Test Roll: Vivitar cv35

The first weekend in June 2020, our family hit up a neighborhood garage sale, and my son (age 8 at the time) “borrowed” 50 cents to buy this camera.

Appropriately enough, the Vivitar cv35 was marketed as “an ideal first camera for young people and beginning photographers.” If he hadn’t seen it first, I might have bought it myself, though; I’m a sucker for trashcams and toy cameras.

Its main distinguishing features on the surface are its translucent body, a built-in sliding lens cover, and a flash powered by one AA battery. However, it also has a two-element lens, which is a step up from most cheap plastic cameras from the 90’s. Cameras like this can produce unique results with vignetting and sketchy focus, so I was eager to load it up and take it for a spin.

Focus & Sharpness

As expected, the center of frame is sharper than the edges. The ideal focus seems to be at around 10-12 feet — I composed the above photo intentionally to gauge that distance, although I didn’t expect that there would be such a noticeable difference in sharpness beyond that point.

Definitely not a selfie camera, either in daylight or by flash.

Exposure

Again, as expected, the cv35 performs best in bright sunlight. Deliberate composition using shade and sun can yield some pleasantly contrasty results; trying to photograph in full shade, not so much.

The flash works as well as one would expect: properly lighting the subject only in very specific conditions… meaning that most flash-lit photos from this camera would have that typical slightly-underexposed vibe.

In a Nutshell

My overall impression of the Vivitar cv35: I won’t be using it myself, as its quirks don’t strike me as unique or charming enough to put it into regular rotation. Honestly, I prefer the photos from my son’s other trashcam, although it doesn’t have a built-in flash. If my son wants to take a film camera to a playdate or sleepover, though, this one would be a good choice. I’ll just have to remind him not to try any selfies.

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