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Strengths: - Light, small, cheap
- Durable, had mine for 15 years
- FAST, GOOD, Sharp 1.7 50mm prime lens.
- K mount... lots of great used Tac and 3rd party lenses
- Shutter speeds from "B" to 1/2000
Weaknesses: - Build quality not on par with Nikes, Canons, etc. That said, I had mine since about 1990. Survived a couple drops, too
- Camera jammed once after 10 yrs. Fixed by a good smack on the back. LOL
Summary: 'kay, got in to photography years ago, and was looking for a used Pentax 1000 "student camera". This was pre-eBay days. Well, the cost of a used, dinged, dented, Pentax 1000 was twice the price of this "K-Mart Special", the Vivitar.
So, rather than take my chances with a 15 year old used camera I bought this. Think mine is the 3000"S" but their virtually the same.
I LOVE this camera. First off, it's all manual, which I highly prefer. It has a great range of shutter speeds, is small, light, and fits nicely in your hand.
It's made by Cosina, a "behind the scenes" camera manufacturer who made camera lenses since 1958, and cameras (since '68) for many companies including Olympus, Nikon, and Contax. They now makes the coveted Voigtlander Bessa.
This is an all manual camera. It has an accurate built-in meter. You set the film speed, and shutter speed, then stop down the aperture ring until you see a "dot" appear in the viewfinder. "-" means you need to open the aperture, "+" means its overexposed and you need to close it X number of stops. It focuses like real cameras do - by turning the focus ring on the lens. You rewind the film by pressing a button on the bottom when it's done and turning a crank.
The advantages? You're in control of everything. No batteries to buy or recharge, no "hunting" like autofocus digitals or automated slrs. You're camera's always ready to shoot, and you're 100% in control of the camera, not the other way around. No motors, no batteries... Wait, I lied, yes you need two 1.5 commonly available "watch" batteries for the meter. They last 3 to 5 years, and your camera will operate without them, obviously.
Do check our the scads of relatively cheap outstanding K-mount manual Taks and 3rd party glass those digital suckers are selling for a song on e-Bay.
Paid $99.99 on sale at K-Mart 15 years ago for this Cosina -built little beauty. Still use it, still going strong.
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