Sanyo Xacti VPC-CA6

...I ended up with the Sanyo VPC CA6, spookily enough, the same make as my fathers first camcorder and it came in well under budget at £149.99.

I'm not going to try and convince you that I know rafts of information about the camcorder, I don't, I don't understand what most terms detailed int he instruction manual mean so my opinion will be based on what I think of the product, what I have managed to make it do and whether I think it is ...
...of technical speak here but I will refer to main specifications from the instruction manual, which to be honest couldn't be more thorough if it tried. Printed in 5 languages it compliments the onscreen menus perfectly and although the menus are pretty easy to navigate and understand, its nice to have a backup should I get stuck.

The picture above shows the camcorder from the front as it comes out of the box. The 2 inch LCD screen folds ... more

I remember my fathers first camcorder, it was shoulder mounted and I couldn't lift the thing it was that big and heavy. How times have changed in such a short space of time and I made my first camcorder purchase a month before the birth of my son, now some 8 months ago. As it wasn't an essential buy as I could record video clips with my digital camera I was warned not to go overboard and was limited to a £200 budget. Shopping around I ended up with the Sanyo VPC CA6, spookily enough, the same make as my fathers first camcorder and it came in well under budget at £149.99.

I'm not going to try and convince you that I know rafts of information about the camcorder, I don't, I don't understand what most terms detailed int he instruction manual mean so my opinion will be based on what I think of the product, what I have managed to make it do and whether I think it is good value for money. There will not be 1000 words of technical speak here but I will refer to main specifications from the instruction manual, which to be honest couldn't be more thorough if it tried. Printed in 5 languages it compliments the onscreen menus perfectly and although the menus are pretty easy to navigate and understand, its nice to have a backup should I get stuck.

The picture above shows the camcorder from the front as it comes out of the box. The 2 inch LCD screen folds in for easy storage and is secured by a very sturdy hinge. The LCD screen acts as an interface with the menus and as a viewfinder which I find very useful as I can wander around filming at arms length taking in my surroundings. It is unlikely that there will be any You've Been Framed moments as I go head over heels tripping over the cat! Althoigh it isn't heavy (it weighs only 174 grams) there is a hand strap and a rubber grip that gives a bit of peace of mind. Once secured there is no danger of the camcorder slipping and breaking. Another good feature which I have recently found useful is the weatherproof coating. Akthough you can't take this swimming with you, in the event of a downpour you end up with a broken piece of plastic in your hand. It can take being splashed and splashed with a considerable amount of water which is good, especially if you have the annoying habit of knocking drinks onto electrical objects like me!

Videos are saved to a memory card, not a DVD or tape and files, video clips and pictures are transferred very easily over to my PC using the bundled software and USB cable that came with the camcorder. Storage capacity of the memory card that comes with the camcorder is poor and I opted to buy a 2GB upgrade for an extra £20.

I currently have 6 hours of recordings on my 2GB memory card following a 4 day break and it has about another hour of space left, so this is ideal for those holidays where you want to record every minute of it. If you are a compulsive recorder, you can buy further disks, but I don't see the need for this myself, after all, you can edit and clear space without the need for PC access by using on the onscreen editting process.

Down to the importat things!

Picture quality: I have no complaints at all with the picture quality. The camcorder records using 6 million megapixels and everything I have recorded has been clear, in focus (thanks to the auto focus) and full of colour. In dark settings or poor outside light the built in light provides enough light to make sure that the subject being recorded can be seen, but that is about it. It isn't that bright and if I had to pick a problem I have it is the strength of the light.

Sound pickup & playback: Considering that the camcorder does not have a visible external microphone, but instead a little hold where sund is picked up the quality is nothing short of a miracle. You can literally hear a pin drop when the sound is played back.

Battery Life: Powered by Lithium Ion battery I have found that when recording it retains power for around 4-5 hours, but this is reduced to around 3 hours if you start to play around with the menu's to edit recordings or use the built in light. This isn't that bad as recharging the battery takes around 5-6 hours and is due by just attaching an adpater to the unit.

I'm very happy with my camcorder. It served me well at the birth of my son, has recorded the early years of his life, allows me to bore my friends with e-mailed video clips and has been something I now wouldn't be without. It is not going to be the revolutionary new face of film making, but that isn't what it is intended for. I feel like I'm stumbled on a bargain and I chuffed to pieces. 

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