In summary
Sanyo’s compact VPC-C1 camera is designed more for video capture than stills photography and its styling reflects this bias. There’s no viewfinder and the movable LCD screen doubles as an on/off switch. Switching the camera on activates a voice prompt that tells you what mode has been selected. The control suite is limited and the buttons are rather crowded, but the menu system is straightforward. . . [more]
Full review
Sanyo’s compact VPC-C1 camera is designed more for video capture than stills photography and its styling reflects this bias. There’s no viewfinder and the movable LCD screen doubles as an on/off switch. Switching the camera on activates a voice prompt that tells you what mode has been selected. The control suite is limited and the buttons are rather crowded, but the menu system is straightforward. Despite being adjustable, the monitor is difficult to view in bright sunlight. The card slot in the base of the camera is difficult to open but the battery compartment opens all too readily.
Our tests revealed obvious compression artefacts and loss of sharpness in still shots taken at the highest zoom settings. However video performance was excellent. VGA format MPEG-4 clips are recorded with 16-bit stereo sound and a frame rate of 30fps. The supplied 128MB SD card can hold more than five minutes of video. Shutter lag averaged 1.3 seconds and focusing was slow. However, the camera was quick to power-up and shut down. Images taken in bright lighting were colourful but tended to show blown-out highlights. Low light use is not recommended.
Strengths
– High quality video capture
– Long combined zoom (up to 58x)
– Docking station included
Weaknesses
- ‘Plasticky’ feel to body
- Slow response times for stills
- Poor low light performance [BG05]
Specifications
Image sensor: 5.27 x 3.95mm interlace scan CCD with 3,340,000 photosites (3.2 megapixels effective)
Lens: 5.8-33.8mm f3.5-3.7 (38-220mm in 35mm format)
Zoom ratio: 5.8x optical, up to 10x digital
Dimensions (wxhxd): 69 x 108 x 34mm
Weight: 155g (without battery and card)
Retailers
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Canterbury Northcote
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Ph: 1300 365 220
Electronics Warehouse
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1300 801 885
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Ted’s Cameras
1800 186 895
Big range of cameras and photographic products with stores in most states and online.
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