Great value digital camera!

Author's Rating:

Pros: Great price, good quality, easy to use, movie clips.

Cons: Goes through batteries quickly.

The Bottom Line: 
If you're on a budget and need a digital camera, this is a good camera at a very reasonable price!

Author's Review
The Concord EyeQ camera, which I had paid $80 for less than a year ago, suddenly went goofy on me, so I was suddenly in the market for a new digital camera, but on a very limited budget. As luck would have it, Target had this camera on sale for $88 that week, but after doing some looking around on various websites for other 3.3 megapixel cameras, it almost seemed too cheap, and I wondered what was wrong with it.

The Target salesman seemed pretty knowledgeable, and said it was that low price because a) it was a good sale that week (regularly $125), and b) it wasn't a brand name like Sony, etc. Since I mainly needed a camera for e-mailing photos of my kids to their grandparents, it seemed like a good camera at a decent price.

I have been very pleased with this camera. It is easy to use, and the quality seems to me to be very good. I don't know much about the technical side of things, and I don't print a lot of photos, but there are several choices for quality and size of images, depending on your needs.

A pleasant surprise was the ability to take video clips. Since I don't have a video camera, it's fun to capture the antics of my children. The quality of the movies is low (320x240); it reminds me of the 8mm films my dad used to take of us as kids. It's a fun feature to have. You can get about one minute of a movie with the standard 8 MB memory, or more if you purchase an SD memory card.

My only disappointment so far is how fast this camera goes through batteries. I was going through two AA batteries every 3-4 times I downloaded the pictures to the computer. An AC adapter is available for about $20 plus shipping. (I had to contact Vivitar via their website to get purchase information.) I have now purchased rechargeable batteries and should come out ahead in the long run instead of going through so many alkaline batteries.

This camera feels like a regular film camera in your hand, and I've found it to be very easy and convenient to use. While my old digital cameras sat by my computer most of the time, I've been carrying this one with me. Now I have both a film camera and this digital camera in my purse at most times! The carrying strap is long enough to go around your neck, and there is a case for the camera included with it.

If you're on a budget and can't afford a more expensive digital camera, I'd recommend the Vivitar 3705. It's decent quality at a low price.