Pros:

- cheaper than a disposable after several uses

- some pictures are okay, or can be edited to be decent. Large megapix gives you more to work with in terms of editing (and boy, do you need it with this camera.)

Cons:

- No viewfinder, and the screen is virtually impossible to see in the daylight

- Buttons are not responsive or intuitive

- Flash is too weak to provide adequate fill flash

- Some pics are distorted – not just blurry, but wavy.

- Screen is easily scratched, as is the lens – there is no lens cover.

- After using the camera a few times during swimming, the body is peeling.

I took over 300 pictures. Of these, roughly one third were out of focus or shots of things I did not think I took pictures of. Things like feet, sand, the boat deck. Etc. When taking pictures, the camera does not make any noise, and the display screen freezes for a second, letting you know that the picture was taken. All I can figure is that I thought I took a picture of something I wanted, then accidently hit the shutter when I was putting the camera away.

Another third of the shots were completed distorted. They looked as though they had been taken with a fisheye lens. Someone told me later that sometimes cameras with a small lens are very sensitive to temperature, and since the days were very hot, perhaps this was the problem. All I know is, out of 300 pictures, I wound up with less than 100 that were OK.

The display screen on the back of the camera was very hard to use in the sun, but I have noticed this problem with cameras before.

I had read reviews of the older version of this camera which said it was a battery hog. I therefore took four sets of batteries on a nine day trip, and ran through three sets, so I am glad I read that review.

But please do keep an eye on the prices because I’ve seen the price on this change very frequently (in a matter of minutes) and vary about $[...], since I started writing this review.

Why else did I get it? I’m going on a trip to the Bahamas in August and don’t want to take 35mm underwater disposable cameras with me. Airport X-ray machines can ruin the film if it’s in your carry on (since most of those cameras use ISO 800 film) and that’s the only luggage I plan on bringing. So I wanted to take a digital camera since I’ll be snorkeling while I’m down there, as well as have it not get ruined if it fell off a kayak or it started to rain. I’m too terrified to try one of those underwater pouches for my primary camera (a Samsung S700) due to lack of reviews on the pouch-type it would require and fear that if it got ruined I’d be out my favorite camera so I’ve opted for this camera and so far I am SO glad I did! Vivitar seems to have fit a lot of nice features into this point & shoot camera.

But if you’re looking for a professional camera, let me stop you right now and tell you to look elsewhere as this probably won’t be anywhere near your expectations. This is by no means considered a professional camera. However, if you’re looking for a better option than a 35mm underwater disposable… then it CERTAINLY provides better results than a 35mm film underwater point and shoot camera. I say this with experience from using those 35mm film underwater disaster cameras but from also working in a photo lab where I’ve seen the vast majority of what those cameras produce at water parks and the Caribbean… and the Vivitar Vivicam 8400 camera is by far so much better.

I tested it in my friends pool yesterday and it had no leaks around the gasket/closing mechanism and the pictures were surprisingly clear! I will add some sample photos to the product gallery as soon as I get some I’m willing to share with the public at-large. Overall, I give it a 4 out of 5 and that’s because I’m nitpicking.

Pro’s:

- Water resistant up to 30 feet!

- Supports an external SD memory card in up to 8GBs in size! This was great for me as I already have plenty of this type of card from my other camera. And this type card is generally inexpensive compared to other size cards. Just to give you an idea of storage capacity I put a 4gb SD card in the camera and it said I could store 1596 pictures at the highest 8.1mp setting OR 1 hour 37 minutes and 15 seconds of video! Obviously, you can do a combination of each if you switch between the modes.

- Uses AA size batteries. I’ve been using energizer rechargeables in this and got a decent amount of life from them from STEADY non-stop use. My suggestion would be to use the photo lithium or the rechargeables as I’m sure that just like all other digital cameras on the market, that they would probably suck the life out of the cheaper basic alkalines.

- Reasonably large LCD screen on the camera at 2.4 inches.

- Can record photos AND video.

- Comes with an adjustable wrist strap so it’s easy to secure to your wrist–however, should it come off your wrist the bright yellow color of this camera makes it easy to spot to retrieve unlike the blue model.

- Sinks somewhat, so you won’t have to deal with too much resistance to keep it staying underwater.

- Has the screw hole on the camera’s base for mounting to a tripod.

