Vivitar V3800N

This fall I purchases 10 Vivitar 3800N film cameras for my Beginning Photography class that I teach. Six of the cameras arrived with faulty light meters and just yesterday another stopped working. I am exchanging all seven as they are under warranty. However, I am extremely disappointed with Vivitar customer service. When I called to ask if there was something I should have known about to make the light meters operate, and to let them know that 7 out of 10 products were faulty, the prepresentative was not at all helpful; he gave me a false explaination that all electronics will become unstable after sitting on the shelf for a year or two. He clainemed that thier product was not faulty but rather explained that I should expect onr or two items to be faulty, but then said that the cameras were not defective. When I repeated that 7 out of 10 cameras had faulty light meters, he could not give me an explaination but rather defensive.

I most likely will choose another product when I have the opportunity to purchase equipment for my school.

In 2000, while I was traveling in China, I dropped my only camera, a Nikon 6006. Unfortunately, it was destroyed and unsalvagable. So feeling quite depressed, I walked into a department store and headed straight to the photo department. Because the imported cameras were so expensive, I decided to risk purchasing an all-manual Chinese-made domestic brand camera w/ a 50mm lens... the Phenix. Well, when I finally returned home from my long trip, I was very surprised and pleased with the results of the pictures and the performance of the camera. I could still tell which pictures were taken with the Nikon vs. the Phenix, but it wasn't because the picture quality was any worse. It was just because the 2 lenses were different. Well, to make a long story short, this Vivitar is identical to the Phenix camera I bought 4 years ago and I think they are the exact same camera (just badged in the US as a Vivitar). I have used this camera regularly since then (a couple rolls a month, at least), and it has never given me a problem. I have been keeping my eye out for the Phenix during my travels, but I have never seen it for sale in the US. I'm glad now that I can always replace it with the Vivitar if needed.

-great value -durable -accurate light meter (I shoot slide film w/o any problems) -mechanical shutter (I think with at least one default shutter speed) -sharp and fast 50mm lens (f/1.7)- would definitely recommend over the zoom -depth of field preview -multiple exposure

-overall build quality doesn't quite compare to Japenese cameras, but still durable -plastic top and bottom plate

Pentax K1000 Nikon FM2n Nikon FM10

Never needed