The vivitar web site has a blurb about the ViviCam 3100 (see www.vivitar.com/3100spec.html) that claims a resolution of 1920x1600, at a list price of $499. I notice that this camera is not reviewed here - is it too new? Any opinions? It uses a CMOS array sensor instead of a CCD. Strangely, the CMOS array is spec'd at only 1000x800 (800,000 pixels), but it still produces an image of 3 megapixels. Does this imply that interpolation is being used to inflate the image? Lastly - the article implies that 4 sensor elements (R,G,B, and T) are used for each full-color pixel in the output image - this would even further reduce the number of image pixels you would expect from a 1000x800 sensor... Boy, am I confused! -- Thanks, love your site

-- Charlie Wallace (charliewallace@iname.com), August 05, 1998

Answers

Well, yes, there's got to be quite a bit of interpolation going on there! We haven't reviewed it because Vivitar so far hasn't wanted to participate here. For our part, we're too busy trying to get a leg up on the stuff from eager mfrs that we haven't much energy to pursue the less-than-eager...

My recollection of images from the 3100 were that they had surprisingly good resolution, but the color was a little flat. Of course, "surprisingly good resolution" was relative to other things I'd seen at the time, which was before the current flood of megapixel digicams, so I really don't know how it would compare with what's out there now.

For just a little more money these days though, you can get a truly *excellent* camera, such as the Toshiba PDR-M1, which has a true 1.5 megapixel sensor, and takes great pictures - Toshiba just dropped the price on these $100, so you should be able to pick one up for well under $600! At just under a megapixel, the Canon A5 takes beautiful shots for not a lot of money as well. Finally, for about the same price as the Vivitar, you can get the Kodak DC200, which is the fixed-focal-length version of the 210. Image quality would be very similar to the shots we've posted from the 210.

If you weren't confused enough before, this rambling note probably put you over the edge! Bottom line, you should download some of the sample images here & print them on your own printer. Things look a lot different on paper than they do on the screen!

Good Luck, sorry to stir the murk even further!

-- Dave Etchells (detchells@imaging-resource.com), August 05, 1998.

Information, price vivican 3100

-- Irapuan F Santos (santo@net-uniao.com.br), October 04, 1998.