- When powering off the camera it clearly displays “Bye-Bye” on the LCD screen.

- Easy 1 touch “Mode” button to switch between capturing still photos or video.

- Lightning bolt button easily lets you change from auto-flash, flash (for all photos), or no-flash.

- Can take photos with Super Fine, Fine, or Normal settings.

- Although the camera is 8.1MP, you have the choice of shooting photos in the following resolutions (8M, 5M, 3M, 2M, 0.3M)-This can be great if you’re limited on how much space is on your memory card.

- You can adjust the white balance in Still Photo mode OR in Video mode. It defaults to “AWB” (auto white balance) but if you know how you’re lighting will affect your photos you can change it between Auto, Day Light, Tungsten, Fluorescent, and Cloudy.

- There are 3 Color Effect options to shoot photos in: Color, Sepia and Monochrome.

- There’s the option of changing the exposure setting from (-2.0 to +2.0): -2.0, -1.5, -1.0, -0.5, Auto, +0.5, +1.0, +1.5, +2.0

- It offers a Self Timer of either 10 seconds or 20 seconds.

- Date stamp is optional.

- A “Burst Snapshot” feature allows you to set up the camera to take 3 continuous images as you move the camera.

- Video’s are recorded in *.AVI format which are compatible with most Windows type movie-maker programs (ex: Windows Movie Maker, Corel VideoStudio, and many others)

- You can change the resolution of the video recording from 640×480 or 320×240. AND change how many frames per second it records (15fps or 30fps)

- You can “lock” the pictures you’ve taken to prevent them from being accidentally deleted.

- A Rotate option allows you to rotate photos taken at a 5M resolution or lower, on the camera.

- English not your primary language? No problem. There are 7 language options to choose from on the submenu: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese.

- You can set the light frequency from 50Hz to 60Hz.

- The beep/buzzer sound on the camera isn’t annoying loud, but you can disable it if you’d like.

- Comes with a USB/TV-out cable so that you can play back your photos on the TV or even take photos or video’s while hooked up to the TV! Just use the USB cable provided, plug the small end into the camera and then the yellow jack to your yellow jack on your TV, and then turn on the camera! (I’ve never had this feature before and I think this is awesome!)

Con’s (and most of these are me nit-picking):

- There is a very apparent shutter-lag. The image you THINK you took will freeze on the screen after hitting the shutter for a couple seconds but in actuality it captures your picture about 1-2 seconds later and the actual captured image will flash on the screen for about a 1/2 second.

- It does not capture photos well at night or in dark areas.

- The locking/closing mechanism on the camera for the area where the SD card and battery compartment is feels a little cheap to me. I think a better material could have been used than plastic clamp/lock. So I would advise closing and opening it with care. You have to push a small black arrow right first to release the long plastic lever, pull that lever all the way down, and then the hinge will release to open the compartment for the batteries, SD card slot, and USB connection.

- Buttons on the camera seem a little stiff to press down on, this is probably due to the type of engineering required for this type of cameras purpose.

- The Vivitar 8400 is a little larger and heavier than my Samsung S700.

- There’s no lens cap to protect it when not in use.

- No separate “delete” button function. If you want to delete a picture on the camera during playback mode you have to hit the “OK/Menu” button and navigate to the delete option.

- After taking a picture, there is very little delay and it disappears very shortly off the LCD screen so there’s no time to check it. You have to use the playback mode.

- No sound on Video recordings which I think is a bummer given that the lower grade model-though priced higher (seen here: Vivitar VIVICAM-6200W 6.0 MegaPixel Underwater Camera with 4x Digital Zoom 2.0″ LCD) had the sound in its video recording option.

- No regular viewfinder like on standard cameras so that you don’t use up battery power with the live-view LCD screen. And the screen can be somewhat difficult to see underwater.

- When switching from auto-flash, flash (for all photos), or no-flash mode using the lightning bolt sometimes it “hangs up” and gets caught switching and the screen will go blank and a blue light beside the screen will flash.

- The Rotate option does not allows you to rotate photos taken at the highest 8M resolution, on the camera.

- The 61 page user manual is on the CD that comes with the PhoTags software. I realize this is a greener alternative but I would’ve liked to have had it already pre-printed.

- The Photags Express software is not compatible on Macintosh computers.

- Does not come with batteries.

