Vivitar ViviCam 6200W Review

£120Jul 2007

Stuff says 5 Hot Buy

The Vivicam 6200W is terminator-tough and cheap enough to condemn disposable underwater cameras to the low-tech graveyard

Images

Stuff magazine Fri, Jul 20 2007, 6:00AM

Digital cameras are spoiled brats. Take them for a swim, and they’ll never speak to you again. Treat them to a day out at the beach, and they’ll then refuse to work for you. And don’t get us started on how they react if you accidentally drop them. 

But all that’s about to change. Enter the Vivicam 6200W. With its rugged, waterproof body, Vivitar’s latest snapper is only too happy to bathe on a sandy beach with you, or dive headfirst into the chilly North sea.

Deep-sea diver
For £120, you can take your Vivicam 6200W swimming down to an ear-popping depth of 10m (that’s 30ft for imperial fans), and to make up for the lack of optical zoom, the kind gents at Vivitar have popped in a rather handy focus-free lens – perfect for snapping that jellyfish before he drifts onto your torso.

And there’s no need to worry about treating the 6200W mean either, as this commando-like snapper is suited and booted in protective rubber armour to keep it alive for any mission you select. 

Vivid-cam
Whilst submerged, the Vivicam delivers vibrant tones and sharp pictures, and although the quality in dry conditions isn’t going to dampen the palms of Fujifilm and Canon, it nonetheless provides an ideal solution for a holiday camera.

Suited in a decidedly dodgy orange number, the Vivicam sports all the standard functions you’d expect from a digital camera, with video recording, adjustable white balance and a built-in flash.

It’s also packing 6 megapixels and comes with 16MB of internal memory, expandable by 1GB via an SD card. And for the microscopic price tag, you’ll also snare a lovely 2in screen, so you can review your sand-clouded pictures of nothing in particular with ease.

We reckon this tidy submarine snapper is brilliant value for money, and well worth splashing out on if you’re beach bound any time soon.

Comments

  1. murakami66

    4 years ago

    Have had this for two summers now. Pic quality ain't great, to be honest, but the pics tend to be memorable. Have used it in heavy surf, getting dynamic shots of my kids on boards, skimmers and body surfing. Fantastic pics in swimming pools, where the strong light can create vivid images, capturing spectacular bubble shows around dives and bombs. Also much loved is the video function - great fun capturing underwater activities - though snorkelling shots, even in crystal clear Med are a tad disappointing. But memorable, always meorable, which is surely what such a bullet proof cam is meant for.  

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Tech Specs

Dimensions
120 x 78 x 43mm
LCD Size
2.0
Maximum movie resolution
320 x 240
Megapixels
6.0
Memory card type
SD
Optical viewfinder
Yes
Weight
230g
Zoom function during movies
No