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| Sanyo VPC-WH1EBL HD Waterproof Dual Video & Photo Camera - Blue |
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Sanyo VPC-WH1EBL HD Waterproof Dual Video & Photo Camera - Blue
SANYO
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| Product Details |
ISBN/ASIN: B001SAMSZQ
Release Date: 2009-03-23
Sales Rank: 17338
Average Rating: 
Media: Electronics
Audience Rating:
Product Group: CE
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| Product Description |
| SANYO VPC-WH1 HD DIGITAL CAMCORDER BLUE |
| Customer Reviews: Average Rating: 3.5/5 | | Dissapointed: Rating: 1/5 |
I currently have 4 camcorders and have had many over the years. This has been the biggest dissapointment. At the price and having read all the reviews I was not expecting a brilliant product but at least something useable and fun - specifically for underwater use.
The negatives:
-Has nothing to keep it floating should it slip.
-Stabilization is very poor. I did not use the zoom at all.
-After less than than 5 hours in the water over 5 days it leaked dispite following all the care instructions to the point of purchasing a waterproof watch in order not to exceed the 1 hour emersion limit.
-If you have used any camcorder before you would not settle for using this out of the water. It is a fun camcorder for wet use really.
The positives:
-The cost makes the poor performance tolerable. The shots I did get of my son learning to swim were valuable.
I would not recomend this product as the risk of failure is high - have a look at other reviews on the net as well. It looks like a common fault.
| | Fine entry level camera - you getting what you paying for though: Rating: 4/5 |
| This is fine little camera. Good starting point if you new to video shooting. Compact and quite robust. Video quality is good enough, although it's far from professional quality. It's modest water resistance not really makes this a good choice for underwater shots, but it's OK to wash the camera after intense day outdoor. Serious drawback is lack of any input ports, which means that you are left with build in mic. | | Lower quality than expected: Rating: 2/5 |
I bought this camera from another retailer as Amazon was out of stock but returned it the same day nonetheless. I checked out test footage from all sorts of cameras before settling on this one as it recorded to H264 and not AVCHD so footage would be easier to edit and the quality on Youtube looked pretty good. The footage I obtained was not comparable.
The zoom on it is good and smooth but without a tripod, it's pointless because the electric image stabilizer is poor so the footage shakes around a lot. The sensor size in this camera is small so the image quality is poor, especially in low-light. If you get into low-light, the noise is unacceptable beyond 200 ISO sensitivity. The still image shots were similarly poor with rough edges and terrible color reproduction.
One thing that's common with Sanyo models is over-saturated color output and this one is no different, no matter what color settings you choose.
I also found the slot on the side to access the USB and SD ports difficult to open. It has to be tight to be waterproof but it didn't even look all that waterproof to me. Very flimsy plastic.
The battery life was good and 9Mbps H264 is acceptable for storage but this doesn't matter much if you don't get good footage. If you want a fun camera to take swimming on a long trip and have plenty of light, this might be a good camera to choose but be aware of the poor image stabilization. I'd probably be more inclined to get one of the smaller water-proof cameras like the Sanyo VCP-CA9 with the bigger sensor. You do lose on battery life and zoom but the footage should be better.
In general, I would not recommend this camera to anyone. I instead opted for a bridge camera (like a DSLR but cheap and with fixed lenses) - the Panasonic DMC FZ38 and the footage quality is so much better. The Leica lens makes a huge difference along with the much bigger sensor so low-light performance is excellent. It also has an optical image stabilizer so even at full 18x zoom, you can get very still footage. It also zooms while recording video unlike some standard cameras that do video. One downside is it's restricted to 30 minutes at a time recording (thank you EU tax regulations) but normally you don't record that long at a time anyway.
If you are looking for great footage in this price range, forget the budget camcorders and get a bridge camera instead. | | compact and easy to use: Rating: 5/5 |
| I have so far found this camera to be really handy and easy to use. It's small and light, so handy for popping in your bag. Starts up quickly and i like the stills image capture, so you can use it as a stills and video camera. I've not tried it underwater yet but have used it in a humid environment and no problems. The only thing i've found is the lack of lens cover. I wouldn't have seen this as a problem before buying but i certainly think some sort of protection is needed - so buy a case too. | | looks good on paper but a real let down.: Rating: 2/5 |
| As someone who has worked in television and used many different types of cameras, this was a real let down. The auto focus feature is terrible, I filmed 45 minutes of a wedding and not one frame was in focus. There is also no easy way to ingest the video into final cut without having to render and re-render it every time it is moved. Also the video quality and colour is sub par. I have not tested the waterproof capabilities but It definitely is not great as a camera. |
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