Vivitar has a long history in photography and cinematography going back to the middle of the previous century. Constantly reinventing itself, Vivitar’s latest iteration is to focus on the fun side of consumer electronics. Marlo and Todd enjoy the new cameras from Vivitar with Director of Marketing, Melissa Hoistion.

First up is the Vivitar DVR988HD 360 Cam which will feature two 180 degree lenses on the front and back of the camera, taking a full 360 degree view. Built-in video stitching software merges the two views into a seamless panoramic image of the journey, whether on a roller-coaster or a scenic bicycle ride. The 360 Cam will record full HD 1080 x 1080 pixel video at 30 frames per second, capture still images at 12.1 MP resolution and shoot about four hours of video on a single battery charge. There’s 200MB of internal storage and a micro SD slot for an additional 256 GB. The Cam will be US$169 when it comes out in Q2.

Next is the new Vivitar MicroCam Air DVR939HD is a miniature life-blogging camera with a 160-degree lens and records full 1080p HD video and 10MP still photos. With very simple controls, the resulting footage can be viewed using a free companion app on smartphone or tablet and there’s a range of clips and mounts to attach the camera to clothing, bikes and helmets. Expected on sale in Q2 for only US$79, I could see myself getting one of these as the MicroCam can record key moments without intruding on the experience.

Todd Cochrane is the host of the twice-weekly Geek News Central Podcast at GeekNewsCentral.com and Marlo Anderson rounds up the latest technology news at The Tech Ranch.

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