As someone who covers several conventions a year, the ability to capture the sights and sounds of the shows is of top importance to us. With the abundance of things to see and do at most shows, we often have to move from meeting to meeting and across the main floors alternating between our digital picture and movie cameras to get the shots we need, but there are times when you simply cannot get your hands free.
Enter the new Lifecam from Vivitar which allows users to capture HD quality movies, images, and sound in a small device that can be easily mounted to your clothing, a hat, or other devices thanks to the mounting devices that come with it and the additional ones that are available to purchase.
The square black device has come in handy for us at shows such as Star Wars Celebration, E3, and San Diego Comic Con, and we have plans to use it at the upcoming D23 Expo, PAX Prime, and theme park and vacation trips.
The device easily charges and has a Wi-Fi mode that can synch with your Smart Devices. I did have some issues getting this to work, but I never once had issues moving data and images to my PC via the USB port.
The biggest trick is making sure you have the camera properly positioned as a few times I have taken askew pictures and video such as when we were allowed to record video of an upcoming video game while I was playing it.
The Lifecam took great video but when I moved, the camera would move so you would end up with 3/4 screen shots or tilted images now and then.
The camera also has an annoying feature in that it records with a date/time stamp but does not allow you to set the correct date and time. I wrote Vivitar about this and they said to simply edit the images and film to remove the date and time stamp. Hmm, how about allowing us to edit it to the correct date or not including one at all?
That being said, you also have to make sure the camera is on, as once you set the mode, still images, video, or random strobe, it will do its own thing. If it is in still image, you have to press the record button which does not work well when you are wearing it. It does work well for the other modes, but it does not have a light to indicate that it is recording so you have to turn it on, hit the button and hope it is capturing things correctly.
My indicator is that if the display is on a few minutes after I start, it is likely recording but this requires a look down which can get some very unflattering nostril shots for your efforts.
That being said, when you find the system that works for you, the Lifecam has done a great job, especially with the strobe effect as it is nice to have it capture random images when we walk the halls of the show. Just be prepared to delete several unusable images around the ones you want to keep.
For a camera prices at $100.00 the picture and sound quality is first-rate and for that we recommend the unit, just be prepared to be patient as you work around getting used to it despite the unit having a very fast and easy setup.
4 stars out of 5.
