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Review: At first I was a little disappointed with this Sanyo Xacti VPC-C1E digital camcorder as the video resolution at it's highest is only VGA 640 x 480, so on a large screen TV you do get occasional pixellation when replaying your videos. The camera itself is light and has many functions, such as exposure, ISO speeds, picture filters, etc. The 3.2 Megapixel stills capability provides quality 2048 x 1536 pixel pictures. I find that the camera performs best in good lighting, preferably outdoors where you can get stunning results. I just took the camera to an airshow yesterday and the results are great. The only let down is the digital zoom which isn't fantastic, but if you keep to the 5.8x optical zoom the results are not bad. There doesn't appear to be any image stabilisation that you would get with other video cameras so a tripod would be a good idea, especially if you are needing to use the the zoom whilst shooting your video. If the lighting is good, you can get away with a faster shutter speed if taking stills. The battery life isn't brilliant so I'd suggest getting a spare to carry with you, because if you are using the zoom frequently that will wear the battery down fast. I also advise investing in a 512Mb or 1Gb SD card for your larger films. The video editing software is quite comprehensive and you can easily convert video formats and create your own DVD/SVCD's to play on your PC/DVD player. Overall it is an adequate digital video camera, with a good digital camera function thrown in. I think that the technology of this type of camera needs to develop more before it can compete properly with the likes of a miniDV-type camcorder - although they tend to have a sub-megapixel stills ability. |