5 Frames of Grandkids with a $5 Digital Camera from Walmart

I’m cheap. Not as cheap as my youngest brother. He once tried to negotiate the price when on the phone ordering a take-out pizza. So when the popular Slickdeals website listed a “Vivitar” keychain-sized digital camera for $5 (regularly $17), I had to order one.

They say “the best camera is the one you have with you.” This would be a chance to see if that old adage has any truth to it. The camera came sans micro-SD card, but that was OK. I have several unused low-capacity cards sitting in my top desk drawer. It also charges and transfers images using a properly modern USB C port. It even came with a short keychain attachment so I could connect it to my regular keychain and take it with me everywhere.

The published specifications for the camera are minimal and not very helpful. The maximum resolution is listed as 14 megapixels, but given the size and price, that seems doubtful. Video resolution is claimed to be Full HD. Despite the Vivitar branding, the camera is made by Sakar International – or more likely by a company contracted by Sakar.

I was not prepared for the “quality” of the resulting images. Many were hit or miss. The camera does poorly in low light and does not handle movement well. But in the right light, close enough to capture detail, with a (mostly) static image, it does fine. Obviously, my concern that these are nowhere near 14 megapixels is born out when viewing them enlarged for this post.

My two- and four-year-old granddaughters are often the subjects of my photos here in the early weeks of retirement. These five images of them show was a $5 camera can do under the favorable circumstances of enough light and a still enough image.

Overall, I am glad I spent $5 on this camera. It is loads of fun. And although they have larger “kids” digicams themselves, they regularly ask (insist!) I decouple the tiny Vivitar from my keychain so they can shoot with it (and drop it repeatedly – apparently without damage).

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