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Cheap, cheerful and rubber

Ricoh's new Vivitar ViviCam 6200w sports a yellow shockproof rubber shell and at only AU$299, you may just trust your kids not to lose or destroy it.

Pam Carroll
Former editor of CNET Australia, Pam loves being in the thick of the ever-growing love affair (well addiction, really) that Australians have with their phones, digital cameras, flat screen TVs, and all things tech.
Pam Carroll
Vivitar ViviCam 6200w
Vivitar ViviCam 6200w

Hands up if you've given your kids a disposable water-proof camera to take to camp or the beach for 'action' body boarding shots. Waterproof digital cameras, until now have been fairly expensive or involved clunky casings of some sort.

Ricoh's new Vivitar ViviCam 6200w sports a yellow shockproof rubber shell and at only AU$299, you may just trust your kids not to lose or destroy it.

The 6.0 megapixel camera is waterproof down to a depth of 10 metres. It has a 2.0-inch LCD screen, 4x digital zoom, 16MB of internal memory and an SD card slot. Its focus-free lens does not give you much control, but the ViviCam 6200w has five scene settings including sea and sport modes and fast shutter speeds of 1-1/2000 sec, so it's been designed with outdoor action shots and low light conditions in mind.

OK, you probably won't get Ansel Adams quality outdoor shots, but it's a great option for those wet and dusty outings where a less durable camera would get left at home. And unlike a disposable camera, you won't be stuck with expensive processing costs for photos that you can't see before you print.