***UPDATED*** 09/07/2009

I just wanted to update you all on my experience with this camera in the Bahamas… and quite frankly, I think it worked out great during all 6 days of snorkeling and swimming! And would still give it 4 stars! NO LEAKS–Even after opening it every night to access the hub in the camera so I could play the pictures and video back on the TV using the video cable that comes with the camera and re-closing it! I used Energizer Lithium AA batteries in it and did not have to change them at all the whole trip. I’ve added a few pictures from when I went snorkeling to the customer gallery… and one of the great reasons why I still think this was better than a 35mm underwater disposable… I took some great video as well! (I’ll add a compilation of video clips I shot to through a “video review” as soon as I figure out how to). However I did want to make some tips/notes for potential buyers or current users…

TIPS & NOTES:

DEFINITELY preset the white balance before entering the water or taking ANY pictures! It makes a big difference as to how your pictures and video will turn out. Do not trust the “AWB” aka “Auto White Balance” feature. I found that on sunny days that should be shot under the “daylight” white balance setting would appear blue-ish if you used the AWB setting.

YES the screen can be difficult to see underwater, HOWEVER I was able to see the screen enough on a bright sunny day where the water was pretty clear and easily switch between video and picture mode. The cloudier the water is, the harder it was to see in general and of course distinguish what was on the screen–not to mention, when the water is cloudy, you can’t expect pristine pictures–that’s just silly to expect that.

Do not attempt to take pictures of anything less than 3ft in front of you as you are guaranteed to get a blurry/out-of-focus picture. The fixed focus on this camera is just not designed for pictures that close. Take your picture 3ft away for a clear shot and then crop it later. The camera has digital zoom-not optical zoom so you’re not going to gain any quality advantage to zooming when taking your picture vs. cropping it later. At least if you don’t zoom in, if something moves you have a greater chance of still capturing it.

How to play back VIDEO in the playback mode: Once you’ve found your video clip on the playback screen press the shutter button like you would if you were taking a picture. This will get the video to start playing back on the screen for you. You can hit the shutter button again to stop it.

In VIDEO mode: Be sure to hold the camera steady and move it SLOWLY underwater when you’re in video mode. Otherwise the video will probably make you feel sick when you play it back later as it will seem like it jumps all over the place.

Make sure you rinse the camera well with salt-free tap water after bringing it in the ocean. The salt can crystallize in parts of the camera later making it difficult to close the camera’s memory card/battery hatch without risking breaking the hinge. If you close your camera gently and visually inspect the closing latch on the side to make sure it is completely down and the “#1″ arrow latch is to the left, so that everything is lined up where it’s supposed to be… I don’t see why you’d end up with leaks.

The pinch clip on the wrist strap to tighten it around your wrist has shown some signs of rusting internally. However, it still works well at tightening.

With all that said, if you’re looking for a more thorough technical review, I’m sorry–just not an area of my expertise. However the “Technical Specifications” information below is straight out of the user manual and may be of use to you.

Image Sensor:

5 Mega Pixel CMOS Sensor

Image Resolution:

8M, 5M, 3M, 2M, 0.3M

Video Resolution:

VGA 640×480 ,QVGA 320X240 at 30fps or 15fps

Monitor Display:

2.4” TFT LCD

Capture:

Single, Continuous shot

Internal Memory:

64MB Flash

External Memory:

SD card up to 8 GB

Sensitivity:

Auto

Lens:

f=7.4mm, F=2.8

Shutter Speed:

Electronic shutter 1/20 ~ 1/6000 sec

White Balance:

Auto, Daylight, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Cloudy

Exposure control:

-2EV to +2EV in 0.5 step

Photo effect:

Color/Sepia/Monochrome

Flash:

Auto, On, Off

Digital Zoom:

8x

Self-timer:

10s/20s

File Format:

JPEG, AVI

TV out:

NTSC / PAL

Interface:

USB 1.1

PC Camera resolution:

640 x 480

System Requirements:

Windows XP, VISTA or MAC OS9 in Mass Storage mode

Battery:

2*AA Alkaline batteries

OSD Language:

English/French/German/Spanish/Italian/Portuguese/Chinese

Auto power off:

Disable, 1 min, 3 min, 5 min

Working Temperature:

0 to 40° C

Storage Temperature:

-20 to 60° C