Vivitar unveils rugged undersea camera, more at PMA

Vivitar contributed to the announcements at the PMA photo expo today by announcing multiple still image and video cameras. The ViviCam 6200W (pictured) is housed in a rubber and metal shell watertight to depths of 30 feet, making it suitable for both swimming and diving. Optical zoom is absent to protect the lens underwater and is replaced by 4X digital zoom. The 6200W stores photos on either 16MB of internal memory or SD cards and will ship soon, though pricing is unavailable.

Also announced was the DVR530, the company's first video-focused camera. Envisioned as a starter camera, video is captured at VGA resolution at 30 frames per second using 4X digital-only zoom. The video camera will also take photos at its native 5 megapixels and doubles as a webcam when attached to a computer through USB. Media is stored on SD cards rather than tape and lets the DVR530 play MP3 files as well as record audio memos.

Concluding its launch, Vivitar has also announced multiple above-water still cameras, including the 10-megapixel X625 with 6X optical zoom and a "retro" pop-up flash, the 7-megapixel 7388s with 3X zoom and MP3 playback, and the 6-megapixel 6385u ultra-compact (photos unavailable). These and the DVR530 should be available soon, but as with the 6200W haven't received formal launch details.