 Sanyo Xacti VPC-E1 6MP Waterproof MPEG4 Camcorder with 5x Optical Zoom (White) digital cameras, camcorders for sale |
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Sanyo Xacti VPC-E1 6MP Waterproof MPEG4 Camcorder with 5x Optical Zoom (White)
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List Price: $499.99
Our Price:
$401.99
You Save: $98
Features
• Waterproof digital camcorder
• Shoot 640 x 480-pixel video clips and 6-megapixel still images simultaneously
• 5x optical zoom; 2.5-inch LCD screen
• Built-in image stabilization
• Up to 80 minutes recording time per 1GB memory card (not included) |
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Sanyo Xacti VPC-E1 6MP Waterproof MPEG4 Camcorder with 5x Optical Zoom (White) Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥ |
Very nice price-quality relation
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A very good buy IMHO, with a some caveats though.
One pretty well advertised feature of this camera is its capability for shooting pictures while recording. This feature has some less advertised drawbacks, however. First, it's quality is automatically set to 6M, which in most cases will not bother you. Also the flash will not shoot, which can make this feature unusable in some cases. However, as the camera doesn't have a lamp or low-light mode, in most situations you aren't able to shoot without the aid of the flash you won't be able to record decent video either anyway. What makes this feature really unusable in my opinion however is that while the camera records the picture to the memory card it will stop recording video, so your video ends up with annoying cuts in the moments you took pictures. I'm using a [[ASIN:B000P9ZBFA Transcend 8GB SDHC Class 6 card]], which as far as I could figure out is the fastest type of card on the SDHC realm, and the clipping is still too noticeable for my liking. In my opinion it's much better to stop recording and take the pictures or extracting the stills from the video, using the camera's own edition features even. All these peculiarities are not advertised, but they are detailed on page 53 of the camera's instruction manual.
The autonomy is 80 minutes, which is ok, but I recommend buying at least a couple extra batteries. Just today I used the camera at a family reunion and I went through two batteries. I must add however that even if it wasn't used continuously, it wasn't given much rest either between playback and recording. Personally I bought and recommend [[ASIN:B000COZ43C Lenmar DLSAL20 Lithium-ion Batteries]]. Onlyne I found discrepancies about the capacity of the original battery, but in the end I found both the original and the Lenmar "replacement" have the same 720 mAh capacity and hence the same autonomy and can be used with the same charger. The Lenmar ones cost about one-third the price of the official ones though, so even if they have lower lifetime (which I'm not sure is the case, but can't be sure because I still haven't had time to exhaust one) they are still worth it.
As for recording space, the 8GB card mentioned earlier allows me to record over 5 hours of video at the maximum possible quality (TV-SHQ, 640x480, 30 fps, 3 Mbps = aprox. 1.26 GB per hour) and also over 300 pictures at the maximum possible quality (10M = 3680x2760). Lowering the quality one step or two almost doubles the quantity of video and images. In my case that's more than enough. In the manual it warns that the video will stop recording after reaching a file size of 4 GB. I think this might be a restriction imposed by the FAT file system the memory cards use. This is a pointless warning though, as you need over 3 hours of continuous recording at maximum quality to reach that file size and the battery lasts only about 80 minutes and the camera has no socket for an external power source.
I was a bit surprised at the small size of the camera, and a little afraid as my hands are big (and clumsy too, yeah). After using it however I found it quite easy to handle and practical. It is very light and adapts fine to the hand, providing a decent grip. The display is comfortable, clear and reasonably big. It does have a socket for fitting on a tripod, and I mention this in hopes it helps someone because I couldn't find this specific detail mentioned anywhere when I was researching information on this camera prior to buying.
To be honest, I haven't had the necessity or the heart to test its underwater resistance yet.
The soft case included is barely enough to protect it. I would strongly recommend buying a better case along with it.
My most firm complains about this camera are related to the picture shooting, and being it a camcorder I consider picture shooting an incidental plus, so I wouldn't take that much into account. The only recording-related thing I would change is the autonomy, but I'm not sure I would trade it's compact size and light weight for some extra battery time, so I'm not going to complain about that either.
Overall, I think it's a pretty good camera, and although I agree there are better ones on the market, I'm not sure there is one as good as this one for a similar price. |
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