. I will be buying my first digital camera. Thanks for the input.

The Skint Cat

#8 – 10:23 AM July 31, 2009

I will be purchasing my first digital camera. I don't have any experience. Could you recommend a model that is not to expensive but also offers good quality? Thanks for the help.

daev

#9 – 10:53 AM August 2, 2009

Wow, everyone missed the biggest selling point? Come on, folks! This little beauty has a digital lens! That's a bargain at any price!

daev

#10 – 10:55 AM August 2, 2009

Skint Cat, for a couple hundred bucks you can't go wrong with any of Canon's Powershot cams. Easily pocketable, great pic quality and enough settings to make it versatile.

Matthew Miller

#11 – 8:01 PM August 3, 2009

You may remember the name "Vivitar" as a reasonably respectable maker of third-party flashes, lenses, and other photography accessories. That company no longer exists. Cactus bought some of their designs and practical IP; the brand name (by itself) was sold to Sakar, who also markets stuff as "Digital Concepts". They basically import and brand cheap Chinese-made electronic junk.

There may be a place for these cameras, but you can probably do better with a second-hand or refurbished model from Fujifilm or Panasonic. (Both better than Canon, Sony, or Nikon for point & shoots, by the way.)

danhughes

#12 – 1:47 PM August 18, 2009

I have this camera and there is no sound with videos.

Does it not have audio, or is my camera defective?

RUSHINGTURTLE

#13 – 12:02 PM August 19, 2009

Mine doesn't have sound on movie mode either. Drat!

Snagged mine at Sears for 49.95 plus a sdhc card.

Digital zoom is weird. When zooming, the image on the display is very pixilated to the point that I dont quite know what I'm taking a picture of. If I mount the camera on a tripod and take a really good guess on where to zoom, the resulting photo is OK if ya' don't enlarge it too much.

This camera is no Zeiss. I can't even figure out how this puppy works without a lens. If it has one it's red and is about the diameter of a spaghetti noodle.

Taking some pictures outside where there is a lot of green caused the whole picuture to be green... faces, clothes, sky, everything. Focus is impossible to predict.

Macro is OK if you don't get too close

But, all in all, for a digital camera that cost 50 bucks it's OK. It's a fair pocket camera. I read in a magazine somewhere that "The best camera is the one you have with you." Without some kind of camera you won't have any image at all. This camera takes magnificent pictures compared to my cell phone which cost nothing.

Thie Vivitar is just fine if you're afraid to bring out the "big gun" in an unfriendly environment. If you're adept at photoshop or the like you can make some very usable photos.

My biggest con was that the instruction manual is on the CD. I haven't tried all the other stuff on the CD yet.

Vivitar used to make some really kick butt lenses. I have an old 75-205 I used to use on a Canon Fd or Fl, I can't remember. The camera is just too expensive to fix anymore; but, the lens probably still works unless the mold got to it.

With what I know now I probably would have spent $50 more or so for something with a optical zoom. For now though I'm still putzing with the camera and taking a lot of nonsense pictures. Shooting things I wouldn't waste my time on except I have this camera in my pocket. Maybe it'll improve my skill with time.

Couldn't hurt.

Happy hunting,
RushingTurtle

RUSHINGTURTLE

#14 – 12:16 PM August 19, 2009

Hey, Skint Cat!

Buy the best camera you can afford. The internet is a good place to research.

There are some really terrific point an shoots out there with lots of bells and whistles. Get one with the highest optical zoom you can afford.

Megapixels are important but not THE most important... Optics are.

There are some pretty fantastic cameras out there for less than $300.

There are lots of sites out there that have more and better information than I can give you. Research is the key.

If you are making your first digital camera purchase and you can afford something better than this camera get it.

Happy hunting,
RushingTurtle

James Brown

#15 – 4:05 PM September 14, 2009

Does this record audio with movie clips and does it play audio with video clip on the camera? Thanks